Education

There is no "In My Shoes" today.  We will pick up next week and finish strong with a few more stories.   Thanks for joining us in this adventure.  It's been good.

Yesterday I visited this school.  The morning started with chapel.  The students recited scripture from memory, in Spanish and in English, they sang hymns while the piano was played by a classmate, and they sat quietly and attentively through a message that would be comparable to the length of a sermon at church.  These kids were K-6th grade and the little girl who was playing the piano, her head couldn't be seen over it.  She was so small.  The guest speaker who shared a sermon with them asked them questions abut the correlating scriptures afterward, and they knew every single answer.

I observed a few classroom settings and the kids were extremely well-behaved and they were eager to learn.  Was it perfect? No. Were the kids robotic? No.  However, there was a calmness and peacefulness to the classroom like I have never experienced before. The teachers asked open-ended questions and the children rose to the occasion, answering proudly. 

What was even more impressive was the philosophy behind the way they do the things they do.  I walked away so encouraged and with some new ideas to implement here at my home. 

I think the most profound quote from the day, to me specifically was this, "Is coming to know about mastery of facts, data, and technique or is it about submission to a revelation?"

I think this single statement nails on the head the reason why too many kids are growing up in the evangelical church, only to graduate wanting nothing to do with God, and the same reason why they are coming through our school systems having no desire to continue learning for their own personal satisfaction and as an extension of their God-given design.  Many go to college for a degree to open doors, and have no desire to learn, but rather to socialize and have fun and/or to simply do what the world expects of them.  I was guilty, and only in the last several years have I developed a strong desire to continue learning and growing my mind.  Which leads me to another thought, "Our minds grow on knowledge, not facts."

To elaborate on the above quote, "coming to know," means grabbing a hold of something.  It's sort of the same as saying, to understand something.  So in the church, "coming to know," would be to submit to the revelation that Jesus is Lord and that we believe in that revelation.  It would then be submitting ourselves to such belief.  It is not merely about mastery of facts, which is all too often the biggest thing children learn in church.  They learn the stories, the names, and the dates, and it ends there. They never learn to submit to a revelation.

In the world of education, mastery of the facts would be how to pass every test and exam and how to continue advancing.  It's more about meeting the standards and less about the art of learning.  It's less about using the mind God gave us to explore the world around us.  Quite frankly, it can be boring and not much of a challenge to our children who were born to observe, learn, and grow.  It can be stifling to their growth as opposed to giving them tools to embrace and engage their minds, which leaves them fulfilled.  Simply depositing facts into them as if they are empty receptacles only belittles their ability to come to conclusions on their own.  Which they then believe is the truth about themselves, and it can lead to despair, frustration, and feelings of unworthiness. 

With that said, I'm chewing on a lot today and am adapting the way I do school with Dylan and Drew.  I learned some great, practical tools yeterday!  Thank you Jesus!  Homeschooling is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I am hopeful for the things ahead of us. 


Love,