THE CURRENT STATE OF HOME SCHOOL CURRICULA

The home school movement has offered reformed Christians some unique opportunities to restore an education consistent with the historic reformed faith as it is well summarized in the Westminster Standards. So long as parents were sending their children to humanistic public schools or thoroughly compromised Christian schools there was very little opportunity in this regards. We can be thankful God has given us this opportunity in home schooling.

We should be realistic about the enormity of the task, however. To put it bluntly, there are no curricula currently available that are thoroughly consistent with the doctrines of the Westminster Standards, and most importantly scripture. In fact, most curricula available are far more consistent with Romish ideology than with historic reformed ideology.

Consider, for example, the case of Robinson Curriculum. Here is a sample list of readers used in its curriculum that it calls “The Best Books by the Best Authors”:

“The Life of George Washington by Josephine Pollard. "The main purpose of the work [is] to give to its young readers a distinct and vivid idea of the exalted character and priceless services of Washington." Other books by Pollard: Our Hero General Grant, Christopher Columbus and the Discovery of the New World, The Bible for Young People

Original Children's Classics: Bobbsey Twins (11 volumes); Tom Swift adventures (8 volumes); 26 Horatio Alger volumes; Five Little Peppers and How They Grew; Heidi; Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms; The Boy Knight: A Tale of the Crusades by G.A. Henty

History: Life of George Washington by Washington Irving; War Between the States by Alexander Stephens; The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government by Jefferson Davis; The Life of Stonewall Jackson by R.L. Dabney; Picturesque America: A Delineation by Pen and Pencil, 2 volumes edited by William Cullen Bryant

Economics: The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith; Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt

Geography: The Heart of the Antartic; My African Journey by Winston Churchill

Autobiographies, firsthand accounts: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant; Diaries of George Washington; The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; David Crockett's Autobiography; The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt; Memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman; Lincoln's Speeches and Letters; The Soldier in Our Civil War, a unique collectors two-volume account by those who fought, including some 1,000 illustrations by artists who were present at the events.”

The philosophy behind this list of what it calls “The Best Books by the Best Authors” is quite contrary to the reformed faith. Most of the men portrayed as heroes are in fact wicked heretics opposed to the reformed Christian faith. Many of them – like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Winston Churchill, and Davy Crockett – were freemasons. There is documented evidence that Jefferson Davis was a Romish sympathizer. In fact, he received a gift of a crown of thorns from the Pope while in prison. This list includes a book which eulogizes the wicked Romish Crusades (The Boy Knight: A Tale of the Crusades by G.A. Henty). It leans upon Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, even though Smith’s book is implicitly a denial of the total depravity of man and the necessity of scripture for fallen mankind.

The Robinson Curriculum utilizes for its history curriculum the G.A. Henty Collection, as described below:

Hardback and Softback Editions

Robinson Books Publishing

The complete Henty Collection of 99 books is now available in hardback and softback editions.  Also available are two new compilations of short stories by G. A. Henty.

These books by G. A, Henty are remarkable.  They were very popular in British and American schools 100 years ago.  Each book chronicles the fictional adventures of a young teenaged hero set against the backdrop of a great historical event or interesting time.  Ususally the hero interacts personally with the famous figures involved in the event.  Also, the lives, customs, and geographies of the regions in which the action takes place are described with careful attention to authenticity.

The result is that the reader is greatly entertained by a fast-moving adventure story and more easily remembers the history associated with it.  Also, since the schools 100 years ago actively taught the students the basics of good character including honesty, hard work, diligence, humility, and other attributes, the story teaches these virtues to the reader by means of the example hero.

These are wonderful gifts for young people.  Taken as a whole, the 99-volume set is a wonderful history course.  Also, the excellent vocabulary, syntax, and general erudition of Henty's writing serves as an excellent example for the student who is learning to read and write.

If you decide to purchase them, we suggest that you consider Set 1 or Set 2.  Set 1 has been selected as an especially good sampler of G.A. Henty's work.  Set 2 has been selected has been selected to contain only books that are not otherwise in print, which makes an ideal gift for someone already reading the currently available titles. Also, each of these two sets comes with a free book of short stories by Henty.  The per set savings over the individual books are, therefore, $35 for the soft cover and $37 for the hard cover.”

This Robinson approach to the study of history is Biblically unwarranted. Scripture provides a model of how history books are to be written, and it in no wise teaches history by means of historical fiction like employed in the Henty Collection. The Henty Collection sacrifices truth for the sake of entertainment. In its own words “the reader is greatly entertained by a fast-moving adventure story and more easily remembers the history associated with it”. But true Biblical scholarship should rather discipline students to seek truth always, even when the effort is uncomfortable to the flesh.

Furthermore, the philosophical foundation of the Henty Collection is more rooted in Romanism than reformed Protestantism. Its heroes, like the Crusader knight noted earlier, are not godly examples as defined by scripture. Goodness is defined in Romish terms, not reformed terms.

In summary, the Robinson Curriculum –like most other curricula available today – should be rejected by reformed Christians.

As the developer of Puritans’ Home School Curriculum (http://www.puritans.net/curriculum/ ), which aims to be consistent with the reformed Biblical faith as summarized in the Westminster Standards, I have to admit that it has yet to sufficiently achieve it. For one, Puritans’ Home School Curriculum has not yet developed a complete history curriculum. Manuals for many grade levels are still in process. Second, for much of its Language Arts program the curriculum is still relying on resources currently available from other sources. The problem is that many of these resources are not consistent with the reformed faith. The readings are typically either humanistic, Arminian, etc. While it is my goal to change this situation, it is a long term project which will not be achieved tomorrow. I would recommend that reformed Christians use Puritans’ Home School Curriculum where they can, and supplement it with other resources where appropriate.