God wants us to be dependent on Him and on
What is homeschooling [Or
discipleship]
You don’t send your children to school?
No, we don’t. Thank God!
What is Homeschooling?
When children are taught mainly at home, it is
called homeschooling. We call it discipling. The
Hebrew [Biblical] or Eastern method of
education involved the disciples becoming like
their master, similar to the guru-shikshya
method but much more involving because the
parents are the gurus for their own children. The
Greek system of classroom education in schools
is simply imparting knowledge, in bits and
pieces, to the student.
What is the problem with school?
It is a totally different world view that makes us
disciple our children at home. Some of the main
differences are related to the basic nature of man
and God, and fulfilling the purpose of life with
an attitude of gratefulness and interdependence.
Is man’s basic nature bad or good?
The Bible and our own experience clearly
teaches us, that all of us have a tendency to be
selfish, even if it means breaking the law to get
what we desire. This is called the fallen nature
of man.
Of course many philosophies and religions
believe that man is basically ‘good’ and all that
a man needs is knowledge. Such belief systems
believe that the cure for the fallen or sinful
nature of man is to give him or her knowledge.
The present schooling education system is also
built upon such an assumption.
Won’t knowledge make a man do good?
Unfortunately, all that knowledge does is puff
up the ego. (1 Corinthians 8:1 We know that we
all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people
proud. But love builds them up.)
We know that we must not do certain things but
we do them anyway.
Should children be independent?
The present education system teaches children
to be independent, but have you wondered why
others?
Why?
No one can survive alone. Children, who are
taught to be independent and made to feel they
can do things on their own, think they do not
need others. They are even taught that if they
don’t look after themselves nobody else will,
and that God helps those who help themselves!
The present situation in the world is directly the
result of such indoctrination going on since the
last many years. When we realize that we are
interdependent, we have the attitude of
gratitude, to God and others.
How do you remedy this situation?
Fathers have been given the divine order to train
up children. Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke
your children to anger, but bring them up in the
discipline and instruction of the Lord.
The mother is the father’s helper in this
wonderful task that God has entrusted parents
with.
Parents know exactly how each of their children
are different from other children and can
personally train up their children, building
relationships with their children at the same
time. Children in turn give their hearts to their
parents and want to lovingly honor and obey
their parents. This ensures that the children are
in turn blessed according to the promise of God.
Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your
mother; so that your days may be long upon the
land which the Lord your God gives you.
How do you do it?
The Living God has ordained a definite order in
which we are to bring up our children.2 Peter
1:5 “add to your faith virtue; and to virtue
knowledge;”
First we are called to teach our children faith, in
Jesus Christ, who was the perfect sacrifice for
our Sins.
Are we all sinners?
Yes, we all are guilty of breaking some or the
other law. We all feel guilty when we do certain
things. This is because in our hearts we know
that we have broken some law. There are laws
written in our hearts, and laws in scripture. All
humans have a fear of death because they know
that after death they will have to stand before
the Creator who will judge them according to
their sins. Some people think that if they do
more good deeds than bad their account will be
favourable, but for God who is 100% Holy even
one little sin is enough to send you to Hell. And
God knew that all men would perish. Yet he
desires that we repent and be saved by faith.
How can we be saved?
If you are genuinely sorry for having sinned,
there is hope. That is why it says in John 3:16-
18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send Jesus into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world
might be saved through Him.
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the
only Son of God, Jesus Christ.”
We believe that Jesus took the wrath of God
which would have fallen on us, on Himself, on
the cross, so that we may not perish in Hell, for
there is no one who has not sinned and deserves
Hell. We also believe that Jesus came alive on
the third day, thus defeating Sin and Death. That
is the faith we believe in. When we genuinely
repent and believe, God gives us a new heart
and gives us His Holy Spirit. Then we become a
new Creation.
That sounds logical, what comes next?
Yes it is. To this faith, we are called to add
virtue. We are grateful to God for His love for
us.
Without virtue, we cannot do God’s work.
After virtue, then we are called to add
knowledge, of God’s Word and then of this
world.
We know that knowledge without the preceding
two foundations is most dangerous, for the
person and for the world, as we have seen the
increase in problems globally due to the
increase in knowledge.
Global warming, the epidemic of life-style
diseases and AIDS are just a few examples.
So we don’t primarily aim for academic
excellence but on the more important things.
What is the aim?
The aim is to produce children who will know
what is the real purpose of life, to please God
and seek His will first.
Jesus said: Mathew 6:33-34 “But seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
How will the children cope with the
real world?
Is the school a real world? A class room is a
highly artificial environment where you are
sheltered from the real world and learn to
interact with only your own age group. The
Bible clearly states that we all are sinners.
Children who know this reality can anticipate
what the world is going to be, how people can
deceive them or cause them to stumble and fall.
They understand what is selfishness and have a
realistic view of life.
Also when we disciple our own children at
home, they are interacting with different age
groups since childhood, and they are much more
capable of relating to the real world.
What about socialization with other
people?
Of course! There are two types of socialization.
Good socialization is where children interact
with others and can learn the true virtues of
love, generosity, sacrifice, patience and honesty.
These virtues can be best taught by interacting
with people [usually adults] who have these
virtues. There is also bad socialization, where
children just increase their natural foolishness.
The Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God!”
It also says in Proverbs 22:15 “Foolishness is
bound up in the heart of a child;” and
Proverbs 13:20 “Whoever walks with the wise
becomes wise, but the companion of fools will
suffer harm.”
When many children are together, it is just
foolishness that increases, unless the parents are
around to supervise. Why would any parent
wish their children to become more foolish by
sending them to school or any place where their
children run such a great spiritual risk?
So we see to it that our kids are properly
socialized by being with them and taking them
around wherever we go to visit older people.
Values are caught, not taught.

What about their future and careers?

God has said: “I honor anyone who honors me,
but I put a curse on anyone who hates me. “
When we honor Gods word and train up our
children in the way God wants us to, we are sure
God will honor us. He will take care of the
future. We know not what the future holds, but
we know Him who holds the future.
It is not material success that we are looking
forward to, because we know that this life is
very short and a preparation for eternity. So we
are not worried about their future, rather we
glorify God through our faith in His promises.
We know that God will take care of their future
much better than any so-called expert!

How can children learn subjects without

school?
How did your child learn talking? By talking to
you! In the same way, the children themselves
learn the most important subjects, without
unnecessary stress on them or us.

Can you tell us about yourselves?

Dr. S. P. Mathew after doing M.D. Medicine is
managing Ashok Hospital in Dahisar East,
Mumbai. Dr. Vinita Mathew, the homemaker,
after completing MBBS has done courses in
counseling and hospital administration.
God has given us three healthy children, Grace
10 yrs, Mark 7 yrs and Nancy 3 1/2 yr old.

mailto:drspmathew@gmail.com
You can call us in Mumbai at 28935971
Thank you!
 Life school Sep 2009 AD