Overboard on Homeschooling

Pastor Anderson's Blog

August 31, 2016



I believe in homeschooling--I’m against Christian school and public school, but there’s a movement out there where homeschooling has become like a religion for some people. When parents go overboard in the area of homeschooling it can scare people off, whether it be unsaved people or other Christians. Homeschooling is a means to an end. It’s how we educate our children, but it shouldn’t be all we talk about. When people ask me what I do, I tell them I’m a pastor. I don’t introduce myself as a “homeschool dad.”

One of the gurus of the overboard-on-homeschooling movement is Michael Pearl who is famous for his parenting book, “To Train up a Child.” People who have read the book have actually abused their children to the point of killing them! The reason the book is so dangerous is that Pearl is basically telling people to expect total obedience from their children. This is unrealistic and leads to excessive punishment. He teaches the same garbage as Paul Washer about Romans 7. He twists the scripture and believes that our nature is to do right. I believe in spanking, obviously, but I recognize the sinful nature of man and therefore do not expect perfection from my children.

Not only does Pearl teach false doctrine and a fatally flawed philosophy about discipline, but he, and others like him, encourage a very slow-paced lifestyle that revolves around homeschooling. Yes, your wife ought to get through the curriculum and provide a quality education for the children, but we also need to be involved in church “so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” The Michael Pearls of this world give homeschoolers a bad name to the point where our fellow fundamental Baptists assume we are isolationists or something.

Yes, we homeschool, but our life centers around church. We still believe in “three to thrive.” I realize we are all spread thin at times, but we need to be careful to have the right priorities. It would be better for your child if your family made it to the Wednesday night service of a fundamental Baptist Church even if that means skipping the violin lessons. I am not saying we should neglect our own families for the sake of the ministry, but we should not spend all of our time on childrearing either.

“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT HAVE THE PREEMMENENCE.” Colossians 1:18

I’m sick and tired of hearing these homeschoolers who live in Phoenix, Arizona, talk about how conservative they are, when they go to a church that’s not KJV only and doesn’t have soul-winning. There’s just no excuse for that in Phoenix! If that’s you, get your butt into a fundamental Baptist church with a leather-lunged preacher, and start soul-winning. Keep homeschooling your children, but realize that they learn a lot by example. You think just because you are homeschooling, you are raising a godly family? What about the family down the street that’s going to hell!? Hopefully, your children will grow up to be godly adults, but what are YOU going to accomplish for the Lord today?

Here is a sermon to go with this article.

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