Chapter 1—Importance of the Home School
Education Begins at Home—It is in the home that the education
of the child is to begin. Here is his first school. Here, with his parents
as instructors, he is to learn the lessons that are to guide him through-
out life—lessons of respect, obedience, reverence, self-control. The
educational influences of the home are a decided power for good or
for evil. They are in many respects silent and gradual, but if exerted
on the right side, they become a far-reaching power for truth and righ-
teousness. If the child is not instructed aright here, Satan will educate
him through agencies of his choosing. How important, then, is the
school in the home
Here the Foundations Are Laid—Upon all parents there rests
the obligation of giving physical, mental, and spiritual instruction.
It should be the object of every parent to secure to his child a well-
balanced, symmetrical character. This is a work of no small magnitude
and importance—a work requiring earnest thought and prayer no less
than patient, persevering effort. A right foundation must be laid, a
framework, strong and firm, erected; and then day by day the work of
building, polishing, perfecting, must go forward
Deny the Child Anything but This Right—Parents, remember
that your home is a training school, in which your children are to be
prepared for the home above. Deny them anything rather than the
education that they should receive in their earliest years. Allow no
word of pettishness. Teach your children to be kind and patient. Teach
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them to be thoughtful of others. Thus you are preparing them for
higher ministry in religious things
The home should be a preparatory school, where children and
youth may be fitted to do service for the Master, preparatory to joining
the higher school in the kingdom of God
1
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 107
.
2
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 107, 108
.
3
Manuscript 102, 1903
.
4
Manuscript 7, 1899
.
10