Covenental Homeschooling: By R.C. Sproul Jr.

I've begun a really interesting book I picked up at a home school used book sale. It's called,
WHEN YOU RISE UP: A COVENANTAL APPROACH TO HOMESCHOOLING By: R.C. Sproul Jr.

Well the first chapter is addressing the one thing that is universal in education no matter what kind one chooses. Education is important. He give a staggering figure from a Digest of Education Statistics, 2002; from the U.S. Department of Education

At the turn into the next Millennium, (so roughly 10 years ago) the U.S. was spending $754 Billion a year on education. Almost a trillion dollars. $754,000,000,000 Whoa...thats a lot of change. This made it obvious to me. Education is important.

1. What is the goal of Education?

He addresses this quite well and it comes down to this. There is academic excellence and there is
moral excellence. Within the home school community there is a tug of war for both. We don't want one or the other; (typically) we want them both. I would like both for my kids. I have struggled with this same thing. I don't want to just school them at home so they can be protected to some extent, I want to give them a fantastic education that I don't feel they could get. But I also want to instruct them "when they rise up and when they lie down" in God's Truth.
It's a really hard balance.

Then Sproul uses this example that really hit home.

"Would you rather have your child graduate at the top of his class at Harvard, become a Rhodes Scholar, win the Nobel Prize and serve on the board of the Council for Secular Humanists? Or would you rather have your child be unable to make it through the local high school, become a garbageman and be a godly husband and father?" Ouch. His comment: We want both. We want our kids to be Godly Geniuses. Ha Ha. I just laughed. Because as I talk to those in the home school community (from all faiths) and read books on homeschooling....this is what I find. We desire Godly Geniuses.

Who wants to brag to their friends that "Yeah, my son is the local garbage man in Trashtown U.S.A., he couldn't make it to college, but...he loves his wife and kids and the Lord God w/all his heart" I think maybe our thinking is skewed.

Anyway. The book is very thought provoking. I'm going to keep plunking out my thoughts as I read through this in case anyone is interested.