For Pete's Sake...

As you may already know, we’ve decided to bring Justin home for school next year.  Schooling methods are often hotly debated among well-intended people, especially conservative evangelical Christians.  For that reason, I felt it wise to blog about the reasons we’ve decided to make this change so it’s not misunderstood by the masses.

“Make sure you don’t hear what I’m not saying.”

That’s a line that I’ve used from the pulpit before (many pastors have).  I think it’s important for me to make clear that our experience at Erpenbeck Elementary School this past year has been nothing other than incredible.  Justin has gone to half-day Kindergarten since August and adores every bit of it (especially the daily ride on the school bus).  Justin has been cared for by experienced, top-notch teachers, who are top-notch people.  They love kids, love what they do, and bring a ton of experience, love, and compassion to the classrooms they run each and every day.

Much to my surprise, Justin’s teacher really knew him.  We’ve interacted with her via phone, e-mail, and at parent-teacher conferences.  The level of detail to which she was able to discuss Justin’s progress far exceeded anything I would’ve ever imagined.  Detailed reports and records of how his progress has been thus far was clearly shown to us in many types of “before & after” comparisons.  Specific areas still needing improvement were also highlighted, along with specific, helpful, suggestions as to how we could help him at home and measure his progress.  I don’t know that all teachers partner with parents in this way, but Justin’s certainly did.

While I don’t expect the public school system to embrace a biblical worldview or mindset, I did appreciate certain curriculum and programming decisions made that served to support instead of hinder what we teach our children.  Every Christian parent knows there will be a chasm of some sort between a public school system and a biblical worldview.  That goes without saying.  I won’t go into detail now, but suffice it to say we counted ourselves blessed when we consider how much more vast the chasm is for others we know and love in other schools and places.

We had conversations with Justin about his interaction with the many different kinds of people he interacted with from different places (both geographic & spiritual), and what it meant to “be Jesus” to them.  These times of discussion and application of the Word were wonderful, so much so I find myself thinking through adjustments we’d need to make in our lives to make sure he has similar experiences while schooling him at home (I doubt they’ll be exactly the same, but it’ll be something).

I could go on, but I wanted to go the distance to be clear that we had an absolutely wonderful experience with Justin’s past year of Kindergarten.  Some people seem almost disappointed as we explain this to them.  It’s as if they’d be happier to hear Justin was abused, neglected or brainwashed because that would—I dunno—better support their cause?  Whatever.  The bottom line is, nothing happened or didn’t happen that made us hit some schooling method panic button.  We loved it.  He loved it.  In many ways, we’ll miss it.

Furthermore, I came away with an even greater appreciation for those who teach vocationally.  I have friends and family who teach in a variety of different venues (Sunday school, public & Christian school, even a cousin that’s an Assistant Dean and college Prof).  I’m humbled & challenged by the love & passion they display for learning, and the strategic time & effort they invested in others.  If Christians today spent half as much time investing in others as most educators do, insteead of just “looking out for their own,” I can’t help but wonder how much more glory God would receive if we discipled others as good as the world does (yes, that was intended to sting a bit).  If you’re a teacher (and especially if you’re a Christian), thanks for what you do.  No matter what you’re paid, it’s not enough.

“Fly Like An Eagle”

The driving force behind the discussion and decision that Sarah & I came to for bringing Justin home for school next year could be summed up in one word: time.  The Steve Miller Band went 4X platinum singing “Time keeps on slippin’ slippin’ slippin’, into the future…”  That was thirty-five years ago, so it looks like they were right. :-)  Next year, Justin’s school day changes from half-day to full-day, and that will amount to him being out of the house almost eight hours every day.  This simply will not work for our family on a daily or yearly schedule.

Consider our daily schedule.  If Justin gets off a bus at 4 PM (that’s when he’d be dropped off), he’ll do homework, eat dinner, shower, get ready for bed, and then be done for the day.  We will see him (he lives here, and the house isn’t that big).  Still, we’ll not really SEE him or have much time to spend together.  This is especially true for me when, as a Pastor, I work 2-3 nights on any given week (youth nights, counseling nights, and then another meeting of some sort—Elders’, Youth Ministry Team, etc).  The family wouldn’t get much time with him, and I’d get next to NO time with him during the week.  Even if I worked from home for half a day here & there, it wouldn’t do any good if Justin was out of the house from 8 AM to 4 PM each day.  I’m sure it works for other families.  That’s fine.  It just won’t work for ours.

Consider the typical school year.  As a Youth Pastor, my schedule ramps up when school lets out.  Whether it’s a road trip for 4-5 days on Fall Break, or a summer Youth Camp or mission trip, these all take place when school is out.  If Justin stays in public school, prime Youth Ministry time overlaps with what is now prime family time since Justin will be out of school along with my students.  This makes almost every programming decision I make a choice between my family and my students because they share the same prime time with me.  I know Youth Pastors do it all the time and I’m sure it works for them, but I don’t want to constantly be sacrificing one at the altar of the other (family ministry for church ministry, etc.), and end up spending less time doing both in the long run.  I’m a pretty analytical person, seeing value in looking back to see what was done well, and considering what could be done better in the future.  I can’t help but think I’ll constantly be taking a disappointing inventory of how I’ve done time-wise at the end of a month or quarter.  I think I’ll end up finding I excelled in one area at the expense of the other, or just bombed at both.  That’s not wise.

For these reasons (and only these reasons, really), we’re bringing Justin home for school next year and giving it a shot.  If we can school Justin in less time because he’s the only one in our “class,” that will work out great for our family’s lifestyle.  Are we excited?  Sure.  Are we appropriately intimidated?  Absolutely…but we’re confident that if God brings us to this, He’ll bring us through this as more than conquerors.

Please pray for us!

We’re thankful for where God has us and the many people He’s brought into our everyday lives who have gone before us and offer to help & advise us in so many ways.  Regardless of where you are as you read this, whether we see you often or next to never, we’d love to have you praying for us.

·         One of these days, maybe I’ll blog about my borderline-obsession with spending my time well (it’ll bring increased accountability into my life, and that’s a great thing for me in this area).  Most times, I think I’m doing OK and placing an appropriate value on time and the overall brevity of life.  Still, I’ve had my fair share of times when the clock & calendar needed to be removed from an inappropriate place of worship in my life, yet another product of the idol-making factory of a heart I own.  I’ve wrestled through whether or not this decision is being driven by an idolatrous view of time, family, parenting, etc, and don’t think that is the case.  However, I do see how it can easily become an idol for me so I’m praying against that and would appreciate you doing the same on my behalf.

·         Paul spares no ink in reminding us that we’re to be identified only with Christ (1 Cor. 1), and to remember we are “in Christ” above all things (Col. 1).  Pray God would keep my identity firmly rooted in Him and not any philosophy, schooling method, or anything other than His Son and His Gospel.  That has changed my life.  That’s what I want to change my kids’ lives.  If we wear a name tag or carry a banner, may it be for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not some way of thinking, philosophy, or schooling method.  There’s a difference between home school families who happen to be Christians, and Christians who happen to be home schooling (more on that another time).  Pray that we’re the latter of the two.

·         Sarah is an unbelievable wife and mother and is going to do a tremendous job.  This is in part because she herself was schooled at home for most of her schooling years (my mother-in-law is still schooling her 7-year-old sister, the last of their five kids).  This is also because of the way God has made Sarah into the woman that she is.  She pours time, thought, effort, energy, intentionality, strategic planning, and prayers into our home.  However, we’re both keenly aware that we need the grace of God to be able to do anything that pleases Him, so please pray to that end.  May we never feel as if we’ve come to a place in any area of life in which we are no longer dependent on Him for mercy and grace.

·         Especially since the arrival of Emmaline (our new baby girl born on 04-Mar), Justin is excited to spend more time at home with the family.  She made it a pretty easy “sell” when we first spoke to him about it.  Still, like I mentioned before, he really does love his school and gets a little sad when he considers not being with his classmates next year.

o   Pray for him and his heart on the matter.  Again, it’s not a big deal.  He’s not “bucking” the decision, but he does get a little down at times about it.  Pray that we’d be able to encourage him.

o   Pray that we’d not second-guess ourselves if we see Justin sad at times about our decision.  We’re the adults here, I know…but it’s still hard not to feel bad for your son when he’s sad (especially for the Mom who will be spending the majority of the time with him next year), so pray we would look to God for His constant counsel and peace, not the approval of [little] men.

o   If God would allow, we’d like to keep at least some of the relationships Justin has with his classmates, especially those living in our neighborhood.  Pray God would show us if that’s feasible by showing us opportunities to be salt & light to them.  Still, if that just doesn’t work out for whatever reason, pray we’d not condemn ourselves for that.  (The hymn writer said it best; “Thou must save, and thou alone.”)

Thanks!