The New Monasticism: Homeschooling

his spawned from several posts I read from others on this subject weeks ago. Those articles talked about the trend of American Christians turning to homeschooling, and that attitude of separation from the world being the same as that of the monastics and desert believers. The belief is that we as Christians should be a great influence in our society, being in it but not of it, and affecting the society in a way that brings glory to God and helps people. Of course few tend to give us any substantive, practical ways of doing that without falling into compromise or corruption. Homeschooling is considered another way that Christianity seperates itself from society, not dealing with the harsh ways of the world, and also choosing not to influence the culture in a good, ethical way.

My wife and I will homeschool our children (we have two so far). We plan on joining in with other homeschoolers so that certain educational subjects can be shared. I for one cannot do high school level math. I can do geometry and trig because they are logical. Forget the rest. My kids will be exposed to Latin, Koine Greek, Spanish and hopefully French, German and Arabic (a few languages I hope to start and pick up soon). Our reasons for homeschooling lie in our distaste for the public school system, and the fact that the private schools are too expensive and just as bad as public schools. The education in the public school system, in general, is poor.

I just saw a report that 100,000 California high school seniors failed the new graduation requirement exam; basically, a test implemented to see if the seniors were truly ready to graduate. All of them are in danger of not graduating unless they can pass the exam soon. And what do legislators want to do in light of that? Lower the standards even more and gear the education in the classrooms specifically towards passing that one test. Hence, a true education, one like you found in the 17-1800's, is all but forgotten. In today's schools, teachers have a difficult time giving a quality education to 30-40 kids each class period.

I have seen arguments against homeschooling that cover the spectrum. One argument states that by enrolling their kids in public school, those kids will evangelize their fellow students. I'm sorry, but an 11-year-old boy has other girls...I mean things on his mind ("Here's a gospel tract. I'd write my number on it but I lost it. Can I have yours?"). Another snag to that argument is that an 11-year-old is not going to necessarily understand the evangel--the gospel message--he is supposed to be teaching. A false gospel is not a good thing to minister, nor is it effective. Another argument is that we are being disobedient to God's commission for His people to give charity to their neighbors. The problem with this idea is that it assumes a total seperation from society for the children. Nothing could be further from the truth. The children still have access to their neighbors. In a good program they can socialize and develop relationships with believers and non-believers anywhere.

What happens if you take out all Christian influence from the public school system? That I think is the enigma perceived by those who criticize Christian homeschooling. That will never happen, but I would love to see Christian homeschoolers come together and develop the schools of learning that can become something greater.

For my family, our children's education is vital. I want them to learn well, and be able to take that knowledge and, Lord willing, wisdom, go out into the world on their own and make a great impact. We are not withdrawing from the world around us, but doing what is right for our family and for the Church. We will train our kids up in the way of the Lord, He will take them as far as He wants them. If critics only bring up homeschooling as part of the attack against Christians withdrawing from societal influence (which includes politics and business), then I say move along to another subject. Christians should not seperate from society en toto. We still need to give that charity and show that love for our neighbors. I just don't know what that has to do with homeschooling. I absolutely agree that homeschooling is a new form of monasticism. I have no problem with that, as long as you recognize it is a new form. It sure isn't the way true monasticism used to be, or is today.

If you can think of a practical way of being engaged in the culture, here in America, without compromise and corruption, please let me know. Do not just give the rhetoric. Come with solutions and ideas.