Last night we had our visiting Korean pastors, Jay Sanjoon and Joo-Yun Lee, from Global Mission Church here for dinner and a time of prayer. They shared their ministry with us and it was exciting.Their church has a vision of starting a homeschooling movement in Seoul. They explained that when families come to know the Lord, the public school system there contradicts the things of God. They feel that they are losing the next generation of believers because of this. They also explained that the normal Korean family is disjointed. The fathers work long hours, the kids have a long school day and then spend all their time with friends. Mothers work and have their own social circles. (Sounds familiar!) They see homeschooling as a way to reunite the family. They have an ultimate vision of raising up homeschool families to be missionaries, where the entire family, including the kids, is trained to go on the mission field. (South Korea is the largest missionary sending country per capita in the world.) They are accepted into many countries where Americans aren't welcome.
After dinner and prayer the two men went into our "classroom" and asked me question after question. They were blown away by our text books that our Christ centered. (They would never believe a vendor hall at a Homeschool Convention!) There is so much available to us, but nothing for Korean speaking homeschoolers. They took pictures of my planning book and our shelves and the projects hanging on the wall. They wanted to know everything.
Seeing their hunger for the things that we have so readily available was humbling. Their vision was inspiring and made me realize how we often squander the incredible resources we have.
Pray for homeschoolers in Korea as they get started on their vision to witness to the world, starting with the family.
6 comments:
I am convicted in my heart with the thought of what these men are saying. What a blessing for your family to be in contact with people who give so much on a regular basis.
Oh wow - that is so cool.
What a great opportunity for your whole family to get to spend that time with them.
I know that is one of the reasons you love the green house - you get to meet all these people and hear all these amazing stories!
We had the other side of the coin. Having a 12 yo South Korean boy stay with us and experience homeschooling. You are right about the children spending so little time with the family. Our exchange student was amazed at how much time my husband spent at home and that he actually played with the kids every night. We would ask him questions about his father and often Sujung would not know the answers.
I wonder how the home schooling movement will work there though because of all of the education laws they have. I pray that their culture will embrace it and that it will bring the families closer together.
J
is homeschooling legal there? many Asian countries it is not (China, Hong Kong for example). It has only been legal in Taiwan since 1999. There are no, that I know of, homeschooling materials in Chinese for Christian families. Most homeschoolers have to register with their school and use the textbooks the school has (basically take school home).
I am American, so it is somewhat easy for me to get material, in English mind you. In America, you are so lucky to have those things you need at many local stores, or at least shipping isn't too bad. We have to make do with what we have in order to save money.
Praying God blesses these men with the vision to start out at the base, the family.
Deana
You should tell them how easy it is to homeschool here in Texas, no restrictions at all. We are treated as a private school. The government doesnt even know my kiddos are alive. Texas and Oklahoma are the easiest to homeschool due to the lack of government involvement. We dont need anyones approval or testing. Our hope is all states someday will be this easy, since the public schools are getting so bad, at least in Texas.
You can have them contact us anytime, would be more than happy to share our experience.
Uncle/ brother Dana :-)
Hello I currently live in Daegu and I would love to connect with other homeschoolers here. Do you have any info on conferences that take place in South Korea? my email is white.justina@yahoo.com please send me a msg.
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