School days
The kids are doing awesome with their first time in school.
I decided not to interfere when the teacher chose my second grader to be the line leader on the first day, and that was good. They all figured out how to walk in a line, even though my oldest insisted that his line leading sister would lead her class to Burkesville. (That is the Kentucky equivalent to Timbuktu.)
They began last week when the weather was still fit for swimming. That’s criminal, but I suppose it works itself out in May.
This is “real school”, as opposed to the fake school we’ve been doing for the past decade. I’m a homeschool graduate and have homeschooled the children all along. I used a church school for three months while we were in California on business four years ago, and I always feel the need to add that qualifier in there for some reason.
And now I’m very glad to be a part of this little community who loves the Lord and my children.
As I write, my chores are finished and the baby is napping. The farm is still, except for the milk cow lowing in the pasture. I almost feel guilty for the quietness, peace. (Almost.)
It feels like a new page, a new era in the rhythm of our lives. And yet I know that my job is still the same; my calling hasn’t changed to manage our home and raise our children in faith.
Whatever I do belongs to the Lord. And so I don’t feel lost on this new path because the direction is still the same. The litany of the dailyness–whatever you’re doing– can drown out the goal, but it’s there and I’m paying attention. Martin Luther said, “We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.”
Things are different, and yet they’re the same. I’m rolling with it.
August 11th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Oh, I can just FEEL the peace and hear the quiet there! Thanks for being so transparent and sharing the peace and quiet! I’m glad your children are enjoying school . . . and I have a feeling school is enjoying them, too :)
But a warning . . . you may have no more family secrets . . . second graders are GREAT at sharing the wrong things!
But you knew this.
Anyway. We may do “real school” in the future. Keep us updated!
Rachel
August 11th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Wonderful!!!
August 11th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Beautiful post Amy! Glad to know the kids are enjoying school! Our kids have been in a Christian school for several years, we are now home. It’s all good ~ we keep our eyes on the prize and bloom where we are planted. Bless you today for your encouragement.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
They look so sweet! What a lovely path the Lord has you on!
August 11th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Nice, Amy!! I’m so glad you found a “little community who loves the Lord and my children.” There are seasons. A little respite this season is good. Do they have uniforms then? They look so nice! And McGregor looks great in his glasses.
August 11th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Yes, they have to wear uniforms. And oh my gracious word. Charles (who goes just part-time to preschool) got a stand out award today for “listening and obeying.” Please shout it from the rooftops! And McGregor, sigh, decided he wouldn’t be on the A honor roll because honor roll students have to give a speech at the end of the year and at Christmas…to which I replied that he’d rather give a speech, trust me, than endure a the speech I’m about to give him for fudging it. ;)
August 11th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I’d probably give my left pinky above the second knuckle for the sound of crickets and cows lowing instead of “MOM MOM MOM MOM LOOKIE LOOKIE LOOKIE LOOKIE”. I wonder how much time I’d waste if I wasn’t homeschooling them though. I think God has me homeschooling so I don’t spend every day reading doomsday articles and listening to Glenn Beck. It’s a good thing…but it’s really loud.
August 11th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
that’s too funny — about both boys. I’m not real surprised about either. First a high-five to Charles. As for McGregor, I wouldn’t want to give speeches either. But our response as parents would have been the same (and was years ago). But I’m grinning at reading about it at your house. So does Charles go two days a week, I’m guessing?
August 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Wow, you make me feel peaceful just reading this! Thank you for sharing with your trademark honesty and transparency. Does this new quietness portend more frequent posting? Please say yes. I like the sunflowers and everything, but I miss the meaty posts, too. More like this one!
and p.s. Way to go, Super Charles!
August 11th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
EE, Yes, I hope it means more frequent postings, if only because it means I can THINK again. There is a huge difference in my early writings and now, and it has everything to do with the birth of Elisabeth and what happened with my ability to think, to remember (basic –argh–succinctness?), to process and handle multitasking. I am sure there is a name for it besides “crazy”.
August 11th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Thanks for sharing. I pray your children will have a blessed year.
I have begun my annual father/child meetings with each of my four children prior to the school year beginning.
This afternoon, I took our youngest daughter (going into first grade) to a park. We ate Snickers ice cream bars, I have her a couple of small presents, and we talked about how reading is the great adventure and the Bible is the greatest book.
August 11th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I didn’t even know you were thinking about school…(as if you have to tell us all the details of your life:))We sent our children to school after homeschooling for 4 years, and we are loving it. My kids are thrilled about “real” teachers, and so am I:) There will always be certain things you don’t like about school, but I find in the end, you realize that you can’t do it all, and some things are bound to be left behind when you homeschool. Just watch your family secrets though. My daughter in grade 2 says everything, and I am sure the teachers know more about us than I would want them to:)
August 11th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I. love. uniforms. I’ve taught in schools with them and schools without them. I. love. uniforms.
Glad you already blazed the trail, Amy, so if David and I send Caroline to a Christian school in two years (!) it will be “so two years ago” that no one will even leave a comment on my blog! LOL!
August 11th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Pastor Chris, We meant to do a back-to-school bonfire, but it rained the night before. ;)
Sallie, I think we slung it out in the comments several posts back. I do admit to not mentioning anything to anyone before we made a decision, not because we weren’t open to input (we were), but because I didn’t want what other people thought about me to factor unduly into the decision.
August 11th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
[I deleted my last paragraph because I was whining.]
August 11th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
As a Cumberland County resident, I think I speak on behalf of all 7,000 of us that we feel a bit tweaked by the “Burkesville = Timbuktu” reference. “Real” school or home school, analogies like that will get your kids nowhere on the SATs…
August 11th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
TIMBUKTU?!?!
Sheesh. Give Adair County a Wal-Mart and you get all uppity. ;)
August 11th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
This is why I love reading your blog, Amy. You’re doing what’s best for your family without making it a treatise on what every family should do for every one of their children every day.
I’m glad you home schooled for 10 years, and I’m glad you benefited from the church school for 3 months, and I’m glad you found this school for now – however long now is. But most of all I’m glad that you’re not being burdened – or burdening others – with something that isn’t the gospel.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Woo-hoo! We start Monday and I can’t wait! (and I still will have 2 little ones at home, and one coming this winter!) but the ones at home are boys and the one going to school is a girl and let’s just say the females in this home are somewhat more talkative than the little men………..
August 11th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Glad your family is doing what you feel the Lord has led you to do and not what your readers would like to tell you to do. Blessings!
August 11th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Amy, Just wanted to thank you for mentioning Timbuk—Burkesville, I mean. Anything that shines a light on our “Best Kept Secret” (that’s Burkesville’s motto) is good. We can only hope and aspire to have a city as big as yours one day and our very own TACO BELL…oh…I work hard not to be envious of you “city folks.” ; )
August 12th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I envy you. I have been homeschooling for 20 years and I am tired. I so wish I could afford to put the four I have at home now in christian school. But, alas, it is not to be. So I plunge forward and continue on….
God bless you.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Wow. School starts early in the South. Here in Michigan, summer is just starting.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Hooray for you all! My little one is starting a part time preschool as well next month. I can’t imagine a better situation for her at this point in her little life. So have fun at school little Scotts!
August 12th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
That is a FINE-looking brood you have there, woman! Now ENJOY the peace and quiet of a well-ordered life. You have truly earned it.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Our circumstances may be different. Our gifting may be different. But one fact remains:
Regardless of where a child may receive his academic instruction, everyone home-schools their children.
You school them with your attitudes.
You school them with your choices.
You school them by your words and actions.
Every mother who cannot wait for the kids to go back to school, every mother who tells strangers that x number of children was all – or even more than – she could handle, every mother who criticizes her children’s father, every mother who is too tired or too busy or too sick or too selfish to discipline her children is teaching her children more than she realizes. Its all about the attitude. Mom’s attitude.
I had tears in my eyes this morning as I read the comments on this post. These sweet young Christian mothers are finding their children more burden than blessing. Are we salt and light? Are we any different than the unbeliever who lives next door?
Non-Christians can home-school.
Non-Christians can put their children in private school or public school.
Non-Christians can have a dozen children!
How will we strive to look different?
I believe its by our attitudes.
EDUCATION is LIFE. Academics are actually a very small part of that.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I love the uniforms too!
Okay, since you know a lot of your readership are homeschoolers – inquiring minds want to know…….what curriculum does your children’s school use? Also, how far of a drive do you have to take them to and from school? Is it affliated with your church?
August 12th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
*smiling*
no……
*grinning*
August 12th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Darling!! It sounds like a great decision! I love it when someone bursts out the mold and does whatever the Lord calls them to do! God bless you. I like uniforms also!
August 12th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
McGregor’s comment about Burkesville was said with full affection, I promise! Some of our favorite people live there!
The school uses Abeka for most things, and Bob Jones for reading. We were Bob Jones DVD users the past two years, excellent program by the way.
I drive them 8 miles to Wal-Mart, where a local pastor takes my children the rest of the way along with his own son.
It is not affiliated with any church.
Regarding the expense of some private schools, I know…. Yet in California of all places, we paid $300/month for two full time students, which is just a tiny fraction of normal costs. (We drive junkers so there’s our car payment, I guess.) Many schools have tuition assitance as well, and it’s worth inquiring about if that is a direction you ever feel led to go. It was always out of reach for us in FL, and additionally, there wasn’t any school that was a good ‘fit’ for us anyway. I assumed this school (the one we’re at now) was out of reach too because of the distance, but I talked with the board and someone donated a van to the school for the pastor to drive us, and it all worked out. But that’s why we didn’t go last year, and all it took was some dialogue about it instead of assuming it wouldn’t work. (Lesson learned for me.) Also, I was told when I called that several classes were full, and voila, that problem was resolved too after we just sat down with them. I think there was a lot of interest in having our students, and I just think, too, that this is where we’re supposed to be right now.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Part of me hopes for your experience right now. :) I was just saying to my hubby how nice it would be to just have the babies at home with me all day. PEACE and a clean house!!!
August 12th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I’ll be slightly jealous in about a month and we’re into the first hour of the first day of school…
I was so looking foward to meeting you next year at the Cinncy HS convention though…
August 13th, 2009 at 1:16 am
about second graders telling the family secrets, including many that are made up …
I’ve made a deal with some of the teachers my kids have had along the way …
I won’t believe half what my kids say about the teacher if the teacher won’t believe half what my kids say about me. Knowing what kids say, and make up, most teachers are quite willing to agree to these terms.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Admittedly, Amy, I was really concerned when I read this post. But then, you gave some more information in comment #30 and I felt slightly relieved. I mean . . . you are going to have to go outside . . . in the winter! Shudder! (At least it’s only 8 miles to Walmart, phew.) :)
August 13th, 2009 at 9:11 am
It’s a good thing, Amy.
I went to a Catholic school until 5th grade and wore uniforms just like your girls. I loved my uniform : )
Are you sure that Charles’ teacher didn’t give him that award because he is just too cute??
I’m with McGregor on the speech making, although tell him that he already looks like a fine statesman.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:33 am
:(
August 13th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Just wondering if you would mind giving us a little background on you decision. We all know it’s not one made easily and I would really appreciate to hear your thoughts etc.
Thanks Jo
August 14th, 2009 at 7:41 am
I love the uniforms! I love your blog and your honesty at doing what is best for your family. We are homeschooling now, but after my hubby gets his “real” job and we can move, we are thinking of finding a small christian school. For now I enjoy having them at home, but would love some of that peace and quiet your are enjoying. (not to mention a cleaner house) BTW I was homeschooled too till high school
August 14th, 2009 at 9:49 am
We just made this difficult decision in the spring as well. The kids start in about 10 days. It is reassuring to know I am not the only one choosing to stop homeschooling, sometimes I feel all alone with that one. Thanks for sharing.
August 14th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Jo, I don’t fault you for asking, as I know only a small percentage of folks read the comments. It’s been hashed out in the comment section of many posts, starting with “Parenting Trends and the Gospel.” I feel very weary of explaining again, not because you unknowingly asked, but because it opens it up for women to email me some version of why I’m not trying hard enough. There is some part of me that knows it was unwise to leave it out there without a full-fledged defense backstop in place, and another part of me that doesn’t give a flip what homeschoolers think about me anymore, including some friends who’ve decided that I don’t measure up.
You have to understand that I’m using a very calm, matter-of-fact tone without using hurt feelings as a passive aggressive weapon. When I employ this calm, rational discourse in real life conversations, I am met with solutions to why I really can get up four times a night and single-parently homeschool six children without any support. My real life friends know my husband’s work schedule, but since they can do it (with two children and a father at home in the evenings), then I should be able too.
I’ve decided that not everyone is irrational, but that at some level, many women use their own experience to project on situations where they have a very incomplete set of facts. And of course, some women are just merciless, and I sincerely hope they don’t receive the same mercy in the end. In many ways, I understand now the homeschooling movement is often very much about homeschooling and not about the women behind the homeschooling. (Again, I’m not speaking to you, as I have no idea who you are.) And then, of course, some women are kind and mature.
A friend wrote me this way back in January, and I bet she has no idea that I saved her email:
I want to again stand behind what I’ve said before, that faithful children are a blessing, and homeschooling is a very good way to raise faithful children. Homeschooling is a means to an end, as opposed to an end in itself, as parents in Germany probably agree.
Part of wisdom and maturity is the ability to look at a situation and really analyze what it is you’re doing and if you’re really on the path to meeting your goals. I did that and made adjustments accordingly, not so I could “have peace and quiet” but to ensure that I continue to raise godly children.
Warmly….
August 14th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Excellently put, Amy.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Yes, very excellently put.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Amy,
Thank you for sharing about your new path with the kiddos in school. We have thought that a private school…Christian preferably, would be a possibility in our future…possibly… and you are right, home school is a means toward an end. Not the end in and of itself.
Blessings, Ashley
PS,
I really enjoyed meeting you! Maybe we can get together again one day.
August 15th, 2009 at 4:52 am
Hi Amy,
I have been home schooling my son here in Ireland and he will be going to school when he is 13 in two years. I am not able to continue with his education, just not clever enough. I know my limits and so does my husband. I love having him at home and he loves being home schooled. However, I know he will need a lot of support and help adjusting to regular and this will keep be busy for a year or so.
I will be very interested in reading your blog and hearing (I hope?) about how your kids are getting on.
BTGW, there are lots of gracious mature people out here so never mind the grumps:0)
All excited for your family!
August 15th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
urrgghhh – I’m so behind on reading!
I’m so very, very happy for the community you’ve found. The move was for sure right :)
Blessings upon you all and I’ll try to stay more up to date!
August 16th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Hi Amy, I have checked back several times to see if you would be so “kind” to share with us your reasons for putting the kids in school. Bless you for loving “us” enough to share. I really am excited for you. I have never met you, but I count it a blessing to be able to read and contemplate your endless wisdom.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Oh, Amy, there are tears in my eyes after your last comment! I am exactly where you are — my children start public school next week. There’s a big gap between my 1st and 2nd (over 3 years) and then I delivered #2 through #6 in 6 years and 3 months. Homeschooling used to be “easy”, I’m afraid to admit. With only one child being homeschooled, we just took care of it while the littles were napping. Then came last year where I not only had to add a new student (#2 starting kindergarten), I also was pregnant with #6. I knew it wouldn’t be a banner year — I have too many pregnancy complications for that to be so. But after our daughter was born in March, I expected I’d be able to jump right in, get us all caught up, and be ready for the 09/10 school year without any problems. Boy, was I wrong. Overwhelmed and exhausted barely describes it! But, I thought, I DID just give birth so I should give myself some time. I figured we’d go on vacation in June, child #5 would have minor surgery in early July, and then we’d get started on the new school year then and be just fine. Again, I was WAY wrong. It just wasn’t happening. And finally, 3 weeks ago, I just had to stop and admit that I can’t do it all right now. My house is falling apart, the laundry is never done, don’t even ask about my floors, my soon-to-be 7 year old isn’t reading, my 5-year-old is supposed to be starting school, and my almost-5th grader was doing less than an hour of school work everyday and I was afraid he’d start falling behind. So, one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make was made and my kids start school next week. God has given me peace, though, and the kids are super excited. My home won’t be nearly as peaceful as yours, though, as kindergarten is only half day here so I’ll have 5 of my 6 home around lunch time so I could quite possibly work HARDER with my oldest (and biggest helper) gone to school all day! But thank you for sharing, especially thank you for sharing that piece of an email from your friend. I needed that.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Amy, today is the first day in 17 years that I am alone in my house for the entire day. I am cleaning like a maniac. It’s unreal. I am sad and happy and content and at peace. Thank you for such wise words and balance and for speaking with grace. I pray your children have a wonderful school experience!
And…THANK YOU LORD FOR UNIFORMS. :)
Love ya and have a blessed day.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Thank you, Amy. It was with such ambivalence that I approached our homeschool for this year. I could barely muster enough enthusiasm to order curriculum. We had number six (with special needs) in January and just never seemed to get our groove back. The house is a disaster, children lack training, I can’t complete a thought, and I’m exhausted. I could not imagine adding school in.
And then I read this post and the reasons behind it. Suddenly, I had revelation. We have a choice! I am not trapped! We have said that we would pray for each child each year to determine what type of schooling they would receive. I realized that the most I managed to mumble was, “Let this cup pass from me.” So, I asked my husband to pray, really pray, about what God wants us to do this year. I told him that I was unwilling to carry a burden that the Lord didn’t give me to bear. If homeschooling our children the Lord’s plan, then I would suck it up and do it…and there would be grace for it.
He prayed and determined that indeed we are to homeschool this year. I am so excited about it! I have such peace and enthusiasm. I’ve completed our new schedule and we started our new chore charts today. Nothing has changed except a submission and yielding to the Father with our lives. And that has made all the difference.
Thank you for reminding me that He is in charge of our children and we are not. He has a plan that we must obey and there is grace in obedience.
Have a wonderful school year! I pray you and your children thrive.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Not to be flippant because I hear and appreciate all the comments of those sharing in the struggle, but I just had to say….my kids always had uniforms. Yeah, all along! Those knit Land’s End dresses are the uniform de jour of the Scotts. ;) I admit to missing them a little on the weekdays.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:23 am
You know…we get the same grief about not attending Wednesday night service (gasp). I know. Unfaithful. And while some think it’s a matter of obedience, I don’t see it in Scripture–although if you look at some verses upside down, I guess you might find something. We have our reasons for not going (and we do go sometimes), but when you feel compelled to lay out to others why you don’t go, they pick apart your reasons and tell you why you can. The truth is, we can go, but in keeping the balance of Our life, we choose not to.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Best wishes on your school year. I thought your posts were excellent. You didn’t have to explain your choices but did so very well. I loved what your friend said that sometimes the reality really is that you really are overwhelmed and trying to do what is more than possible (no matter what someone says). Everyone’s situation IS different. And just because your kids are in school elsewhere doesn’t make the cooking, cleaning, laundry, errands, shopping, homework assistance, and other chores disappear. I took offense for you that some insinuated that all you wanted was an easy life of “peace and quiet”. :)
August 18th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Bwahaaahaa! I haven’t read all the comments so I laughed when I read Liesl Marie’s. I’m amazed that anyone could’ve thought that an “easy life of peace and quiet” is even possible in a home with six children, no matter where they go to school! I would’ve been offended for you, too!
August 18th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Amy,
Thanks for posting this. It’s encouraging to those of us who aren’t perfect and can’t “do it all.” Anyway, everyone’s circumstances are different and you have to do what is best for your family! So good for you!
We have are younger ones in “real” school and homeschool the older two. That is what works for our family at this point.
I love your blog! I have learned so much by visiting!
Blessings to you and your family!
August 19th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
:)
((((hugs)))
I can’t help but get a big huge grin when I think about you sitting in your house with a baby and a mooing cow…
August 19th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
I mean, the mooing cow OUTSIDE, of course…
August 20th, 2009 at 6:18 am
THAT’S why the house smells so funny.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Just wondering, now that you’re a couple weeks into it, if you have any thoughts to share about how this new schooling thing is working for you. As a young mom, I’m always hoping to hear all the pros/cons ahead of time. While I realize that it’s different for everyone, it’s kind of nice to learn a bit through others’ experiences.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:45 am
brietta,
The new school is working wonderful for us right now. It’s hard to say what the pros and cons in general would be, since the school itself is such a huge variable. I could see a bunch of cons popping up were the school larger and more mainstream, but that’s not the case. It is very small and requires that at least one parent be of faith.
That said, I hate getting up at 5:30.
As a young mom, I think my default advice (were I being asked) would be to consider homeschooling as a first choice, since statisically it produces higher results in every imaginable area. It is hard on mom, for sure, and requires much discipline and endurance.
Families are fluid things–each unique with its own set of circumstances and challenges.
Something I am going to think about more is the impact schooling choices have on children who keep their faith. It seems to me, from my experience of curiosity and not necessarily one of defending my choices (sometimes I think people interpret data in order to reinforce their decisions), that having **good parents** has more to do with a child’s rejection of faith than necessarily public, private, or homeschooling. In other words, does the method of schooling really have the impact we think it does?Sheltering children protects their innocence, but I’m not yet convinced that homeschooling itself is what keeps children in faith; rather, I think more often than not that good parents are the ones who decide to homeschool and therefore have better “results” than not. It’s something I turn over in my mind, knowing that God calls us to work, but salvation truly is a gift from Him. I wrestle with these things, trying to balance what I understand and then what that necessarily requires of me. There’s nothing more important to me than my children walk in truth. It’s also important to me that I look critically at the evidence, even if that points to something that affirms or condemns my own choices.
I know in my own life that I haven’t always made the right choices–even if my outward appearance has conformed to the socially acceptable conservative evangelical view of many children and homeschooling. It is a matter of the heart, no? And so if a young mom were asking me, I would say that it is important to be intellectually honest and crucial to **be** the right person rather than behave the acceptable way (which in many circles, right now, is homeschooling, but there will be another trend to “prove your devotion” when your children are older). I know we have to make decisions, all things being equal. There just isn’t a formula. Life is messy. And it’s just another reason the Bible tells us to get wisdom, get wisdom, get wisdom.
August 29th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
good answer. There are no guarantees, no matter how hard we try…it is God’s gift. But our responsibility to work, as you said. I liked your last 2 sentences especially.
I hope you can find some way to get up at 6 instead of 5:30. I figured out a way to go from 5:40 to 6 and it helped me a lot. However, the first requirement was for Gary to be laid off. Ha. But I still had to figure a way to cut my time too.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
[...] number of times I have sat down to write this post and couldn’t get it out. Then I read what Amy wrote a while ago, and in her usual way, she said what I was feeling but much more eloquently: It [...]
September 5th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
in reference to amy’s comment, 59:
i’ve also been doing some thinking about children who keep/lose their faith, and the impact schooling has on this. Discipleship seems to be the key here. Homeschooling provides a unique opportunity for parent’s to encourage and inform their children’s faith, and yet many parents who make other schooling choices also intentionally disciple their children. (not to mention youth leaders and others who invest in kids) SO I see the dual working of the Holy Spirit and Christians in obedience praying, supporting, exhorting and rebuking. This will produce godly adults who continue to embrace, not reject, their faith.