I've had other posts that I thought I published ( Auds' first love letters to and from a boy!) but are now gone. Sad. I'll have to retype them if I can remember all I tried to convey. I hope this one posts!
So, I'm still not feeling complete peace with Auds' school. I wish it were just financial -although it ain't cheap.
It's run by a little nondenom church. Okay, first off, I don't get just up and starting a church with no spiritual headship. The early church was very organized and there was accountability. How can you just up and run a church without accountability of a pastor (most pastors have their own pastors) or governing board to make sure you're not making stuff up.
Beau and I have to read doctrinal books, thoroughly study the Bible, take classes, tests, interview with our state licensing board, and keep working under our pastor to be licensed ministry - the whole "Rev." Before his name and whatnot.
I'm not saying that's required to be a Christian. But if you're called to lead a church, there's gotta be some authority to protect the saints of God from any misdoings (we are all human after all).
Off of soap box.
The more I deal with these people, the more I feel and fear they are really confused. Example, a youth from their school - not their church - wanted to come to our church and reached out to my husband and I. We made arrangements with his host family (he's an exchange student) and would pick him up and drop him off and take great care of him. One of the church administrators chewed me out for this. And then changed the terms of his exchange student contract to state that he must be a member of their church. When he would still contact us for prayer and to talk he was then told he can't have contact with us or anyone at our church.
They've scheduled things during our church services that are mandatory for parents knowing that a lot of the kids from our church that go there are preacher's kids and forcing us to miss church when these appointments could easily be done at another time. I'm not saying that they should change everything for us. But when the school only has 80 kids, and 10 of them are from our church they know what they're doing, if that makes sense.
Their pastor had also reached out to our pastor wanting some help studying the Bible. The two were even thinking of a joint service. The administration flipped out. Needless to say their friendship has been forced to an end.
A couple I know just pulled their kid out of the school because the teacher had been mentioning non-Biblical doctrine in class and refusing to help their kid with class work.
I deal with them as the school photographer and the more I deal with them the more I just think that something is off. They're...weird.
We'll keep her there this year to finish it out, and next year because we know the teacher personally and know she's sane (lol). Also to give me more time to figure out what to do.
Do I send her to another private school? Do I homeschool her? For a girl who thrives on structure at school, how do I homeschool without having a designated space? How do I stay disciplined enough to make sure I don't let them fall behind?
Jess, I'm gonna need some help here.
So, I'm praying about it. A lot. And thanking God for intuition and trusting him to help me make the right decision.
The explanation of your views on church authority make sense to me and it's the first time someone has laid out their POV on the matter and I can see it clearly. I struggle with that, as I've left my current church for the time being to "home church". In the future I will be seeking out a new church home and I'm not really sure what my criteria are going to be in finding one. My beliefs don't align completely with one specific denomination and so I know there are many other "pastors" out there who are in the same boat and may not have affiliated themselves with a specific denomination because of that. Should I discount all of those small country churches in my area because of that? I guess I'm just trying to listen to the Holy Spirit's guiding on this one. Anyways, we probably won't find a new church home until we move next year anyways. I have plenty of time to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Auds schooling goes, I've always told Adam that I would be more likely to put my kids in a secular school than I would a private religious one. My reasons are because of exactly what you've expressed here. God has put Adam and I, and our church family, in charge of the religious education of our children. We fear the influences of the public school system, but aren't there equally, if not more, dangerous influences when we give a stranger the authority to interpret the Bible for our children? At least in public school it's secular and then we could supplement with religious instruction at home without having to undo any false Gospel we feel is being put into their minds (although at public school you're going to have to deal with worldly indoctrination).
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I think that if you know the person who will be teaching your child and are comfortable with them, and have been given the opportunity to look at all curricula, so you know what topics your child is going to be learning about, then I see no problem with Auds being there. If you in any way feel like the teacher is not a good influence on your child or are not comfortable with the curricula/doctrine being taught to your child, then I say you need to pull her out.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your ability to do this - YOU know Audrey better than anyone else and know her needs. You can provide for them educationally just as you provide for them in other ways at home. If God is leading you toward the homeschooling option, He's going to provide you with the structure/patience/organization or whatever you need to accomplish it successfully.
As a working mother, it's going to be hard for you. So you're going to have to honestly ask yourself if it is possible with your work schedule. If it isn't you have two options - change your work situation or find another schooling option. Can you close your studio in the mornings? I find that at this age I only need a good 2 hours in the morning to get lessons done. You also don't have to do school every day - you can do it 3-4 days a week year-round (that's what we have to do because of my work schedule). Can Beau handle some of the schooling in the evenings or weekends while you do work? Whatever you decide will work for you and Beau's work schedules, you just make it a routine and then Auds will get used to it and have the structure she needs.
As far as having a separate space goes, you don't need that at all. We use our dining room right now, but when we move after the first of the year we will be using our kitchen table. And the house we are building doesn't have a school room. All lessons and work are going to be done at the kitchen table, because I find that's easier anyways (I can cook or do other things while they are working, but still be within an earshot if they have questions). A separate school space is actually really inconvenient.
All of your fears about it are normal. I still worry about some of those things. But the longer we homeschool, the more I realize that as long as I'm investing the time in my kids and I'm being guided by God, I can't really mess it up. Your kids won't fall behind because you're not going to let that happen.
I think we often think that homeschooling is taking the public or private school model with the teacher in front of the class and the school room, and then moving it into the home. When you think of it that way it's overwhelming - I don't have the space or the time to teach my kids all day. But homeschooling is different. It isn't at all like school outside of home. Kids can learn anywhere in the house. You can lie with them on the couch and do their phonics work with them. You can go to the park and do your math lesson at the picnic table while the younger kids play. Don't feel like you're going to have to find a way to be tied to a school room all day long to accomplish it. You don't make room in your life for school - your life IS school and your children just learn by default.
I could go on and on about this. If you want to talk more about it, please email me. I'm not trying to push you to homeschool, because you need to listen to God on this. I just want you to know that if He is telling you to do it, you're more than capable. :)
Oh, and I forgot to ask about the whole "up and starting a church" thing. Isn't that the Catholic church's argument about Protestantism? At some point people just up and left the Catholic church and began smaller churches without accountability. And all of the official denominations that we have now - didn't they all at some point just split from a larger denom and start from scratch on their own? It seems natural to me that as time goes on, this will continue to happen, just as it did during the early church, the Reformation, early America with the English Separatists, and so on.
ReplyDeleteNot arguing, it's just the one thought that makes me wonder about the validity of non-denom churches and I'm curious about what you think about it. It would make a good separate post :)