I Call It Freedom
Last summer during tryouts for this fall’s Homeschool Dramatic Society play, one adorable, energetic, thoughtful boy came to Mary Evelyn after his audition to talk about the kind of part that he would like to have. He explained that two years ago he had a part where he got to move around, but that last year his character had been assigned to stay mainly in one spot. He wanted Mary Evelyn to know that he would much prefer a part where he could move. He finished his appeal with these words: “I don’t know what you call it, but I call it freedom.”
Freedom was one of the reasons we began homeschooling, and it was one of the many reasons that we continued.
Now that the fall semester is almost over, I hope you are looking forward to a nice long Christmas break, a break when both you and your children get a chance to breath and experience freedom.
As I have reminded you before, I encourage you to stop and think about the way that Jesus taught His disciples. It was identical to the way God told the Israelites to train their children in Deuteronomy 6 and 11:
. . . when you sit in your house and
when you walk along the road and
when you lie down and
when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 11:19
Take time to imagine how Jesus taught His disciples. Imagine one day during Jesus’ ministry on earth, a day He spent with the twelve disciples. The print below illustrates one event on just one day.
Think about being with Jesus day after day. Think about how His disciples learned and what they learned. Think of the freedom of learning all day long — all day long every day — with the greatest Teacher who ever lived on earth.
Now compare that experience with the typical educational experiences of most children who are the same ages as your children. How do they compare? How are they different?
The greatest Teacher who ever lived on earth taught with purpose. He was the most disciplined Person and Teacher the world has ever known. He had a plan.
Mary Evelyn’s young actor got what he asked for. He played a street beggar near George Muller’s orphanage. This is a little boy who like all children deserves freedom. What a creative little communicator. When Mary Evelyn and I ran into him at a festival a few weeks later, he was surprised and very excited to see her. He said, “If I was a cartoon character there would be like fifty exclamation points coming out of my head!”
May you and your children begin next semester with lots of exclamation points above your heads because you are so excited about the freedom to homeschool and the way your homeschool allows your children to be free to grow in their faith, to succeed in the gifts God has given to them, and to flourish in the timetable that is a perfect fit for them.
It was for freedom that Christ set us free;
therefore keep standing firm
and do not be subject again
to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1