“It is said that one machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine, however, can do the work of one extraordinary man.” – Tehyi Hsieh

For thousands of years, approximately eighty percent of the earth’s workforce was primarily focused on raising enough food for survival. This percentage still holds true in many Third World countries. However, with the advent of modern machinery and enhanced crops, only 1.5 percent of the workforce in the United States now grows the food that feeds our nation and much of the rest of the world. It has been rightly said that starvation and malnutrition are a result of political and transportation issues rather than lack of production. What happened to all those workers who used to be farmers? For the most part, they moved to the cities, looking for jobs in factories.

Unfortunately, we have seen a huge decrease in the number of manufacturing jobs, as factories are automated with advanced robotics or jobs are moved overseas to take advantage of cheap labor. Actually, there is no reason that a moderately small percentage of the population, given the right tools, could not manufacture all the items the world needs. Short supply of these items, just like shortages of food, is caused or will be caused by political issues and transportation, not by production capability. If manufacturing jobs have disappeared, where did the workers go? To a large extent they have switched to high-technology careers and so brought about the advent of the Information Age.

History is repeating itself. High-technology jobs are moving overseas to tap cheaper labor markets and are throwing the industry into turmoil. We find ourselves entering another new era in which life sciences, physics, chemistry, and high technology converge to create the next wave of human advancement: nanotechnology. Nano, the Greek word for dwarf, means a billionth. To put it into perspective, a nanometer refers to a spatial measurement that is 1/75,000th the width of a human hair. Nanotechnology is focused on building machines at the atomic level, primarily via chemical composition.

In the future, clogged arteries may very well be cleared by tiny, invisible robots that have been injected into the bloodstream. A farmer may treat his fields with a “dust” made of sensors that report the health and moisture levels of his crops. The whole nature of warfare could change. Computer monitors are expected to be wall-sized and only the thickness of cloth. Because the speed of computers is limited by the speed of light, the smaller they are the faster they can operate. Supercomputers will eventually be the size of marbles and cost about the same. Nantero, Inc., a company that is starting to produce nanotubes for computer memory, is building a technology that will eventually be able to store every book, movie, and musical score ever produced in something the size and cost of today’s desktop computer. Add to this trend the uncharted possibilities of the Internet, and it makes one’s head swim.

Where does all this leave home schooling parents, who are directing the education of their children and are responsible for preparing them for what might come? True, we already have some advantages. The current public school system of children segregated by age and led by an instructor is geared for creating a workforce destined for manufacturing jobs that are long gone. If the future gives us the power to hold a world of knowledge in a small box, display it on a wall-sized screen, and interact with it as easily as we do a telephone, then the need for public educational institutions and instructors will cease to exist. Careers of the future will demand individuals whose education is characterized by custom-fitted curriculum, an emphasis on self-learning, a focus on creative thinking skills, and the ability to adjust and adapt in real time to student, teacher, and family needs. These things cannot be provided within the established education structure. Already educational institutions find themselves increasingly unable to produce students who can think and create or graduates who can succeed in the new economy.

In the future, knowledge will become subordinate to rarer qualities such as integrity and self-discipline. Knowledge will be widely available and may be accessed almost without cost; however, character will always be at a premium. With the advance of technology and the universal availability of information will also come an avalanche of entertainment, pornography, games, virtual worlds, and gambling that will drain dry the minds and strength of the masses who are enslaved by it. The temptations will be great. Those who have been trained to keep their minds free and to be vigilant in doing what is right will prosper just as Daniel prospered in Babylon.

Home schooling, by its nature, can be the best environment for producing the kind of men and women who will be needed in the future. The potential for sharpening minds, fortifying hearts, tempering wills, and directing spirits is unlimited, but all that potential comes with a profound twofold responsibility for home schooling parents. First, particularly for fathers, if we want our children to pass on the home school legacy to coming generations, we must make sure our sons have the skills and tools they will need to earn a living for their families. How tragic it would be if we were to send our children into the workplace equipped only for the future equivalent of making buggy whips.

Also, our sons and daughters need to understand that home education is more than school, more than the acquisition of information. It is a way of living. Our daughters must be equipped to pursue that way of life, being dedicated to preparing the next generation for another two-pronged invasion of the future. It is true: no number of machines now, or in the future, will be able to do the work of one extraordinary man. Home schooling provides a wonderful opportunity for the Lord to turn ordinary students into extraordinary people.

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Now back to reality. I do not need to tell you this home school family exists only in someone’s fevered imagination; however, I suspect they chronically infect almost every home schooling parent’s dreams of the future. Just how much of our vision of the home school family is based on reality, and how much of it is based on wishful thinking?   How much is, in fact, an illusion?

Let me illustrate what I mean. Some people make images of God.  Besides being an obvious violation of God’s command, the very idea that man could create God is absurd. That is, if God is God.  Of course, most gods today are not created by a man’s hands but rather by his imagination. That is why you hear phrases like, “God would never punish somebody” and “God is out to get you.” This is because people have views of God that are not based on revelation but on mental images that were created by man; revering such an image is idolatry. In the same way that we can conceive and nurture an idolatrous image of God, we can cultivate an illusory vision of the family.

Our vision of the family can spring from a number of things. It may arise from a mishmash of sentiments fed to us by advertisements, talk shows, friends, magazines, or workshops. Perhaps parts of it are skimmed from our life experiences.  The most accurate, stable and dependable vision of the family is one based upon truth—what God says about the family. However, the most popular ones are based on humanistic principles—what people think is true or desire to be true.

What difference does it make? A family based upon God’s thoughts—upon reality—will be led upward and onward to become more and more what God wants. The fruit of the Spirit will grow, and hearts will be tender toward God.  This kind of family will be a steadying influence on their children, anchoring them in truth and pointing them toward the ultimate goal of godliness.  These children are equipped to impart this family blessing to their own children and many generations to come. On the other hand, a home school family based upon illusion is at the mercy of two extremes.  Either they exist in frustration and despair because their expectations are unrealistic and unattainable, or they subsist on such low expectations that nothing is accomplished and the entire home school experience is a failure. In either extreme, it is a family out of touch with reality and out of touch with God.

Whether you are just starting home schooling or are continuing the course that has been laid before you, let me encourage you to get in touch with reality—God’s reality. Listen. Hear what your spouse is saying.  Hear what your children are saying. Most important, hear what God is saying.  Listen and discern. Discover His vision for you and your family.  God is very interested in how you homeschool your children, but remember, He has something bigger in mind for you.  He wants to use you to establish a lineage of faithful servants (Genesis 18:19). Take the time to pause, listen, and pray. You will find that what God does in your home school family is no illusion.

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Such a hard-dollar calculation can be derived from three sources: how much is saved because she is a full-time homekeeper, how much would be spent if she worked outside the home, and how much her husband’s ability to earn is increased because of her. We will consider each of these three areas separately.

How much is saved?

Eighteen years ago, we were led to sell our small house in the city so we could move to the country. Instead of using a real estate agent, my wife Maureen took it upon herself to sell the house. She had already found a buyer, so the hardest part of the job was done. A friend in real estate helped her with the paperwork, and a title company kept things legal. We used the extra money we saved to purchase some land in the country on which we later built.

The wonderful thing about doing something like this is that it amounts to tax-free income. A person does not even have to pay Social Security tax on it. This is true every time money is saved. Eating at home instead of at a restaurant means saving more than just the cost of the meal. It is like getting extra, tax-free income. What is true for preparing a meal is also true for laundry, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, etc.

The amount of money a stay-at-home mom saves is easily $1,000 a year for such day-to-day things. Add to that the extraordinary savings of large ticket items such as selling a house, decorating a house, or sewing clothing, and it is easy to accumulate $2,000 to $4,000 a year in savings. Because these are after-tax dollars, the family income would have to increase by $2,500 to $6,000 dollars a year to offset the loss of savings if the mother left home to work. But wait, there is more.

How much would be spent?

Before we discovered home schooling, we were paying $600 a month for our two sons to attend a private Christian school. This was a long time ago; today tuition is even higher. Add the cost of books, uniforms, and the abundant, miscellaneous, extra fees, and it is not unreasonable to say that it costs $500 a month to provide a private school education for one child. Paying for such an education would demand a before-tax income hike of $7,500. Multiply that by 3.5 (the average number of children in home school families), and the bill jumps to a whopping $26,250. (Sorry, but I will not even discuss the possibility of sending children to a government-run school—a culture that is hostile to God’s ways and teaches things contrary to His truth.)

Combining the numbers, a home schooling mom can save the family $29,750-$32,250 a year if she has 3.5 children (Pity the .5 child!). Go ahead and use your calculator. How much is your wife saving your family?

Now we will consider how much it would cost the family to put Mom into the ranks of the employed. Begin with the cost of buying extra clothes and cleaning them. Add commuting and insurance costs. Total the extra meals that will be eaten out and convenience items that will be purchased. Set aside a big chunk of the budget for daycare that can easily come to $10,000 a year. Even in light of tax benefits, the cost of adding a wage earner is easily in the $2,000 to $15,000 a year range. This means that the before-tax family income would have to increase $2,500 to $20,000. Do not use my numbers; figure for your family what it would cost for your wife to enter the work force.

How much is husband’s ability to earn increased?

We have now arrived at our third area of consideration—the effect a stay-at-home wife has on her husband’s ability to earn money. I have always been certain that my wife positively impacted my ability to earn more money. I have had customers who looked forward to meeting with me because they knew I would bring my wife’s homemade goodies. The office also enjoyed the special treats she would prepare from time to time. Her contributions enabled me to win the hearts of customers and fellow workers. She also relieved me of many tasks and details so I could concentrate on my job and be more effective. I knew this, but I wondered if anyone had ever done a study to prove this was true for others and if anyone ever measured it in dollars.

Lo and behold, there was in Business Week (9-17-2001) an article entitled “Why Married Men Earn More.” Note that this article comes from a magazine that strongly favors women working outside the home and creating a gender-diverse workplace. Yet this publication summarized research that showed that married men earned, on the average, 12.4% more than unmarried men. A married man whose wife worked outside the home earned only 3.4% more, but a man who had a full-time, stay-at-home wife earned a whopping 31% more. They claimed, “Researchers find no evidence that the marriage premium reflects better economic prospects of men who tend to get hitched. Rather, it appears related to the state of being married—and specifically to the likelihood that wives shoulder household tasks.” They even proceeded to show that “the wage gap declines as wives put in more hours working outside the home.”

We will look at this in real numbers. Suppose you as a home school father earn $65,000 a year. Statistically, on average, your wife has enabled you to earn $20,000 more than a single man and $18,000 more than a man whose wife works full-time outside the home. If you are a home school father earning $32,500 a year, your stay-at-home wife can take credit for $9,000 to $10,000 of that. If you are a home school father earning $130,000 a year, your stay-at-home wife could claim $36,000 to $40,000. Do the math for your own family.

It is time to combine the numbers. Add together what your wife saves your family, how much extra it would cost for her to go to work, and the “marriage premium” gained by having a stay-at-home wife. I think you will discover that your home school wife is worth a lot more than $40,000 a year. The number could easily be twice that. Now think of the tremendous loss in the quality of life, the added frustration and agony, the cost of losing the hearts of your children to their peers, and the time pressure that would be put on both of you if she worked outside the home. The most carnal of measurements—cold, hard cash—debunks the myth that two wage earners provide a higher standard of living than one. Add in the spiritual reward of pursuing God’s purposes and plans for your family, and it becomes starkly evident that believing the myth is folly.

Each of you men, take your wife out to dinner. Tell her how much you appreciate her. Be grateful that she comes as a gift from God—you could not possibly afford her otherwise.

The post Can You Afford Not to Homeschool? appeared first on Texas Home School Coalition.

1. Who was the worst grandparent in the Bible?

2. Who was perhaps the best grandfather found in Scripture?

3. Which Biblical grandparent missed the cruise of a lifetime?

4. Which New Testament grandmother made a big difference?

The answer to number one is Athaliah. Her story is found in II Chronicles 22:10. What horrid thing did she do to qualify as “the worst grandparent in the Bible”? Consider. When a mother kills her own children, she commits infanticide. Athaliah committed grand infanticide, because she murdered her own grandchildren. Her motives were pure evil; she killed them and other relatives so she could reign as queen. Ugly, isn’t it? Grandparents are powerful people. They may not rule kingdoms, but they can strongly influence their grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 4:25 warns of the danger of grandparents leading their grandchildren astray. Those who are grandparents and those of us who hope to be grandparents should take this calling seriously. We must be sure that our children’s children are safe in their relationship with us.

Moving to question number two: this grandfather was awesome, yet you would likely never think of him. That is because he is not him but Hur. A grandfather at the time of the Exodus, Hur held up Moses’ hands so the Israelites could win a victory over the Amelekites (Exodus 17). A short time later he was said to be one of Moses’ primary assistants (Exodus 24:14). Large clans and lineages of faithfulness were established through his descendants (I Chronicles 2:50-54). His most famous offspring was his grandson, Bezalel, the master craftsman and construction foreman for the Tabernacle and its furnishings (Exodus 31:2-4). Bezalel must have been young at the time of the building of the Tabernacle, perhaps even in his late teen years. Yet he completed a major responsibility successfully because the Lord “filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.” The Bible shows the significance of this grandfather/grandson relationship by listing Hur’s name in five of the seven passages where Bezalel is named. The relationship was important to the Lord. Let us all pray that He places the same value on our grandchildren’s relationships with us.

The answer to question three is an oldie but perhaps not such a goodie. Methuselah is best known for having lived the longest life, 969 years. Wow! Do you know how he died, or when he died? He died the year of the flood; in fact, he may have died in the flood. His grandson built the ark to save mankind; however, the Bible says that only Noah was considered righteous (Genesis 6:9-12). Where was Grandfather Methuselah? He and the rest of mankind died; only his grandson, his great-grandchildren, and their wives were spared. Not only did he miss the cruise of a lifetime but he also missed something even more precious. He missed the fellowship and bonding that occurs when men work together to accomplish a great task. It could have been a wonderful story: grandfather and grandson working together to build an engineering marvel. Methuselah had a unique opportunity to have a wonderful impact on his great-grandchildren and generations of descendants. Unfortunately the opportunity was washed away. It is certain that we will not have as many years with our grandchildren as Methuselah did, but we can commit to using the time the Lord gives us to enrich their lives.

Our fourth and final answer is Lois, a Jewish grandmother who started a wonderful thing. First she believed, and faith went from her to her daughter, Eunice, then to her grandson, a young man named Timothy (II Timothy 1:5). Timothy was taught the Scriptures from childhood (II Timothy 3:15) and became one of the great teachers and preachers of the first century church (Acts 16:2-3). All of this happened without the support of his father who was a non-believing Greek (Acts 16:1). Yes, this godly grandmother made a difference. All grandparents can. They can help pick up the slack, especially when things are not as good as they could be or should be. My brother-in-law has to travel a lot with his job; his absence is very hard on his family. It is fortunate that he and my sister live very near my parents who fill in the gap for their grandchildren. No, the grandparents do not home school as effectively as my sister does. No, they do not perfectly substitute for a daddy who is gone, but they do make a difference. Those grandchildren are a testimony of what a grandparent can do. May the Lord show us our place in our children’s families and the difference we can make there.

My wife’s parents live one mile up the road from us. They made the decision to be near their grandchildren and us and moved to our neighborhood about five years ago. I must confess that I have always really liked them. I found it very easy to “fall in love” with their daughter because I liked them and respected them so very much. The depth of their relationship to the Lord, their values and convictions, their unwavering love, and their willingness to cheerfully help us out of a jam (Company is arriving in sixty minutes, and the house is a mess!) have been wonderful blessings in our lives. Our youngest children ride their bikes up the hill to “Dar and Da’s house” every chance they get, and our young adult sons go up there to play bridge with them. These two oldest children were even blessed to have a few years with their great-grandmother. When they were tiny, she would spend hours upon hours playing games like peek-a-boo with them. How much we would be missing if our family were only two generations deep!

Let us add another question to our list. Are grandparents ever told to home school their grandchildren? Check Deuteronomy 6:1-9 for the answer. The command to teach children to love the Lord with all of their heart, soul, and mind was spoken to parents and grandparents (verse 2). We know of some grandparents who have taken on the task of home schooling their grandchildren in the absence of a parent who would not or could not do it. May God bless these grandparents who are making a difference. Others assist by teaching children skills that time-starved parents would never get around to – important things like fishing, sewing, or cabinetmaking. A grandparent’s greatest contribution to the home school is the encouragement and totally biased support that is given to their children and grandchildren.

As these examples in the Bible show us, the influence of a grandparent can be great or small, good or evil. The decision is left to the grandparent. Some might think the decision is made late in life, but in fact, it must be made early-on, many years before the children are grown. Generally, as we grow older, we do not change; we simply become more of what we have been all along – more joyful, loving, and faithful; or more miserable, negative, and irritating. If you were twice as much yourself as you are now, what kind of grandparent would you be? What kind of difference will you make in the lives of your children’s children? May I suggest that you begin to consider your role? Observe; listen; take notes; think it through. If you do not have a parent who can mentor you in this, seek some assistance and find someone who can. If God is so gracious as to grant us grandchildren, we should meet these little ones with books and heirlooms, stories and pictures, faith and love in hand. Let us pray that God finds us willing lumps of clay who want to be molded into grandmothers and grandfathers who bless generations.

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