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Wales has an amazing heritage of non-conformity. That is religious non-conformity, of course, but it does not stop there. When people resist government attempts to restrict the spread of ideas or control the way people think in one area it always spills over into others and education is the obvious one. In 1846 for instance the things that horrified the commissioners appointed to look into the state of education in Wales were the social standing of Sunday school teachers and the theological content of what was being taught by them. Never mind that vast numbers of Welsh people were suddenly becoming literate; what concerned them was that, no matter what his social standing outside the Sunday school, a man would be allowed to teach there if he was considered able by the Sunday school members. The commissioners also objected to the abstruse (in the commissioners' opinion) theological and biblical points which Sunday school classes discussed. The government commissioners recognised that they had no control over the ideas and philosophy being taught in these schools and they did not like it.
Sadly things here in Wales have not changed much. The only difference is that in the Victorian Era the Commissioners were English and the education they objected to, being carried on largely in Welsh, was to their utter frustration therefore, impossible for them to control. No wonder their report emphasised the need for education in Wales to be carried out in the English language! Today the Welsh nation has control through the Welsh Assembly of its own educational agenda. Those who fought for and won dignity and recognition for Welsh language, culture and ideals would have been horrified to find that all that has happened in education is that the mantle of those 1846 commissioners has been taken up by the Welsh Assembly Government. Like the commissioners, the Welsh Assembly Government has firm opinions about what should be taught to the rising generation. Like them it finds, frustratingly, that there is a group of educators, whose personnel and curriculum it cannot control. Who am I talking about? Well, parents like me who quite simply carry out their duty to provide education for their children by doing it themselves. For years this has been going on – rank nonconformity if you like – right under the government's nose and they can't do anything about it because, as they are forever whining, they don't even know who these children are. Why should it be the government's business what philosophy, what moral principles, what ways of thinking we teach our children for goodness sake? I think this is a good situation: governments don't have much of a record in this area when you look at history and I see no evidence of anything having changed. Not surprisingly the modern incarnations of the 1846 commissioners are not comfortable. They propose a register of all children “not in school.” They will gather the information from medical records (think about that for a moment: it has staggering implications) and their avowed aim is to see all children safely in their clutches in school. They will use this to inspect, monitor and eventually coerce. Maybe gently at first but in the end, if our ideals, principles and philosophy don't line up with theirs, it will be a school attendance order. What is the point of home education if we have to deliver the same stuff as schools? We home educate because we want to teach different things differently – just like those old Welsh Sunday schools. And don't think all this does not affect you if you educate your children by sending them to school. No, this is everyone's issue. At the moment we all have freedom to educate at home without interference if we want to. If we send our children to school and then become dissatisfied with what goes on in school, we can remove our children and teach them ourselves. This freedom has an effect on schools. It ensures that the “commissioners'” agenda in the classroom is at least moderated to the extent that it does not trigger a large exodus from schools to home education. Once the “commissioners” are setting the agenda at home as well as in school, the escape route is gone. Whatever they do in school there will be no escape – so they can do what they like with no fear of an exodus. And if you are not in Wales? You can't breathe easily just because you are over the border either. The great and the good in all political parties are watching Wales from Westminster, and it won't be long before it's your turn. Perhaps you think I am exaggerating. Maybe it is not such a big issue and the Welsh Assembly Government have a point. I have to tell you that, in a chilling echo of 1846, they have Sunday school teachers (yes, Sunday school teachers!) in their sights now too. All paid youth workers in churches are going to have to register with the Education Workforce Council under new proposals and there are plans for volunteer workers to be covered in subsequent legislation.1 This is not about safeguarding; it is about conformity and we are in Rights of Man2 territory here, slap bang in the middle of what was at issue in 1846. If your children do not go to Sunday School, that's not the point. A government that systematically tries to control what is taught even in Sunday schools is not going to respect any of your cherished beliefs either if they don't line up with theirs. Is anybody standing up to all this? Non-conformists of any type are hard to herd. Home educating parents are (funnily enough) extremely busy just educating. However, there is a group of families in Wales advocating for parental primacy in education and freedom for families to make choices about the best interests of their children. Families First in Education Wales is following what is being said by ministers and other politicians in the Welsh Assembly about their intentions to change legislation in regard to elective home education and is standing up – for you. If you live in Wales, whether you educate your children at home or not – indeed whether you have any children or not – I would urge you to go to their website and get behind them. This issue affects us all. On a personal level I would disagree profoundly with Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus. But when he writes “He, who allows oppression, shares the crime,”3 I'm one hundred percent behind him. 1Source: Christian Institute Briefing May 2022 2 Thomas Paine The Rights of Man (1791) 3Erasmus Darwin, The Botanic Garden II (1791) This post really ought to have a black border. I hope the terrible events taking place elsewhere in the world will not leave us without a mental space to consider what is happening here in Britain today. The Welsh Assembly Government has made it a criminal offence from today to punish a child with a smack. It has been pointed out that the Welsh Assembly government's leaflet “Ending Physical Punishment in Wales” (distributed to every household in Wales) is correct when it describes today as “a historic moment” in Wales: it is arguably the first time something Christians are expressly commanded by God to do in His Word has been deemed illegal in Wales. (See Proverbs 13:24 for example.)
What will happen now? Probably little or nothing at first. Then there will be the test case. Here in Wales we will be looking to the one who is “...our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”. Brethren, pray for us. If you are a regular user of the day by day lessons on this website you may have noticed that many of them are adapted from The Story of God's Dealings with our Nation. This is a two volume history of England and Wales designed to grow with your child. Originally written for use with my own children it begins with material suitable for children as young as six and ending with material for those approaching their teens. You just use the various chapters as your children “grow into them”. With a little parental help, of course, any chapter can be used with younger or older children. The second volume was recently revised and updated, correcting a few typos and bringing the story up to Brexit. The recent revision of the first volume has been very exciting. For years I have wanted to incorporate the late Bill Cooper's ground breaking research in his book After the Flood into the book but I could never work out how it fitted in with the rest of early British history. Thanks to some help from Joseph Hubbard of Creation Research UK I now have the answer. As a result I think I can safely say that the new edition is unique among children's history books. You can get your own copy from the Creation Research website.
Just a quick reminder about how best to use the lessons. The main focus is to give something thought provoking and healthy for children to read. Where we can we've provided things at more than one reading level. If you want your children to enjoy the content but they are not up to the required reading level, please read the lesson to them, explaining and simplifying as you go along. The various bits of craft, exercises, singing etc. are all there to provide extras for you if it fits in with what you are doing. We don't encourage children reading the content from screens or devices. If they are reading for themselves please print out the lesson if you possibly can
If you enjoy reading junior and “young adult” historical (and other kinds of) fiction you might like to hop over to my new author site and see what's on offer. I'm hoping to deal with all sorts of issues relating to fiction writing as well as reviewing books by other authors on the blog. The most recent post is about a lovely author that many people don't know about and reviews her exciting book set in the days of the Lollards so please take a look.
If you have been using our lesson notes, or if you are just browing, you will find that they are based on events that happened on the day the notes were written for. That is - they are based on historical happenings in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Many parents find it easier (though not EASY!!) to teach their children maths and English, and many children will enjoy learning science, but fewer enjoy history and even fewer parents find it easy to teach. Why is this? I suggest that maybe our own history education was dull and uninspiring and quite possibly, we did not realise the significance of it. I hope that as you have used our lesson notes, (or will find if you start to use them), that history is far from dull! We hope also that you will see how easily hsitory can act as a springboard into learning into other subjects. We tend to split education into subject compartments, but in reality, life is not that simple and there is much overlap between them. That makes history an ideal vehicle for education at any time, but especially during this period of emergency home-schooling. But let's stop there for a minute and think why a good education in history is important. Here are some ideas: ...our history is not only part of our culture, it is the road map to our identity. More, it tells us who we are. Ignorance of our national history – national amnesia – exposes us to those who wish to change this country forever. Furthermore, ignorance of the past means we are condemned to repeat it. As Christians we go further: History is the story of God's providence and of his church! We need to ask: How did the events of the day work out to the spiritual good of God's people? What were the ideas that drove people to act in the way they did and how did those ideas either depart from, or draw on God's Word? These are the things that interest us. As Christians we should not just want our children to learn a list of facts and figures, but to understand how God has worked and is still working. We do need to understand the past, so that we can interpret NOW according to God's Word and to examine our place here and now in time. The Bible is HIS story. As Christians we want our history to be as accurate as possible. Our main history textbook should be our Bible. Regular family Bible times are great opportunities for first reading and then helping your children to apply what as been learned to the current and past situations. Help your children to see the study of God's Word as serious, urgent and relevant. The best way to do this is to have this attitude yourself. Let them see you, their parents, reading your Bible. Let them hear you talking about it together. Yes, the day to day application of Scripture is vital too, but they also need to know how all the books of the Bible fit together, Genesis to Revelation and all the bits in between. They need to see the relevance of it to TODAY. As they grow older, be prepared for stimulating, challenging conversations, through which you will all, as a family, grow and learn! Sadly, main-stream education has reduced history into 'entertainment', making it seem almost humorous and irrelevant, especially in KS1 and KS2. In KS3 it has become subjective - and children are invited to read into it what they may. It is a subject that for too long has been taught from a secular angle, with no mention of God. Back to our lesson notes... You will find that they help the whole family learn togther. The main story may need telling more simply for the younger ones (we help where we can) and older ones can always find a more detailed book on the topic, if their curiosity has been aroused, but all can learn from the simple messages that come from the lessons. Throughout the lessons Chris (the lesson note's writer) is constantly getting the youngsters (and we parents!) to evaluate the actions of rulers or nations against the standard of God's Word. As we study, our quest should be to find out: “Where were the Christians?” What were they doing? We hope that you enjoy learning together and that history is coming alive for you and your family! If you would like more help in how to teach UK history from a Christian perspective, please see here. If you are enjoying these lessons and would like to read more of Chris's history lessons, then you might be interested in her books. For children aged seven upwards, Chris has written The Story of God's Dealings with Our Nation, sold by Icthus Resources: Volume 1 and Volume 2. These books are intended to grow with your child and provide questions to assess both understanding and encourage further research. Both of these books are also included in the Mothers' Companion curriculum, along with a treasure trove of other delights. And then there is Chris's new series of story books WULFGAR THE SAXON, for ages 8 plus, the first three of which have been published and others are in the pipe line (available here):
Joanne and I have around fifty years experience of educating our own children at home between us (and Jo is a “proper” trained teacher as well!) and during the Covid-19 period of emergency home-schooling we started to compile daily lessons for all ages. These were well received and we thought that we would make them more permanently available and gradually add to them, with the aim of eventually have a lesson for every day of the year (D.V.).
For this academic year (2020/2021) we will aim to provide one lesson every Monday starting on the 7th September. The original emergency home-schooling lessons can be found in the months March to July. Here are History, Science and Geography with ideas for making things, games to play and much more. Each lesson will no doubt furnish you with enough material for more than one day. Choose the activities that are appropriate to your child's age and level of understanding. Do not be afraid to do this - there is no right or wrong. However, you will soon find out if you have chosen something too difficult, as your child will find it hard to engage in the lesson. It is our prayer that these resources may be a blessing to your family and that as you study together you will not only learn knowledge, but be drawn closer to the fount of all knowledge and wisdom, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. |
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