Season: 6 Episode: 090
Summary:
With education rapidly changing and adjusting to the culture, what do Christian moms do with their kids? Does it matter which avenue of education we choose? Shanda discusses homeschool, public school, and private school and provides encouragement for the mom who just wants her kids to choose Jesus.
Quotables:
Recommended Resources:
Website: shandafulbright.com
Instagram and Facebook: @shandafulbright
Email: hello@shandafulbright.com
Join my Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2584147064952378/?ref=group_browse
Free Resources: https://www.shandafulbright.com/links
YouTube: Shanda Fulbright
Store: Shandafulbright.com/shop
Fall Apologetics 101
Hey guys! Welcome back to another episode of Her Faith Inspires podcast where we take culture issues and align them to biblical truth. Apologetics 101 is right around the corner and if you want in the class you will need to go to shandafulbright.com to register. The classes are capped at 20 students to make sure I get to know each one of you and can answer everyones questions. The next one will be in the spring.
Today, I have a listener requested episode.
Which one should you choose: public school, home school or private school? How do you know which private school to choose? Are you capable of home schooling your children?
Which one do I suggest and what did I do for my boys, or am I doing for my boys?
I’m not going to give it away just yet, but I’m pretty sure my answer is going to surprise you. First of all, if I tell you what to do with your kids, you shouldn’t listen to me. You are the parent. I can only give you suggestions and my advice for each one of these options.
Also, remember that I was once a public school teacher. I’ve only been out of the classroom for two years and I coached and helped in the classroom last year. So I have a lot of insight into the public school system and how to navigate it as a parent.
Voddie Baucham has said, “If you send your kids to Caesar, don’t be surprised when they come back Romans.”
I agree with this to a degree, and if you’ve listened to me long enough, you know that I love Voddie. But I don’t agree with everything he says. I agree with most everything he says.
School is going to start up again soon, so this is something parents should be aware of. Especially because your kids are going to learn about sexual preferences, CRT and social justice. These are important questions to talk about as parents and as the parent of your child, you have a lot of power and a lot of say in their education.
So, here are the questions we’re going to talk about today:
- What’s the difference between public school, private school, and home school?
2. Your child’s success rides on one thing and one thing only.
3. What’s at stake?
Public school, private school and home school. Which one do I choose?
I’m not going to sit here and tell you which type of school to put your kids in. Because honestly, I don’t believe the success of your child depends on any one of these alone. Allie Stuckey always tells people to get their kids out of public school, and I do understand why she says it.
I’ve seen people on Instagram bash other parents for not sacrificing enough and home schooling their children or for not putting them into private school. Are either one of those options their only hope for knowing God?
I thought for sure I was going to home school my boys since I taught them preschool and have my teaching credential. But when the time came, I felt that the Lord wanted me to put my boys in public school. So I enrolled them into a charter school win in our area. I had to volunteer in their classroom for only 10 hours out of the year. Every parent did. And that school was a high achieving school because of the parental support. But I didn’t only volunteer for 10 hours. I went into the classroom every Friday and stayed the whole day. I got to know the teachers and staff so well and became the secretary of the PTA.
It took making sure I was there so I knew what was being taught.
I knew which teachers to request for my kids because I watched them. I knew the principal and he knew me. So well in fact, that when the time came for teaching positions to open up, he told me to apply.
So I am not going to tell you that your child cannot be a Christian in a public school. But I will tell you that even when my boys were in kindergarten, public school wasn’t teaching CRT or reading books about gender dysphoria. Things have rapidly changed and that is something that must be considered.
You will have to be more diligent if your kids are in a public school.
You will have to deprogram them from all of the ideologies they will face from their teachers and other students. Be prepared to be more aware of who is on campus and what the state standards are in regards to these ideologies. Some states are coming out and banning CRT. Some aren’t. There are some states teaching sexuality and masturbation in kindergarten. Some aren’t. Find out and make your voice heard.
Private school is the option we chose for our youngest for next year. He has seven years of school left and I want him to be in an environment that will help nurture his love for God and surround him with biblical truth. But I didn’t choose just any private school or the least expensive. I called them and asked them tough questions.
Most private Christian schools are ACSI certified. ACSI is an international organization that many Christian schools advertise as being a part of. Well, ACSI just partnered with UnifiEd and UnifiEd is an organization that teaches CRT and social justice lingo. I checked to see if the school was ACSI certified and then I called them to see how that would affect their curriculum and teacher training.
If you are going to put your children in a private school, make sure you ask them if they are going to adopt CRT as part of their curriculum. Don’t assume that because they are a Christian school and you’re paying money for your child to go there that they will teach all things Jesus and biblical truth.
Just like it is not the church’s job to make sure my kid knows the Lord, it is not the school’s job to teach my kid Jesus.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The private school better hold to their standards of education, but I’m still the parent and its my job they do and teach what the Bible says.
Sometimes parents put their kids in private school and back off. In some ways, we have to be more diligent because we run the risk of becoming complacent while assuming these Christian educators will do it all.
I feel like having my kids in a private school made me teach my boys more diligently and I was more aware and watchful. It also equipped them to be in the world and navigate the world while searching the Bible to find the answers. It sharpened us all as a family.
But if you’re not paying attention, your child will learn secular views and you will lose them to the world.
Finally, homeschooling your children is another option. Home schooling is not for everyone. But if you can do it, then do it! The only other challenge I see to homeschooling is that our children may not be prepared to handle hostile situations. Make sure you teach them apologetics and role play questions from atheists and agnostics and how to answer them.
We must teach our children how to navigate and face the world and not shelter them from the truth of it. We can and must do both while teaching them to be wise.
Your child’s success rides on one thing:
Guess what that one thing is? You. No pressure or anything!
But it’s true.
Proverbs 18:17 says, “He who pleads his cause first seems right until someone comes and cross examines him.” I shared this verse with the moms at the conference on how to teach your children to defend the faith.
First, you can’t teach what you don’t know. Do you want your kids to learn how to defend the faith? Well, you better know how to defend it then.
Because the first part of this verse says, “He who pleads his cause first seems right.” Have you ever heard one side of a story and you already made up your mind about how to feel about the people involved? Maybe you were angry at the other party or you started to dislike someone because of what you heard.
The strategy of anyone who tries to rally the troops and get people on their side is to get to people first and tell their side of the story.
The first one who gets to your kids with a view or an ideology is going to be the one to persuade your kid to go to their side.
That can be a scary thought when we’re talking about some of the issues arising in the public school system right now.
However, the second part of that verse brings some comfort. It says, “Until someone comes and cross examines him.”
You see, I try and get to my boys first with the truth of God’s word. I try to get to them with what is right before they hear what is wrong. But it’s not always possible. Sometimes, others get to them first. So what do we do? Cross examine every ideology with the word of God.
Does it hold up?
This type of language is used in the judicial system. We are literally putting these ideas on trial in our home and asking if they are guilty of violating the word of God. If they are, we prove them to be false. But we first must know what the truth is and we also must know what our kids are hearing and learning.
If we don’t, we will lose them to whoever is getting to them first.
It’s going to take a whole lot of diligence to teach your kids truth and the ways of the Lord. And if you put your little ones in public school, you will have to be even more diligent. They need you to advocate for them.
Deut 6:7-9 speaks of parents teaching their children the ways of the Lord diligently. Diligence means “constant and earnest effort to accomplish what’s undertaken.”
My mom was diligent with teaching me and my siblings. We went to public school and we faced things that challenged our morals and beliefs in God. However, it was NOTHING like what our kids face today.
There were no cell phones and YouTube back in my day. Our kids are not only bombarded by this stuff at school, but YouTube is filled with propaganda. I listen to Pandora sometimes and their commercials are propaganda too.
You can’t let your guard down in this world we live in.
The Bible tells us in Debt to teach them when you come and go, when you walk by the way, etc. Meaning, every chance you get, teach them about God. It doesn’t always have to be formal training where you sit down with a whiteboard and pencil. In fact, make it fun. I am getting ready to teach my boys what a worldview is and that every movie and piece of entertainment enacts a worldview by showing them clips from Avatar … which is pantheism. They believe mother earth guides and all living things have souls.
I read the book, “So The Next Generation Will Know” by Sean McDowell and Jim Wallace and I recommend it for ideas on how to teach your children to defend their faith and know God.
And finally, in regards to your children’s success being dependent on you is the fact that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, against the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” Eph 6:12.
Pray for your kids everyday.
Teach them to put on the full armor of God. Go through each piece of the armor and teach them what it means to wield the sword and guard their minds with the helmet of salvation.
The devil ain’t playing tidily winks with your children. He’s playing for keeps. And although my children will choose to have a relationship with God out of their own heart, I will do everything in my power to teach them, advocate for them, and battle the enemy while they are in my care.
And the last question we’re going to visit is: what’s at stake?
Your child’s soul. Again, this is a spiritual battle and in the end, eternity hangs in the balance. The ideologies being crammed, and I mean CRAMMED down your child’s throat is in direct conflict with the truth of God’s word.
The goal is to mold your child’s mind into conformity to the world. It’s very strategic.
The public school system at this very moment has some great teachers in it. I know because I know many of them. However, not all of the teachers stick to the curriculum and even if they did, the curriculum is changing to indoctrinate your child and divide them by teaching Marxist ideas.
I’m not telling you that because I put my kids in public school you should too. If I had a kindergartner and had to start all over again, there’s no way in hades my child is going to a public school. Hence the reason my youngest isn’t next year.
There is too much at stake to throw our kids into the lion’s den without proper training. Remember, Daniel was trained before he went to Babylon. He was already around 16-17yo.
Remember, David was trained before he fought Goliath. He already learned that God was faithful in the shepherd fields when he faced the lion and the bear.
Have you trained your child?
Training begins at home. Training takes place around the kitchen table, in the car ride to practice, at night when you tuck them into bed. You correct and you bring up things they will face and you prepare them to handle it when it comes.
There is too much at stake not to.
And here is part of a hard conversation I want to have: I know many of us can’t afford to live off of a single person salary. We many not be able to swing private school or home school and I get it. I do. But sacrifice where you can to be with your children as often as you can because the one who spends the most time with them will have access to their minds and hearts more.
Cut back where you can if it means being with your kids more.
Close:
I want to close this up today by saying again that whatever you choose to do, be it homeschool, public school or private school matters … but not as much as your diligence to teach them and advocate for them.
Many parents ask me how to teach their kids to defend the faith and I say the same thing every time. They won’t defend the faith if you don’t. They will live for God if you don’t. And they will learn the ways of the world if you don’t teach them the ways of God.
I know it sounds like it’s all on you … that’s because it is. No one is more influential in a child’s life than his/her parent. But we are competing with the information age. Once your child has access to technology they will fact check you to see if you know what you’re talking about.
And I will tell you that you better know the answers or you will lose them.
As school begins, please understand that things are different now than when you and I were our kids’ ages. Parents must be more alert, more watchful and more diligent than ever. It truly is a spiritual battle and it’s time for us to make sure we’re in the fight.
If you have any questions about this or anything else, you can email me at hello@shandafulbright.com and I’ll catch you on the next one.
Leave a Reply