Education as Discipleship

And because this is true, Christian parents have a duty before God to provide their children a Christian education, not just any education, but a Christian education. So for our overview for today, this is what we're going to hit. First, we're going to talk about what we're not discussing today. We're going to figure out who is actually given this responsibility to provide this Christian education for your children. We will discuss what is Christian education. I'll give you seven principles. Then we'll talk through practically, how can I, someone sitting in the pew, do this. How can I actually go about accomplishing this for my kids? And then, lastly, if we have time, and I fear we won't have time, we'll see. But I would like to cover ditches and dangers for us to mark and to avoid. Okay, so let's hit what we are not talking about today, just to clarify before we move forward. We're not talking about spanking. So we're talking about education today. We're not talking about spanking or what you might typically think of when you when you hear discipline. Pastor Brian covered that pretty well, I think, last time, last time, last teaching. So the second thing that we're not doing is we're not dictating method. We're making a clear distinction between principles, which everyone in this room should agree on, versus method, which we'll talk about just very briefly. We're not talking about the school day

We're making a clear distinction between principles, which everyone in this room should agree on, versus method, which we'll talk about just very briefly. We're not talking about the school day only. Remember, the education is not talking about 8 a.m. to 3 people. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the whole day, the whole life for your child. And lastly, we are not talking about Christian education as an adult, though there's plenty of application. We're specifically talking about the relationship between father and mother and children, providing a Christian education. So let's talk about who has given this responsibility before God. They say it takes a village to raise someone, to be an adult, to bring them to maturity. And maybe there's some truth today. in the sense that Christ's vision for his people is actually corporate. It's cosmic. It takes the whole body. But we have to ask the question, is a village given the responsibility and authority to provide a Christian education for your children? And I hope everyone should answer no to that. Everyone should answer no to that. We recognize that when everyone is responsible, no one's responsible. No one takes that responsibility. It doesn't get done well. And God and his wisdom did not assign it like that. He didn't say it's up to the village.

no one's responsible. No one takes that responsibility. It doesn't get done well. And God and his wisdom did not assign it like that. He didn't say it's up to the village. It's up to the people. He actually says fathers, which we'll get to in just a second. So let me clarify then. It's not the state. Your children don't belong to the state. It's not the school even. The school does not function as an independent authority established by God. It doesn't. It's not even primarily your pastors. Notice I said primarily because obviously your pastors have a sign. a vital role in helping you provide this Christian education for your children, but it's not primarily your pastors. Ephesion 6.4, just in one spot, if you wanted to look at Deuteronomy 6, if you wanted to look at Colossians 3, those would be instructive as well. But Ephesion 64 lays it out clearly for us. Fathers, fathers must ensure that their children receive a Christian education. It says fathers. The Greek is really clear. It doesn't say mother. It doesn't say state. It doesn't say your school. It says fathers. Must ensure your children receive a Christian education. Obviously, mothers are going to be responsible in the sense that they're helpers to the husband, right? They're helping provide this education for their children. But ultimately, the primary person that answers before God is going to be the

responsible in the sense that they're helpers to the husband, right? They're helping provide this education for their children. But ultimately, the primary person that answers before God is going to be the father of the children, making sure they receive a Christian education. We remember that when we're given a duty, we have that responsibility. before God to see it through. So what does this mean then? What is a Christian education? I would like to provide us today with seven non-negotiable principles. Seven non-negotiable principles, regardless of how you land the method. Again, regardless of how you land the method, we're going to have seven non-negotiable principles. And because I'm saying they're non-negotiable, I'm going to try to back it up with the text. So I hope to be very clear about that. that when we talk about Christian education, it's not as simple as saying, just do this. It's not as simple as just saying, look, there it is. Okay? If we're going to describe it, we have to recognize that it has multiple angles that you could understand that Christian education by. That's why I'm giving you seven non-negotiable principles to fulfill a Christian education. So if you were to take another example, if you were bringing somebody to refuge church for the first time, you might walk them out to the front and you might look at that plaque and you would say,

So that is why we're hitting seven different points instead of just one overarching theme. So the first one, if you're taking notes, I'm trying to make this a little bit easier to jot down. The first one, number one, is Christian foundation. Christian foundation. Christian foundation. Christian education pours a Christian foundation. That's the very first thing. And what is that foundation? That foundation is fear of Lord. Fear of the Lord. We see in Proverbs 1-7, it tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Psalm 11, verse 10, says something very similar. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All those who practice it have a good understanding. Ecclesiastes 12, 13, 13, 14 says the end of the matter. And this is wrapping up Ecclesiastes as a whole. The end of the matter, all has been heard, fear God, and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. And lastly, we see in Proverbs 8, verses 35 and 36, you've probably heard this before from the pulpit.

And lastly, we see in Proverbs 8, verses 35 and 36, you've probably heard this before from the pulpit. For whoever finds me, talking about wisdom, for whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who fails to find me injures himself. All who hate me love death. So I think those four verses said it pretty clearly before our eyes. The fear of the Lord is the foundation that we have to pour. We have to have a Christian foundation. Take little Johnny. This child doesn't obey because he doesn't fear the Lord. His parents don't fear the Lord by providing him that loving discipline he so desperately needs. This child hates wisdom and is being actively taught because it's not being addressed. He's being actively taught to actually hate wisdom and to love death. So it can't be counted as a Christian education if your child is not taught to fear the Lord. That's why I'm taking such a strong stance on that as our number one, Christian foundation. Can they say at the end of the day with the apostles in Acts 529, we We must obey God rather than men, regardless of who's telling me otherwise. Right? That's number one, Christian Foundation. Number two, Christian lens.

Right? That's number one, Christian Foundation. Number two, Christian lens. Christian education imparts a Christian lens. So you don't see me wearing glasses right now. I have to wear glasses when I drive. I can't see you guys right now. Actually, it's kind of helpful for the nerves. I'm just kidding. But I wear sunglasses. I wear prescriptions. sunglasses when I drive. This does two things for me. The first thing that it does is it colors everything that I see. It makes it a bit darker, actually a lot darker because I like my Mr. Crawford, you know what I'm talking about. I like my sunglasses very dark. So it colors everything that I see. That's the first thing. The second thing that it does is it actually provides a lot of clarity that I would not have had otherwise. A Christian education does something like that. It is supposed to impart something like that. It's supposed to give you a Christian lens. Positively, what that means is that it allows the student, allows your child to see beyond the surface level, to see beyond appearances, to see what's really happening in God's world. Negatively, what this means is it rejects the myth of neutrality. They would say that there's any area of life or there's many areas of life that can be understood, proper.

what this means is it rejects the myth of neutrality. They would say that there's any area of life or there's many areas of life that can be understood, proper. understood without reference to the creator God. Okay? So this Christian lens is actually going to reject that. It's going to say the myth of neutrality? No. You can't understand anything without that reference point of God as creator. Okay? We see this in Proverbs 1-7. We already talked about that. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This means that you can't even get your plane off the ground without the fear of the Lord. We see in Colossians 2-3, it says that it is in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And in John 1.3, one we may be more familiar with, it says all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In other words, everything, every single thing, has a reference point back to God and cannot be understood properly without that reference point. In other words, we can't treat the Christian part of Christian education, like the seasoning packet of some top ramen, right?

they could get it and they could work with it. But it's only because they live in God's world. It's only because they live in God's world that they're able to work off of God's assumptions to do the math that they're doing in the first place. But if you were to push just a little harder, you'll see that they're on the brink of unraveling. The whole idea is on the brink of unraveling. Push and pull a little bit. The whole stance is going to come apart. Or if you ask enough why questions, the whole thing is undone. When we say two plus two equals four, we're actually saying much, much more. It's not as simple. as that. For example, it's two plus two equals four today because we're assuming that because it was four yesterday. What about tomorrow? Is it going to be four tomorrow? It's four here in Utah. What about California? They're pretty wacky out there, right? I'm from California. I can say that. Is it four out there as well in California? Why? I say yes, because I believe that Christ is Lord. But somebody who's, let's say somebody who's an atheist, you know, like overtly an atheist, not simply agnostic. You ask them why. Why? What reason do you have to assume that it's for in California, that it's going to be for tomorrow? What basis do you have for saying that in the first place? Just because it was yesterday and now it is today? You have nothing to guarantee that it will be like that tomorrow.

California, that it's going to be for tomorrow? What basis do you have for saying that in the first place? Just because it was yesterday and now it is today? You have nothing to guarantee that it will be like that tomorrow. It's only because Christ is Lord that we can actually believe in something like the uniformity of nature or even time that yesterday will be like today will be like tomorrow, right? But it's not like that in other worldviews. Let's take something just because it's an easy throwout. Take Hinduism, for example. In Hinduism, if you believe that all is Maya, all is illusion, that ultimately everything is one in the first place. So the differentiality that I see here, even like person to person, that's all illusion. We're all one. Really? Two plus equals four literally can't be understood in a purely monistic society or in a purely monistic like worldview, right? All is one at the end of the day. So me seeing two, me seeing three, four, that's all illusion. It's really all one. Two plus equals four, ha, right? Well, yes, it's the Christian worldview that gives you something like the solid backing for something even like math. So actually I think it's a really good example. For secular evolutionists, as another example, if they believe that time, plus matter plus chance is all that we have. That's how we got here in the first

evolutionists, as another example, if they believe that time, plus matter plus chance is all that we have. That's how we got here in the first place. Then what basis do they have to say if the world is a purely chance world that tomorrow will be like today, will be like yesterday? One last little point on this, because I think it's important to set before you. If you want to have true knowledge, some philosophers will explain it like this. True knowledge would be justified true belief. Justified true belief. You have to have all three parts. One of the best examples for this is looking just at a clock, for example. Let's say, let's say Mr. Benjamin down here. I showed him a clock, or maybe I just asked him. I said, hey, what time is it? And he said, he said 8.51 a.m. Actually, no. Let's not say that. Let's say he said it was 10 a.m. Well, he believed it. Is that enough for it to be knowledge? Well, no, because he could be wrong. It's not 10 a.m. It's 8.51, right? Okay, so let's say, secondly, instead, he said it was 8.51, but he just guessed. Like, he was just shooting from the hip, he said, uh, 851. Okay?

8.51, but he just guessed. Like, he was just shooting from the hip, he said, uh, 851. Okay? Is that enough? Is it enough that he had true belief? He believed it, and it was actually true, but he guessed. Is that enough to call it knowledge? Well, no, the answer is no. You actually have to have a reason you have to have a reasoned, thought out process for how you came to that conclusion in the first place, or also you can't call it knowledge. That's not fair. You literally could have guessed. Okay? The reason I say that is because we cannot teach our children about God's creation as if it can be understood without reference to the creator. Two plus two equals four? Same thing. Same thing. You can't have true knowledge about two plus two equals four without reference to the creator. You can't understand two plus two equals four. as is, unless we're talking just formally, operationally, sure, but to truly understand it, you have to have it with reference to God. So point number two was that we must have a Christian lens. We must impart a Christian lens. Number three is we must have a Christian scope, Christian scope. In other words, a Christian education pursues a Christian scope. All I mean by that is that it's comprehensive. It's utterly comprehensive.

warrior as the ideal image. Part of that was because they had a whole, a whole culture, a whole people group that they had subjugated to be their slaves, the Messenians, or the Helots, we call them as well. They had subjugated them and they kind of of worked the farms, right? And so all the Spartans would do all day, every day, was trained for battle for two reasons. And this was even reflected in their armies. They had two armies. One they would send out, let's say they were fighting the Athenians, like in the Peloponnesian War. One they would send out, and one army had to stay home. Why? Well, because the slaves were revolting regularly, right? Their whole day was centered around training for war, because they had to be ready at a moment's notice. They have the Helots behind them across the mountain, basically, who are ready to revolt, and then they're also having to fight against the other Greeks. So for the Spartans, this was no joke. They had a very clear ideal image. They would stay with their mom, essentially all the time, day to day, until they are seven years old. When they are seven years old, done with mom, put her aside, you are with the men from now on. This is called the Agoge training. Literally, all day, every day, you're with the men, you're eating with the men, you're training with the men, fighting with the men, you name it, right? They would practice starvation. They would not give

all day, every day, you're with the men, you're eating with the men, you're training with the men, fighting with the men, you name it, right? They would practice starvation. They would not give them shoes purposefully and make them go on marches through the snow. They would even, as a challenge for their graduation, you know, sometimes we have recitals or something like that, like something cool like that. They had to go kill a slave and not get caught, right? They would kind of have it whispered in their ear, hey, this guy's causing problems. He's the one. And they would have to sneak out a night and not get caught, kill him. That was part of the graduation ceremony, right? So that was their Pidea. They used every means that they could to shape into that ideal image. So for us then, we're not Spartans, we're Christians, so we need to use every lawful, say that on purpose, lawful means at our disposal to shape our children. So sports, friends, video games, geometry, your school environment, your book choices, you name it, everything. The Christian will use them wisely. Another way of saying this is that we cannot assume that one hour of Sunday school like this and one hour during the service is enough to fulfill a Christian education

school like this and one hour during the service is enough to fulfill a Christian education because it's not, especially if you're 35 hours a week learning from pagans. It would not be enough. So number three was a Christian scope. I think we're doing okay on time. Number four is a Christian standard. A Christian education appeals to a Christian standard. So you've heard Sola Scripture, uh, the Bible is our infallible rule from God. It's our final court of appeal. You can see how this is related to number one, our Christian foundation in the fear of the Lord. But the Bible, God's word to us, is the final court of appeal. I don't care. it's, we're talking about reality, the world God made, knowledge, our understanding of that world, or ethics, what is proper behavior as a Christian, what is right from wrong. I don't care which category you're talking about. Thus saith the Lord is always what we're going to come back to, what we have to come back to, to call this a Christian education. Okay? So a Christian standard. You see this in Romans 3, verse 4, where Paul even says, Paul goes so far to say, let God be true, though everyone were a liar. let God be true, though everyone were a liar. In other words, if everyone was saying something contradictory to the word, what should we follow?

let God be true, though everyone were a liar. In other words, if everyone was saying something contradictory to the word, what should we follow? The word of God. It should be clear, that is our Christian understanding. Not only do we begin in faith, but we have to continue in faith. We see in Galatians, Paul actually warns us of this danger that we would start in faith and act as if we're completing the rest of our lives by works, right? We come into the faith, now we're Christians, cool, but just send them to whoever for school. It doesn't matter, right? No, it does matter. All of your life needs to be done in faith, a continual faith. So we asked the question, or at least I was asking the question as I was preparing this, what do we do about pagan works? I'm talking about a Christian education. I'm saying a Christian standard. What do we do about pagan works? So does Sola Scripture mean that we can't read Homer's Odyssey, for example? Like, no, no, we're not allowed to do that. No, the answer is. no. And I actually almost wrote for number four, I almost wrote Christian content. But as I was writing that, I realized, wait, that's not true. That's actually not true. Our children need to engage with the ideas of the world. In a safe way, yes, critically, yes. But we don't want them surprised when

we may err imperceptibly at first by adopting an assumption, by adopting an idea, even if only in principle. For example, instead of saying Christ is Lord, we might accidentally say that science is Lord. You've seen this over the last few years, of course, but it's not just limited to COVID. But rather than science being merely descriptive, which is what it is, in the Christian worldview, it is not supposed to supply the philosophy, but it's supposed to be philosophy applied. Oftentimes in science today, they actually say, well, well, science says, you're like, well, not quite. it's not that science says that, is that your philosophy behind the way you're doing science is saying that. Like, let's be clear about terms, right? But there's a danger for us that we would look to another standard rather than the Bible, even if accidentally, right? Even if you wouldn't say, well, science is Lord. You know, like, I would pray that none of you would say that. But we might do accidentally, so we need to be careful. So that was number four, Christian standard. Number five is Christian teachers. Christian education supplies Christian teachers. Paul instructs us in 1, 1st Corinthians 11, verse 1, he says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. It's not wrong for us to

in 1, 1st Corinthians 11, verse 1, he says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. It's not wrong for us to imitate other people. Paul actually is encouraging us to do that here. Imitate other good men, imitate other good women, okay? Luke 640, though, I think, is what really pins the this one down for us. He says, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. So I hope this is clear. We can't send our children to the pagans, unless you want a pagan for a child, which I certainly don't. You might have heard Vodi Baccombe say this before, but I think it's relevant and important. He says, we cannot continue. to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans. We can't send our children to Caesar for their education. Be surprised when they come home as Romans. This saying is trustworthy and deserving a full acceptance, right? Well, you might say, I don't send my kids to the public school, so I'm safe, right? But that doesn't mean that you're off the hook. The reason I say that is, especially as a school teacher myself, as a headmaster for our

hook. The reason I say that is, especially as a school teacher myself, as a headmaster for our school. You have to recognize that your books are teachers. Your books were written by a person. That person is helping instruct your child. So it's not as simple as why we don't go to the public school, so we're good. It's not that simple. You need to be careful with the books that you're choosing as well, which means you need to read them critically. So that was number five, Christian teachers. Number six, Christian goal. Christian education aims for a Christian goal. We need to be unapologetic about this. And I don't mean that, like, in the Greek sense of, like, defenseless. But I mean, we need to not apologize, not feel bad for the fact that we are aiming to make our children disciples of Jesus Christ. We're not afraid to say that. I'm not afraid to say that. Right? The world's going to like, what? How dare you? Right? But we cannot be afraid to say that. That is our stated goal. We aim to make our children Christians. I'm not I'm not ashamed to say that. Neither should you. Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20, says this. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the

And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So that was given to his people, his disciples, there in the moment. But it applies equally as well to us. Our mission is to go make more disciples of Jesus Christ. So you might do this in verbal engagement, maybe at your work, in witnessing to other people. But what about those little people that God gave you? Does it not equally, if not more so, apply to them? They're with you all the time. You are given the command fathers to ensure that they have a Christian education. Does this not apply to you? It 100% applies to you in the way that you raise your children. You're trying to make them disciples of Jesus Christ, trying to raise them up in the discipline, instruction of the Lord. Galatians 419, Paul says something that has always struck me. He says that I, Paul, am in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. We ought to have that same disposition, that same feeling, that same thought process.

warrior. But for us, it is our warrior king, Jesus Christ. Complete conformity is our goal then from cradle to grave. So how might we fail in this? We could fail in this by letting lesser goals displace that great goal. Lesser goals might be something like performance in sports, right? that was a big thing for me growing up, did football, basketball, wrestling, play rugby. for a while, all of that. There's a temptation to allow a goal like that doing well. You want to do well in everything that you do, right? That's actually a Christian virtue. You should. Everything that you commit to, you should do to the best of your ability. But there's a danger of training so hard for a goal like, like maybe let's say it's football or something like that or some kind of sport that you're doing. There's a danger of allowing that lesser goal to actually displace that higher goal of having your children shaped into the image of our Lord and Savior. So I want to caution you about that. We have to have our priorities straight. So that was number six, a Christian goal. Number seven is, and this is our last point, remember, number seven is a Christian purpose. A Christian education maintains a Christian purpose. I said maintains on purpose.

A Christian education maintains a Christian purpose. I said maintains on purpose. Purpose, purpose. Christian education maintains a Christian purpose. And other words, why are we really doing any of this? The answer has to be to glorify God. The answer has to be to glorify God. It's possible to ensure many of the other aspects above, numbers one through six, and yet fail at this point and thus be actively disobeying God. Harsh words. But let me give you an example. So take a father, his name's Bill, in this case. He put his son in the low. Christian school for a pragmatic reason. The local Christian school is the best around. Like you could picture something like up in Moscow, for example, right? Logos school. It's the best school around. You actually have people who aren't Christians trying to send their kids there, right? Because it's a really good education. So let's take Father Bill. He sends his son there, and let's just make it really dramatic. He sends his son there for the sole purpose that he wants him to make boatloads of money later on, because he selfishly wants a yacht and wants his son to buy it and thinks that's his best way to get there. He shouldn't work for it himself. He should have a son to it, obviously, right? So let's take Bill. Because he sent his

his son to buy it and thinks that's his best way to get there. He shouldn't work for it himself. He should have a son to it, obviously, right? So let's take Bill. Because he sent his child to a Christian school, maybe let's just assume, for the sake of illustration, that he checked off one through six. Is he fulfilling his duty? Is he actually doing what the Lord commands him to raise his children up in the discipline instruction of the Lord. I hope you see because of the way I'm highlighting it. The answer is no. Definitely no. We must raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Not just discipline instruction, but specifically discipline instruction of the Lord. That's an important point to note. Don't, don't miss that part. We see in 1st Corinthians 10 131. He says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Romans 11, verse 36, says after a glorious last 11 chapters, he says so, he says from him, through him, and to him are all things. To him be the glory. That should be our mindset as well, that we do this for the glory of God. You'll notice, this is closely related actually to how we started. Number one is talking about a Christian foundation. This is talking, now we're talking

that we do this for the glory of God. You'll notice, this is closely related actually to how we started. Number one is talking about a Christian foundation. This is talking, now we're talking number seven about a Christian purpose. They're closely related. They're related because God is the alpha and the omega, not just the alpha, not just the omega. He's the alpha and omega. He's the beginning and the end. He's the beginning of wisdom. Yes, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but his glory is also the end for which we do everything in our lives. And it must be the same way with our education for our children, for it to be a Christian education. So with the time that I have left, let me, because I want to provide some time for questions, let me hit this a little faster. How do we at refuge church give our children this inheritance, this inheritance? So specifically, me and now sitting in the pew, well, how do I do this? We've talked about the seven principles. How can I do this personally for my children? I hope that from what you've seen in numbers 1 through 7, you recognize that public school simply is not an option. And I'll leave that there. So the two choices that you have left are you have a school that we started here, St. Brendan's Classical Christian Academy. I wrote in more details.

maybe of a few different programs, and there's others. But homeschooling overseen by the father and the mother. That's your second option here at Refuge Church. We will not have done. be discussing method, so I'll glance over that. If you'd like to talk about method, I'll be available after the teaching. So now what I want to do, our final point together, is I want us to talk about ditches and dangers to mark, right? So I recognize them, I see them. I mark them. I mark them and I avoid them. Marking them and avoiding them. The first one, let's talk about public school just real quick. I already said public school is not an option, but let me just briefly head off three objections. The first one is, but I turned out okay, didn't I? One, I'd question if we turned out okay, having gone to public school. But even like at his face, it's a bad argument. The reason why, and I think I'm stealing this from Doug Wilson, but he talks about the example of a plane crashing. So let's say, right, that Sully Sullenberger, whatever his name was, crash, in the river, landed in the river, and everyone survives. Like, it was like a wonderful thing. You do not get off of that plane and go, you know what? Wait, that was actually pretty good. We should

You do not get off of that plane and go, you know what? Wait, that was actually pretty good. We should crash land from now on. This is a good idea, right? No, nobody says that. Nobody argues, nobody should argue from the exception, well, I made it out okay to like everyone should do it, right? So it's a bad argument on the space. We should be careful about using that argument. The second one that's pretty comment is the salt and light argument. In other words, well, aren't we supposed to be salt and light to the world? My caution, my exhortation would be, don't lose your children to this argument. Don't lose your children to this argument. The truth of the matter is that we need to turn this argument on its head and recognize that your children are being salted and lit. I don't know how to say that. Your children are being indoctrinated in the public school system. And it's not them being salt and light. It's them losing their saltiness. There we go. That's what you say. It's them losing their light. We don't want that. Remember, we train our missionaries before we send them into a dangerous environment. We need to do the same for our children. And number three, just to hit this off real quick, what about custody issues? What about custody issues? I say this just very briefly because I want to be sensitive to that situation. I recognize that legally some things just simply are not in our hands. So if you find yourself in this

I say this just very briefly because I want to be sensitive to that situation. I recognize that legally some things just simply are not in our hands. So if you find yourself in this situation where you don't get to just say they're not in the public school, then you need to do everything within your power to catechize them and instruct them in the Lord. So just recognize that you're working against that. All right. Homchooling. Hom schooling. Let's talk about three things. Again, these are ditches and dangers to mark and avoid. The first one is a lack of oversight, a lack of oversight. So when you're homeschooling, this is just the nature of the case. There is a danger of drift. There's a danger to a plug-and-play curriculum that you don't understand. There's a danger to a hodge-podge approach without understanding kind of like where you're missing out on what things should be overlapping and what are not. And then there's gaps in education, that kind of stuff. stuff. These are dangers because there is less oversight with the father and mother in homeschooling. And so the solution, again, this doesn't mean that it's going to happen to you. The solution, if you find yourself drifting in this sense, is that you need to make sure father and

The solution, if you find yourself drifting in this sense, is that you need to make sure father and mother are together and your decisions for your kids' education. Simply, you have to do that. And I would encourage you to seek counsel from other people that you trust. Don't do it alone. Don't isolate. If you're in that situation, homeschooling, do not isolate. The second point, I should have started with the second point because it's more offensive. The second point is a danger of matriarchy and homeschooling. If patriarchy is father rule, matriarchy is mother rule, just to put it simply. And so let me be very, very clear on what I am not saying. I am not saying that everyone who homeschools falls into this ditch. Let me be very clear about that. But it is a ditch to fall in, nonetheless. The reason for this, and this is actually something that I love, that I love to see, is mothers taking this very seriously. Mother's doing all of the reading. Mother's right there hip-to-hip with their children. Mother's very educated on homeschooling, very educated on just education in general. She's owned it. I love this. I absolutely love this. One practical danger that a companies that and simply by the fact that that mother, father's typically outworking, mother's typically home with the kids raising them, giving them this education. The practical danger

right? So don't fall in that ditch, too. The third one that I want to say is just another practical implication, I think, of homeschooling is there's a tendency that I've seen, not as much here in this church in a previous situation where a lot of progress, a lot of growth, a lot of growth, a lot of of schooling can be hindered simply by sickness in the family. Like stuff happens, right? Cancer. Cancer is a very serious thing that a lot of times, like the whole family is derailed. Okay? This is something maybe like serious illness, sometimes the common sickness, right? You go out for a week. We do this as a family. So if you're anything like us, this certainly happens. And then you have multiple children to oversee during this time, too. The only thing that would say for this, this isn't really something you can like just completely avoid because it's just part of life, but the solution would be to recognize this tendency. Just recognize it. How can you plan for these moments? Is there another family that you can partner up with? Do you have some kind of co-op situation where it's like, hey, guys, we're out for the count. We're out this week. I'm sorry, but maybe they can help out with the kids or something. Just something to mark and just be careful of. Okay, I'm done with the homeschooling, so you can, you can breathe. St. Brendan's. Oh, yeah, you thought that you guys were off

help out with the kids or something. Just something to mark and just be careful of. Okay, I'm done with the homeschooling, so you can, you can breathe. St. Brendan's. Oh, yeah, you thought that you guys were off the hook. You're not off the hook. Three things for you as well. The first one, if you thought that it would be bad that the father wasn't involved, this is the danger at St. Brendan's, is that the father and mother wouldn't be involved. That's actually worse, right? That's actually a worse ditch in some sense to fall into. And it could be a common one for us, the St. Brendan's or just for a private school model in general, because many will adopt this idea that you drop them off for their schooling and then you pick them up and they're done and like, hey, like, whatever, maybe they're at sports now and then you like don't really talk about what they're learning. You have no idea at a certain point. You know, years go on and you're like, they seem to be doing okay. They seem to be learning something, right? And now father and mother aren't involved. That's actually like an even worse ditch that we need to be careful of if you're at St. Brendan's. We need to recognize also that or not forget that Pidea means everything. So if you drop your kids off at 8 o'clock, at our school and you pick them up right after 2.30, that's not the end of their Pidea. That was the end of their school day, but that's not the end of their Pidea. Pidea means your whole day. It's

at our school and you pick them up right after 2.30, that's not the end of their Pidea. That was the end of their school day, but that's not the end of their Pidea. Pidea means your whole day. It's your whole life. Everything. Everything at our disposal. So the solution then that I would encourage you in is don't just buy the books. Don't just adopt our philosophy without thinking through it. But look through the books, understand the flow of their education, and why we're doing it, the way we're doing it, and ask questions. Ask questions. I literally had a meeting with the father of one of our kids at the school where we sat down for an hour and just talked through school stuff. Hey, why are you doing this? Hey, why are you doing that? Why are we structuring it this way? That's important. I want to encourage you to do that. We've actually structured also as another encouragement. We've structured our whole school being in the same history cycle, ancient medieval, Renaissance modern, so that everyone from first grade to 12th grade is in the same general time period, which should, in our plan at least, make dinner table conversation a lot more exciting, a lot more fruitful because of that. And also, we're trying to do our job well so that you have extra energy to do your job well when your kids get home. Don't forget that. So first ditch at St. Brendan's father and mother being hands off. Be careful. The second one is not treating children

have extra energy to do your job well when your kids get home. Don't forget that. So first ditch at St. Brendan's father and mother being hands off. Be careful. The second one is not treating children as persons. You know how this goes, right? First graders, you will do this. Second graders, you will do this. Third graders, you will do this. Right. There's a danger in a in a formal school environment that you push them through, regardless of the shape or size of your child's brain, right? Not literally, of course. But not everyone is going to be suited by God. Again, by God, gifted by God for academia. There's a danger of not working with the grain and knots of your child as they are raised. And some just do better in a rigorous structured environment, and some don't. Like, just simply don't. So the solution then is your school model needs to account for individual differences. I think ours does, but if you run into problems, you need to bring them up. Need to bring them up. The third point, and this will be my last one, is there's a danger, if your kids go to St. Brendan's, of losing the family unit. We've kind of talked about this. throughout the teaching a little bit. But think of, like, going to school, and then you go to piano

and seventh for a Christian purpose. And then we talked about your two options and the ditches and dangers to mark and then to avoid so that you don't fall into that ditch. And we have just a few minutes now. For questions, if anyone is so bold to ask a question. Questions. Going around. Going once. Okay. So Eric Kahn asks, what time does my family do family worship in the morning? He's asking that because I texted him this morning, not realizing how early it still was. And so we do family worship at 6.30 in the morning. We do personally. Just because that works well with our family dynamics, we do it in the morning, then we do it in the evening as well. It's a short thing in the morning and it works well for our family. 630, though. You're all invited. Yeah, see, now you don't know. Just a few more minutes if we have any other questions. Questions about either the principles that I laid out, ditches and dangers, how can we actually do this?

Questions about either the principles that I laid out, ditches and dangers, how can we actually do this? All of that's free game. Yes, ma'am. Okay, so the question is you're saying, let's say, from first to 12th grade, they were at a Christian school. Things were going well, robust family life, family worship, all that. Good to go. Check, check, check to check. Okay. And then comes the question, can we send them to a secular college? That's hard to answer for me. Let me answer it in two ways. It depends on what they're trying to get out of college. So if you were to say, my child is going to be a doctor. He's wanted to be an anesthesiologist since he's, was six years old and could even say the word, right? Like, that's just, that's, that's what he's wanted to do. I can't think of a solid Christian school that would make that happen. So there might be some give and take there where you say, hey, if this, if this is really what we're going to do and

be some give and take there where you say, hey, if this, if this is really what we're going to do and we think this is a sound wise decision, then you may have to do that. Yeah. But if you're talking about somebody else where you say, and that's, so that's a assume you don't have another option. Obviously, if you had a Christian school, that's where you should go. But if you had something else where you're trying to just get some more training in the great books, trying to read some theology, maybe you would go to a seminary, obviously, so I would say, yeah, don't go to a secular college. Or you have something like New St. Andrews, for example, where you're going to get a really good, robust education, and you don't have to go to the pagans to get it. We're actually trying to, my long-term vision is first to create a correspondent school here so that our kids don't have to leave us, but that they could actually continue to get a robust education even four years after they've graduated St. Brendan's. At first, it would just be a correspondent school. Eventually would make it more official where they'd be here on campus. But that's what I would like to see more term so that we don't have to face that option.

term so that we don't have to face that option.