A friend who had been teaching an Essay Writing class this past semester, brought up the question about protecting our kids but also making sure they are aware enough of the world around them, especially as they approach the high school years, to be able to answer questions that will come up on essay tests, SAT, etc. intelligently. If they have never had the opportunity to discuss various issues openly at home in light of a Christian Worldview, how can we expect them to go out into the world and share an intelligent witness to others?
Anyway, my post below is about a book I just finished reading that should be a priority to read for every parent! I encourage you to buy it and check it out for yourself!
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I have just been reading through For the Children's Sake--Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.
This is an excellent book. She covers many aspects of the Charlotte Mason approach to learning as well as many other great ideas.
It gives you a lot to think about and ways to examine yourself to see how you are doing in the "job" of educating your children for LIFE.
The section I am reading now is related to what S.M. originally posted about making sure we discuss issues with our children.
This Chapter is-- Education: A Science of Relationships. She covers many areas in this chapter, but in the section below, she is referring to how we are teaching our children to have what we now refer to as a Christian worldview---how we look at everything in relation to the God who created this world and who is ever present--not just making things "separate" but how to truly make all of life into one complete "picture or story"--no separation between "religion" and "academics" or the "real world". God's world IS the real world!
Anyway, here is a section from this chapter, just some ideas to think about! From pages, 101 to 103.
"It is an imperative priority, as never before, to allow our children to learn to think, understand, and see the central truths quite explicitly and clearly. This is a central part of the "Christian" aspect of our education.
We were able to show the film series Whatever Happened to the Human Race to our daughter's school. Attendance was optional. The children were between thirteen and sixteen years old, from average homes. They were absolutely riveted by the ideas of who the person is and his worth, and the topics of euthanasia, abortion, old age, and so on. Discussion afterwards was lively and penetrating. Children need to consider practical issues. They want to think. They want answers. Christianity is part of that rock of reality about which youngsters long to know. They need to understand how contemporary issues fit into what the Bible says.
Have you read The Plague by Camus with a group of fifteen-year-olds? Have they wondered over the problem of evil, the human problem? In reading this novel, do they notice the fallacy of the priest's argument? 'God has willed this child to suffer.' Do they think about how different the biblical perspective is: that the suffering was unleashed by man's choice to disobey God? That all individuals, and the course of history, are caught up in this river of consequence; an abnormal world?
Do they read Brave New World and discuss the logical conclusion of the humanist view of man, his morality, humanity, and social purpose?
Can they pick up something like Time magazine, read it, and think about where it fits into the Christian framework?
Do they come home from school, or from having seen a TV program, and spontaneously discuss what is right, what is wrong?
Have they thrashed through the reasons why the Bible is true? Do they understand the fallacies of other positions? Can they remember numerous occasions when the Bible was seen to fit like a key into the keyhole of reality? Do they know about the historical and archaeological evidence? Are they amazed at how the philosophical ideas of the Bible fit into the way we find reality to be?
They should not be left with only a feeling--'I know it's true because I feel it in my heart.' That is not enough.
One morning they will wake up and you will be gone, and so will their feelings.
Do they know?
All of this is 'Christian education'.
Seeing fallacies. Understanding. Knowing the Bible. Thinking. Judging ideas. Seeking and keeping ears open. Being in touch. "
You'll have to get the book to read the rest of what she has to say!
This book will be an inspiration to all homeschooling families!
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