Educating the Israelite Child: Home School vs. Public School

Opinions of an Israelite Educator

2^nd Maccabees 7:27, But she bowing herself toward him, laughing the cruel tyrant to scorn, spake in her country language on this manner; O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education.

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As repentant, Israelite mothers, we want and expect the best for our children and will use the wisdom, understanding, and resources the most High has given us to ensure they have the best.  However, concerning our children’s education, there are issues we are facing as we being to learn our true heritage, history, and culture.

This is the 7^th year that I have been an educator in the elementary school setting.  I have taught in both charter and public school systems.  However, there is another side to me…I am also a home school parent.  My husband and I have educated our children at home for 3 years now. The challenges of home schooling our children have been numerous (countless, really), but at the same time, the rewards are literally priceless.

I pray for your patience, as I share some “PROS & CONS” from my experience concerning the education of our children in both realms…of homeschool and the public school.

Homeschooling Our Israelite Children…the ‘Down Sides’

Consider whether or not home schooling is good for you and your family at this time.  There are many factors to take into account. However, it begins with the right attitude about teaching your child or children.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Throughout the three years that we have been homeschooling our children, my husband and I have faced many trials.

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…not being able to teach everything we expect our children to know. For instance, while we have our children write essays or journal entries, we are not able, many times, to teach them to revise and edit for grammar, story structure, or other conventions of writing.

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From having to run errands, provide for every member of the family, as well as find some peace of mind for yourself, it can become difficult to commit a considerable amount of time to helping your children benefit from learning at home.  There have been a few times that we were so overwhelmed with responsibility that we seriously considered sending our children back to the public school system.  During those rare moments, we reflected and refocused on why we were homeschooling in the first place.  We remembered the pagan customs and philosophies our children were exposed to in the public school setting.  We took a moment to revitalize our priorities.  When those moments had taken place, things didn’t seem as bad as we thought.

^2nd Peter 1:10, Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

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…­I personally have had to battle that spirit and overcome it by the Word, first and foremost, and by taking it one day at a time.  There is an anxiety associated with schooling your own children at home because we have been brainwashed for so long to think that we have to depend on America’s system.  A question I had to ask myself was would I be doing my children a disservice by allowing them to learn at home rather than the public school? I questioned my own ability when hearing other parents boast about their children’s progress in the public school. But, as I learn my own true heritage, it assures me that

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13)

by following the examples of my ancestors in the holy Bible. Even as I have been trained to be an effective educator, I still battle doubts whether I’m teaching our children what they should be learning.  However, these doubts dissipate when I test my children with exams, assignments, and quizzes.  With tests, you get results.

I have learned home school education is not a comparison to the public school system…for America’s educational institution is a failure and we are not to be a branch of it. An example of this failure was highlighted in an article by Bloomberg Business Week in August of 2012:

“Compared to those hard-studying kids in China, Korea or Finland, U.S. students appear to be chronic underachievers. The average kid in the U.S. does less than one hour of homework on average at all grade levels, according to a study from a few years ago by RAND and the Brookings Institution. A recent Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on Education Reform and National Security led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joel Klein, former head of New York City public schools, concluded that the country’s ‘educational failure puts the United States’ future economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety at risk.’

There’s no question that the performance of the U.S. education system is less than stellar. The Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, gives tests to high school kids across a range of countries.  The evaluation finds that the US ranks behind sixteen other economies including Poland, Estonia and South Korea in terms of student literacy –the ability to read, integrate and evaluate texts. U.S. student rankings on mathematics are even lower — dropping under countries including Slovenia, Hungary and Taiwan. The United States also produces some of the biggest gaps in test scores between stronger and weaker students.” (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-19/the-real-reason-americas-schools-stink)

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…Providing all the educational materials and resources for your child’s education at home can be costly.

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It helps to pace things out or plan way ahead in advance so that you can ensure your child has everything they need to be successful.  It is also useful to check with your local school districts or public schools to see if they have any resources that they are willing to donate. (Sometimes whole curriculums are trashed after 10 years or so of use!) When we really began to consider the costs of educating our children at home, it made us appreciate every component that we put in.

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…Many people make negative comments to us about our children being educated at home instead of the public school realm.  They ask, “Don’t you worry that your child will be ‘socially impaired’ in any way?” We have learned to laugh at these questions and comments.  They laugh at the fact that we are educating our children at home. The fact of the matter is that while they are depending on America’s failing school system, we are gracefully restoring a foundation that will last forever. And, we are grateful to the most High that He has gracefully given us His word to understand that socially impairing your children and protecting them from sin is two different things.

2^nd Corinthians 6:14-15,

14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?  

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…Maintaining children’s attention to create or complete a task is always a challenge.  Even in public school, educators face having to make lessons that are engaging enough to make a child think critically about a concept or attaining a skill. This is even true in the home school setting.  The appeal of playing video games, watching television, playing video games, watching television, playing outside, or just ‘hanging out’ is a temptation because of its proximity.  So, we come up with different ways to present material, sometimes.  And other times, we just present them with the reality that not everything in life will be fun and games, and you just have to bear it and get your job done.  Allowing our children to participate in different classes provided by the community that encourage their interests are other options that are also available.

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…Our youngest is 4 years old, but he has been in the home school program since last year.  He is a handful J, so the most important skills we are teaching him are to: sit still when it is the appropriate time, control himself, know his alphabet and basic numbers, follow directions.  Sometimes, his whole lesson for the entire day would be just sitting in the classroom while the other children are learning.  Then, when we discerned his demeanor was able to handle another task, we would do his flashcards, or a puzzle, or similar tasks.  We had to do a lot of things in spurts with him. My husband would allow him to take his nap in the classroom or in the next room so he could focus on the other children or his own studies.  We are still being very creative with toddler time; to make sure he gets what he needs as well without taking away that time from the other children. If you have a newborn or children younger than 4, for instance, as an educator, I would recommend to teach your school age children around the schedule of the ones that are younger.  For instance, the older children can do their reading or math during the infant’s feeding or nap time.  Have them read to you while you are bathing the younger children, or cooking/cleaning.  Connecting with other commandment-keeping families and getting support will help to alleviate some of the stress of homeschooling as well.

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…Lord’s will, Israel will have plenty of authors, illustrators, publishers, collaborators, and editors to create completely truthful educational materials.

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There are some out there, but at this time, we are not able to put together a complete curriculum for all ages of children (from pre-kindergarten to high school…even college for that matter) that is specifically for our Israelite children.  I imagine a day when our children can solve a math problem that deals with comparing the number of ‘shekels’ to modern weights and currencies. Or, reading a children’s picture book with a representation of the true Messiah with his ‘bronze burned’ skin and ‘woolly’ hair.  Or, a music lesson book with only the Psalms to be played.  The possibilities are endless.  But, in the meantime, it is a challenge to look for decent curriculum material that is created just for our Israelite children in the truth of who they are.  Until then, we use what we can.

Homeschooling our Israelite Children…the ‘Up Sides’

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…1^st Corinthians 10:26, For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. 

The world is literally our classroom!  Since we don’t have to follow the same schedule as the public, we can allow our children to learn what we want them to learn at our pace.  Taking them to art museums, dairy ranches, state parks, libraries, learning institutions, historic monuments and places, and even the grocery store are field trips that we are able to explore at our own convenience.  We don’t have to wait until a pagan winter, fall, spring, or summer break from the public school system to realistically teach them their history, culture, and useful things to know.

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…For our home school program, we plan our school calendar around the high holy days and Sabbaths as opposed to the worldly Gregorian calendar.  School days are shorter or even canceled the day before a high holy day or weekly Sabbath.

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The children get to participate in their own ways by helping to make preparations, decorate, and clean up for the feasts.  They even developed a countdown system to display on the dry erase board of ‘how many days until the next feast’ or, ‘count up the number of celebrations in the year’.  The only time they are disappointed about those days is when I have to work.  Since they are able to keep the feast days in its entirety, they learn even more about their history and heritage during those days as opposed to class work.  Subsequently, we have planned for classes to be canceled during those high holy days and can make up any time needed by having them do short lessons on Sundays or as homework during the rest of the weeks.

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…By our children being educated at home, we don’t have to wonder if a teacher is purposefully picking on or ignoring our child.  We do not have to combat faulty and wicked agendas that are constantly pushed in the public school arenas.  We can allow them to read the books that build healthy self-esteem as Israelites and not have to sort through all the lies from books they are forced to read in public school.  We are able to guide them in their true Israelite heritage and not the wickedness that are pushed to them through media, people, or literature.  We can also detect those skills and abilities in areas of which children are struggling at a much earlier rate.  Then we can hone in on those skills and help them until they master it.  We don’t have to ‘pass’ them on just because they barely make it.  We can actually guide them to be completely successful at their own rate.

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…I thought, as an educator, that seeing children in the public school system learn how to read, add numbers, or write a complete sentence was pleasurable.  However, it is more pleasing to see the progress of my own heritage.  I actually get to see them grow from being frustrated and bored in math, for instance, to easily understand or solve math problems that are a grade level above.  In this way, I don’t have to decipher grades on a report card to know how well my child is really doing in a subject.  I don’t have to email, call, or meet with another teacher to know what an ‘S/Satisfactory’ grade really means.

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…In our home school program, the children know that the commandments of the most High come first, always.  The most High is the bureaucracy, and the government is His laws. We don’t have to go through bureaucracies of state government to chastise and teach our children to develop their moral character.  When disciplinary situations arise, we are immediately able to apply God’s laws without penalty of someone protesting against it.  Our children are able to order themselves in accordance with the laws of God. This is not something they were able to do at all in the public school system.

 

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… Homeschooling is very purposeful. It allows our children to prepare for unity as our nation comes together.  While our children are in homeschool, we don’t have to constantly redirect or reeducate them because they learn to have the mindset of righteousness.  Therefore, this helps to prepare them for the wickedness that we all must face in our present captivity.