The Mission Field

So oftentimes we think of the mission field as some far, far away place, full of foreigners--a harvest waiting to be harvested.

But I propose to you to rethink that notion.

Have you viewed your home as a mission field?

We are told to set our sights for missions abroad and internationally--and we very rightfully should. But mothers, I am calling all of you to look carefully at your homes.

The mission field of the home is an often neglected subject. The topic is vitally crucial because the neglect of the home leads to the demise of a nation. Mothers can get very distracted with the here and now and forget the bigger mission at hand---to share the gospel with their very own children.

"I'll leave that up to their Sunday school to tell them---aren't they the experts?"

It is tragic when parents forsake the precious responsibility given them from the Lord to share with their very own children the very words of life that will save their children from the eternal flames of hell. It is tragic when we don't even think for ourselves but allow the world to dictate how we should live as families. It is tragic that we have set up so many idols in our lives that even if we wanted to share, we are too absorbed and seduced with our 'toys' and responsibilities that we don't bother and say we don't have the time. It is tragic that we uphold the the role of the missionary who travels far away and despise the role of the mother and father who is a missionary in their own home.

It is horribly tragic that when we are too busy at church and doing ministry there and don't have time or care to disciple our own children.

We have become a nation of laziness. Overlooking true needs and fulfilling our own desires. It has permeated our culture and now leaks it ways into the walls of our home. Complacency fills our halls and the children are left neglected. Johnny is running free on the streets and little Suzy is finding her way into all kinds of trouble since she has become part of the wrong crowd.

This is the generation that knew not the Lord.

"And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord" Judges 2:10

But mothers, we need to turn that around.

Have you shared the gospel with your children lately? Have you held up the free gift of salvation and made it readily available for them? Have you showed them He who is the light and the truth and has the ability to change their life and forgive their sin now and forever?

Don't delay--take this day to change that around. Holdfast to the eternal and forsake the temporal. Invest in those precious little faces around you. Mentor them and disciple them, this is your life sacrifice of investing in those most dearest to your heart. Don't leave it for others, but take up this sacred responsibility with zealous joy and fervor. What is more precious than leading your very own child to the Savior? What is more important than seeing their lives changed forever?


By:A Wise Woman Builds Her Home Blog
http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/



Here is a poem that touched my heart:

A Missionary's Vision
After marriage God called me to the mission field -
A little bundle needing all my care,
A disciple in touch with my life, obedient to all he hears.
Then came some more all in a row.
Everywhere I went, six little arrows in tow.
God had to call me again to His mission field.
I answered, "To China, to Africa, to Israel, oh where?"
His voice was clear, soft and gentle. My ministry arranged -
"My child, you are to polish our arrows,
Preparing them for My call to spread my
Words of life for other nations to see."
"Lord," I cried, "Loneliness surrounds my soul,
No other woman stands with me answering your call.
The sacrifice is great."
Women give way to another's voice, pulling them away
from their home, far from the quiver."
Once more I pleaded, "May I go too, Lord, I feel the call
To share with the lost, Life giving words,
To feed the hungry a satisfying meal."
"My child," Jesus replied, "You share with your
children salvation and truth.
Feed them meals under your roof.
Discipline them, train them and then lie down in peace,
For sacrificial love have you given to make the world right.
Arise in the morning, open My book,
Teach them into My eyes they must look."
"Yes, Lord, I replied, "But should I serve you in a more obvious way?"
"Child, my sweet child," God spoke once more.
I anointed you to do this work - the high calling of Motherhood.
To show our children the need for my love."
"Lord,", I sought out, still not fully convinced,
"Should I sew for those in thread barren clothes, a Dorcas, a Martha?"
"Sit at my feet, my child, listen to me.
Your daughter needs dresses, your sons warm shirts,
The button of your husband's coat still lies on the table.
Pick up your mantle, the rod of Aaron.
Lead my women back to their home.
"Yes, Lord." Filled and content, I took my position in God's mission field.
Hungry faces graced my bedside.
Clothed in God's mantle, children at my side,
I prepared breakfast.

----Paula Muller of Brodnax, Va

Homeschool Firsts

Do you remember the first time your baby smiled at you? How about your baby’s first tooth, his first word, and his first step? As parents, we treasure these precious moments and record, photograph, and preserve them in our children’s baby books. But God has given additional “firsts” to homeschooling parents—our child’s first ABC’s, first time counting from one to ten, first book read alone, and more! All these first experiences with our children are lasting memories that are priceless.

Jesus enjoys us, too, as His first fruits: “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (James 1:18). The blood He gave when dying on the cross was for you. He even recorded your name in His Book of Life when you repented and received His forgiveness of sin. Now and for eternity, you can experience His presence. He looks forward to each new “first” in your growing faith and treasures you as His precious child. Hallelujah!

Lord God, thank You for Your wonderful love for me! I can hardly begin to fathom Your thoughts toward me as Your child. I lift my heart in praise to You, Almighty One! In Your Son’s name, Amen.
Alpha Omega

Back-to-School Tools

Would you like to know the best back-to-school item to have for a profitable year of homeschooling? No, it’s not a new computer, and it’s not a new microscope, math manipulative, or the latest educational game. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that the most effective tool you have is simply the positive words you use to encourage your child. No high-tech gadget or apparatus can ever leave as profound an effect on your child’s education as saying things like, “Wow, you did a great job on that test!” and “How did you learn that so quickly?” Though it seems too good to be true, affirming your child with words of praise is the quickest way to motivate him to higher academic achievement.


As Christians, God also knows how encouraging words will help us achieve success in our spiritual walk. Repeatedly, His Word provides the words we need to hear to encourage us through life’s hardest lessons. Read His promises to those who are in Christ Jesus:

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

Do you find yourself apprehensive as you face a new homeschooling year? Don’t despair. The tool that will help your children achieve academic success is the same tool God uses to help you. The King of the Universe loves you and will encourage you to achieve even more than you dreamed possible. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26).

Lord, thank You for Your encouraging words that fill me with hope and joy. Please help me to seek You each day as we homeschool to achieve all You have planned for our family. In the name of Jesus, Amen.


Alpha Omega

Back To School For Homeschoolers?

"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."-Charlotte Mason

For me starting a new school year, is a bittersweet time. The simple things in life make the fall season a time of sunny days, nippy breezes, chilly nights, and warm memories. Fall activities, parties and traditions to help celebrate the fall season, and the upcoming autumn and all its charms. Each fall morning as I look outside my window and watch the yellow bus drive by my home, my heart is full of relief that my children will be at home with me. I will be the one to share in all those special moments. I will be the one to teach them how to read. I will be the one to teach them the things of God. Curling up together with my sweet boys on the couch and reading living books.Seeing my boys eyes twinkle with anticipation as the story unfolds. All of us sipping on hot cocoa as my son narrates what he has just learned. My heart fills with joy every time my son begs for me to read more! I love seeing history come alive through rich literature, timelines & notebooking. It’s this time of year that I'm delighted to have another enjoyable school year ahead, as our family experiences and learns new things together. Spending more time on lessons that need more work and soaring past the lessons that don't. I feel so blessed to be able to educate my boys with a Biblical world view and raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. What could be better? Oh, the joys of homeschooling!



Education is not knowing a whole lot of facts, it is a relationship with ideas. Ideas are the beginning of a relationship with a topic. How do we do this? Living books, music, art, people, life & God’s creation. This idea is contrary to the textbook based systems.Everything around my boys takes on new meaning.Every acquaintance, every book, every outing takes on a dimension of real life learning.Beyond real life relationships with all kinds of people from librarians to craftsman comes Living Books. We know as homeschool moms that education never really ends and the whole idea of, "back to school" simply does not apply to us. All of life is education.


Many homeschool moms have children in their final year of high school or those leaving the nest to head off to college for the first time. The realization that their jobs as parents will be taking on an entirely new role can be a difficult pill to swallow. Our babies will be grown up one day and will be ready to soar like eagles on their own. I cherish these times at home, I know they are fleeting. So, when I hear the bus in the late afternoon, I know that I have taken every opportunity to spend time with my children. While the public school kids go home to do more school work, my children & I look forward to a nature walk or simply enjoying being with each other at home......where they belong.


" The idea is to educate, not follow anyone’s schedule about when something should be studied. "
--Ray Drouillard

"Ideas are held in that thought-environment which surrounds the child as an atmosphere, which he breathes as his breath of life"-Charlotte Mason

Why Did We Choose To Homeschool Our Children?

Why did we choose to Homeschool our children? Over the years, as I have been asked this question, I've usually spouted off reasons such as: "We want the freedom to select teaching materials that reinforce our religious beliefs and moral standards. We want to provide the academic superiority of a one-on-one teaching situation. We want the ability to monitor our children's socialization experiences. We want to tailor the course of study to the individual. We want the flexibility to create more family time. We would give the academic statistics on Homeschooling vs Public school" These are the reasons I clung to as I tried to convince our family, friends and even curious strangers that we were not really crazy for keeping our children out of that traditional and highly revered American institution-the public school.

But, when I'm perfectly honest with myself, those are just secondary reasons why I chose to teach our children at home. The real reasons are the matter of the heart. Home schooling was and still is attractive to me in part because of the images it evokes: children snuggling on the couch as I teach them to read; little boy's faces alight with excitement as they assemble model rockets; my son absorded in a book while lying on the back of his pony; cross-country trips in the car learning about the Oregon Trail; acting out the battle of Yorktown with boys who have muskets slung over their shoulders; twlight adventures collecting lightning bugs; the pride in a child's voice as he says, "Look how well I wrote these letters!"

To me, home schooling speaks of close family relationships, highly valued home and family life; happy children who love learning; restoration of excellence; freedom to pursue individual interests; entrepreneurship; recapturing meaning and purpose to life; and discovering one's destiny.


In the end, no matter what the generation, teaching our children at home has little to do with academics or with shielding them from secular influences....it has always been a matter of the heart.

-By Chris & Ellyn Davis

YOU Are The Best Teacher

How many of you had to answer the question, "How do you know that your teaching them the same thing they'd be learning at in public school? I've got to admit that, not only have I had to answer this question, but I used to ask it, too. I was an elementary education major in college when I first met a homeschool family and I cringe now on how I absolutely grilled that mother.

As a general rule, I'd say that people really don't realize what an offensive question that is. (I certainly didn't) They have been indoctrinated with the idea that some decision-maker in the educational system knows what is grade appropriate for every child, and that all children/schools should basically follow that course.


But we know better. Just as children potty train at different ages, we know that they can learn different skills at different times. As far as I've been able to tell, nowhere in scripture did the Lord ordain that all children should learn cursive handwriting by the third grade or state history in fourth.

When someone questions you about what your child is learning as compared to their child in public school or the cousins or whomever, just smile sweetly and tell them that your focused on another topic/skill at the time, but you will definitely be covering that.


Homeschooling gives us the freedom to individualize our children's education, so don't be intimidated into following the public school's agenda ( It's not that great of a role model) YOU are your child's first and best teacher! God gave those children to you to train up in the way they should go-even according to their bent.

Nancy Carter


I would just like to add something I read, "Who are we really trying to please? God's Honor Roll is determined by a Heavenly standard that defies the "wisdom" of this world. Put aside striving to compete with the world in standardized tests of achievement and begin to focus on higher goals. Get your priorities straight, for the children's sake and the lost & dying world, we must seek with all our hearts to possess true wisdom and Godly character" -Skeet Savage


We also need to keep in mind one of the many reasons we do not send our children to public school is because they are failing academically. So why do we compare?


American’s are farther behind in educational status than countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and China. The teachers spend too much time on the little things and forget the real reason why the children are there. Not only that, but the textbooks hold inaccurate information and do not contain the whole story. Some textbooks stated that the atomic bomb ended the Korean War (instead of World War II) and that only 53,000, rather than 126,000 Americans, were killed in World War I (Klicka 24 25). One book summarizes Abraham Lincoln’s and George Washington’s life in approximately six lines each. Not only are the wrong things written in the textbooks, they teach the children wrong values. In public school textbooks, marriage is never mentioned as the foundation of the family, and yet these books are supposed to be the textbooks that introduce the child to an understanding of American society. Abortion is another issue. Mel and Norma Gabler’s document states, "Abortion is discussed as an aspect of birth control in biology and health and homemaking books" (Klicka 56). Not only that, virtually all sex education textbooks used in public schools throughout the country teach that any kind of sex is all right; such as premarital sex, adultery, masturbation, homosexuality, and lesbianism.


One example of humanism in our schools is that they teach evolution, not creationism. Some people believe that this problem is happening because of the removal of God and prayer in public schools; the U.S. Supreme Court did this in 1962. Beginning in 1962, SAT scores plummeted. Teen pregnancies, teen sexual diseases, teen suicides, teen alcohol, drug abuse, pornography, and illiteracy rates abruptly increased 200 to 300 percent (Klicka 48). Violence is one of the main factors effecting are schools today. Rape is a growing problem among juveniles. A juvenile commits one out of every five rapes that occur in the United States. There is also a higher use of drugs and alcohol among kids in public schools. Over 80 percent of public high school students drink alcohol and 45.7 percent have used marijuana. Drugs and alcohol make most people extremely violent. That is also why our violence and crime rates are so high. Over hundreds of millions of dollars are spend on the security of our nation’s public schools. In 1965, a drastic shift in the focus of education from academics toward behavior modification took place when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) opened the door to federal funding to schools-not teachers-but social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Since that time more than 7,000,000 children within the government school system hav been labeled, registered and treated as patients. Increasing numbers of boys between the ages of six & fourteen have been " diagnosed" with ADHD.


Yet we worry about if we are teaching our children the same things they'd be learning in public school! By grade 8, the average homeschool student performs four grade levels above the national average! It blows my mind that SO many of us worry about if we are "covering" everything! The problem is a lot of parent's have this mind set that, "if it doesn't work we'll just put our kids back in school" I believe that is just a set up for failure. If we are always comparing and worrying then we are homeschooling for the wrong reasons. We have missed the very heart of homeschooling. In Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's book, "For The Children's Sake" she explains how God has made each child different and for us to compare and expect Suzy & Timmy to read a the same age of five is ridiculous! What pressure we put on ourselves and our children! How sinful to expect all children to be the same and try to change what God has placed within our child! We as homeschool moms need to stop trying to bring the public school into our homes and allow God to be our ONLY standard by which we live. God's Word is the standard of true wisdom!
If you feel weighted down as a result of homeschooling, you have allowed someone to push something on you that God would not ask you to carry. It may be a standard, or a tradition, or an image, or a false assumption, or feelings of fear, guilt , or inferiority. Whatever it is before it causes despair, you must rid yourself of anything that does not pertain to God's standards. Jesus said, His yoke is easy! When we realize this we are truly going to LOVE homeschooling!

Academic Statistics on Homeschooling
http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/comp2001/HomeSchoolAchievement.pdf
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp

Aren't You Being Selfish?

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23).

The words were still echoing in my mind. "If every Christian homeschools his child, what will happen to the public schools?" asked a Christian friend as we chatted over the phone. "Doesn't God tell us to be salt and light in the world?"


Although I didn't have a good answer then, I thought about my friend's exhortation and logic. Examining our reasons for homeschooling, I considered the negative effect of continually exposing my child's heart to humanistic and ungodly teaching. Most elementary-aged children lack the reasoning skills to discern truth from conflicting messages, so how then would a young child be able to debate with a teacher who didn't value the truths of Christ? After all, didn't recent statistics also prove that even highschoolers had difficulty in maintaining their faith throughout college? Clearly, expecting my young daughter to be the salvation for the evils of the public school seemed like a gross burden to place on her shoulders. Was I being selfish in caring about my child's needs before those of society? I didn't think so.

God has given parents the priority of first teaching and training their own children. Yes, Jesus wants our children to influence the world, but they can hardly do so until they are prepared. God's Word tells us to keep the heart with all diligence and that a child must be trained in the way he should go (Proverbs 22:6). Therefore, before a young person can influence for good without being influenced by evil, they must have a plumb line of truth based on God's Word. Unfortunately, homeschooling families are accused of brainwashing their children with religious nonsense and being intolerant to different ideas and beliefs.

As a homeschooling parent, have you been asked the "What about the kids left behind in public school" question? You know your child's heart. Don't let the world's "salt and light" argument deter you from following God's mandate for raising your child.

Father, thank You for giving me the responsibility to teach my children. Show me how and when to guide them into the world with the Gospel message of love and forgiveness. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Alpha Omega

True Confessions of a Public High School Graduate

“Clearly there is an appropriate kind of sheltering. When those who are opposed to homeschooling accuse me of sheltering my children, my reply is always, ‘What are you going to accuse me of next, feeding and clothing them?” ~R.C. Sproul Jr

True Confessions of a Public High School Graduate
(From Hearts For Family blog)



So there I was—my very first day in a public school, twelve years old, donning my most fashionable clothing, walking into the gymnasium full of glaring, unfamiliar faces. I was finally in the “real world”. For the previous seven years, I had attended a small Christian school and my soul ached to go to a “real school”. I liked it. But I admit, the first few days shocked me. And they should have. I had heard young people curse before, but not like it was their native language. I had even heard coarse jokes, sexual innuendos, and such; but I had not been aware of a society of children who wallowed in it. To my great detriment, there did come a day when I was no longer shocked. That day would change my life, my character, and my destiny forever.

I attended public high school in the eighties. (I have heard things have gotten even worse.) I boarded a bus around 7:15 a.m. There, as my character was still being molded, I witnessed cruelty, obscenity, and a total disregard for anything moral. When the bus approached Cindy’s house, everyone scurried to share a seat with someone else, even if there were three of four to that seat. There was always an empty seat for Cindy. Cindy was overweight, and poor. Her countenance revealed years of social abandonment and cruel regard. “Don’t sit with me! Sit over there! Oh no, she’s coming over here!” were the typical comments that welcomed Cindy onto the bus every morning.

Two of the “older” kids were usually in the back seat making out. The school bus seats were very high, for safety, (Ha! Save their bodies, destroy their souls!) and so one could do just about anything without being seen by the driver.

At only 8:00 in the morning, I had already witnessed enough wickedness to last a lifetime. Now we were at school. Soon I learned it was really cool to make fun of your teachers and hold a general disdain for any kind of academics. (When the majority of your day is spent with peers, they are naturally the ones for whom you want to “be cool”.) This was a conflict as I had a natural desire to please both peers and teachers. I spent the first few weeks of school crying. The new student has to be “broken in”, so all the girls made fun of me—for anything they could think of. When and if one persevered, this may pass.

Breaks between classes—that is what we looked forward to. You had one of several agendas: If you had a boyfriend/girlfriend, you must flee to him, exchange your fifth love letter of the day, possibly exchange some physical affection, and go back to class starry-eyed. Or if no lover, then you would flock together with your cronies and get the latest gossip. “Fight at 3:30 at the Shell station”…”Kevin and Amy broke up!”…”We made Mrs. Smith cry again today!” These were the gentle things of public school—the “innocence” if you will, of being a teenager—this was “real” life.

Then there were the other conversations exchanged here and there, before school, in the hall, at lunch, at PE, just about anytime. Those things that had shocked me at first. Those things, which having heard them enough times, began to be normal. “So-and-so lost her virginity last night”—she was fourteen. Parties, alcohol, drugs, etc., all very commonplace after awhile. Day after day, year after year, conditioning took place and I was no longer the frog jumping into boiling water.

So, after a year or two, I was one of them. Any reserve I held for sacred things had long dissolved. My Christian upbringing, the principles my parents had tried so diligently to instill had, at the very least, retreated so deeply into the recesses of my character as to appear invisible.

For thirteen years, the effects of this transformation gripped my life. I had once commented to my father, as he tried to make a decision about my going to public school, “You have raised me with a strong foundation…I want to go and share Christ with those kids…I am strong enough”. I was now rebellious, angry, confused, and wallowing in sin.

Today, by the grace and mercy of our Savior, I am a forgiven sinner, seeking after godliness, despite my many failures. So, “it all turned out to be OK in the end, right?” Wrong. The whole point of this article is to emphasize that the consequences of sin cannot be avoided, and they leave an ugly, painful trench in every life—even the life surrendered to God. I admit that my life is on a much smoother course than it could have been, by God’s grace. But did my renewed love for the Lord repair the damage that resulted from years of breaking His law, and being a companion to the wicked? Not a chance. I struggle much, and I know from where my struggle comes. And my heart grieves for the flippancy prevailing among parents this very day, as they turn their children over to Satan’s company to be devoured. I certainly do not blame my parents for my years of rebellion. I do not even blame them for sending me to public school—they didn’t know of an alternative. They did what they thought they had to do.

But now, on the other side of it, I am not ashamed to boldly challenge parents to think about their responsibility for the sanctity of their children. I cannot watch someone driving recklessly toward a cliff and not try my best to stop them! As Christians, we must search the Scriptures for wisdom in raising our children. And we must stop justifying our methods by saying, “Well, it doesn’t say_______anywhere in the Bible!” We must not see how little we can get away with, but rather strive for holiness, pressing toward the mark, seeking to resemble Christ as much as lies in us. I would plead with parents to realize the responsibility of being accountable for the children the Lord has given them. We need to be urgent, determined and devoted to guarding their hearts and minds. Let us commit to raising not mediocre children, bruised and wounded as they enter adulthood, but strong and mighty men and women, a godly generation with a legacy of purity!