PrincipledMom™

After beginning with lesson three I moved to lesson one. Entitled simply "Preparing for the Seminar," it's pretty much self-explanatory. The idea is to retool your philosophy of education. There is lots of reading in the Bible and the "red books." What follows are some of my notes and thoughts concerning American Christian Education. (Quotes from T&L)In Teaching and Learning America's Christian History Rev. William Linn is quoted:
Civil liberty is a blessing the more precious, because with it are connected the rights of conscience. Where slavery prevails these are always infringed."
What a wonderful quote. We are highlighting the principle Conscience is the Most Sacred of all Property and this sums it up beautifully. "With awareness must come constructive knowledge(xvi)."As I have strived to reform my philosophy of education I realized how man-centered my thinking was. T&L page 56 says "The real conspiracy of our times is the successful deception of Christians especially in the area of education where socialism has successfully achieved the secularism of America." Like a frog in a heating pot we have slowly been acclimated to new "norms" of the divorce of education from its biblical foundation.A good example of education and godly character are Daniel and Paul's admonition to Timothy. A few of the references to their character in Daniel 1-6 and 1 & 2 Timothy describe them as "skillful in all wisdom, cunning in knowledge, understanding science, teachers, leaders, strong, bold, understanding in all visions and dreams, more intelligent than the wordily men, excellent in spirit, understanding authority, reputable and not novice." How did they develop into such godly men? Paul gives us the recipe in those same passages. References to their education include:

• being charitable
• having a good conscience
• prayer and interception for others and those in authority over us so we may live a quiet and
• peaceable life
• coming into knowledge of the Truth
• being self-controlled
• being proved and found blameless
• being nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine
• being an example to all in your youth
• meditating on the gifts God gave you
• honoring your master
• fleeing lusts and pursuing righteousness
• holding fast to sound words
• teaching others
• studying to show yourself approved that you may rightly divide the word of Truth
• Coming to the knowledge of the Truth through Christ
• Continuing in what you have learned--it makes you wise unto salvation through faith

All I need for life and godliness, all I need to equip me for educate my children, all I need to train them up to be godly young men and women---it's all in the Holy Scripture. God wrote down principles for me to live by. These principles I will use to educate my children. I will renew my mind daily and study to show myself approved. That's so exciting to me! I will rise up and reclaim my right as a parent to lead my children into the Truth using prayer and the Word of God.

The SDS lays out a four step commitment to biblical education that is worth discussing.

1. Prepare your heart and mind. Always start with prayer and ask the Holy Spirit for help.
2. Study God's Word. "The Bible is God's Handbook for His Children and contains the foundation for all knowledge (SDS P. 14)." And this reflection demands time, time to study and integrate God's truths into our own lives and then our children's.
3. Practice God's Principles of Scholarship and Character. I think this in really trips people up. They think there's no way they can do all it takes to provide an excellent American Christian Education they way FACE and other BPA organizations outline. Begin with a regular study time. Let your children see you reading books and gleaning information. Then move to 4-R'ing--research, reason, relate and record. This is the foundation of all excellent education. Use these together with your prayer time to reformulate your educational philosophy.
4. Teach others. When you have done the first three steps you are ready to begin teaching, with the help of the Holy Spirit.

FACE has also create Lessons Plans that demonstrate PA in a weekly format to help you "teach others." They are, to quote the Domestic Diva, "A good thing." They are a good place to start while going thought the SDS and doing other preparatory work.
Next lesson: Gaining the Mind of Christ in Education

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