The Visionary Father’s Role in Home Education

Here's an excerpt from a recent Vision Forum email about the CD:

"The Visionary Father’s Role in Home Education tackles these questions and more by laying out seven fundamentals of biblical fatherhood applied to home education: The duty of fathers to lead with love by casting vision; providing distinctively biblical discipleship; spiritually defending the realm of the Christian household from external danger; overseeing the “big picture” direction for household management; enforcing discipline; serving as the resident historian; and leading in family worship."

More on the CD

(This article featured in Carnival of Homeschooling for week of July 28, 2008)

Several of the ACCS Conference speakers remarked that their greatest joy is in seeing some of their former students return to their schools - as teachers.  The movement is maturing and the second generation is emerging.  Teachers who early on were not sure they were making an impact are thrilled to see that many of their students did actually learn and mature and now are returning to teach or to enroll their own children in the school.

Most educators would agree that great education begins with great teachers.  If the teacher has taught well, the students are transformed into great people, well rounded and mature.  Mature, whole people are also able to lead and teach others.  They may not have the gift or desire to teach in a classroom setting, but surely their wisdom and sound living is contagious.  Having been well trained in rhetoric, they're able to impact the lives of others in their speech and their actions confirm their spoken word.

Success for the classical schooling method would mean that most of the graduates are wonderful, well rounded, articulate folks.  Mature, godly, biblically-minded students marry and presumably will follow the wise biblical instruction to multiply greatly.  Their families will have 5, 6, maybe even 10 children.  How will these children be educated?

The parents, successful graduates of a classical school, could send them all to the classical school.  However, financial costs of between $5,000 and $10,000 yearly, per student, make this impossible for all but the very wealthy.  Since the parents are themselves well rounded, intelligent, articulate, mature adults, they could join the faculty of the classical school.  Most schools permit the children of faculty to attend for free.  So the father could teach at the school, to solve the financial problem for the large family.

My guess is that the optimum class size for a teacher/classroom setting is under 10 students.  Many of the elite private schools boast class sizes under 10 and student:teacher ratio of 5 to 7 (see footnote).  So in the optimum classical school, great teachers teach classes of about 5 to 10 students - let's say 8 for this scenario.  So when the classically trained parents return to the faculty of the school, as the only way they can afford classical education for their large family, they find themselves teaching 8 children from other families.  Their children are in turn in classes of 8, taught by other parents, presumably classically trained, presumably with a large family they can't otherwise afford to enroll in the school.  Since the teachers are all intelligent, mature folks, I imagine that about 3 weeks into the school year, while standing around the water cooler after lunch, the conversation goes something like this:

Ted: "Hey Mike, you have my Carl and Cindy in your class - how's it going?"

Mike: "Great, they're a real joy, and you have my Wendy and Sam in yours.  Are they staying out of trouble?"

Ted: "Oh, we're having a ball, drop by anytime.  And Bill, how's my Catherine doing in 4th grade."

Bill: "Excellent, her project for the Science Fair is coming together nicely.  Take care of my Sally, tell her Hi for me."

Ted: "Uhh, yeah, I... I will..   Hey, wait a minute - Mike, you have my Carl and Cindy and I have two of yours.  Bill, you have my Catherine, and I have your Sally.  Joe has my middle schoolers...  and, and... Jeff has my older ones.. and, and.."

Mike:  "Ted, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Ted: "I think so - why not get my kids in my class and you take your kids to your class?  Why should I have you keep tabs on my kids when they're just down the hall, and I'm keeping up with your kids?  Makes perfect sense!"

Bill: "But guys, remember we all have our areas of expertise and are not able to teach all these other areas."

Ted: "Wait Bill, I went to a great school and got a complete education, well rounded in all the liberal arts, including math and science.  Didn't you?  Didn't the administrator require us all to demonstrate mastery in all the basic fields of study before we were hired?"

Bill: "Well, that's right, so really I know art well enough to teach it, and I can teach reading and math.  I learned to love history and poetry from my classical education.  I can teach more than just my science class..."

Mike: "But Ted, But what about age differences?  Can the high schoolers really learn with the younger kids?  How can we mix all the ages in a single classroom - it wouldn't work."

Ted: "What if we had our kids all day, not just for a 1 hour class.  We could start the older ones on some reading and math they could do on their own.  Then we could attend to the younger ones.  Let's face it, the little ones really don't need 8 hours of continuous classroom time.... Later we could get back with the older ones to discuss what they read and give them some direction in their writing projects."

Bill: "But what chaos that would be in a single school room!  What you'd need is a couple rooms where the kids could get alone when they needed to concentrate, and some place for the kids to spend their time between subjects - maybe a music room to practice piano or a basketball hoop outside where they could get some exercise while they took a break.  But that's crazy - no school has the budget to provide all those facilities for each teacher.  I mean, it sounds like we're describing somebody's home...."

Ted, Bill, Mike (in unison):  "...EXACTLY!!!"

So Ted, Bill, and Mike withdrew their kids from the school at the Christmas break and resigned from the school staff.  Each day at home they taught their own 8 kids whom they knew and loved, ate lunch with them, played with them, prayed with  them.  The dads started businesses with their kids help.  In short they lived together, learned together, loved together as the family they were intended to be.  Ted's, Bill's, and Mike's families worshipped together at the same church, their kids played on the same sports teams and the older ones enjoyed helping each other at the annual homeschool science fair.

Now, this is what will happen if the classical school movement is successful.  What would prevent it?

-Graduates are not qualified to teach their own kids.  Possible, but this would be a failure of the school, whose goal is to produce just these types of graduates.

-Graduates do not have large families. They have 2 or 3 kids so can afford to send them to the school and work elsewhere.  Possible, but this is a failure to be faithful to the biblical instructions to multiply greatly.

-Graduates are very wealthy and can afford $50,000-100,000 a year tuition.  Possible, but then parents don't need to work outside the home at all.  They can live modestly off of the money they would have spent on tuition.  Wise, mature parents would have saved this money while the children were pre-school age then be able to live on it indefinitely.  If they can't do this, then they aren't mature, selfless Christians - which again they would be if the classical school movement succeeds.

In conclusion, I support the classical Christian schools and wish them complete success.  I suspect there will always be a need for these schools.  However, their students should be first generation classical schoolers.  In this case, the parents may not have had a wonderful education.  They may want their kids to have a glorious education so that they in turn could homeschool their kids.  So the movement remains necessary as a transitional, remedial work.  But the real endgame - given 5 or 6 generations of faithfulness by the churches and by the schools, would be that the need for the schools ends and all live happily ever after, learning in their homes, with their parents.

Footnote: A search of private schools at http://www.petersons.com/pschools/code/psector.asp, using the term "student-teacher ratio".  Results show school profiles listing student-teacher ratios in the range mentioned.

Each Christian family must have a routine time of focusing on the scripture and praying for one another.  Here's what has worked well for us...

Typically, a college interview pertains to the prospective student answering questions of the college staff or faculty.  The student is eager to be accepted and wishes to excel in the interview.  However, a more important interview would actually be a series of interviews between the student's parents and each professor that will teach the student.  If the college is effective, as professors teach the student, "the student becomes like the teacher".  So parents should want to know what type of person their child will become, should the education be successful.  Of course, if the education is not successful, the student doesn't become like the professor and the parents have wasted precious time and money. 

Here's a wise and ancient perspective on higher education from St. Augustine, a man whose brilliance is generally uncontested.  He realized his education did nothing to change his character and behavior, as he had his "back to God's light".  Make sure your professors are facing fully into the light, or their great learning and eloquence will only lead you astray.

From Confessions book 4, chapter 16: 
And what did it profit me that I, the base slave of vile affections, read unaided, and understood, all the books that I could get of the so-called liberal arts? And I took delight in them, but knew not whence came whatever in them was true and certain. For my back then was to the light, and my face towards the things enlightened; whence my face, with which I discerned the things enlightened, was not itself enlightened. Whatever was written either on rhetoric or logic, geometry, music, or arithmetic, did I, without any great difficulty, and without the teaching of any man, understand, as Thou knowest, O Lord my God, because both quickness of comprehension and acuteness of perception are Thy gifts. Yet did I not thereupon sacrifice to Thee. So, then, it served not to my use, but rather to my destruction, since I went about to get so good a portion of my substance into my own power; and I kept not my strength for Thee, but went away from Thee into a far country, to waste it upon harlotries. For what did good abilities profit me, if I did not employ them to good uses?

The Association of Classical and Christian Schools is holding their 2008 Annual Conference in Austin this year.

While I am becoming less and less interested in the "school" model, I am interested in the classical methods. I discourage "school" when it is defined as a daily classroom environment with a single expert teaching 15 to 30 children. There are benefits from joining with others now and then to hear the wisdom of a single expert or visionary. However, the day-to-day educational model the scriptures teach are parents mentoring and discipling their own children. Of course, Jesus taught His disciples in more of a school model. He as the leader of 12 students who were not His own biological children. So again, I see the expert-led classroom model as biblical and practical for mature adults.

That said, I am excited about the ACCS conference and will be attending this year. I greatly anticipate the opportunity to hear Ken Myers in person, having listened to his perspective for years through my Mars Hill Audio subscription. He and the other great speakers will be an encouragement to any home-educating parents who attend. I hope to see you there!

Here's a plan that covers the major themes of the Bible in smaller readings of about 10 to 15 verses.  Young children can do at least one reading daily.  Older children may read several throughout the day.  Adults unfamiliar with the Bible can use the plan to more quickly learn the major themes.

The readings alternate through the New and Old Testaments, with Psalms and Proverbs mixed throughout.  The table below shows the first 135 readings of the 700+ total included in the attached file.  Print out the file and let your children use it as a daily checklist - it will help them develop a lifelong habit of daily scripture reading...

What to expect from a teenager
Teenager. The word can bring fear to any parent of younger children as they imagine their kids entering so-called "adolescence". Expectations seem universally low for modern teenagers. What can you as a parent and teacher reasonably expect from a 14 year old? Some look around and see culture in shambles and just hope to keep their kids off drugs, not pregnant, and educated enough to get into an American college for 4 to 6 more years of education. Homeschoolers look around and hope to do better than this. But it's useful to look at other eras beside our own to get a sense of what is possible from a teenager.

I encountered a study of the Puritans several years ago which really opened my eyes. This perspective of the past has encouraged me greatly as to what is really possible from my kids in their teen years. In the introduction to chapter 8 of The Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings, renowned historian Perry Miller (not a Christian, incidentally) explains the 17th century New England educational system. The following excerpts are quoted from the book... [More]

At this point early in the school year, new homeschoolers can panic if they feel they've "gotten off to a bad start".  I've visited several of the online homeschool forums and have seen this common occurence.  I've replied to several in hopes of encouraging those who are overly worried.  One recent example is this discussion thread over at Homeschool.com.

Here's a copy of my reply - I hope it helps others who are new... [More...]

Most of us have said at one time "Why doesn't someone write a book about _______ ?"  Having read dozens of books on parenting and homeschooling and experiencing fatherhood first hand for 14+ years, I felt there was still a need for a book that better combined the principles of parenting with practical ideas that worked.  The book would reflect parenting as a whole, but necessarily focus heavily on discipleship and education.  All with strong biblical emphasis and a winsome readable style.  Having begun to wonder if perhaps I should try to write such a book, I am elated to find that the book is already available! ...

With regular Bible reading as the centerpiece, other resources can be used to draw together Biblical ideas.