Who Said?

19 Apr 2000 - Who Said It Was Time?
In North Carolina, according to the law, a person must name their homeschool. I thought it was silly. But if I had to do it I wanted the perfect name. After much thought we chose “The Isaiah 54:13 Homeschool”. This verse sums up so much of what we believe it says:
All your children shall be taught By the LORD, and great shall be the Peace of your children.
Isn’t that a wonderful thought; God teaching your children. I know that God doesn’t come down and physically teach our children. Instead He gave us His Word and His Holy Spirit to guide us in what we teach and the way we teach. He made each human being different wouldn’t it stand to reason that these unique humans would all learn differently? I can see it no other way.
A member of our church that tutors children in her home spoke to me Sunday. She was concerned that a kindergartner that she tutored wasn’t reading yet. Since I homeschool she wanted some tips. She told me how the little girl would look at a letter and have to be told what it was only to forget it 30 seconds later. I told her I was the wrong one to ask. In my opinion the child wasn’t ready yet. I saw my mother cringe when I started to speak. She supports us 100% and from her own experience she sees and agrees with our ways. But she is still uncomfortable when she feels sure others will judge us. The lady that tutors continued on, “But it is time for her to read.” I asked her, “Who says it is time? Did God put it in the Bible ‘Thou shalt read at 6 years old’? Just because the school system set up the arbitrary age of 6 for a child to read doesn’t mean that all children are ready at that point.” I went on to tell a little about our experience with Jordy, and our ongoing experience with Jamison who is still not ready. She commented that this little girl will most certainly fail kindergarten, and what a stigma that will be. And she is right about that. That child will be labeled a slow learner. Probably every public school teacher she will have from now on will see that in her file even before they meet the child. And when she is ready will she be given the chance to prove that she is intelligent and able to learn? I hope so, but I am not sure. Will this stigma, as her tutor called it, harm her self-image? Will she give up trying to learn? Will she love to learn?
I want our children to love to learn. If I had to put what I want our children to take from their “homeschool” experience in a nutshell it is that they love to learn and know how to get the information. They will go looking for some of this information later than a public school child is forced to. But will also find some of the information long before the public school child is exposed to it. Both ways are fine with me. God made them different from any other children on the face of the earth, and they will learn differently than any other child on the face of the earth.
The last part of our homeschool verse is; and great shall be the peace of your children. I see so little peace today. In the world at large there is little peace. Even in our country we really don’t have peace. And sad to say that I don’t often see peace in the homes. I want my children to know peace. They won’t get it in the world. And I know they do have to live in this world. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to carry peace around inside of you? I covet that for my children.