Why Academy of Hope? – Reflections of a mom with children in the public school

As Christian parents, we have internally debated whether to send our children to Public School, Christian School, or Home School.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both and after much prayer and consideration, we, at this point, have chosen to send our children to Public school…
 
It is from that perspective I write to you today…
 
Before I go any further let me tell you…I LOVE home schoolers. Some of my dearest best friends home school. I LOVE my friends who have their kids or teach in Christian schools. I don’t mean to start a debate about what you should do with your kids and their schooling. I’ll leave that between you and the Lord. Regardless, home school, Christian school, Public School…as parents, we have be involved in the process.

As a mom who has their children in public school, I’ve been exposed to a different perspective that I thought I would share with you.  Interestingly, this perspective is also what makes me very excited about our new Academy of Hope Online courses.  As Christians we are called to be a light in a very dark world.  Matthew 5:16  says, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
 
Here are a few of our families stories that I thought I would share with you because I want you to see what children up against, even at a young age.
 
It was around St. Patrick time and our daughter’s teacher was reading a book about St. Patrick.  Some how the conversation shifted and went to talking about church & Jesus.  You know kids, they are all over the place with their thoughts and questions sometimes.  One of our daughter’s classmates raised their hand and asked the question, “I wonder if Jesus really was a real person?”  Her teacher told us later, our daughter raised her hand and in front of the whole class was able to explain that Jesus was real and why He came to earth.
 
On another occasion our other daughter had the following conversation with a few classmates around Halloween time.
 
Classmate: I like the devil
Another classmate: Why?  Don’t you go to church?
Classmate:  Yea, but I believe if you are good you go to Heaven and if you are bad you go to Hell.
Our Daughter:  Well, that’s not true because we all deserve Hell.  (Romans 3:10 – “There is no one righteous, not even one.”)
 
And most recently, our youngest daughter in school (age 6) , asked us, “What if someone doesn’t believe in God?”  The question was really out of the blue (like we were in the living room just hanging out), but obviously she had been thinking about it.  We went on to talk to her about Romans 1:18-20,
 
 “¹⁸The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
 
I found out later some girls in her ballet class were talking about Christmas and getting presents.  Our daughter told them, “You know the real meaning of Christmas is celebrating Jesus’ birth?”  These girls then explained to her how they didn’t believe in Jesus or God.
 
I hope you can see from these examples, it’s not just adults asking DEEP theological questions in this world.  These are young children.  Wanting answers.  Yearning for answers.  Thinking.  And quite frankly, this was just a few of MANY stories I could tell – like the many times they have encountered evolution in classes (no surprise there, it’s public school).
 
Here’s just a few quick examples of that.  Recently, another parent volunteer told my daughter & her entire class the whales closest relative was an elephant.  It wasn’t from a teacher, but it’s not uncommon to hear things like this.  In Science class, there are some learning games they have which won’t allow them to answer questions with anything but millions/billions of years to get the answer correct. I could go on. 

Ok, my point, we have to be involved in our children’s lives!  Because no matter which school we have our children in, these are the questions the world is asking – when they are little, teens, and adults.
 
One way, to show them the Bible has real answers for real people is to enroll them in Academy of Hope Online. Not only does it give them the opportunity earn college credit from Calvary Chapel University, but the information will also help to prepare them for their future encounters with these kind of worldly questions.
 
Home Schooler, prepare your child for these questions!  You children will encounter these when they are out of the home.  Help them be ready for the questions that will arise as they enter the world on their own.  It’s not if, it’s when.  Don’t allow satan a foothold to cause doubt.
 
Christian School Parent, I’ll say the same thing that I said to the home schooler – prepare your child for the questions that WILL come.  I personally went to a Christian college.  I found out that it was easy to stay in your Christian circle, with your Christian friends, and meet at Christian coffee shops.  But that wasn’t our example.  Our example was Jesus Christ – who was in the world, but not of the world (John 17:14).
 
Public School Parent, you especially need to be involved.  And that’s because the questions are coming daily through a variety of classes.  Equip yourself to answer the questions the world is using to cause doubt and then pass that information on to your kids.
 
Just this past Sunday a young woman in our church who now works for Campus Outreach (a wonderful ministry on secular college campuses) gave a testimony about how even though she grew up in the church, her faith really came in to question when she went to college.  She explained how no one really taught her how to use the Bible, read the Bible, and as a result her faith wavered.  But God…had other plans for her.  Sadly, her story is now the norm (according to statistics) and not uncommon for us to hear at Reasons for Hope from other college students.
 
Let’s go out ready, armed with the full Armor of God.  Maybe Academy of Hope online is a tool in your tool belt to help you do just that.
 
Thanks for Listening!
 
I’m for you!