The “Church”

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-02-15.

He who is not for us is against us. Jesus said so.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. Please understand that while it is our responsibility to tell the truth, we must never lose sight of the fact that our enemy is not made of flesh and blood and that we ultimately have the choice to conform and compromise or to stand on principle. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: John 19:15

I heard a sad story the other day. A particular church group had been through a gruelling year of personal failures and calamities that truly questioned the soundness and effectiveness of its supposed “Christian” teachings. Incredibly, at that church’s AGM that year, the treasurer got up and announced that in spite of having had to wade through some rather difficult waters, aside from seeing leaders go down in shame along with people left injured along the way, the “church” had had its best year ever! I assume this to be the normal expectation of a church treasurer, but is this perhaps indicative of how many “churches” are measuring success? If this is their focus, how does the modern institutional church view education?

In times past, when government acknowledged the Christian heritage of the country, bureaucracies were smaller, decentralized and not nearly so autocratic. Churches were free to do what they were supposed to do and were more likely to influence the government than the other way around. Schools were also free to recite the Lord’s prayer, to recite the Bible and to expect Christian behaviour. Often, the local church and school were so intertwined that it was hard to delineate the end of one and the beginning of the other. Everything seemed to work to the benefit of the citizens. Such was certainly my experience from, oh, so long ago!

Times have certainly changed. Today, nearly every church, school and society has been incorporated as an entity that answers to the government which dispenses permission to exist and directives on how to behave. Government has been empowered such that all things must be approved through an ever growing secular bureaucracy. When the state takes on the nature and responsibility of the God it desires to replace, it becomes all powerful. When it becomes all powerful, even things that belong to God, like the church, come under new management, as directed by the king. When this happens, those institutions which should be vigilantly defending the things of God seem to develop a new focus while losing sight of their true purpose. As a consequence, the “church” seems to have, unfortunately, evolved from the body of Christianity to the building of churchianity, from equipping the saints to filling the coffers, from going about God’s business to becoming a business about God.

Whereas the training and teaching of children has always been the responsibility of parents as per the authority given them by God, education, (as in government mandated compulsory attendance to some form of government approved school) has usurped this freedom, in much the same fashion as what has happened to the church. This has had the negative effect of forcing both churches and Christian schools to look to government for approval and support rather than to God. There exists a sense of dread that, should either do anything to displease this new “lord”, the authority to exist and/or the ability to either access funds directly or issue tax receipts for donations will be lost. This replacement of faith with fear has resulted in these new “government agencies” not only sanctioning and advancing, but defending things approved by government as though they were ordained of God, including the public education programming and processes that makes no mention of God, Bible or Christianity.

As a consequence of the church’s desire to accommodate government demands, home educators often find it difficult to receive encouragement, support and direction through the local church. In fact, there is a greater likelihood of being persecuted than encouraged for determining to do what God has directed parents to do. This is not to say that all church organizations are like this. However, one must remember that if it is not wise to bite the hand that feeds you and if the church is going to look to government for its “existence”, it had better not challenge assumed government ”authority” or risk corporate death. Even though taken out of context, “Render unto Caesar” is often used to justify this activity of self-preservation. Did this natural instinct for institutional preservation before Caesar not also motivate the Pharisees when they resisted Jesus during his earthy ministry?

Schools (Part 1 – It Can’t be Fixed)

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-02-22.

Complaining has never changed a thing, especially when the thing you are trying to change won’t be changed.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: Psalm 127:1

Can something be so commonplace that it is never challenged? Is it possible to have something that is seen to be so “normal” that no one questions its workings or products? Even if occasionally seen as out of sync with truth, right, good, common sense or anything else, is there any use in complaining about something when there is simply no alternative? Such is the case with modern day compulsory education.

In spite of having “choice” in education, when the only options available are different forms of a single thing, namely a school, school becomes the accepted, standard way of educating children. However, what if “school” is not actually what it is being presented as? While some folks may have seen school for what it really is (and likely started home educating), most simply “go with the flow” without considering that whatever flows, goes down hill! Let me give you a bit of an “insider” view of what has come to be the commonly accepted standard in education.

I am now thankful for having had a very different career from most educators, who simply get the training, find a job and stay with that school until retirement. True, some may change schools once or twice, but usually within the same system. Not I! No sir! I have always had a very healthy disrespect for schools! I have always seen school, any school, as squelching individual thought and freedom. I am a bit too cynical to believe that perfect strangers, who know nothing about an individual student can determine what, when and how something should be learned, even if presented within a Christian context, so I searched for truth.

How I ended up being a teacher is testimony to God’s sense of humour! After having “trained” (another story for some other time), I became a soon-to-be-disillusioned teacher. Like many new to the profession, I thought I could come in and change the system from the horrible one I had attended to one in which each student becomes more than just a number. Boy, did I fail! My first principal told me that the overarching “philosophy of education” was to protect one’s “ass” (I don’t believe he meant donkey!)! Great start! That first year was so traumatic that I found my faith in Jesus! It was after sincerely making this most important decision of my life with every intention of fully serving Him forevermore, that I prayed a prayer that would redirect my life and career.

I stayed a teacher (not without protesting!), but in keeping with my prayer request, I got to see the insides of many different schools, in two provinces; public, separate, private, rural, urban; K to Post-Secondary; in English and French. I helped train 22 student teachers; marked diploma exams in two languages; did everything I could to positively influence the bureaucracy, administration and fellow teachers towards improving the system, but found myself completely powerless to do any more politically than be a thorn in the flesh. Since I could do nothing about the school, I eventually came to the conclusion that I could only affect the direction of my students. As for my own children’s education, I exercised my right, no…, my responsibility as a parent to teach and train them myself (Faye, my help meet, helped me meet that goal) by bringing them back home, the safest, most caring and “sensitive” environment possible for any child.

Why this story? I happen to know school in ways that few do. I have many good reasons for keeping children out of any institutional school, too many to list in a blog. In fact, this story began forty years ago, and by the time we were done training our children at home, a new millennium had begun. A lot of things have changed since then and I am ever so thankful not to have to be teaching in what has become the most dysfunctional system ever invented by man! A minority ruled system that disenfranchises parents, puts the “inmates” in charge of the asylum so to speak and offers limitless opportunity to demonstrate the normalization of deviation and the madness of relativity under the guise of being “neutral” and “progressive”. I am not a do-nothing wimp. If I have not been able to make a dent in that system over forty years, how can Christian parents think they can change it by sending innocent children to “salt” it?

Schools (Part 2 – Dishonesty)

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-02-29.

School is a giant, multibillion dollar industry that works well for everyone involved, except perhaps, students and good teachers.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: Matt 6:24

Last week, I shared a greatly summarized story of my experience within the school system. Bear in mind that the story involves nearly every kind of school available in Saskatchewan and Alberta. There are likely not many people who have been “privileged” to have seen the inside of as many schools as I have. One can say that I got to see quite a few schools because I was substituting for some time in both provinces, but I prefer to say that God orchestrated things as per the aforementioned prayer. You see, I did not want to teach, in spite of being gifted as a teacher. Most would understand that the last thing the enemy wants from anyone is to have them working in keeping with their God-given strengths, gifts and talents and so he discouraged my being a teacher. In any case, I wanted to be sure that I did not want to be a teacher, so I asked to experience everything in education before I quit. Nuts! Like many a prayer request, I had not really thought this one through. Even though I have indeed experienced a great many things in education, it appears as though I am still a bit short of “everything” and so I am still here! Oh well? What else could I do but serve God here after all this “training”!? Back to our topic.

Even though I cannot say I have clear evidence of such from every school I attended, for some were only for a day or two, I can say that as soon as I “cracked” the political structure of any school, the most prevalent characteristic that surfaced was usually dishonesty. Even schools purporting to be “religious” seemed to be very “resourceful” when it came to rhetoric and the collecting and distribution of money. I came to the conclusion that since government is not usually seen as a model of integrity, schools, generally must have believed it was acceptable to follow the example. Time and space prohibits me from getting into great detail so let’s look at something that generally applies to most schools. Before I begin, I want to say that what I am saying are generalities and cannot be universally applied to every school, although I can not really think of an exception from my experience.

The dishonesty begins when schools promise all kinds of things to parents, and on marquees or billboards. These are nothing more than marketing ploys to attract as much money, er… students as possible. Funding is based on the number of students, so the more students registered with the school, the more money it gets. In spite of all the rhetoric on this and that regarding students, students are really just $tudents!

This means two things. The first, is that everything possible must be done to make sure that school is viewed as the normal thing to do and to discourage, at all cost, any deviation from this mindset. The further one’s education is from public school, the greater the threat to the system. Therefore, home education should be discouraged as much as possible with misleading and/or ridiculous statements.

The second thing to observe is that it really doesn’t matter how the program is delivered, the funding follows the student. As a consequence, schools, be they public, separate or private, are offering variations of public programming to “help” er… appeal to as many $tudents as possible. We have online, distance learning, blended programming, fully aligned and seemingly no end of counterfeit varieties of these things, all with the goal of attracting as many $tudents as possible. Little thought is given to whether or not these offerings are of any benefit to the student, as long as they are “cashable”. No doubt the majority of schools providing such “opportunities” for “education” are public or separate schools, but private schools, taking their example from the “big boys” find some of these offerings just as lucrative in attracting $tudents.

So there you have it. As a student, so long ago, I found myself without value other than the fact that I had a number. I may not have realized it then, but having that number had value for someone else. I really wanted to change all that as a teacher, but the system was too well entrenched. The fact that even schools purporting to be “Christian”, $ee $tudents as a $ubstantial a$$et to their being, doesn’t make them any less guilty. What a crying shame. Tick them all off and bring those children home where they belong.

Schools (Part 3 – More On Dishonesty)

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-03-07.

Advancing government programming as the only option for education is dishonest.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: Prov. 1:19

Last week I shared a bit more of my universal observation of schools. Not that I have been to every school in the universe, but what I have observed of nearly all schools I have experienced is that they are often dishonest. I observed dishonesty in the rhetoric about the deep concern for the educational welfare of the children and all the associated meaningless platitudes and promises so often displayed on the school marquees. It may not be the case for every school but I also frequently observed dishonesty with the handling of money. Most schools quickly took advantage of any potential loophole, knowing full well that the chances of getting caught were slim. I am not convinced that anything has changed, even though the electronic age makes it a little harder to do.

This week I want to talk about another form of dishonesty, so universally accepted that it is not even recognized as dishonest. The idea that government sets the expectations, the programming, delivery and accreditation for education is so rarely questioned that even home educating parents who had to escape the system very often bring the system home with them. Home education providers often see this as a marketing opportunity and not only make this government program available, but may even try to simulate it, often employing dishonesty as their primary tool. There are two ways this can be accomplished, but first let’s briefly consider that by collectively acquiescing to government claims to jurisdiction in areas reserved for parents, Christians are in danger of committing a serious offence before God. By recognizing the government’s claimed lordship over children and education, are we not actually behaving in a “treasonous” fashion respecting Jesus’ Lordship? Since God never gave government authority in the training and teaching of children and since we cannot serve two masters, should Christians be succumbing to this error?

Another consideration before discussing the two ways to mislead home educating parents, is that if the government is in “competition” for lordship with Jesus, then we can certainly assume it will not be advancing the truth. Parents make a grievous mistake when they think that it really does not matter what the children are exposed to as long as they are “educated”. Perplexingly, parents often make a bigger issue about junk food being offered to students in school while saying nothing about the junk being fed to their minds. Should we not pay more attention to the fact that junk food goes through and is eliminated while junk thoughts and ideas are not? This oversight has serious implications for world view development. But then again, could it be that this is actually the objective of government programming in the first place?

When government programming is accepted by home educators through either selective courses, blended or fully aligned programming, it there really any good way to ascertain that the rules are being followed? How could even the most astute bureaucrat be able to determine if the blended program, for instance, is using the Alberta Program of Studies and not a facsimile; that the approved resources are being used; and that it is being delivered by a certificated teacher and not a parent representative? Indeed, this kind of situation is perfect for cheating. Just offer the parents a bit more money and they will not tell the government that the school is not doing what it is supposed to be doing while the school will not report the student’s failure to meet the requirements! Even if rules are followed it is trying to fit a child into a program rather than a program to the child.

The second way that we can cloak dishonesty is to take advantage of the fact that there is no good way to assess if high school credit requirements are met. There is an assumption of honesty, but there is lots of room for “professional” interpretations. Consequently, as a certificated teacher, I can award credits to anyone for anything without really having to defend my decision. Even though credits can be awarded without accessing the associated funding, high school level funding is completely tied to the awarding of credits. Unscrupulous home education providers taking advantage of parental ignorance and fear, promising government “approval” through credits and diplomas are likely more motivated by money than service.

Private Christian Schools (Part 1)

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-03-14.

If these schools are “private” and “Christian” why are they insisting on “public” and “secular” programing?

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: 1 John 4:1-6

It is hard to imagine how any thinking parent could ever believe that government, displaying no allegiance to God or his word, but rather openly hostile towards biblical teaching, could possibly have their children’s best interest in mind. However, it happens all the time. For some reason, the fact that government cannot give birth to children escapes their notice and through a lack of knowledge regarding scriptural directives, parents not only validate and empower the government’s claim to authority in education, but try to emulate its leadership by creating Christian versions of the same thing, something called Private Christian Schools.

Now to be fair, schools do have their place. In countries where illiteracy is high, they have a very important part to play in enabling children to function in the modern world. In our country, where most parents have at least some level of literacy, parents could and should do as directed by God and educate their own children at home. Even so, there is no doubting the fact that not everyone can do so. In a perfect “Christian” world, those that could, would be there to help those that couldn’t or shouldn’t. However, as you may have already noticed, this is anything but a perfect world!

So why have Christian schools? In my opinion, the biggest reason for the creation of Christian schools is the unquestioned normalization of what we have all come to believe as “education happens in schools”. Christian parents who think this way simply carry forward the idea, but within an assumed Christian context and environment. Since we are in an imperfect world where everyone is left to fend for themselves, Christian schools can be a real asset and a positive alternative to public schools, if indeed the leadership, staff and program are…well,… Christian!

Unfortunately, when unfunded, private schools struggle with the high cost of running a school and the need to properly recompense teachers and staff. Few parents can afford high tuition, therefore private schools usually end up seeking help from government. However, this help comes with “strings” attached. Knowing that increasing the amount of government programming used makes things not only easier, but potentially more profitable, it is easy to see how the secularization of “Christian” schools can be accelerated with increased government funding. Once on this path, the private school leadership starts to become increasingly focussed on survival, consequently developing a willingness to do anything demanded of them by bureaucrats, in exchange for continuing existence and support. Attempting to meet the government program with a collection of Christian resources often leads to completely adopting the public program and all of its directives. Private schools can become so much like public schools, they need only apply to become a part of the public system and disappear completely as “Christian” alternatives. Sadly, a true story.

I have always wondered why any Christian school would want to meet this government mandated secular programming at all, never mind trying to Christianize it! If God had given government authority in education, I would understand. However, the prevalent idea that government has something important to say about the training of children is more of an unquestioned cultural “habit” than of reasoned Christian thinking. I suspect this is likely due to a similar misunderstanding of the authority of government within the Church, since it too seems to have placed government ahead of God for it’s existence and survival.

Not every Private Christian School has sold its soul to the devil, but there are few, if any, which do not acknowledge government as in control of all things educational. If we think about it, what is supposed to set private Christian schools apart is that they look to God as the provider and director of all things, including the training and teaching of children. To say that Jesus is Lord on the one hand, then look to government for provision and direction makes a mockery of what a Christian education should entail. Why are Private Christian Schools looking to government for direction and support? Could it be because our culture has developed a greater fear of government than faith in God, when it comes to education?

Private Christian Schools (Part 2)

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-03-21.

Why are many Private Christian Schools believing that government controls education?

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: Matt 15:14

Today, nearly every Private Christian School in Alberta either uses the government’s approved curriculum or a combination of things that meet the directives of government programming, including not only Christian, but non-Christian resources as well. In fact, it is not uncommon to see Christian schools advertising their adherence to public programming as incentive to have the children attend them. I believe this is largely the result of two things. There is a deeply seated belief that government sets the standard for education and most people have bought into the idea that government accreditation is required to successfully progress to the post-secondary level. Both reasons are in error! Government has no God given authority in education and there are much easier approaches to post-secondary pathways.

Here is an important question. Does scripture not direct us to avoid being conformed to this world? If this is the advice we get from the Bible, would it not be expected of a Christian school to avoid using the government’s worldly curriculum? Why would or should any “Christian” school, ostensibly created to direct students to God even be tempted to follow what is designed to lead us away from Him? While we may hear believers talk about the need to defend the Christian faith against worldly influence, we present a Christianized version of this worldly wisdom! Why not just use Christian programming and never mind aligning or lining up with the secular government program at all? Are we so lacking internal direction that we need outside intervention? Really, if one thinks about it, offering parents a Christianized version of worldly programming while offering to “clean it up” of its secular-socialist messages is like promising fresh water from sewage. Why bother to even pretend to meet it? The answer… ultimately, is money! It is really disgraceful how many former good Christian organizations have compromised their way into eventually becoming part of the problem by joining the local public system through the pursuit of it!

I am sure there must be Christian schools using Christian curriculum, taught by Christian teachers under the leadership of Christian folks who wholeheartedly desire to prepare students belonging to Christian parents to function in what used to be a more Christian world, without having to resort to “Christianizing” a secular program, but our experience of last year indicates that they are few and far between, if they even exist. My concern goes beyond the failure of Christian schools to those who, through extension, are connected to them. Because most home educators share a Christian world view, most find it desirable to register through a Christian school, either directly or through a third party “provider”. Does it really matter which school parents are registered with? Actually, it does.

From a Christian perspective, a school or provider’s motivation for offering a home education program is vital. If motivated by anything other than pleasing God, the directive will always be towards man’s system, which has always desired to replace God. Rather than informing parents of God’s expectations and provision, most Christian schools will do what is most expedient for their own success by advancing what could easily be a false promise of parental and student well-being. Since these schools know little of what a true Christian education should look like, ministry often becomes overshadowed with marketing where providers outbid each other for clients. Could this be a classic case of the blind leading the blind?

As a consequence of being directed to man rather than God, many home educators end up trying to outperform the school rather than focussing on God’s directives. Think about this. If the private Christian school through which a home educator is registered is either compromising the faith or seriously challenging it, are the parents being well served? If the Christian schools through which most home educators are registered are increasingly becoming secularized, is God-centred home education in trouble? Should private schools go down, the only choice home educators will have will be public institutions, which may show an interest in the potential income, but are unlikely to support Christian education. But then again, could this motivation also be what drives Christian schools to register home educators?

Home Education Providers

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-03-28.

If there are too many registration options for home education, a competitive environment is created where survival becomes more important than function.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: 1 Peter 5:8

In Alberta, every child between the ages of six and sixteen must be registered for “education”, somewhere. There are really only two choices provided. Either children are registered to attend some kind of school or they are registered to be educated at home. There is presently no option for simply notifying the government of the intent to home educate without government interference, in Alberta.

Home educating parents have a choice of either registering their children with the local school board, or with some other willing non-resident school board in the province. Willing school boards can be public schools, catholic schools, or private schools which can either be providing home education programs directly or through what has come to be known as Independent Contracted Home Education Specialists (ICHES).

Alberta is one of very few jurisdictions that provides funding for home education. Therefore, aside from a legal obligation a local school board has for the education of all of its resident students, there is only one reason a non-resident board could have for wanting to provide home education services for students outside of its geographical area and that would have to be…money. The funding of home educated students has created a rather peculiar situation that involves competition for students as well as a few variations on the theme of home-based education that is truly unique to Alberta. Besides the age old debate among home-based educators as to whether one should school, home school, home educate or un-school, Alberta also provides mixes of these involving blending, aligning or partially complying to public programming. All these options are not actually offered to meet every family’s needs, but are specifically designed marketing techniques for attracting clients and/or increasing the provider’s income.

In addition to confusing the question of what a home education is, the desire to attract students because they represent money has also created opportunity for questionable behaviours. A board making no claim to religious affiliation could be expected to behave in ways that could be considered contrary to what would be expected of a board claiming to be Christian, which would naturally be held to a higher standard. When considering that the vast majority of home educating parents are coming from a Christian perspective, home education providers know that in order to attract these people, they also have to be “Christian”, however this talk is often disassociated from the walk, so to speak. I don’t suppose this is the time, nor the place to list the questionable practices that I have witnessed coming from home education providers claiming to be of a Christian persuasion, but let me assure you that not everything could be considered moral, ethical or even decent.

Aside from the potential for giving Christianity an even worse reputation than what it already has in the western world, the most unfortunate consequence of this focus on money is that it has divided the home education community. Consider this: when the survival of providers becomes of bigger concern than that of home education itself; when one provider is willing to destroy another to gain a larger market share; or when providers are willing to risk having all home educators suspected of their own misconducts; are we not becoming increasingly more vulnerable to being destroyed from within? Few parents are actually aware of what is going on as providers make self-centred, short-sighted decisions seemingly without regard for the potential casualties or for the future welfare of home education in this province.

I cannot help but wonder how many of these organizations would suddenly lose their “love for home educators” and promptly disappear should the funding of such be ended. Could it be time to seriously reconsider participating in funded home education? While parents may indeed be benefiting in the short term, could it be that the providers are actually benefiting more?

Home Education Facilitators

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-04-04.

Facilitators are the front line workers in the home education community and have the power to direct or misdirect the parents.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: Titus 2:1

I have always had a simple philosophy when it came to learning: Go to someone who knows something about what you want to learn. It is important to distinguish the difference between someone who thinks they know something about a topic from someone who does. For example, I believe it is not at all unreasonable to expect a swimming instructor to be able to swim well before signing up for that class! Unfortunately, in our modern world of diminishing knowledge and skills, one need not know much about a topic to claim to be an expert!

Take home education facilitation, for example. This is a position that is unique to Alberta, where funding directed at home educating students comes with the requirement that a certificated teacher visit the family twice per year to ascertain whether or not the student is progressing in his/her studies. The very fact that these teachers are sent to “supervise” a home education program speaks loudly of the government’s belief that parents are not likely to do an adequate job without governmental oversight.

Since the only qualification needed to be a facilitator is to be certificated to practice “teaching” in the province of Alberta, there is no requirement whatsoever to know anything about faith, or to believe, understand or even sympathize with home education. As a consequence, it is not uncommon for facilitators to bring the school to the parents rather than to encourage and equip them to teach the children in keeping with their gifts and talents. One should understand that the very first thing taught to students in teacher’s college, is the importance… no, the necessity of disqualifying parents from being the natural and best possible teachers of their children, which establishes the need for “professional” teachers. Since few bother to question claims to authority that are being made by extra-familial agencies, most facilitators are more likely to represent an authority claimed by government than respecting the authority of the parents of the child.

Facilitators can be very subtle about how they exercise this authority. One way is to “conveniently” visit when the fathers are not present. They may also show up as the experts who quickly normalize the very things parents were escaping when deciding to home educate and to take advantage of their lack of understanding rather than to help them come to a knowledge of the truth.

Another way to demonstrate a false authority is the inspecting of student work and approving or disapproving of what is being accomplished, as if by some “standard”. Considering that there is no such thing as a standard child, there can be no standard by which to make comparison, other than what a facilitator subjectively determines at that moment. The most destructive example of this is in the offering of credits at the high school level. Not only is this unnecessary for post-secondary admission, but doing so can actually hamper a student’s credentials. Validating the secular ideology and “authority of man” may impress a misinformed or insecure parent who may still be questioning their own goals. However, to dishonestly advance a supposed school standard is to arrogantly claim a greater authority over children they do not know, over that of the parents who gave them birth. This completely defeats the reason for home educating in the first place.

This is becoming a major reason why the lines between secular and sacred are being blurred in the home education community. A growing number of home educators bring in a greater need for teachers, some of whom, having little understanding of home education, introduce secular ideology that is assimilated and normalized as acceptable. To be fair, there are good facilitators out there and I am happy to say that Education Unlimited is working with some of the best! Good facilitators often develop wonderful relationships with their families and do indeed encourage and equip them. However, this can only happen if facilitators respect the God given authority of the fathers and that of the mothers who help them meet the responsibilities they have for the training and teaching of children towards God’s eternal kingdom. If the facilitators honour God, they will honour this authority. If they do not honour this authority, they have no business in a home where parents desire to fulfill their roles in leading children to a future that only God knows.

Home Education Organizations

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-04-11.

Leadership requires a goal bigger than one’s survival.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: Romans 12:2

It is pretty well a given that human institutions start with good reason and purpose. It seems that as long as the original founders are active, they are able to remind others of the initial objectives, but once the institution starts to move into its second generation, the collective memory starts to fade, remembering less about “why” it was created and focussing more on “how” it is to survive. Sometimes, the “how” eclipses the “why” in importance and it metamorphoses into something entirely different from the original.

Once again, it is important for me to reiterate that my purpose is to expose issues that go largely unnoticed, not to sweep everything with the same brush of negative judgements. Before we begin our discussion of home education organizations, there are a few characteristics about institutions that must first be clarified.

To start, it is important to understand that institutions are constructs of man and not God. They may appear to be the same as jurisdictions created by God, such as man’s government as opposed to God’s government, but these similarities are only superficial. Another thing about institutions is that they are mostly ruled by committee, referred to as a board, usually made up of well meaning, if not misinformed and inexperienced volunteers desiring to serve their fellow man, but occasionally also by individuals wanting to advance more self-serving causes. Either way, it is important to understand that institutions are constructed by man and led by his appointed, as opposed to jurisdictions which are constructed by God and led by His anointed.

Home education organizations can be national, provincial or local, such as home education support groups. Everyone of these levels have important parts to play within the home education community. However, in keeping with the natural tendency to lose sight of original objectives, any of these organizations may become something that was not intended in the first place. Assuming the original objective to be to advance, protect and defend parental freedom in education with an emphasis on educating children at home in keeping with a Christian world view, one has to question if home education organizations may not have lost some of their original reason for being.

If a home education organization advances questionable objectives, such as how to measure students by the world’s standards; or how to outperform the world’s schools; or that we should strive for worldly recognition or values in employment and position; or to have the biggest or best convention; or to become an arm of a particular home education provider or some other cause leading people away from truth and faith in God, does it truly have Christian home education at heart or has the objective become more a matter of maintaining or increasing membership towards survival?

As home education organizations at any level adopt faulty premises, leading to wrong objectives, do they not also lose their usefulness? If belonging to a club is contingent on being alike rather than like-minded, is it not essentially doing what the schools we are trying to escape are doing? Each level of home education organization has unwittingly created barriers to those who do not subscribe to their way of thinking. They may not beat up opponents, but are not above ignoring them or “blacklisting” them as potentially dangerous to the cause, which is usually self-preservation by the time it gets to this point. Not to worry, though. If you are one who does not ask potentially embarrassing questions, pay your dues and adopt what the leadership advises, you should be okay. However, if you are one who believes the organization is headed in the wrong direction and if you are not bashful about saying so, you could find yourself being viewed as an enemy of the very institution originally created by people who thought as you do. Such is the nature of institutions, whether they subscribe to a Christian world view or not. If these organizations put themselves in positions of leadership, perhaps it is time we ask how and where they intend to lead us!

Home Educators (On Life and Authority)

Part of the series The Problem
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2016-04-18.

God gives the authority, but we can give it away.

We are generally all ignorant of what is actually happening around us. This ignorance can either be perpetuated and capitalized upon or fixed to empower the masses. It is time to enlighten home educators who have generally been kept in the dark respecting what is occurring within their community. (Ephesians 4: 11-16)

Bible Reference: Col. 2:8

It should come as no surprise that I would end The Problem series with home educators themselves. If you have been following the blogs closely you should have been able to come to a couple of conclusions. First, I firmly believe… no, actually I am completely convicted of the fact that parents are in complete authority over children for two reasons. First, contrary to recent demonstrations of insanity, God created them male and female and only a mom with a dad can create children. Since they are the only ones capable of issuing progeny, and in keeping with scriptural directives and common sense, I am absolutely convinced of parental authority in the raising, training and teaching of children. The simple plan is God created man male and female with capacity for procreation; instructed them (us) to do just that; children are born to parents who are responsible for seeing them come to adult independence, including all necessary physical, mental and spiritual needs. It is critically important to understand this, since nothing I have said from the beginning of the year will make sense, otherwise.

Next, and equally important is the fact that if God has given parents (dads in particular) the authority over children, then it is very clear that any other claim to that authority is bogus, at best. Let me be crystal clear. Parents have the authority over children, therefore any claim to those children, or for the responsibility to teach them, is a usurping of parental authority. If indeed we find ourselves in a position of having to do what some other agency is telling us we should do, it is because we gave them the authority to do so. This authority is ours, given to us by God, to do with as we please. We can either exercise this authority in keeping with God’s directives, or we can give it away to someone or something else. That is the freedom God has given us. Freedom to do what we want in order to please Him or freedom to give our authority and our blessings away. What a mighty God we serve! Mighty enough to give us all we need towards life and Godliness and wise enough to give us all that we need to self-destruct, if that is what we want. Wow! That’s real power!

Hoping that it is clear that only parents, who can potentially procreate, have authority over children, it is now possible to put things in perspective. Since all the non-procreating agencies we discussed in this series are doomed without an input of life, they must engage in activities to ensure their continued survival. This is accomplished by manipulating parents into willingly or unwittingly surrendering their authority over the children. Parents who surrender their authority, such as acknowledging government claims to authority in education, are either duped with the idea that they cannot succeed without government intervention, or being tricked into trading their children for money or freedom or some other self-serving promise. Again, it is important to note that parents have the authority and must give it away. Others may steal it, but only because we were not aware of having it or failed to guard it in the first place.

Another consideration is that non-procreating agencies do not have to physically steal students to survive. They can engage in a form of parasitism. Parasitism is where one agency (the parasite) benefits while the other (the host) is harmed. However, the parasite must not harm the host too much as the death of the host usually also means the death of the parasite. Hosts usually don’t even know they are being parasitized. They just end up participating in this one-sided relationship without truly understanding that by default, they become part of the problem because they provide the parasite with life and the ability to extend it beyond itself. That is why government has no problem letting parents feed, clothe and shelter children, as long as the teaching is left up to the professionals in school. If the children can be made to think as the agency does, they will unwittingly perpetuate it as they in turn procreate and continue along the same path.

How many parents know that they are part of a system that is designed to benefit one agency over another? How many home educators understand enough about the entities discussed thus far in this series to be able to protect themselves and their children from being used by agencies who cannot survive without them?