A Bundle of Myrrh

Lord Jesus Christ, the children’s friend,
To each of them Your presence send;
Call them by name and keep them true
In loving faith, dear Lord, to You.

I explained in another post that Phil and I don’t plan on homeschooling our kids, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be leaving all of their education in the hands of their public school teachers. We feel that we have much to teach them at home and in many ways can do more than their school teachers are able to do. I thought this post from Simple Mom had a lot of good things to say about educating your publicly schooled children at home.

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This is a church newsletter article I recently wrote – phil.

“America loves dogs.” I heard this said recently and it struck me. It’s true. Dogs are protected by law from abuse and killing and are highly valued. And there is nothing wrong with that. Dogs can make wonderful pets. What is odd is that America loves pets, but does not love children as much.

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“To annoy the devil, I say, we should always have this holy name of the Lord in our mouth, so that the devil may not be able to injure us as he wishes. For this purpose it also helps that we form the habit of daily commending ourselves to God, with soul and body, wife, children, servants and all the we have, against every need that may occur. That is why we have blessing and thanksgiving at meals, and other prayers for morning and evening have originated and remain in use.

A simple help appears in the children’s practice of crossing themselves when anything monstrous or terrible is seen or heard, and they exclaim “Lord God, protect us!” “Help, dear Lord Jesus!” etc. Also, if anyone meets with unexpected good fortune, however trivial, he may say “God be praised and thanked; God has bestowed this on me!” etc.

See, in this way, we might train our youth in a childlike way and playfully in the fear and honor of God. Then the First and Second Commandments might be well kept and in constant practice. Then some good might take root, spring up and bear fruit, and people may grow up whom the whole nation may desire and enjoy. In addition, this would be the true way to bring up children well as longs as they can become trained with kindness and delight.” (Martin Luther, Large Catechism I, 72-76)