Public or Private School?

Dear Trisha,

Wow!  Thank you for wanting to contact me (Sharon, Daniel’s wife) and ask about the kids education.

I think this is a tough question, at this point in time.  For our family personally, our kids are going to public school, except for Caleb who is a freshman at Biola University – an AWESOME Christian Bible Teaching University.

Nathan is a Jr. in HS, Bethany is in 7th grade in middle school, and Lilly is in 2nd grade in elementary school.  My husband, Dan, has said that we need to have Christians in the public school and as long as our kids are being the “light” and not getting pulled into darkness, they will go to public school. I fought this idea when our oldest, Caleb, went into 7th grade jr. high.  I was scared for the influences and exposure that he would come across.  Caleb definitely got exposed to more than what I would have wanted him to know but I realized it was a good slow realization of what “the world” is like. It has been an opportunity, as situations arise at their level, for me to train them in what scripture says is right and wrong.  With the kids being in public school, I know that I must be home when they get home, watch their demeanor and attitudes when they walk in the door, be available for when they have questions or need to share something that happened at school, and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!  (I am involved with Moms In Touch at the schools they go to. I am confident that the consistent prayers have kept them from many opportunities that we knew about or did not know about that they could have stumbled from.  So, prayer is a MUST!)

 

Communicating with the kids is so important to guiding them, sharing TRUTH about how to handle situations or what God would want, and disciplining immediately when necessary.  I think it is harder as a parent to have my Christian kids, who are strong in the Lord, go to public school.  I must trust the Lord for their safety and their personal walk with Him.  I am not able to shelter them as I would like – keeping them in our home, controlling who their friends are, what they hear, what they see, etc.  I must also say that Dan and I both agree that if there was even a hint that one of our kids was being drawn to the darkness, that we would pull them out of public school immediately.  And, we take each child one year at a time with the decision to keep them in public school.  Fortunately, so far, our kids have been a bright light and are influencing others, teachers and peers, for the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, that is what our family does, for now.  But, I don’t know how much longer we will be able to keep them in public school.  Our state passed a law that states teachers must teach about homosexuality as part of the curriculum starting 1/1/12.  And, there is so much other negative, sinful, darkness that is becoming more and more apparent in the public school.  (Granted, this darkness is becoming more and more prevalent where ever you go in society with the media, music, lack of parental discipline and convictions, school administrators liberalism, government, etc.)

So, whether to home school or private school… I think that needs to be an individual parents/family decision based on prayer, what God is leading the family to do, and what is available in their city.  This decision depends on what the father says is going to happen for his kids, what the mother is able to accomplish, what private school is available, what home school networking group is available.  There are plenty of pros and cons for any  aspect of these choices.  I know you will do your research.  Private Christian schools have plenty of negative/worldly influences along with the chapel and Bible teaching throughout the day.  Home school children need to have a network of friends and classes to attend outside the home when a parent is not able to teach “up to par.”  (For example, I cannot teach passed Geometry, as that is the highest level I had in High School .  Our local home school group has classes taught by a network of home school parents that can teach classes such as Trigonometry).

This is a VERY difficult decision.  I look up to Dr. James Dobson.  He has influenced me and encouraged me tremendously with my walk with the Lord and how involved I am with our community and country concerning government, media, and education.  Dr. Dobson is a strong advocate for Homeschooling your kids or sending them to a solid Christian School.  He believes all Christians need to be homeschooled or go to a Christian school because of how much indoctrination the public schools are pushing contrary to what we believe scripture says and that parents are the ones who need to be teaching their children.  This has been a difficult aspect for me but as I stated before, my kids are being the light at school.  I have a huge amount of examples to “prove” this point.  (It is sad that so many Christians have pulled their kids out of public schools because now what is left? Darkness.)

You can get a ton of information if you go to www.familytalk.org or www.focusonthefamily.org

I know this was a long answer to your question.  I pray all the time for my kids and husband.  The world is becoming more and more “dark.”  I long for our Lord’s second coming so we can be in Heaven with Him!

Thank you for thinking of me to wonder what my opinion is.  I hope my answer helps.

All for Him!

Sharon

(God commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Therefore, we are to be as concerned about our neighbor’s children as though they were our own. Our neighbor’s children need a light next to them to expose darkness.  I pray our children are that loving light. _Dan)

About Chaplain Dan

My desire in setting up this website is to encourage, equip and assist Christians with the Biblical gift of Discerning Spirits and help them use it to bring glory to God. If the gift is from the Holy Spirit, then the end results should be praise to God and the fruit of love, joy, peace, hope, self-control, and freedom from addiction oppression and bondage. This website is a tool to help you bridge from shock and wonder into fruitful service that brings glory to God.
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