School yesterday was interesting.
Melanie is in a phase of movement. She can’t seem to do anything while sitting still. Everything is motion.
School proved to be not much different. I was reading to her and explaining things and she would be jumping up and down and doing some kind of “dance” steps.
I’m not sure why she has started being so active (shall we say) but I’m okay with it.
School is supposed to be about educating, right? Most kids are asked to sit in a classroom setting for hours a day. They are told not to wiggle, speak or get up. Everything has a rule and the teacher can hand out punishment as they see fit.
Now, where I AM a firm believer in discipline (our home would be chaos without it), I also believe that God did not intend our children to ONLY learn when in this situation.
How, then, did God expect them to learn? WHO, did God expect to teach children? What did God want taught?
“Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. 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.”
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
This passage was (and is) a very important passage in the Jewish faith. God wanted spiritual things taught in the families. Education in our modern world has always been about the secular but the most important thing we can teach our children is how to be GODLY citizens in a broken world. This is not taught through math, history, science, etc. While these have their place, our focus needs to be on God and His Word.
If we are going to build strong godly citizens, they need to know the Scriptures just like the Jewish children were taught in Bible times. I have come to the unpopular opinion that education is not the be all in my children’s lives. The focus, the importance, should and will be on God’s Word and holy living.
So that is what they are to learn. How is shown to us in the verses above. Everywhere they go, parents were to be instructing and using opportunities to teach them about God. The emphasis is on what they were to learn and when but also on WHO was to teach them. The responsibility for their learning was given to the parents.
In a nutshell?
Education, the art of learning, is an amazing tool for our world today but our focus should be on spiritual things as we travel like pilgrims through this world. It is not our home so our focus should be on the eternal life that waits for us. Educating my child on being holy and showing Christ in their lives is much more important than knowing the square root of a number. And if Mellie wants to stand up, move or even hug me while we study God’s created earth; I’m perfectly fine with this!
“But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
I Peter 1:15, 16