Proverbs 1:8-9
“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.”
What Does Education Mean?
We use the term education because the LORD never used the concept of school when commanding us regarding teaching and training. In Genesis, the LORD walked with Adam, discipling him through a personal relationship. Deuteronomy 6:7 states, “Impress on them your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Proverbs stresses the importance of parents’ instructions to children in almost every single chapter. We use the word education to continually train our minds to remember God’s command to train and disciple our children in their education, not to “school” them.
What Does Home Mean?
As mentioned above, almost every chapter of Proverbs places much importance on the education children receive, specifically from their parents. The Bible never suggests choosing other teachers for our children, except in the case of seminary. Even then (such as in Samuel’s case), it was a discipling arrangement rather than a peer classroom environment. As God created us in His image, we are to disciple our children in our image, which should be constantly conforming to the image of Christ. This cannot happen when a child is mainly taught by another teacher(s), even if through a virtual setting. As Luke 6:40 states, “…but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” We believe home education must be led primarily by the parents. A foreign language DVD program or music lessons do not override the instruction a child receives from his parents, of course, as long as the parents are teaching the core subjects along with their underlying world-view. As scripture indicates, education is the sole responsibilitiy as well as the extreme privilege of the parents. Neither the church, nor any educational institution is authorized or equipped to educate, disciple or nurture children in the admonition of the LORD. Regardless of whether children regularly attend school or church programs led by other teachers, the Bible makes it clear that parents are ultimately and solely held accountable by God for the discipleship and training of their children.
Our Position on Public Schools & Exclusive Peer Groups
We use the Bible as the foundation for all aspects of education, discipline, rhetoric and morality. We understand that no educational institution is neutral with respect to religion. Being mere humans and not all-knowing, every person must accept by faith their beliefs regarding origin and morality, thereby making everyone’s beliefs a religion. The religion taught in public school, whether via physical academy or virtual academy, is admittedly atheistic (no god)/theistic (many gods, or god is who you believe he is in your heart) and explicitly against monotheism (the God of the Bible is the only God). Home education is defined as all children in the household being fully taught core subjects exclusively by the parents or family through parental instruction, not virtual, non-parental teachers. The Biblical home education/discipleship model includes instruction from both parents as one unit, with the family as a whole learning and growing together. Age segregation is not found in Biblical models for discipleship. Rather, it shows the younger, more immature being taught by the older, more mature. We seek to educate our families in the same manner in which Adam was discipled by the LORD Himself, in a walk-along, talk-along relationship. This does not mean children cannot ever participate in peer groups if they belong to CEDE. It means that the parents are the main teachers in their children’s spiritual and academic education.