I found this passage from the bible on another site.
The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met... When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. Acts 4: 5-14 NIV
Peter and John were fishermen and uneducated in the sense that they had no formal training in religion or other philosophies or sciences of that time. But they had been with our Lord. He had prenticed them with his walk and by his stories. Even in Jesus' time there were no schools as they are here in modern times. Egyptians had a form of schooling for boys in the upper class, and the Jewish boys also had a type of Hebrew school as they do today for those who might become Rabbis. I guess you could call it more of a Rabbinical school than a Hebrew school since the kids would have already spoken Hebrew.
Learned, educated people have not always come from a traditional schooling background. Today there is more to learn than ever. It's almost like children who are interested in science need more science than anything else to keep up with current world standards. Which is why I think unschooling may be the ticket. A child who's bent is in art can build their skills from the earliest age through their own desire and have as many years as they desire to practice their skills and turn it towards a rewarding future of their choosing. Other subjects while necessary in some applications can take second chair and support what the child learns in the area of greatest interest.
I talked a bit with the pastor of our church plant. I told him I'd gone looking for scripture references that would speak to whether or not unschooling was a biblical option and that I'd found two instances where people used scripture out of context to support their view points. He reminded me that the bible is not a guidebook, a parenting book or a magic 8 ball. He told me the bible is a narrative. It tells us the story of how God related to people in their own time within the realms of their cultural norms. Like the fact that child sacrifices were once a normal part of a society. He reminded me that Jesus taught his disciples and other followers in different ways. Sometimes His lessons were purposeful, and sometimes He was aware enough of his surrounding and/or a certain situation that He could use it to relate to people about God and Himself in an impromptu fashion. Thanks for the insight James.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Christian Unschooling Oxymoron
I've recently been exploring unschooling as an option for my children. So I joined an unschooling group. What I found there was what seems to be absolutism, and humanism. The way I live is wrong absolutely. This does not happen everytime I post there, but my post became chided and criticized, and twisted from what I originally meant to serve what someone else felt was right. I've yet to get the kind of feed back I was hoping for. I would have appreciated a more open minded look at things. On the other hand when I looked for Christian unschooling--thinking that perhaps my moral beliefs were inhibiting me from seeing and really understanding what these families were saying--I was slapped with my bible. I found in one instance, which I'm going to address here, that scriptures were quoted which seemed to lean towards a way of educating our children. However, I felt that perhaps the interpretation was taken too literal in one area. The post I'm going to quote and write on was written by Theresa White, and may be visited by a link at the end of this post.
"Isaiah 28:9ff "Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." My unschooling acquaintances advocate letting that child discover truths for himself, and only those truths he chooses to discover. Yet clearly we are to teach our children from the time of their weaning, and to teach them concept upon concept, precept upon precept, building from one level to the next."
I have found it true that unschoolers do seek to allow their children choice in knowledge discovery. Yet the bible verse is taken out of context. When you look at the whole of Isaiah 28, you can get a more vivid picture of what is being said. This verse is about the Lord's judgement over Israel who has defiled itself. It is about how God's judgement will come against the Israelites who have allowed themselves to be governed by the "wreath on the head of the fertile valley-" wine and beer. The NIV shows the quoted passage as a question. Who is God trying to teach? Is he teaching the babes who've just been weaned? I see a sort of sarcasm in these words. 'Am I talking to babies? Do they need constant reiteration as children to do and do and do, or have rules upon rules?' Isaiah 28:11-13 continues thusly: "Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, 12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"— but they would not listen. 13 So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured." This passage had nothing to do with children and how they should be taught.
Here again is another passage that seems to back up the author's point "Deut 6:7 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Notice that it does not say "Provide a stimulating atmosphere filled with the things you want them to learn, or that they are interested in." TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY (diligently = characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort : painstaking). Is not that the opposite of the unschooling definition?' "
Let me first say here are two definitions I've found on the internet (first two in the search results) for the word diligent.
"Isaiah 28:9ff "Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little." My unschooling acquaintances advocate letting that child discover truths for himself, and only those truths he chooses to discover. Yet clearly we are to teach our children from the time of their weaning, and to teach them concept upon concept, precept upon precept, building from one level to the next."
I have found it true that unschoolers do seek to allow their children choice in knowledge discovery. Yet the bible verse is taken out of context. When you look at the whole of Isaiah 28, you can get a more vivid picture of what is being said. This verse is about the Lord's judgement over Israel who has defiled itself. It is about how God's judgement will come against the Israelites who have allowed themselves to be governed by the "wreath on the head of the fertile valley-" wine and beer. The NIV shows the quoted passage as a question. Who is God trying to teach? Is he teaching the babes who've just been weaned? I see a sort of sarcasm in these words. 'Am I talking to babies? Do they need constant reiteration as children to do and do and do, or have rules upon rules?' Isaiah 28:11-13 continues thusly: "Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, 12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"— but they would not listen. 13 So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured." This passage had nothing to do with children and how they should be taught.
Here again is another passage that seems to back up the author's point "Deut 6:7 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Notice that it does not say "Provide a stimulating atmosphere filled with the things you want them to learn, or that they are interested in." TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY (diligently = characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort : painstaking). Is not that the opposite of the unschooling definition?' "
Let me first say here are two definitions I've found on the internet (first two in the search results) for the word diligent.
- quietly and steadily persevering especially in detail or exactness; "a diligent (or patient) worker"
- characterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks; "a diligent detective investigates all clues"; "a diligent search of the files"
Teaching them diligently does not mean inculcating. Unschoolers though they do not say they teach, rather they use the word facilitate, they do in a sense teach/mentor. It seems to me, that they use discussions, debates, and stories to help their children "learn" things. The difference is that there is no force to learn a particular doctrine unless the child has interest in said subject.
What I have found in my own children to be true is that they do express interest in the things they see me interested in. They are interested in my faith because through discussion I express it to them. Hopefully they are also interested because I live it unhypocritically before them. (Though of late I feel this is not so much the case.) Then if they ask questions I answer them, and even read the bible to them if they ask me to. They attend church with us because they are not old enough to stay home by themselves mostly because we the adults are following a command to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Not because they must be taught to love and know Jesus. Eventually the children will need to make a choice concerning their faith in Christ anyhow. My hope is that they will freely choose to be followers of Jesus. They'll only choose that if they see that my walk, and my faith is something to be desired and chosen. There are people all over the world today who chose to leave Christianity because they were inculcated by unforgiving unmerciful doctrines. They were spoon fed Jesus, cajoled to keep Jesus, and were made to feel less than human if they had doubts or questions. That will not be the case for our children.
I am not professing to be a Christian unschooler. I actually consider myself to be a relaxed home educating . There are subjects I do expect a certain degree of work in. I guess I just did not like that Ms. White was using scripture to put down an entire movement or to pigeon hole a large group of people. Is it a true statement that there are non-believers in the movement? Yes. Is it a true statement that many of those within the movement are humanistic? I'm sure. However it is unfair and unfounded to say that unschooling is mutually exclusive of Christianity and vice versus. It is also unfair to use scripture out of the context in which it was intended.
If anyone is interested in reading Ms. White's full argument you may visit it here.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Money Lessons
A fellow home educator left a post on another site where she said her daughter wanted to go to school or a boarding school. She said her daughter had tried school once before and they sacrificed 5000 tuition for her to go only to have her leave again. That she made a huge investment of money and time and to only "try" something blows my mind. I don't mean that critically. She said "But at the time I was just so relieved that she wasn't going, even the five thousand dollars seemed a small price to pay for her leaving that system."
This idea scares me personally. I'll tell you why. We tell our children that they are allowed to try new things, but if we pay money (any amount of money) for them to participate we expect them to see it through to the end. We do not expect them to continue after a session or season has ended if they do not want to go further. Of course if a class, or activity they chose seemed to be harming them or that a person teaching the class/activity was harming them they would be removed post haste.
We do this because we want them to understand the value of the money we work so hard to bring in. When we were first married my husband said "I really want this stereo, but I'll have to work 22 hours to pay for it." So if my husband works for 45 hours to pay for a dance class we expect to either be reimbursed what our child did not use or that our DD learn that she will have to choose to work for 45 hours in dance to make our investment in her a worth while endeavor. I understand we all make mistakes, and I have no intention forcing a child to become a prima ballerina if that is not her natural bent. The lessons I hope my children learn are that we desired to be valued for the investment we make in their lives, and that we work hard to do so; I hope they learn perserverance (sp) for when they make mistakes they will have to travel the long road as adults through the consequences of their choices. They also must learn that while our love, and desire for their happiness is unconditional, our wallet will not be held hostage to their whims.
Just recently they had a very hard lesson to learn. Because we are moving we close out their passbook savings. They insisted they wanted to have control over this money, and after carefully warning them that I would not replace that money, lost, stolen, ill-used or otherwise, they took their money. They went to the video game store with their father and purchase a couple of games they really wanted. Fine no problem. They had a bit left over and I suggested the squirrel it away for the little stands and gift shops, and roadside stores that we'll see on our move. Well the neighbors were having a little yard sale next door. They asked and said "I do not think you should buy anything from them because what you buy we'll have to move, and there is nothing there you really need." My children ignored wise counsel anyhow and bought items from the family. Those neighbors cheated my children out of $15.00 total. I was HOT!!! I regained 5 of it out of the sheer insanity of the price and the plain idiotic disregard they seemed to have for both my children and myself. YOU do not sell one stinking toy to a child at a yard sale for 5.00 bucks. But I kept that money from them, and as to the other 10, my husband was party to that lack of thought so I let that go. Now my children have 2 bags, one of which was free to the neighbor courtesy of your loving and giving ciggarette company.
I tell you I will be glad to be rid of that lot!!! Lord love em and save em. I did not know how to approach them, but we desired to be kindly and avoided being judgemental. In the end I had to judge the fruit of their family's actions and disassociate. I have to live next to them for now, and I have a call to love them--though I do feel hurt and betrayed, but i do not have to trust them anymore.
This idea scares me personally. I'll tell you why. We tell our children that they are allowed to try new things, but if we pay money (any amount of money) for them to participate we expect them to see it through to the end. We do not expect them to continue after a session or season has ended if they do not want to go further. Of course if a class, or activity they chose seemed to be harming them or that a person teaching the class/activity was harming them they would be removed post haste.
We do this because we want them to understand the value of the money we work so hard to bring in. When we were first married my husband said "I really want this stereo, but I'll have to work 22 hours to pay for it." So if my husband works for 45 hours to pay for a dance class we expect to either be reimbursed what our child did not use or that our DD learn that she will have to choose to work for 45 hours in dance to make our investment in her a worth while endeavor. I understand we all make mistakes, and I have no intention forcing a child to become a prima ballerina if that is not her natural bent. The lessons I hope my children learn are that we desired to be valued for the investment we make in their lives, and that we work hard to do so; I hope they learn perserverance (sp) for when they make mistakes they will have to travel the long road as adults through the consequences of their choices. They also must learn that while our love, and desire for their happiness is unconditional, our wallet will not be held hostage to their whims.
Just recently they had a very hard lesson to learn. Because we are moving we close out their passbook savings. They insisted they wanted to have control over this money, and after carefully warning them that I would not replace that money, lost, stolen, ill-used or otherwise, they took their money. They went to the video game store with their father and purchase a couple of games they really wanted. Fine no problem. They had a bit left over and I suggested the squirrel it away for the little stands and gift shops, and roadside stores that we'll see on our move. Well the neighbors were having a little yard sale next door. They asked and said "I do not think you should buy anything from them because what you buy we'll have to move, and there is nothing there you really need." My children ignored wise counsel anyhow and bought items from the family. Those neighbors cheated my children out of $15.00 total. I was HOT!!! I regained 5 of it out of the sheer insanity of the price and the plain idiotic disregard they seemed to have for both my children and myself. YOU do not sell one stinking toy to a child at a yard sale for 5.00 bucks. But I kept that money from them, and as to the other 10, my husband was party to that lack of thought so I let that go. Now my children have 2 bags, one of which was free to the neighbor courtesy of your loving and giving ciggarette company.
I tell you I will be glad to be rid of that lot!!! Lord love em and save em. I did not know how to approach them, but we desired to be kindly and avoided being judgemental. In the end I had to judge the fruit of their family's actions and disassociate. I have to live next to them for now, and I have a call to love them--though I do feel hurt and betrayed, but i do not have to trust them anymore.
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