In retrospect, the idea was not entirely my own. As I recall, the notion was, and still is, fairly pervasive in homeschooling catalogs and conferences. Calls are issued forth to “raise up the next generation of Christian leaders” and “produce bold educated servants of Christ.” It was, in its simplest form, a cookie-cutter model saying, “Put them through this, and they will turn out like that.”
The curriculum wasn’t sold with a “salvation, or your money back” guarantee, but to use the words of Austen’s perceptive character, Marianne Dashwood, “It was every day implied but never professedly declared.” Were homeschool resources to blame? No. My pride was the seed. Personal sacrifice had led to an unwarranted sense of entitlement. My child would be a Christian because I had given up so much. I had sacrificed career and income; her faithfulness should be my reward. These were false beliefs.
Homeschool Can’t Save
The truth is that only Christ can move upon human hearts inclined toward sin and do a work of regeneration. It will be Christ that moves upon the heart of a child if they are educated at home, and it will be Christ that moves upon the heart if they are not. Christ is the hero of Christian homeschool, not us parents.
No amount of Latin lessons, Bible memory songs, or classical literature can do saving work. To the family just beginning the journey of homeschool education, may God bless you as you educate your children for the glory of God. Only please remember, it is no guarantee. Our homeschooled children may leave our homes serving Christ, or they may not, but our exceedingly great reward is Christ.
Aggressive prayer for my prodigal includes that she would be shown the logical outworkings of her atheistic worldview. Last semester she sat under a Malthusian biology professor who advocated for the intentional de-population of the world through airborne viruses. He legitimized sexual assault by excusing male predation as evolutionary instinct. She has since shifted from a hard atheism to agnosticism. She’s had a whiff of the pigsty.
I pray the Lord himself will meet my daughter in the woods of her rebellion and use whatever means he chooses to save her soul. Jesus said, “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:14). The way of salvation is truly the road less traveled, and his saving grace alone makes the eternal difference.
