Many trained educators equate homeschooling with risk. I agree, but for a much different reason. I believe homeschooling is a wonderful way to teach our children the need of taking calculated risks in life. Everything about government schools is bent on teaching students to think INSIDE the box, not outside, and stay within lines of the school’s objectives versus what is best for the child. Curriculum teaches this. Teachers model this. Peers reinforce this. Don’t believe me? Do you remember how that one kid who walked to his own beat was treated? He dared to be a non-conformist and think for himself. That usually does not fair well. It is the institution’s way of making your child fits into the square peg. Why would they do that? Simple. All they have are square holes to fill. That is the nature of the institutional beast. But what if God didn’t make your child a square? What if they were fearfully and wonderfully made as a circle, triangle or octagon?
Homeschooling is about producing independent thinkers who will not swallow some spoon-fed narrative that may or may not be true and may but probably not be biblically accurate. After all, isn’t education supposed to teach our children how to think and not simply be told what to think?
The old adage says, “’A’ students teach the ‘B’ students how to work for the ‘C’ students. The ‘A’ students often become teachers, rewarded because they honored the system. The ‘B’ students are in the middle, but those ‘C’ students think for themselves and often go out into the world and cut their own path, believing grades are more social than indicative of future success. Being one of those ‘A’ students and a high school teacher, I now realize that I gradually became inoculated to taking risks. Honestly, it has cost me some great opportunities in my life. I am challenging my children to think differently.
November’s prayer prompt article shares the same spirit as that of the Pilgrim’s when they left the safety of Europe for the unknown hazards of America. While thought out and prayed up, there was still great risk in leaving the security of their homeland for the shores that promised staggering challenges. While the risk took the lives of some, it brought forth a shining light to a land of darkness that still affects the world 400 years later.
Rather than walking in fear of the culture and circling the wagons around our little ones, let us cry out for God’s grace to give our children boldness to risk everything for the gospel of Jesus Christ. May God help them to understand that “failure is not fatal” unless they choose to give up. May they come to comprehend that the previous 9,999 attempts were not failures but represented the necessary process of elimination which paved the way for the 10,000th try that gave us the incandescent light bulb.
For those of us were public schooled train, we need another spirit … the spirit we see encapsulated in Holy Writ. Whether it is leading three million people out into a desert with no promise of provision or running against a nine feet tall giant or going out against a force of over 30,000 with only 300 men armed with lamps hidden inside jars, God is there to give grace to those who are willing to walk by faith.
Understand, I am talking about mistaking presumption for faith. Neither am I advocating wrapping our own personal agenda in the garb of “God’s will.” What I am talking about is the willingness to follow God despite risky factors around us, just like Moses, Gideon and David.
As mentioned in previous posts, I encourage parents to share one of these prompts each day with their children in devotional time or at evening meals, discussing their implications in life. Ask, “Why is this prayer prompt important?” or “Do you see this manifested in your life?” These discussions could be a means of giving younger children a positive perspective for their future or parents becoming aware of fears and anxieties in our older ones.
For those who want to join us, we will be designating Tuesday, November 9th for a time of fasting, however each person chooses to do that. I will be holding an on-line Zoom prayer meeting that night at 9:00 p.m. I invite you to join me. Hopefully, this will give parents time to get their little ones down yet not too late to be overly tired. We will be done promptly at 9:30.
For those wishing to participate in the meeting, you can email me at ksmith@iche.org for the link.
(All scriptures in ESV unless otherwise noted)
1. Pray that God will give both homeschooling parents and homeschooling children the courage to take proper risks in life and not walk in fear of temporary setbacks or the opinions of others.
- But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it. –Numbers 14:24
- Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.” –1 Samuel 4:9
2. Pray that God will give us and our children discerning hearts regarding what risks to take and what risks to avoid.
- God will help the king to judge the people fairly; there need be no mistakes. –Proverbs 16:10 (TLB)
- behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. –1 Kings 3:12
3. Pray that when our children risk and experience temporary setback or failure, they will handle it with grace.
- Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. –Micah 7:8
- For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. –Romans 11:36
- And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. –Romans 8:28
4. Pray that when our children risk and experience temporary success, they will handle it will grace.
- Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, –Col. 3:12
- Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. –James 3:13
5. Pray that our children will not put ease, comfort and convenience above the pursuit of truth and continual personal growth.
- Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. –1 Thes. 5:23
- Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. –Phil. 3:13,14
6. Pray that God will give our children insight into upcoming trends and trajectories in culture—spiritual, moral, social, technological, political, vocational, financial—so they can respond accordingly and lead.
- Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command. –1 Chron. 12:32
- And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. –Daniel 1:20
7. Pray that, while our children give honest consideration, they will be more potentially minded than obstacle minded.
- But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” –Numbers 13:30,31
- But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” –Matthew 19:26
8. Pray that parents and children will find their strength in Christ while they wait between the now and the not yet.
- Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” –Joshua 1:9
- Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. –Nehemiah 9:21
9. Pray that as both we and our children age, our fire within will not diminish but will grow more intense over time, to be willing to take persecution for the cause of Christ.
- Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. –Deut. 34:7
- If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. –Jer. 20:9
10. Pray that our bolder children will come along side others who are less bold to speak encouragement into their lives.
- The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. –Is. 50:4
- But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. –Exodus 17:12
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