Teach Them Diligently Conference, Part 1

There is a terrible rainstorm outside, Juliet is asleep upstairs, and Philip and Braewyn are nextdoor playing with the neighbors. Ahhh, peace and quiet and a chance to post about the homeschool conference we attended three weekends ago. I'm going to just type the speaker's name and session title followed by the point made which stood out to me. Statements in quotations are direct quotes. Otherwise these are just the notes I took down. Here we go...

Voddie Baucham "Heaven or Harvard"
- "I do not believe God calls us to prepare our children for college. He calls us to prepare them for heaven."
- let this desire go -- no need to prove that our homeschooling was successful by our kids receiving a college degree
- colleges own us because we think kids are worthless without a degree
- Kid at age 18: "I want to get married!" Parent: "You can't afford that."
Kid at age 18: "I want to go to Harvard!" Parent: "We'll find a way to make it work."
- What should I be doing with my kids?
1. Analyze their gifts, talents, abilities (Proverbs 22:6)
2. Analyze desires, calling (1 Timothy 3:1)
3. Ask if college is necessary (Luke 14:27-30)
4. Seek the Lord (Matthew 6:33)
- What if college is for my kid? Do it as quickly, inexpensively and safely as possible. Look into College Plus (fully accredited, 1 - 1 1/2 year programs) or other online college alternatives.
- OR... give your high school student $10,000 at graduation, teach him to save $500 a month, and at age 51, he'll have $1 million in the bank.
- If you don't trust your child's responsiblity level to handle such a task, why in the world would we send him off ALONE to college instead?!?

This session really made me rethink the big plan for my children's education. I know college is where I met Matthew, but it's also the location where I can clearly recall instances when I was not walking according to God's will for my life and ONLY by His mercy and grace was I able to avoid life-changing harm.

Well, that's part 1. We're now under a tornado warning. Gotta go.