***
In this post, I want to discuss the educational philosophy of Saint George Academy (our family homeschool). It’s important for everyone to know why they do what they do. Many who have opted for other educational methods often wonder why people make the choice to educate at home. They see a variety of potential problems with homeschooling (some legitimate, some, eh, not so much), and even those considering homeschooling themselves worry about some of these potential problems.
So it’s worth answering the foundational question of why we do it. Later, we can talk about objections to homeschooling, and deal with those potential problems. But first we need to establish that home education is a legitimate choice; and in fact that it is much more.
People from a wide variety of religious (and “non-religious”) backgrounds homeschool their kids, so I need to establish here at the beginning that what follows is written from our family commitment to the historic Christian faith. We are what some would call “conservative” Christians, which means we believe in the truth of the doctrines and history of Christ and His Church. We believe the Bible as written, and take the historical sections (including accounts of the supernatural) as history, the poetical sections as poetry, and the whole Bible as the Word of God, without error and without anything that should worry or embarrass faithful Christians.
With that said, our philosophy of education—why we do what we do—begins in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Here is the basis for all education: "thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Moses here commands the people of God on this wise:
1. Education consists in teaching children to love (v. 5) and obey (v. 6-9) God.
2. Education is the responsibility of parents (v. 8).
3. Education is an all-day, every-day enterprise (v. 7).
