Does a Faith-Based Education Really Matter?

Written By: The Good and the Beautiful Published On:

Does faith-based education really matter or make a difference? In this blog post and video, Jenny Phillips answers these questions and more. She shares how a faith-based education completely and foundationally changed her family and how it can change yours!

Why did you choose to homeschool?

I’m often asked why I choose to homeschool. There are actually many reasons I homeschool, such as creating stronger family relationships and having time for things we choose. But one of the biggest reasons I homeschool is to give my children a faith-based education that emphasizes morals and values.

Does faith-based education really matter or make a difference?

Before I decided to homeschool my children, I understood that God and faith and Christianity and prayer were not a part of public education, but I didn’t think it mattered because our children were taught spiritual things outside of school. We had daily scripture study with our family. We attended church every week. We talked often to our kids about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His teachings. But I have found that for many children, including mine, those things are not enough to counteract some of the subtle and powerful and consistent negative influences of an education stripped of faith in God. I discovered that a faith-based education completely and foundationally changed our family and I think it can change yours!

I think as parents, we have lost sight of what an education is. We view school as a drop-off and pick-up, often not truly knowing what is going on, what is being read, and trusting, almost blindly, a faithless education to shape our children’s minds. An education is not just something that provides academic instruction. An education fundamentally and inescapably molds the hearts and minds of children, impacting their lifeview, their morals, their confidence, their desire to seek after good things in life, and the things that matter most to them.

Purposes of education:

  • Provides academic instruction
  • Molds hearts and minds
  • Impacts a child’s lifeview, morals, confidence, and goals
Father and Child Reading | The Good and the Beautiful

Also, it’s important to remember that ideal governments are not established to choose and dictate for parents what and how their children are taught. Governments are established to protect our right to educate our children in a way that aligns with our religious beliefs and values. The responsibility of choosing how and what a child is taught rests squarely on the shoulders of parents. Noah Webster wrote: “To educate children well is one of the most important duties of parents.”

And education has to have either a religious or secular humanistic foundation.

What is secular humanism?

Would you be surprised to know that public schools in the United States are based on an underlying lifeview and philosophy? It’s called secular humanism, which is defined as “belief that humanity is capable of morality and self-fulfillment without belief in God.” Whether we recognize it or not, the backbone of public schools is the belief system of secular humanism.

Children Reading in Classroom | The Good and the Beautiful

Before I continue, I want to note how grateful I am for the amazing public school teachers and administrators who are working so hard, many of whom are faithful followers of Christ, to do so much good in their classrooms and schools within the constraints they face. I believe they are true heroes and are needed in our world. The education system they teach in now is vastly different than it once was.

It’s interesting to note that in early America, you could hardly find a school that wasn’t Christian-based with the Bible as the main textbook.

Also, this is fascinating: Entrance to Harvard in the beginning required strong knowledge of the Bible.

Education Has Changed

It’s men like John Dewey, called “The Father of Modern Education,” and other humanists and atheists who fought hard to bring in the idea that religion did not help but hindered schools. John Dewey, whose ideas now permeate public education, had the goal to take God and religion out of academics. He and other humanists have been very successful with their goals, and most people don’t even realize it.

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  • Children Raising Hands in Classroom | The Good and the Beautiful

Most parents today were educated with secular humanistic philosophies themselves. By the country’s law, secular humanism is the system of thought that has laid the foundation of public schools since the 1960s. 

Because almost all parents of school-aged children today have been educated through a humanistic approach, it definitely feels like the norm to people, even in my generation! But I have found that education based on and centered around God and His teachings has tremendous benefits that simply cannot be gained through a secular humanistic education. 

When the spiritual side of things is taken out of learning, learning becomes disconnected, shallow, less important, and uninspiring, and many children tend to lose a true love and appreciation for learning.

Isn’t it enough to teach our children faith at home outside of their schooling?

I mentioned at the beginning that before I decided to homeschool my children, I understood that God and faith and Christianity and prayer were not a part of public education, but I didn’t think it mattered because our children were taught spiritual things outside of school.

But it wasn’t enough. I began to see in my children the impacts of a secular humanistic education, and I paid attention to the warning signs I saw. I pulled my children out of school, and it wasn’t until we were deep in homeschool that I started to see that not only can a secular humanistic approach to education be dangerous to a child’s faith and character, but this educational approach is empty and lacks depth.

Family looking at History Year 1 Course | The Good and the Beautiful

Through homeschooling my children the past 13 years or so, we have found incredible joy and blessings beyond what we could have ever guessed possible. We immersed ourselves in an education where God is the center of all things by using books and curriculum that are flooded with faith, focused on family, filled with light, abounding in meaning and depth, intentionally pure, and packed with beauty and wonder.

Homeschooling is one of the best decisions I’ve made!

Choosing to give my children a faith-based education through homeschooling is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life and has borne such beautiful fruit that my children and I will enjoy forever. 

The books my children read, the curriculum they use, the conversations and discussions that they have with me and with their friends at our Christian co-op are filled with God. He is not banned from their curriculum and their discussions and their education. He is not absent. He is not ignored or out of the picture. He is a real, living, beautiful, central part of my children’s education every day. 

Why homeschooling works for many families

  • Families grow in their faith
  • Parents choose the books and curriculum their children use
  • Families have meaningful conversations and relationships
  • Children can openly talk about their faith
Family reading together | The Good and the Beautiful

I believe our society has trained parents to think that because they don’t have an education degree or certificate, they don’t really know how to best educate their children, and they just need to turn them over to the government’s secular humanistic programs. But the truth is, we have a choice. Public school doesn’t have to be an automatic choice for you and your children. For many people, homeschooling offers a deep, meaningful, beautiful, and powerful education, based on and focused on the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Praying Child | The Good and the Beautiful

Let us guard against being indifferent or unknowledgeable about the kind of religious and moral training our children are receiving through examples and philosophies in their learning materials, through the absence of God and faith, or through the behavior and influence of other students. 

Is your children’s education giving them a safe, wholesome environment for their hearts and minds to grow in their goodness and faith in Jesus Christ? Are our children gaining more Christlike, noble character through their education? These are questions every parent should ask.

If you felt the truth in this message, I invite you to take action. What the action will be is up to you and how God guides you. Perhaps it will lead you to homeschool; or to send your child to a private Christian school; or to become more involved in your child’s public school by reviewing, understanding, and supplementing what is being taught and correcting any errors, by monitoring the books that are being read by your child, and by finding ways that you can bring the best of literature and ideas and a love of what is good and beautiful into your child’s life.

Take action in your child’s education

  • Pray for wisdom
  • Homeschool
  • Private Christian School
  • Become more involved in your child’s public school
Family sitting together | The Good and the Beautiful

Pray for Guidance

God cares deeply about our precious children, and as secular humanism boldly reaches out for our children, we can trust that God will show us how to combat it if we open our eyes and ask Him. We must simply follow where He leads. Charlotte Mason wrote: “To bring the human race, family by family, child by child, out of the savage and inhuman desolation where [God] is not, into the light and warmth and comfort of the presence of God, is, no doubt, the chief thing we have to do in the world.”

Every family has their own needs and desires for their children’s education. Whether your family  homeschools, private schools, public schools, or something in between, we hope your family finds a way to include faith in your children’s education.

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Join the Discussion

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24 comments

Briana Ulich

It’s funny because I was never a big religion person. But once I had my own kids I wanted to be involved in what they learned. I wanted a wholesome curriculum that didn’t teach anything that was too grown or controversial. I was terrified of public school and what my kids would be learning. So when I found gatb I was instantly sold. I love how your curriculum teaches my kids to be all around good people that respect others and nature. I hope they maintain the values im pushing onto them.

Katie Keltner

I love the emphasis this post puts on the foundation we are forming for our children’s worldview and priorities!

Dawn Johnson

I count it a huge blessing to be able to homeschool my children. We get to bond and grow as a family as we grow closer to Christ. Is there hardships and struggles sure but it’s so worth to see the “light bulb” moment happen! I also love how TGATB curriculum has simplified it for me as a parent to teach multiple of my kids at the same time!

Demi

I 100% agree with all of this. Our children are lost without God’s direction.

Stephanie Bunker

Thank you. I needed this. I often question wether I’m homeschooling for the right reasons and if it is right for my family. I appreciate all the Good and Beautiful does to make homeschooling joyful and accessible.

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