The Importance of Homeschooling

As a homeschool parent, I didn’t find this shocking at all because this was also the primary reason my husband and I chose to homeschool our children. In fact, for many of the over 3 million students that are homeschooled in the United States, religious beliefs play a role in their family’s decision to homeschool. According to a 2019 National Center for Education Statistics study, about 59% of respondents said they homeschooled (at least in part) due to a desire to provide religious instruction.1 Outside of the statistical research, you only have to open your social media, turn on the television, or read a web article to encounter the tidal wave of parents vocally opposing trends in the public school system that run counter to a biblical worldview and who are pulling their children out to homeschool or enroll them in private Christian schools.

So why is homeschooling important in today’s culture? First, God commands us to teach our children his commands and provide godly examples of how to live a life that is pleasing to our Creator (Deuteronomy 6:6–9). God’s Word and his commands are not something we should only talk about with our children at church, but they should be pervasive in our lives—“talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Homeschooling allows us to do this by making God a part of everything we do. During homeschool, we can study God’s Word in depth and then use it as the foundation upon which we view every subject our children are learning. We can also take time to pray throughout the day and encourage our family with Scripture. These opportunities are not possible nor allowed within a secular education system that has stripped God’s Word from its schoolhouses and replaced it with another religion—man’s word.

As children develop, their worldview is constantly being shaped by what they are exposed to.

As children develop, their worldview is constantly being shaped by what they are exposed to. If they consistently encounter material for hours each day that is based on man’s word and not God’s truth, then this will affect how they view the world. So when children in many classrooms across the country are being taught that the universe is billions of years old, people evolved from an apelike creature, there are more than two genders, and killing babies in the womb is a “reproductive right,” it’s no wonder that we see a culture in crisis, confusion, and blatant disobedience to God’s Word. This phenomenon isn’t new, however, as we see in Scripture many examples of God’s people being influenced by others to turn from him. For example, the wise King Solomon was influenced by his foreign wives to worship their gods (1 Kings 11:1–8). And during the time of judges, the Israelites repeatedly engaged in a cycle of sin that found them worshipping the false gods of other nations around them like Baal and the Ashtaroth (Judges 2:12–13).

When we homeschool, we can be discerning about what we expose our children to and who or what has influence over their lives. Instead of allowing our children to be inundated with information that runs counter to Scripture, we can teach them the truths of God’s Word and then help them compare these truths to man’s ideas and opinions—reinforcing the Bible as the foundation upon which we build our understanding of the world around us. This provides an appropriate balance so that we don’t ignore real issues in our fallen, sinful world but also don’t allow the world to have too much influence over our families. By taking charge of their education, we can help provide the structure necessary for our children to live in this world, but not be conformed to it (Romans 12:2).

As parents, it’s important to remember that children are a heritage or blessing from the Lord, and we are entrusted to be good stewards of whatever the Lord has blessed us with (Psalm 127:3). This includes how we steward our time, resources, and efforts to raise our families in the truth and knowledge of our Lord. Homeschooling can be an important part of this stewardship and a blessing to both the parents and the children who pursue it.