Thought this was a fantastic article about rearing children from Josh Harris’ blog. It’s written specifically about homeschooling parents, but really applies to any family-oriented Christian. It starts like this:
Some of these young people (who were raised in very godly homes with intentional Christian parents) grew up and left home in defiance of their parents. Others got married against their parents’ wishes, and still others got involved with drugs, alcohol, and immorality. I have even heard of several exemplary young men who no longer even believe in God. My own adult children have gone through struggles I never guessed they would face.
Most of these parents remain stunned by their children’s choices, because they were fully confident their approach to parenting was going to prevent any such rebellion.
After several years of examining what went wrong in our own home and in the homes of so many conscientious parents, God has opened our eyes to a number of critical blind spots common to homeschoolers and other family-minded people.
The article goes on to list 10 or so mistakes that these well-intentioned parents make which were very convicting, and helpful to Veronica and me. I’d encourage you to read the whole thing.
This kicked my Homeschooling butt! It also put into Biblical perspective, many of the concerns, I toy around with in my head, regarding Homeschooling. Going to spend time pouring over the meat of this article and praying for wisdom & discernment as we continue in our Homeschool journey. Thanks for being bold enough to share!
With 8 kids and 20+ years of homeschooling we’ve made most if not all the mistakes at one time or another… If you can enable a child to be the adult that God created them to be you’ve succeeded…
Nothing in any of Josh’s 9 points are specific to homeschooling. These are common mistakes by concerned but wrongly motivated parents, and are not at all isolated to homeschooling.
Having grown up in public schools, I can attest to the fact that my parents made some the same blunders absent of homeschooling. So why the attack on homeschooling (e.g., the title is “homeschooling blindspots”, not “mistakes of Christian parents”)?
I agree with the solution and conclusion Josh provides in his article, but his focus on homeschooling gives the impression that the problem is the method of eduction.