A New Season
Published with Permission
Written by Leigh Bortins
www.TOSMagazine.com
I am in a season of deep thinking about the future of my two youngest sons. My husband and I have a different plan for our two youngest sons than we had for our older sons. When our oldest two children graduated high school, we had been part of the generation of homeschool pioneers. We had tried something radically new, and we were so excited that it had worked! As we sent them off to state institutions of higher education, we did it with great confidence that we had prepared them well for the logical next step in a young person’s life.
Over a decade later, as our two younger sons approach graduation, we have different thoughts. Rob and I are wondering why we would work so hard to give them a solidly Christian education for so many years and then turn them over to secular institutions. Can’t we find an option that serves our mission and vision? In my book Echo in Celebration, I wrote that the final end of a classical, Christian education is doxology. Echoing in celebration is the obvious response to learning more about our Lord through His creation. Shouldn’t our higher education plans serve this mission?
As Christians, we live in constant tension. The Lord commands us to be in the world, but not of the world. One of the ways people have responded to this tension has been to homeschool their children. Christian homeschoolers have rejected the thought that our children can be vivisected into parts—the soul for the church, the mind for the state school, and the body for juvenile pleasures. Instead, we have claimed each child wholly for Christ. Nonetheless, each beloved child inevitably approaches adulthood, and then the question of what to do after homeschooling looms large. (more…)