Why High School at Home Is Vital for Christian Families
Throughout the homeschooling movement years, there have often been families who homeschooled through elementary and middle school, but chose to enter the public school system for high school. Whether it is due to academic fears or the desire for a “normal teenage experience,” many Christian parents are giving up their influence in the most impressionable years of their child’s life.
Parents, there is no more important time to educate your children at home than in those few years before adulthood. The perceived difficulty of high school subjects and the average teenage social life are small matters compared to the hearts and minds of these budding adults. High school at home is a priceless gift, and I want to encourage you to embrace it fully.
Worldview Training
Everyone has a worldview. It’s the basic core beliefs a person has that determine how they see the world. It determines your view of people, culture, politics, and morality. A biblical worldview shapes our view of every part of life through the lens of scripture.
How do you get a biblical worldview? It’s very simple: know the scriptures. Know God’s story. Understand God’s plan for mankind. Most importantly, know how God’s word applies to your life right now.
The only way to achieve this is to read and study the Bible. Before a teen graduates and leaves home, they should be led through the entire Bible by their parents. It must be an important part of each day. This is what Expository Parenting Ministries is all about: verse-by-verse exposition of the scriptures as a family.
Read through the Bible regularly, from Genesis to Revelation. Each book of the Bible is connected to the others. The Old Testament is connected to the New Testament. Get a good study Bible with plenty of notes. Use a concordance, like the Strong’s concordance. It’s so important to read for yourself, instead of depending on others to tell you what the Bible says. Dig in and learn.
Do a deeper book study, such as the book of James or Proverbs. This is where a concordance with the Greek and Hebrew come in handy. Read a bit each day, study the notes and cross references, and take notes. Or do a study on the lives of certain people, like Jesus, David, Moses, or the prophets.
Memorize scripture. No worldview study or curriculum can compete with having the scriptures written in your mind and hidden in your heart. Any person of any age can memorize short and long passages of scripture, and once memorized (with some regular review), the scriptures stay with you for life.
Practice critical thinking. This is something that is missing in most education today. The best example is on social media. The ability to think about a topic or a statement before believing, repeating, and sharing shows critical thinking. Read, observe, question, verify, and consult the scriptures. Dr. Jason Lisle of Biblical Science Institute regularly states that the two most important things a young adult needs are knowledge of the scriptures and a course in logic.
You will find that all sorts of current events and daily life questions will spring to mind as you study the scriptures together. I cannot stress enough that the Bible should be at the center of a high school curriculum.
While their public school counterparts are being daily catechized in the world’s idea of sexuality, selfish ambition, feminism, humanism, atheism, and woke ideology, your teen could be daily catechized in God’s design for men and women, Christian living, the fruit of the Spirit, and God’s definition of wisdom.
Christian Education
In a public high school, students are presented with a full array of school subjects that completely reject God. Many parents suppose public education to be neutral, but this could not be farther from the truth. No education is neutral. Everything that students are taught revolves around God or comes straight from the heart of God (Christian Education, Expository Parenting; December 2021). But the public school curriculum pretends this is not the case.
A Christian education at home is the complete opposite of a secular education at school. Teens can learn that God is at the center of world history, that science is not separate from Him, and that language has beauty and purpose. As they study the scriptures each day, they learn to see ancient history in the Bible. By studying science with Genesis at the starting point, they recognize that there is order and purpose in everything. When students get an unbiased view of history, they see just how many famous explorers, inventors, and world-changers loved God and served Him through their accomplishments.
Today, public education focuses on history lessons by race or gender, instead of teaching a systematic history of world events. Science is basically a joke, as children as young as first grade are taught that gender is a social construct. (See my blog post on science deniers in schools.)
Consider this: in the most important years of a child’s education, shouldn’t they have a complete education that addresses both God and mankind? Shouldn’t they be truly educated in the most important things that a young adult should know? Does anyone really think high schoolers are being well-educated in the public system anymore?
Training for Responsibility
How often have you seen internet comments about the lack of real-world training in schools, while many seemingly-senseless subjects are taught? While the public school curriculum increasingly focuses on race, sex, and other non-academic topics, some very useful and important instruction is ignored.
The teen years are for training. Very soon these kids will be expected to live like adults. When they spend the teen years at home, there is plenty of time for real-world education, such as money management, career choices, household management, and even marriage counseling.
How often are teens counseled by everyone except the parents? High school counselors, college counselors, teachers, coaches, and peer groups have the greater influence, because they spend the most time with your teens. Think about this one. Are these people teaching your son to be a godly man, a loving husband, an ethical worker, and the head of a home?
By the way, issues of race and sex are the responsibility of parents, and these happen naturally in worldview discussions, after a good sermon, or around the dinner table. Which leads me to my favorite part of homeschooling high school…
Personal Relationships
It’s no secret that the high school years are filled with hours upon hours of school and activities. If a teen does any extracurricular activities, they will be at school before breakfast and often not home until bedtime. If they also have a part-time job, they end up spending almost no time at home with their parents.
Friends, this is not biblical. Our children are not to be handed off to the world just because they are in high school, yet that’s exactly what is normal in America today. Sadly, this is widely accepted in Christian homes, too. Parents spend almost no time with their children in meaningful conversation.
Face-to-face conversation is necessary between parents and kids. And I’m not just talking about, “How was your day?” Real conversations build relationships, thinking skills, confidence, and intelligence. They fill the heart and stretch the mind.
Personal relationships require time. There is no substitute. I have found that the high school years are my favorite time to homeschool because of the time we have together for things that are not in the school schedule. History lessons lead to impromptu talks about chivalry, slavery, war, colonialism, economics, or inventions. Internet comments lead to discussing capitalism vs. socialism. Have your kids been given the chance to discuss current issues with you?
This is where their worldview is applied. This is where they prepare for the interactions they are soon to have online and in the real world. Who better to train and prepare them than you?
Redeem the Time Because the Days Are Truly Evil
Moms and dads, don’t let your fear of high school curriculum or your pity for the loss of worldly socialization stop you from making high school a rich and full season for your teens. Trust me, the socialization in public schools is the most atrocious it’s ever been. Trading public school socialization for more time in mature pursuits with their parents will put your teens on the fast-track to Christian manhood or womanhood. Titus 2 isn’t just applicable in the church!
And don’t fear high school math or science! Falling test scores nationwide in the most vital subjects should encourage you that you can provide your children with an excellent academic transcript, despite your educational background. The homeschool world is busting at the seams with incredible resources for even the toughest school subjects. No matter who you are, you can homeschool high school!
Homeschooling high school is one of the most important things you will do in your family. If you’re not sure where to start, read my blog posts on this topic: