What’s the point of all this planning and the long process of educating our children? I thought you might enjoy seeing how DH and I brainstormed our goals. We were driving home from southern Utah on an anniversary trip, and it was right before Kid Uno started school. So here are our very rough, unedited, and ungrammatical thoughts on what we are trying to accomplish by the time the kids are 16ish. Looks like we have our work cut out for us! 🙂

Purpose of Education: To raise children who are rooted in the knowledge and love of God, prepared to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God, and equipped to persevere by the grace of God.

Rooted

Spiritual formation

• We’ve brought them to the feet of Jesus
• Love God
• Love each other and love their parents
• Know the Word
• Know how to pray
• They’ve grown up around people who model the love of God
• Willing to act on it
• They know church history
• Solid grounding in biblical theology

Character

• Honest
• Others-centered
• Tough – mentally and physically
• Able and willing to serve
• Not afraid to take responsibility for mistakes
• Good leaders
• Good listeners
• Diligent
• Willing to work hard
• Responsible
• Self-starters
• Entrepreneurial
• Humble
• Patient
• Kind
• Generous
• Compassionate

Prepared to Bear Fruit

Knowledge

• Basic knowledge of
  • economics
  • politics
  • human sexuality
  • American history
  • law and the legal system
  • philosophy
  • church history
  • Logic
  • Science
  • Latin
• Appreciate music
• They’re not afraid of math

Skills

• They have discovered and developed their God-given talents
• The are effective at communicating through writing and speaking and art
• They can type fast and accurately
• They can read cursive
• Excellent writers
• Comfortable with public speaking
• Able to research

Personality

• Funny
• Look people in the eye
• Good conversationalists
• Good etiquette for proper situation
• Able to let loose and have fun
• Confident in trying new things
• Have areas of interest that are uniquely theirs
• Able to form deep friendships
• Have at least one good friend each

Physical

• Fit
• Comfortable with their bodies
• Enjoy being active
• Tough
• Enjoy the outdoors

Equipped to Persevere

Life Preparation

• Critical thinking
• They are aware of and knowledgeable about competing worldviews
• They love learning
• They love reading
• They’re thirsty for new knowledge
• Able to understand other people’s motivations (marketing, surveys) – not gullible
• Shrewd as serpents, innocent as doves
• Able to sniff out logical fallacies and poor reasoning

So there it is…nothing fancy. But for me, at least, when I am immersed in the daily round of multiplication, cursive, science, and lit, it helps to remember the bigger picture. So the ten minutes of copywork every day isn’t just about writing pretty cursive sentences, it’s also about learning consistency, paying attention to detail, completing a whole book by breaking it into tiny chunks, developing mental and physical discipline, and practicing something to perfection (or practically perfect). Having a big picture gives me the freedom to drop a book because it does not convey church history in a way that is appropriate in our view, or the freedom to take a day (or week) off from school because it will give them an opportunity to spend time with grandparents. And it helps me mentally validate things like selling lemonade (entrepreneurship), buying an entire series of fairytales (love reading), washing dishes (willing to work hard), helping with the baby (willing to serve), or tearing apart the living room to build a fort (able to let loose and have fun).

Education seems like just an extension of parenting to me…and it’s nice to know what we are aiming for at the end of the day!