“If we have any insight at all, we will quickly identify the fact that Christians begin from a very different starting point when thinking about education.  It is not merely a question of what we want to teach, who teaches it, or what exactly is right or wrong.  It is deeper.  We speak of who the human being is.  We do not have to achieve anything to earn self-worth; we know that the person is a creature of this planet into whom God breathed the spirit of personality.  Yes, we are created having that within ourselves which is so unique that God could say,” ‘Let us make man in our own image; male and female created He them.” “

~ For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, ch. 2

“Get to know a child.  It may be your own or somebody else’s.  Don’t think of it as either a menial or a professional task.  Do it for its own sake.  I can assure you, the child will bring more to you than you can bring to him or to her.  A child can be the very best friends in all the world.  They are so responsive.  Their minds are challenging and wonderfully surprising.

Get a few really good books, and read them together aloud.  Set aside a good regular chunk of time.  This will be one of the most rewarding and stimulating relationships in your life.  Guess what?  If you have the courage to be honest, that youngster’s comments and questions are really going to make you think, think hard.  You can throw away all the manuals.  That child has an awful lot to teach you.  Your mind is probably in a worse state than his. After reading together, go to a really nice place outside for a couple of hours at least.  Don’t rush.  Turn a rock over and watch the beetles run away.  Throw rocks in the stream and slide down a hill.

Talk together.

Relax.

It isn’t all as hard as the experts make out.  We are human beings, persons, created to live.  To have life more abundantly.  Wonder together; grow together.  Together share the struggles of knowing that we cannot perfectly follow God’s law.  We are fellow-pilgrims.  We walk side by side as human beings under the love and authority of Him who made us.”

~For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, ch. 2