Do you ever wonder if your child is missing out by not being in a school room with children his own age?

Let’s keep the history of the world in mind when we think about this question. Since Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel, children have been spending their days with people of different ages. Since the beginning, that is how God has made families: one husband, one wife, and often children—who usually come into the world one at a time. I guess it must be okay to spend our days in a family with folks who are 43, 39, 19, 12, 3, 6 months, and maybe even 92 —because that is how God made families.

When we were homeschooling and making out our schedules, we included time with elderly people and little people and people of all ages in between. We taught our kids math and science and history and language arts and all that, but when we look back we know that those relationship times with people of all ages were an important part of our children’s education, too.

One of the saddest occurrences in the Old Testament happened when King Rehoboam listened more to the people his own age than to the wise older men. 1 Kings 12:8 says:

But he forsook the counsel of the elders
which they had given him,
and consulted with the young men
who grew up with him and served him.

The result was that his kingdom divided in two. On second thought, maybe your child is missing out on some things by not being in a classroom full of kids his own age! Aren’t you glad?