The Lighted Path:
LDS Church Programs Light the Way for Raising Well-Educated, Homeschooled Disciples

Joyce Kinmont, April 2009

Homeschoolers have a target. It was established in 1969 when BYU Professor Neil Flinders set up a "long distance" phone conference for his graduate students in Provo, Utah with Alvin R. Dyer of the First Presidency in Salt Lake City. The students had prepared a list of questions about the future of education. In answer to one of the questions, President Dyer responded, "I think that by the end of the millennium, for those who will occupy the celestial kingdom, the home will be the only medium of teaching children. Teaching will be through the family." [As anciently] ". . . it will be the father and the father's father who will be doing the teaching." He explained that the temple complex for the New Jerusalem and other cities includes 24 temples, three of which would be broadcasting centers and that there would be help for the fathers (presumably through the broadcast centers).¹

In the 1970's and 80's, as the idea of homeschooling was being restored to American families, this short interview was the only vision we had. The road between "here" and "there" was unmarked; and it remained unmarked until very recently. Now the church is moving us forward in education at breathtaking speed.

I noticed this forward movement in 1997 with the development of the new curriculum plan and the course material from the teachings of the latter-day prophets. Elder Oaks and Elder Holland could "name the day it came together."² The new learning model was based on student preparation and class discussions about applying the principles taught. Teachers were to be facilitators rather than lecturers, a difficult transition. Most teachers now use that lesson book itself, and many students come prepared to discuss the materials. Further, I have noticed that scriptures are posted on the BYU-Idaho website for students to read in preparation for devotionals, and in my own stake we were asked to read some of Elder Scott's talks in preparation for his presiding over our recent stake conference.

Significant lightings of the path came with the Worldwide Trainings and the callings of Roger Merrill (a vice president for Stephen Covey's organization) to the Sunday School Presidency in 2004, and five years later, his release and the calling of BYU professor Russell Osguthorpe. Brother Osguthorpe spoke at our LDS-HEA conference in 1996. His talk was "The Education of the Heart," which "begins with a question, involves a search, and ends in fruits that bring joy."³

The greatest "lights" along our path have been our church leaders - most recently President Eyring, Elder Scott, Elder Bednar, Elder Bateman, Sister Beck, and others - who have taught us to teach and learn by the spirit. A very significant "lighting" came in 2004 when then-President but soon-to-be-called apostle Bednar spoke of BYU-Idaho as a "Disciple Preparation Center."⁴ It seemed obvious then that our job as homeschoolers -- and our opportunity -- was to prepare our students in that same learning model. Of course he didn't tell us what that learning model was! I even jumped up and down in front of my screen, my hand raise and waving, trying to ask, "How do you want us to prepare our homeschooled students for your Disciple Preparation Center?" No answer. Then after several years someone connected with the school gave an unofficial response: "Just follow the gentle ways of teaching your children that you already know."⁵ In other words, we are to be Tender Tutors, Servant Leaders, A Walk Beside (rather than a wagging finger). We want our children to do hard things, but we want them to be inspired more than required and internally rather than externally motivated.

BYU-Idaho has become the leading edge of teaching in the Church; we can see plenty of information about the new Learning Model on the website.⁶ While in some aspects this model seems the same as the new trends in the education nationally, the Spirit makes the difference. (Satan is a skilled counterfeiter.) The teachers and the curriculum writers are working hard to rise to new levels. We can help too by sending well-prepared home-schooled students from our home Disciple Preparation Centers -- youth who already know the dress code and the Constitution.

Eventually BYU-I will also come to us. Spiritually based on-line college classes are being developed, and a small pilot program in distance learning is being conducted. My hope would be to see our youth do much of their early college work at home, with discussion groups, mentoring, and social activities being conducted by the Institutes and/or the Stakes.

As for the gentle ways, homeschooling begins at birth as we lay a foundation. In those first eight years our children are, and are to be, protected like tender plants. The lessons the child needs are about love, security, and faith through the tender care his parents give him. As he deals with the challenges of language and mobility he learns about doing hard things and not giving up. Then come lessons in character and social dynamics. Through "Family Work,"⁷ he becomes a capable, confident, contributing family member. The children study their world by questioning, exploring, playing and creating; any "academic" study in these years should be unstructured, unpressured, and delightful.⁸ This protected time is for building roots, and it is best done at home, by the family.

At age eight, the Church program, Faith in God is the inspired vehicle the Lord has given parents to help their children learn to set and keep goals and covenants. It gives a focal point connecting the family to the Lord and adds a little structure. Like the Word of Wisdom, this program is adapted to the capacity of the least-able family, but homeschooling families can always do more.

Reed Benson, who taught at many of our LDS-HEA Conferences, suggested that the Scouting program is a wonderful homeschool curriculum.⁹ It covers a broad range of topics, includes a little reading and writing and lots of hands-on activity, and has a tracking system. I especially note that homeschooling children have time to earn their badges with integrity.

Girls, besides their personal interests, should develop Home-Making skills -- a new baby in the home being the best of curricula. Achievement Days are helpful, but the main responsibility still belongs to mom. Children this age should still be read to a great deal from the best books and should learn to use the English language in reading and writing. Learning is still done in gentle but purposeful ways. Parents, especially moms, will know best what those ways are and how much time the "precious plant" should spend outside of the hothouse.

At age twelve, the family can move seamlessly into the Personal Progress program for Young Women and the Duty to God for Aaronic Priesthood. In the Junior High years, especially, the Scouting program can be used to give boys many hands-on learning opportunities. We haven't begun to tap the potential here.

Sister Julie Beck teaches that Relief Society is for all women, and that those who don't have children should help those who do. Similarly, the Priesthood should see themselves as a brotherhood, all of them working together to help raise all of the boys, giving them as much exposure to various skills as their own talents permit. (We are not suggesting Hillary's state village; it's His stake village.) If a boy is fortunate enough to be homeschooled through high school, he may well have time to participate thoroughly in the merit badge program and a substantial Eagle Project¹⁰ with time also for high school and collage classes.

A good foundation in matters of the heart and spirit should help students be ready for serious academic work in their teens, if not before. There are many options for high school and early college work, and it's important for parents to know that a traditional high school diploma is not necessary for college enrollment. What colleges love about homeschoolers is their self-direction, maturity, and love of learning.

From Church sources, this is a less-well lighted part of the path right now, but it won't always be so. Remember the three broadcast temples? We already have the first: the state-of-the-art Priesthood broadcast center in the Salt Lake City Conference Center. Could the second broadcast temple be for education?¹¹ BYU-Provo now produces a number of informational programs. Little has yet been aimed at our middle school and jr. high children, our most vulnerable age, but soon, I hope, these youth will be able to learn about science and math and music and cultures from faithful Saints of brilliance in their fields and in their faith both through church sources and through the private efforts of church members. Building the Kingdom of God is exciting work!

Statistically speaking, and as a matter of the heart, our inspired Church programs provide the safest, best-lit path to missions, temple marriage, and successful family life. For homeschoolers, the Church programs may also provide the best core structure from which to provide an individualized Saintly Education for our LDS children.

A lighted path, soon to become a blazing highway.

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FOOTNOTES
1. "Education: Moving Toward and Under the Law of Consecration," Brigham Young University Studies, Vol. X, Autumn 1969, No.1, pp. 4-16. This article can best be found by searching the web.
2. "Major Curriculum Changes in Priesthood and Relief Society," Don L. Searle, Ensign, December 1997
3. A BYU Devotional, "The Education of the Heart, by Russell T. Osguthorpe, Associate Dean in the College of Education, 21 March 1995, can be found on BYU Broadcasting.
4. See "Brigham Young University-Idaho: A Disciple Preparation Center," David A. Bednar, Aug 31, 2004 on BYU Broadcasting.
5. See the philosophies of Charlotte Mason, Maria Montessori, John Holt, Raymond and Dorothy Moore, Oliver DeMille, and others.
6. See http://www.byui.edu, "Learning Model" on the left sidebar.
7. Family Work will be the subject of a future issue of LDS-HEA Notes
8. See "Teach a Child to Read" on our website at http://ldshea.org. Math can be done with manipulatives, games, and colorful workbooks from the school supply store and the dollar store.
9. One short reference was made at the end of his remarks to our 1994 LDS-HEA Conference which you can listen to on our website. http://ldshea.org/cds/listen.htm
10. A Utah newspaper article told the story of a homeschooled young man who achieved every merit badge Scouting has, with his grandmother as his mentor.
11. Counting the buildings the church now owns and the construction going on in downtown Salt Lake, one might wonder if we are building the second millennial city first. A BYU-Provo campus is also housed in a church-owned building in downtown Salt Lake, with a broadcast center. KSL radio and TV had been housed in that building but moved into newer quarters, leaving their old equipment behind. And the third broadcast temple? Maybe it will give us accurate news and uplifting information about the Lord's hand at work throughout our world and the universe.