We are told that we need goals, that goals are a good thing.
Attila the Hun had goals, as did Napoleon and Hitler. They had their five year and ten year plans, didn’t they? (Well, maybe not so much Attila, but definitely Napoleon and Hitler.)
The folks meeting in Davos, Switzerland definitely have had their goals, such as diminishing the population and turning us all into drones—but I am so glad they will never become successful!
This is going really, really out there, I know, but I think it makes a point for homeschooling.
We need to have goals, and they need to be GOOD ones.
This post is the third in a series on having your best homeschooling year yet. We are interested in covering these three concepts:
* Enthusiasm—so that your children will be excited about learning for the rest of their lives.
* Knowing your purpose—to listen and obey one step at a time.
* Knowing your goals—to rear a child who is prepared for life as a whole person.
A few posts ago we covered Enthusiasm, and that was so much fun! Then we covered Purpose--and that one got crazy!
Today we are going to be talking about how to formulate good goals for homeschooling.
First, we are going to be talking about the bad goals we have inherited, then we are going to be talking about how to develop good goals, both for the long term and the short term.
Now, we’ve been trained to be worker bees in the huge factory we call an economy, so we can’t help but think in terms of work and productivity.
In many ways this is a good thing, and I’ve talked before about how even God tells us in Proverbs to consider the ant. Ants definitely plan ahead, as they build up their homes and fill up their coffers in the summer to prepare for the lean times in the winter.
But this is not the productivity we have been trained in.
For those of us in the consumer class, we have been trained in this kind of productivity:
* You go to school,
* to get a good job,
* to make more money,
* to buy more things.
If you have been elevated to the slightly higher level of management, it goes this way:
* You go to school,
* to get that degree which will boost you to manage others,
* so that you can help your company make more money,
* to produce the products,
* so the people will work hard for your company,
* to make more money,
* so they will buy more things,
* to keep your company going.
Then, on the higher level of business leader, we have this train of thought:
* You go to that good school,
* to get that degree,
* then you elbow your way up the ladder,
* to gain that title,
* so you can encourage more efficiency,
* to keep those companies churning,
* to keep people working and buying,
* so you can keep the economy going.
And at the top of the pyramid, we have this:
* You go to that Ivy League school,
* to get that clout,
* to get you in the right circles,
* to feel you are on top of the world looking down,
* so you can formulate ways of manipulating industries,
* and political bodies,
* and entire countries,
* to keep people from seeing,
* that you are using them,
* to build a world that completely ignores God,
* to become god.
At the center of it all is what we have been calling “education.”
I know, we all thought that going to school was supposed to make us free, but it was hijacked many years ago and turned into a brainwashing machine (as I described in my last podcast—be sure and check it out if you haven’t already) to turn us into slaves for the goals of those at the very top.
No matter how hard you examine the textbooks, you won’t find these doctrines stated directly anywhere.
But if you pull back far enough, the pattern emerges. You begin to see clearly how the entire system, from the trip on the bus in the morning, to roll call for every class, to the grades and the teacher-parent conference, is meant to train our brains to think in terms of productivity for the machine.
And, if you dig into the history of education, you find that it has all been done on purpose by well-meaning people who did not realize just how evil a few decisions made outside the fear of God can become.
What we have ended up with is not learning, it is indoctrination and obedience training.
This is why our goals as homeschoolers need to be overhauled.
Our aims may well help industry and politics, but only as they perform the aims of God.
Here is that prayer Jesus taught us with:
In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13
His Kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.
This is our ultimate goal.
As believers who have submitted to God, His goals should become our goals in all things, including in education.
Instead of having the main goal be consuming, encouraging consuming, or lording over others, character should be basic and foundational.
So, when we sit down to make our homeschool plans for the next year, we keep the higher things in mind.
Sure, it would seem more productive to stack up the worktexts and go through them methodically, or even to join one of those classical education co-ops which are bent on shoving facts into young minds without sharing with them the reasons why (so comfortable for our public schooled minds).
But productive towards what end? Productive to become members of a heard, a hive, or an anthill, or, at the very best, to become the herder, the beekeeper, or the man who can crush the anthill with his boot.
Instead, our homeschooling needs to be balanced like this:
1. We put the development of character and eternal understanding as the priority. Not the last thing, not at the bottom, but as our priority.
2. We put learning the tools of learning as second priority. This gives our children the power to learn and investigate beyond the curriculum of the machine. It includes reading, writing, and beyond numeracy.
3. We give them information from the perspective of God as Benevolent Creator of all. We help them understand science, history, geography, politics and all they touch as being part of His plans for us. We take great delight in each area as we see His workings and His delight in His creation to bless us and give us all things freely to enjoy.
4. We make sure and immerse our children in real life activities so they can develop connections between the spiritual, mental, emotional, and practical parts of their lives. Compulsory schooling has trained us all to compartmentalize; our working self has one part, our family self another, our spiritual self has 15 minutes in the morning and two hours on Sunday, etc. Our goal must be that our children have a seamless existence; that God is in all of it, and as we are led by the Spirit each facet of our lives is full of Him and His purposes.
And we train them in excellence in all areas.
* If they are developing character—with their whole hearts.
* If they are reading or writing or ciphering—as students pleasing their Master.
* If they are learning about mountains or whales in the ocean or the creation of energy via fusion—all with the wonder of an Intellect that created all and knows all.
* And as they apply all of their character and all of their knowledge—all of it to the betterment of others and the glory of God.
We purchase materials with this perspective in mind, and we plan our days and our months with these things in mind as well.
At first, this sounds so ominous, I know. It sounds as if I am asking you to do more than you are capable of, and it is.
You can’t homeschool this way without the leading of God. There is no way you, as your sweet little old mommy self, can develop goals that will keep you on track and keep your brain (and your heart) from blowing up all at the same time.
You can’t do all this without developing your dependence on Him.
He is your Guide, He is your Strength, He is your answer when you have hard questions.
As I have homeschooled our 15 children, this is what it has been for me.
Can I confess something to you here?
I’ve owned a lot of different homeschool mommy planners over the years, and almost all of them have had spaces for “goals.” Guess what, I’ve never been able to fill them out. I think I tried once or twice, but I never could finish.
This is because I homeschool the way I live each day; with God holding the map and giving me just enough directions for the next step and no more.
That doesn’t mean I haven’t tried to step out further many, many times, but my efforts are so clumsy and silly that they don’t become successful.
Always, always He brings me back to square one and I learn to lean and trust and rest.
Yes, this is where we are going—to the genius of homeschooling this way.
You have to have special ears for this, and a heart that has been softened. This will sound like nonsense otherwise.
But, if you do have a soft heart that is sensitive to His leading, this will be the only logical conclusion.
This is when we truly get to enjoy learning with our children; when we plan loosely and live each day knowing we have placed the ultimate outcome into His hands.
His goals, His way, for His glory.
My “goal” for my next post is to talk about Discipline. I believe this will be a lovely way of bringing everything together, don’t you?
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