A Key Ingredient

Candy, glorious candy. As a child there were few things that ranked higher on my list of “things to do” than to eat candy. I remember vividly on one occasion I was rummaging through the kitchen drawers and cupboards when I saw, in the baking drawer, an entire bar of chocolate. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Being as wise as I was, I thought it best not to eat the chocolate bar right away, for my parents might be using it to make something for dinner during the week. So I sat back (rather impatiently) and waited. Days went by and then a couple of weeks. What fortune! They had forgotten about the candy bar in the drawer! I couldn’t just leave it there to go bad, so one day when I was craving something sweet I decided to put the chocolate bar out of its misery. Oh, how I carefully unwrapped it, savoring each tear of the packaging, I broke off the first chunk of chocolate goodness and delicately put it into my mouth…

Have you ever tasted unsweetened chocolate? ..........If you haven’t, then take my advice and don’t. It’s…well, it’s…not good. Why? Well, it isn’t because it’s not chocolate, because it is. The problem with unsweetened chocolate is that it is missing a key ingredient, without which it is truly dissatisfying and altogether disappointing.

The point is this, you can have everything it takes to make something wonderful, but if you leave out one key ingredient it might turn into something “not good”.

The same is true of homeschooling. There are thousands of households around Colorado and the nation that are homeschooling but many of these families are missing one of the key ingredients to make it a successful homeschool:FATHERS; fathers that are an active part of the discipleship of their children. Moms are doing a fantastic job of teaching their children and instructing them in righteousness, but if fathers are not a part of this instruction then the children in that home are missing a vital piece of their training. God has clearly stated in His Word that fathers are to play a major role in the discipleship of children, that they are to be the prophets (those who communicate God’s Word) of their homes, and that the father playing this role is a key ingredient to the success of those children.

So are you? I’m not asking if you come home every night, or if you even eat dinner with your family. These are great, but just being physically present is not enough. Are you spending time interacting with your children? What does this interaction look like? It could be spending 15 minutes doing math or grammar with the kids or reading a book to them. The practical outworking of this is different for everyone but what is common is that time is being spent connecting with your children, discussing with them the things that they are learning, asking them questions and teaching them the truth of God. The hours spent between the time you get home and the time your children go to bed are the most important hours of the homeschool day. How are they being spent?