As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
- Joshua 24:15
When I first began homeschooling, my major fear was that I was going to ruin my children through my lack of teaching credentials. As a child, I had learned to read with Dick and Jane in a little rural Washington school by memorizing words in the reader. There was no rhyme or reason to why a word looked or sounded like it did. I believed the randomness of my education left me unprepared to teach others.
Our books and curricula arrived in the fall of 1982. My husband had insisted I only teach our son at home and put our eldest daughter in a Christian school for the year, expecting, as he admitted later, that I would only survive one year.
With trepidation I unpacked the materials, plopped them on the table, sat down, and began to read.
Then I cried.
Phonics might as well have been a different language.
There were actual rules on how to break a word into syllables?
How had I managed to graduate from high school as an honor student and make it through my first year of college prerequisites for nursing? I couldn't even decipher the directions for the lessons. At that moment, I stood at the bank trembling at the new land before me. God told me this was the promised land, but all I could see were the giants.
Looking back now, I'm so thankful I crossed the river.
Free to Choose
It soon became clear that the challenge of homeschooling isn't teaching our children to read and write. It isn't finding the perfect system or books. The battle is living our own lives with integrity and teaching that to our children, in passing on the torch of faith to a new generation.
The great statesman, reformer, and former slave Frederick Douglass is credited with this poignant reminder of the power of being able to read and write:
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.
Literacy puts great power into our hands. No longer chained by the locks of ignorance, we are freed to make our own choices. As Hamlet famously lamented, Ay, there's the rub.
What do we want to be? What will we feed our minds and souls? What are our children learning?
The man who lives without honor will not gain by education.
Three Options
The nation of Israel wandered forty years in their long journey out of bondage in Egypt before finally crossing the Jordan. With great trepidation they entered this new land of promise.
One of the two leaders who entered with joy was the warrior Joshua, who also led them to victory in this land from many of their enemies. When he became old, Joshua called the people together and presented them with this challenge:
Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: Whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
- Joshua 24:14-15
Would they serve the living God, or the gods of this world? These were their choices:
- The gods of their fathers.
- The gods of the land in which they now lived.
- The living God who claimed their souls.
The gods of their fathers were the gods of Egypt, where they lived as slaves and the gods of their forty years in the wilderness. They represented the bondage of a life without the one true Lord. To serve these gods means to live in slavery.
The gods of the land in which they now lived were the idols of the inhabitants of the new land. These represented the pull of the world on us that keeps us distracted from hearing God's voice.
One Decision
Like literacy itself, homeschooling is a great tool through which we gain the freedom to teach our values to our children. But what values are they learning?
The Israelites were given a bold choice: to serve the idols of this world or the God of the universe.
This is our choice, as well. If we are serious about living in the land of promise and destroying the schemes of the Destroyer in our homes, we must turn our faces toward heaven. For this choice, we will pay a price.
We may be "counseled," mocked, and misunderstood. We may stand to lose our reputations and the admiration of others. We may lose friends and incur the wrath of our relatives.
Our time will not be ours any longer, and some pet projects will fall by the wayside. We may suffer a loss of income for our choice to stay home and care for our children. There may no longer be the money for the best tennis shoes, jeans or video games. We may lose our health.
Of course, none of this may happen. But what would we do if it did? We should be willing to count the cost of pressing into our faith and making the commitment to home education... and be willing to pay the price, should it come due.
After all, any of these things could happen, anyway. Compromise doesn't guarantee comfort. God intends for us to grow in grace and toward all He has for us. Either way, Joshua's majestic challenge stands before us today. Will we choose the old paths, new idols, or the Lord?
May God be with you in your journey!
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