Train Up a Child in the Way He Should Go

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Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

This is it, isn’t it? Our mission as parents? To train up our children in the way they should go? Indeed it is the very nature of our particular calling as co-creators with God – to nurture, protect, and TRAIN up these little souls.

It is of grave concern to me though, that the dialogue between passionate homeschoolers and equally passionate traditional-schoolers has become riddled with perceived judgments and defensive angst. Not to be too simplistic, but can’t we all just agree to disagree and get along?

For truly, I have discovered a profound peace in keeping my eyes focused on the goal and letting some of the particulars of how we achieve that goal go. Perhaps that comes with age and experience; perhaps it comes as a gift of grace when needed most. I am not sure. I just know that what seemed like such a big deal a few years ago is no longer a divisive issue for me. Where as I used to think what is right for my family must therefore BE THE RIGHT THING, PERIOD; I now understand that what is the right path for our family may not be for another and vice versa.

There are many, many right paths to the same destination: heaven!! And my goodness wouldn’t it be boring if we all took the same path to get there? We’d have nothing to talk about at the heavenly banquet!

Isn’t it about time that we moms gave one another the benefit of the doubt and the understanding we ourselves crave. We are not on the same path all of us, and yet we are headed in the same direction. For some of us that means homeschooling our children, and for others it means registering the children in traditional school, and for still others it involves some combination of the two. Yet we are all working to train up our children in the way they should go – let us pray that not a one of them should depart from it!

“Parents are the first and most important educators of their children, and they also possess a fundamental competency in this area: they are educators
because they are parents.”
-Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality #23

Stacey is a wife and stay at home mom to two energetic children: Emma who is 4.5 and Timmy who is 3.5. They are Irish twins! Trying to be obedient to the call God has put on their hearts of growing their family and raising little saints, Stacey currently co-schools her children. Her children attend a traditional pre-school part-time and are homeschooled the rest of the time. Stacey’s column, “Standing in the Gap” focuses on way to weave together the worlds of homeschooling and traditional schooling.