A Fish Out of Water

For this post, I'd like to simply lay the ground work for what I'd like some of this blog to be about. I am NOT an expert by any means on the subject. These are just my thoughts and feelings. I have a LOT more to say on this subject than what is in this post. If I wrote it all now, it would be way too long and no one would finish reading it. I've probably already risked that a little as it is. So here goes...

My 7 year old daughter, Kristin, is in the first grade at a public school. Our other 2 daughters will follow once of school age. The church we go to has a wonderful school that does a great job of educating the students with a Christian worldview, that is, to express the preeminence of Jesus Christ in everything. However, we chose not to send our children there. We chose the public school system. Does that make us bad Christians? Irresponsible parents?

Before I continue, let me give you a little background info on my husband and I. We both grew up going to public schools. We both received great educations and did very well. After graduating H.S., my husband went to the University of Alabama (Roll Tide) and I went to a small liberal arts, Christian college on Lookout Mountain, GA called Covenant College (go Scots). My husband does, however, have siblings that were both at Christian schools and home schooled. I graduated from Covenant with a degree in Elementary Education and taught first grade for 5 years in the public schools before we started our family. My mother was a PS (Public School) teacher, my sister is a H.S. PS teacher. Both my husband and I come from strong Christian homes and have been Christians ourselves for as long as we can remember.

Our church has a lot of young families and there is a good mix of public school, private school and home schooled kids. We have never felt left out or ostracized because of our decision to send our kids to public school. That being said, I know there are some people, friends even, who do not understand or agree with our decision. A pro private school friend of mine once stated that she just couldn't understand why we would not want to give our kids a Christian education. My answer to that is an emphatic, We ARE giving our kids a Christian education! No matter what kind of school we send our children to, it is not that school's job to give my children the foundation of what it means to be a Christian and to live like one in this world. That is MY job as the parent.

Now, I am not defending the public schools in this respect. I am defending our decision to send our children there. Let me back up slightly for a minute by saying that we are very fortunate to live in an excellent school district. We moved here because of the schools. Test scores are through the roof, something like 95% of the kids in the H.S. we are districted for, go on to not only attend, but graduate from college. Let me also throw in that one of the major deciding factors in where to send our kids to school was and still is money. Private schools are expensive!! However, for me, even if we did have the money, I'm still not sure if we would do things any differently.

Now, yes, we may have to be more vigilant about talking to Kristin about what's going on at school, and yes, it did really irk me that the word "Christmas" was completely eliminated from her entire school this past Christmas. That's a whole other post. Despite our decision, I am still capable of seeing the pros of a private education....and the cons, as I can freely admit the cons (and pros) of a public school education. I am not trying to say that I think one form of education is better than the other. For us there really is no choice. We can't afford private school. My whole point is, we are giving our kids a Christian education and will continue to do so with fervor. That our children know who Christ is and what He did for us, for them, and how He wants us to live, is VERY important to us. It's on our minds whether we are at school, church, the grocery store, the playground... And shouldn't it be? Wherever they go to school?