The Value of True Education

It is rare for another person's blog entry to really make me pause and think, but Dominion Family's latest entry, Contemplating my Contemplation on the Contemplation of Rest, did just that. Despite its title, this particular post has less to do with rest and more to do with the value of what she calls, "linguistic education." There's much to ponder in her post; here's a small sample:

Recently I have been reading books that include chapters dealing with elderly people in nursing homes. It occurred to me that when my older boys were little I frequently said that we were memorizing things in case they were ever in prison and the rats were eating their toes. Now it has come to me with even more force that I am preparing my children not only for marriage and jobs and perhaps prison but I am also preparing them for their elderly years when much of the slough of their life will be gone. I believe much of what we have done in our Morning Times will remain.

My husband works with older folks in his everyday job. I never stopped to think that the work I am doing today, tomorrow, and next week is what my daughters will remember someday. When they don't know what day of the week it is, when they no longer remember who is the current President or what they had for breakfast an hour ago, the Scriptures, poems, hymns and songs they memorize now will still be with them.

The value of homeschooling is not primarily in how smart it makes my kids today; it is the lasting impact that what they learn will have on them throughout their lives, even down to the very last day. When homeschooling gets difficult, when I wonder why I put myself through it, this is what I have remember.