Lawe Homeschooling Manifesto

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously – take God seriously. The Message

1. To Enjoy – We want to have fun with and enjoy our children while we have them in our home.

• God intends for parenting to be a temporary task. Ted Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart
• It might be hard… but let the mother have the courage to do for themselves what they do for their children… and life would go on far more happily for both children and parents. Charlotte Mason, Developing a Curriculum
• Let children see gladness of heart in parents. Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character
• How wise is this good mother when she trusts her own instinct and insight. Charlotte Mason, Developing a Curriculum
• Children will enjoy no other time so much as [playing with parents]… Parents incur a penalty in this lack. Clay Trumbull, Hints on Child Training
• Womanhood/Manhood… is cultivated in play. Clay Trumbull, Hints on Child Training

2. To Think – We want our children to develop critical thinking before entering the mindset of this culture.

• Why do we think they are learning more because we are talking at them, or because they are writing in workbooks? The child’s instinct [for ‘real’ life] is wiser than ours. Susan Schaefer-McCaulay, For the Children’s Sake
• ‘Tis their nature to hunger after knowledge as a labouring man hungers for his dinner. Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character
• The goal of education is ‘kids training themselves’. Charlotte Mason, Developing a Curriculum
• The goal of the homeschooling parent is to be an interested audience. Debra Bell, The Ultimate Guide To Homeschooling
• For in the end, he was trying to tell us what afflicted the people in ‘Brave New World’ was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
• We believe there is no absolute truth, except the truth that there is no absolute truth. Modern Thinkers Creed by Steve Turner
• Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves To Death

3. To Love – We wish to bond with our children in a stronger way, and to avoid peer orientation.

• [Love] comes forth out of a relationship which has to grow and deepen. We can even say that the love between parents and children develops and matures to the degree that they can reach out to each other and discover each other as fellow human beings, who have much to share and whose differences in age, talents and behaviour are much less important than their common humanity. Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life
• We forget how deeply they grieved as little ones… there is no greater cause of unhappiness than the lack of parental sympathy (i.e. What is it like to be in their shoes?) Clay Trumbull, Hints on Child Training
• You will never have a better friend than a 3 year old. Clay Trumbull, Hints on Child Training

4. To Grow -We want our children to grow in wisdom.

• She is not to become the grown up church member. We are to become like the child in our life with God. Susan Schaeffer-McCaulay, For the Children’s Sake
• The wise know that speech, sex and finances will destroy us unless constrained. Gordon Smith, Transforming Conversion
• The central focus of child rearing is to bring children to a sober assessment of themselves as sinners. Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart
• Train her… by trusting her. Charlotte Mason, The Formation of Character
• The one possible achievement before you is ‘the elevation of character’. Education which fails to affect this, affects nothing. Charlotte Mason, The Formation of Character
• Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. The Message

Remember: in order for a perception to change one must be frustrated in one’s actions or change one’s purpose

Neil Postman, Teaching as a Subversive Activity