Earl & Diane Rodd March 25, 1987 93 Great Ryrie St. Heathmont, Victoria 3135 Phone (03) 879-4082

"Hometraining! Who me? I can't do it. I've got too many hangups. I'm not capable. I don't know anything about math or computers, or phonics or literature or grammar." Before you allow those negative words and attitudes do more damage to you, read on to see what the Bible, the Word of God, has to say about the parental role of teaching.

Proverbs 1 :8,9 says, "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's teaching; indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head, and ornaments about your neck."

Proverbs 6 :20-22 says, "My son, observe the commandment of your father, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother; bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk to you."

Proverbs 29 :14 says, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother."

Deuteronomy 6 :4-9 says, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

II Timothy 1 :5, says, "For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well."

II Timothy 3 :13-17 says, "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things which you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Ephesians 6 :4 says, "And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Much of the teenage rebellion we see in the home, the church and in society has a definite root cause. Parent's have abdicated their responsibility of teaching, training, admonishing, and diciplining their children in the ways of God. How can a child obey the teachings of his mother, if his mother has never taught him? A child who is not trained in the discipline and instruction of the Lord by his father will display this lack of care and concern by outbursts of anger.

God is not angry with the young people of our generation. He is pleading with their parents to yield to His Word and obey His commands regarding the family and the home. This is a direct promise from Malachi 4 :5,6 that must be fulfilled before Jesus can return to the earth. It says, "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse."

Our Heavenly Father does not want the curse of rebellion on our land. However, the society in which we live has trained us to give up our children at an early age. In direct violation to the Word of God, we surrender our children into school systems where they are trained and educated in the speech patterns, behavior patterns, and philosophy of total strangers. Many mothers take employment outside the home to pay the tuition fees required to send their children to the "better" schools. Thus we often pay to have our children persuaded in ideas and philosophies that we do not adhere to and wonder why as they grow older that they don't value the same philosophy of life that we do.

To counteract this problem Christian schools were established. Many Christians put their children into Christian schools thinking this would solve the problem of the generation gap, the peer pressure to be like others, etc. However, the error is still the strangers teach other people's children. The parental authority is still undermined because a young student looks to his teacher as the sole source of wisdom and knowledge in any given subject. Thus even Christian parents whose children attend Christian school discover peer pressure rearing its ugly head, and parental authority gives way to the teacher's opinion and methodology. We are all guilty of this deception.

Jesus said, "He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling, and is not concerned about the sheep." It is not the fault of an individual teacher or any school system that a young student is prey to the deceptive attacks of our enemy. A teacher of 30 students cannot give each child the individual attention and supervision that child needs for the 6-7 hours a day he is away from his home environment. Thus the wolf is able to come in and in many and various ways undermine, belittle, harass, and do much damage that often goes undetected until the teenage years. The root problem is deep, but it is the child who is often accused of rebellion when it has been the parents who have sown those seeds of rebellion. These children cannot obey they teachings of their parents because their parents have not taught them. These seeds of rebellion may have been sown unwittingly, and unknowingly in ignorance of the commands of the Word of God, but we are living in days when we must get to the root of problems rather than trying to cover up a severe wound with a flimsy bandaid. Revival comes to a nation when individuals stop pointing the fingers at others and blaming them for the problems and start to ask God "What can I do to be part of the solution rather than adding to the problem. Where must I change to align myself with your Word."

The concept of homeschooling for Christians is not a "trendy" idea to be tried for awhile. It is a movement of God that challenges us to the very roots of traditions of man that must give way to the Word of God. It requires revelation, repentance, and guidance of the Holy Spirit to meet the challenge that is before us.

Someone has to be willing to live a different way, and that is what hometraining is all about. It is about you discovering God's will for your individual family and obeying Him in that specific will so that you are part of the solution to the problems in society and in the church and are no longer part of the problem.

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What is written above is an introduction to a larger paper on the Biblical basis of homeschooling which we are working on to be Educational and Legal Perspective) which will be available for a small fee. The purpose of the HELP packet is to give you accurate information for your own files and to also provide an efficient way to scatter the seed truth of hometraining to those in your sphere of influence who may be interested. The information gives a strong foundation from which to handle inquiries, discussion, objections, etc.

At the next meeting we would appreciate your personal written testimonies concerning the positive effects you have experienced from hometraining. We wish to include these in the HELP packet. At that meeting we will also explain the contents of the HELP packet.

Another agenda item planned for our next meeting is a discussion of arithmetic/ mathematics/ computer curriculum. See you at the above address on April 5 at 2PM . (Please note that monthly meetings are the first Sunday of each month.) You have read thus far because someone has told you about homeschooling and you are interested.

Let's begin with Genesis to understand the foundation of our calling as families. The original mandate given by God to mankind was to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over every living thing that moves over the earth." God hasn't changed His mind concerning His plan for the earth and the people who inhabit it. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has now made it possible for every man, woman and child to enter into God's restoration plan. All it takes is the willingness to admit we have been wrong in trying to do it ourselves and be willing to obey God's plan for the human race which is contained in His Word, the Bible. If you have not yielded your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then do so now. The Word of God says, "Whoever will call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved." It is not enough to know Jesus as Savior. He wants to be your Lord, so He can guide you effectively and efficiently through the mess that rebellious men have made of this world to bring you safely into His kingdom now so that you can worship Him in spirit and in truth and discover the joy of being known by the Creator of this vast universe. He wants you and your family to experience the unity, love and joy of heaven now on this earth that extends into eternity.

Because it is the mother who usually spends most time with the children when homeschooling,

Let's look closely at the commands of the Lord found in Genesis 2 :27 from the perspective of mothers teaching their children.

(1) BE FRUITFUL The Hebrew word "parah" means to bear fruit. The New Testament gives us our best definition of what fruit God wants us to bear. Galatians 5 :22-26 says, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Many people would love to be able to break the laws of God and get away with it. However, God has a better way to approach His law. He wants us to fulfill it. Fulfill gives the impression of doing more than just obeying it. Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." Our Father wants us to be like Jesus who enjoyed obeying His will. The fruit of the spirit can be evidenced in a life that enjoys doing the will of God. This is the fruit that God wishes to see evidenced in families. Mothers who wish to bear this kind of fruit in their own personal lives will be able to nurture their children in an atmosphere that will allow this kind of fruit to bud, flower, and mature to be able to reproduce after its own king.