The Limits of Freedom
All this discussion about freedom to learn is all very well, but what about the instructions in Scripture about teaching our children? Surely we cannot just leave our children to their own devices?
When we began unschooling I found myself going through a bit of an identity crisis. It was a confusing time. I had loved being mom and teacher to my children. Now I felt redundant. What was my role in their lives? If I was not needed to ‘direct the traffic’, was I needed at all? Was a mother merely an incubator, chief cook and bottle washer? Why had God put parents in the lives of children? While my children revelled in their freedom, a season of uncomfortable soul-searching followed for me. Over a period of time, God graciously provided answers. I reread some of Charlotte Mason’s writings. Read my Bible. Talked long hours with my husband. And then someone gave us a copy of Ted Tripp’s ‘Shepherding a Child’s Heart’. Clarity began to come. Craig and I were vitally important in our children’s lives. Although our children were directing their learning, we were still the shepherds and custodians of their hearts. We were to instruct, correct, encourage and guide. The heart is the wellspring of life. All action begins in the heart. Behaviour is an indicator of the state of the heart. A wayward heart needs re-direction. Surprisingly perhaps, this became one of the attractions of unschooling. We didn’t want children that complied with rules on the outside while their hearts were wrong on the inside. We wanted free thinkers who chose what was right because it was right. I can control my children’s actions. But it seems a better thing to coach and support them in developing self-control.
For us, Christian unschooling is illustrated by a picture of a large green pasture surrounded by a strong and secure boundary fence. The children are lambs in a large, fertile pasture, shepherded by their perfect Shepherd Jesus. I am a shepherd in that pasture, accountable to the Great Shepherd. But I am also a sheep enjoying the pasture. The pasture is the place of freedom, and within the pasture are myriad delights, the joys of discovery, and a rich experience of the world, which, in spite of all the damage caused by sin and its consequences, is still an amazing and beautiful place.
The pasture is characterised by words like these:
When we began unschooling I found myself going through a bit of an identity crisis. It was a confusing time. I had loved being mom and teacher to my children. Now I felt redundant. What was my role in their lives? If I was not needed to ‘direct the traffic’, was I needed at all? Was a mother merely an incubator, chief cook and bottle washer? Why had God put parents in the lives of children? While my children revelled in their freedom, a season of uncomfortable soul-searching followed for me. Over a period of time, God graciously provided answers. I reread some of Charlotte Mason’s writings. Read my Bible. Talked long hours with my husband. And then someone gave us a copy of Ted Tripp’s ‘Shepherding a Child’s Heart’. Clarity began to come. Craig and I were vitally important in our children’s lives. Although our children were directing their learning, we were still the shepherds and custodians of their hearts. We were to instruct, correct, encourage and guide. The heart is the wellspring of life. All action begins in the heart. Behaviour is an indicator of the state of the heart. A wayward heart needs re-direction. Surprisingly perhaps, this became one of the attractions of unschooling. We didn’t want children that complied with rules on the outside while their hearts were wrong on the inside. We wanted free thinkers who chose what was right because it was right. I can control my children’s actions. But it seems a better thing to coach and support them in developing self-control.
For us, Christian unschooling is illustrated by a picture of a large green pasture surrounded by a strong and secure boundary fence. The children are lambs in a large, fertile pasture, shepherded by their perfect Shepherd Jesus. I am a shepherd in that pasture, accountable to the Great Shepherd. But I am also a sheep enjoying the pasture. The pasture is the place of freedom, and within the pasture are myriad delights, the joys of discovery, and a rich experience of the world, which, in spite of all the damage caused by sin and its consequences, is still an amazing and beautiful place.
The pasture is characterised by words like these:
The pasture is the place where a person is free to be, to revel in the joy of living this life in God’s beautiful world. The place of choice. The place of doing what I ‘want’. The pasture is the richness of God’s world and the life He has invested in us.Around the pasture is a strong and secure boundary fence. The BOUNDARY FENCE is where the pasture ends; the limits of the pasture. As St Paul said: “..all things are possible, but not everything is beneficial...” The fence is the principle and instruction of God’s Word. The place for each of us of obedience and submission to authority. The place of doing what I ought.
All freedom is limited, and as Christians, we clearly understand that every human is under authority. Even a king or queen...
In her Christmas Day television broadcast in 2000, the Queen made a statement that clearly describes this aspect. She said: “The teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to live my life.”
The well being of the sheep and the lambs is secured and defined by the boundary fence. So the fence needs to be in a good state of repair. This illustration was to be emphasized some years ago while, on a trip to Yorkshire, I rounded a corner and narrowly missed a collision with a group of five mischievous lambs who had escaped through a hole in their pasture fence, and who were merrily playing in the road!
It is in the nature of humanity to test the boundaries, and our children will do so too—to a greater or lesser extent. The boundary fence, far from being a restriction, is actually the guarantee of the freedom and safety of the sheep.
Psalm 16:5-6 Lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
So Christian Unschooling is like a balance scale – on the one side there is the freedom of the pasture, with all its delights and opportunities; and on the other side is the acceptance of and submission to the boundary – which is the practise of Christian life defined by the Bible.
Thus we have children learning, learning and growing. On the one hand life is freedom, choice, autonomy, learner-directed, and interest-driven. But on the other hand, life is defined by a sense of purpose, destiny, under God, under authority. There is obedience, and issues of the heart are confronted, directed and challenged.
All freedom is limited, and as Christians, we clearly understand that every human is under authority. Even a king or queen...
In her Christmas Day television broadcast in 2000, the Queen made a statement that clearly describes this aspect. She said: “The teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to live my life.”
The well being of the sheep and the lambs is secured and defined by the boundary fence. So the fence needs to be in a good state of repair. This illustration was to be emphasized some years ago while, on a trip to Yorkshire, I rounded a corner and narrowly missed a collision with a group of five mischievous lambs who had escaped through a hole in their pasture fence, and who were merrily playing in the road!
It is in the nature of humanity to test the boundaries, and our children will do so too—to a greater or lesser extent. The boundary fence, far from being a restriction, is actually the guarantee of the freedom and safety of the sheep.
Psalm 16:5-6 Lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
So Christian Unschooling is like a balance scale – on the one side there is the freedom of the pasture, with all its delights and opportunities; and on the other side is the acceptance of and submission to the boundary – which is the practise of Christian life defined by the Bible.
Thus we have children learning, learning and growing. On the one hand life is freedom, choice, autonomy, learner-directed, and interest-driven. But on the other hand, life is defined by a sense of purpose, destiny, under God, under authority. There is obedience, and issues of the heart are confronted, directed and challenged.
