AHSIC January Conference
AHSIC
Assciation of Home Schoolers In Christ
The 24th AHSIC Conference (bilingual: English/Japanese)
The conference is in bilingual format.
Date: Jan. 8, 2007
Time: 10:00 am - 4:30 pm
Place: National Olympics Memorial Youth Center
http://nyc.niye.go.jp/e/
International Conference Room in the International Exchange Building
Tranportation guide:
http://nyc.niye.go.jp/e/02informations/cont05.html
Keynote Seminar:
“The Tower of Babel and the World Today”
by Dr. Minoru USAMI
“The Biblical Family”
by Pastor Tim Huggins
Section meetings:
“Christian Homeschooling”
by Pator Haruto Yoshii
“Education, Job Training”
by Dr. Shu Suzuki
Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Minoru USAMI
Executive Director of Ceation Research in Japan
Dr . Usami graduated from UCLA Berkeley. He is the General Director of Creation Research Japan, and serves as the pastor of Mito First Bible Baptist Church. He is homeschooling two boys and is the leader of Cheer Ibaraki, a homeschooling support group.
Pastor Tim Huggins
Pastor of Grace Bible Chapel
http://www.gracebiblechapeljapan.org/GBCen.htm
Pastor Tim Huggins was born in Medford OR in 1951. His father came to Japan in 1954 as a missionary, and planted churches and took care of orphans.
Tim is the Pastor of Grace Bible Chapel, which is in a suburban area of Nagasaki City, Kyushu. He lives with his wife Machiko and his son and daughter, both of whom are homeschooled.
Admission fee:
Adult (over 16 years old) – 1000 yen
Junior high student – 800 yen
Children 3 - 11 years old – 500 yen
If you register prior to the conference, you will receive a 90 yen discount on lunch tickets.
The program contains:
Lectures by Keynote speakers and others
Prayer time
Introduction of homeschooling families
The latest information of home education
Fellowship
This conference is for:
- Present homeschooling families
- Families thinking about homeschooling their children
- People concerned about Christian education who want to meet Japanese homeschoolers
To sign up or learn more, e-mail
Paideia Network Newsletter Oct. 14, 2006
Friends,
We are happy to announce that we have started Paideia Network for Christian homeschoolers. We have a vision for raising future generations for the Kingdom of God. Our main concern is the homeschoolers who are using English as their academic language though many of them are not native English speakers.
We have a cooperative relationship with AHSIC (Association of HomeSchoolers' In Christ/ www.ahsic.com) which is a nation-wide network of Japanese homeschoolers.
We have our website.
http://paideianetwork.org/
We stand on the five principles shown on our website;
http://paideianetwork.org/paideia%20network/five-principles-paideia/
We believe that the Lord has entrusted to us the special task of contributing to His Kingdom, as shown below;
1) Establishing a strong relationship between Japanese-speaking homeschoolers and English-speaking homeschoolers
Establishing a strong relationship between English-speaking homeschooling families and Japanese homeschooling families is an urgent task with respect to effective evangelism in Japan. We would like to serve for this objective also.
We see great opportunities for evangelism in Japan through homeschooling.
2) Helping Japanese homeschooling families to equip their children with English skills, so that they can afford good methods for Christian education and be connected to the Christian community worldwide.
Japanese homeschoolers are in a standstill mainly because they lack the methodology, due to the serious shortage of materials such as Christian textbooks written in Japanese, curriculums, and other good Christian resources. Because of the language barrier they are isolated and cannot receive help from the outside. Many of them give up on homeschooling because of this.
This is the reason we have been homeschooling our children in English although the English language is not the mother tongue for my wife or me.
CONCLUSION
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground(Genesis 4:10)
The stones would immediately cry out.(Luke 19:40)
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.(Matthew 18:5,6)
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
(Acts 17:24-28)
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.(Galatians 6:2)
In public schools, morals are degenerating. We see atrocities such as bullying and child abuse by teachers in the Japanese educational system. Many children who attend public school commit suicide and are lost for eternity. Japanese children need the Gospel.
Christian children suffer in the public schools. Public education plays a significant role in "de-christianizing" children from Christian families.
Our Lord raises homeschoolers even in Japan, one of the most unlikely places for the emergence of the homeschooling movement. Without knowing where to go, these Japanese homeschoolers seek refuge from the public school system, which is a totalitarian "human processing machine." Japanese homeschoolers are in a spiritual refugee camp. We need help from outside. Of course, God is providing us with all we need. However, at the same time He has appointed means through which we can receive His grace; such as encouragement from non-Japanese speaking Christians.
We do not have any generational assets like many American homeschoolers.
But the Japanese homeschoolers have great potential. So far the history of Christian churches in Japan is the history of setbacks as I have written in my essay "Why Japan(http://paideianetwork.org/evangelism/whyjapan/)."
The homeschooling movement is the last opportunity for evangelism in Japan. It is a call from God. If we fail to respond faithfully, we place ourselves in the situation of the unprofitable servant who grudged to use his talent (Matthew 25:14-30).
May our Lord encourage us so that we can work together for His Kingdom.
In Christ,
Shu Suzuki
14.10.
WELCOME TO OUR PAIDEIA NETWORK
Five principles of our network
1) God-centered
2) Classical education oriented
3) Pro-nomian and Biblical worldview oriented
4) Self-government oriented
5) Future oriented
1) God-centered
Our education needs to be God-centered. We have to be accountable to God in educating our children.
We have to bring up our children in the nurture (paideia) and admonition of the Lord. (Eph. 6:4) Education needs to be based on the Christian epistemology. �gThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10) Many Christian educational movements have failed because of the lack of Christian epistemology. There is no neutral zone between the Christian worldview and the non-Christian worldview. Neutrality is a myth. This affects the methodology of our home education.
Education must be carried out in the family. Parents are responsible for educating their children. The civil government has nothing to do with the education of children. In terms of home education we stress the importance of the role of fathers, who are the covenantal head of the homeschooling families.
2) Classical education oriented
Classical education is one of the basic ideas of home schooling. This was introduced by Dorothy Sayers, who was a novelist.
Dorothy Sayers�f �gThe Lost Tools of Learning�h is a well-known essay which contributes greatly to the methodology of home education. There she introduces the medieval model of education which consists of two parts; the Trivium and the Quadrivium. The Trivium is the basic academic discipline for the students. It consists of three stages: Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric. In the Grammar stage students learn and memorize tremendous amounts of data/material. When they reach the stage of Dialectic, they begin to learn how to connect the data/material logically, and finally in the Rhetoric stage they are able to organize what they have learned in the previous stage and teach others. When they reach the Rhetoric stage they are ready to go on to the Quadrivium, which is college level specialization in any area. In those days they finished the Quadrivium stage at the age of 15.
We also make an emphasis on learning from our fathers of our faith. The commandment of God �gHonour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.(Exodus 20:12)�h encourages us to learn from our fathers of our faith. They have left a wonderful legacy for us to inherit. This is the reason why we focus upon classical Christian music for children�fs education.
Learning something classic is to learn something that has passed the test of time.
3) Pro-nomian and Biblical worldview-oriented
In our home education we have an absolute standard, which is the Scripture. We stress the significance of the third use of the law, which means that the law of God manifests His will to us in our everyday lives. We also focus on the Biblical worldview which gives us the understanding on what is going on in this world. With this Biblical worldview, our children can cope with the struggles they face when they graduate our homeschool with Biblical apologetics.
4) Self government-oriented
Our friend Kevin Swanson says in his book UPGRADE: 10 Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child,�h
�gIn fact, character is the foundation and structure of education. If education were a house, character would be the concrete foundation, the structure�c. Geography, geometry and geology would be nothing but wall paper(p.30).�h
The aim of home education is to raise children who can discipline themselves. Ethics always comes first.
5) Future-oriented
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
(Mark 8:36)
This is the starting point of our home education. Churches are losing the next generation by sending covenant children to public schools. Only parents are responsible and capable of training their children in terms of their education, especially in the area of character building. Schoolteachers cannot function in this area.
The book of Proverbs deals with the subject of education and shows us the basic principles of education.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.(Proverbs 22:6)
Our goal is to raise the next generations for the Kingdom of God. Our children need to be good, competent citizens of God�fs kingdom. Our focus is always on the future. Our children must become parents who can bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. This is our primary goal.
Copyright © 2006 Shu Suzuki
私たちのネットワークの基本５原則
Paideia Network
http://www.paideianetwork.org/
私達のネットワークの基本５原則
１）創造主である神中心
２）古典的教育（Classical education)
３）神の律法 が造り主である神の御心をあらわしていること、そして聖書的世界観を持つことを目指す
４）自己規律/訓練をもつことができること
５）未来を見てあゆみ、次の世代を育成すること
１）創造主である神中心
教育は神中心でなければなりません。わたしたちは、子供の教育において、造り主なる神にたいして説明責任を負っています。こどもたちを育てるにあたっては「主の教育（Paideia)と訓戒によって育て（エペソ６：１０））なければなりません。
教育は親と子の関係にその基盤があります。親子関係が子供の教育になくてはならないものであり、他の人間関係（たとえば、学校の教師と子供などの）がこれに取って代わることは不可能です。子供が与えられたということは、造り主なる神から両親が、教員免許を与えられたことを意味するのです。
そして、教育はキリスト教的認識論の土台の上に立たなければなりません。「主を恐れることは知恵の初め、聖なる方を知ることは悟りである。」多くのキリスト教教育運動がキリスト教的認識論の欠如によって失敗に終わってきました。キリスト教世界観と非キリスト教世界観のあいだには、いかなる中立領域も存在しません。キリスト者と非キリスト者との間には、中立領域はありません。この認識が私たちのなす家庭教育の方法論を決定します。
２）古典的教育（Classical education)
古典的教育という考え方は、アメリカではじまったホームスクーリングの土台をなしています。この考え方は小説家であったDorothy Sayersというひとが “The Lost Tools of Learning(失われてしまった学びのための道具）“ という短い小論で紹介しているものです。（Paideiaのウェブサイトに収録してあります。）ここで彼女は中世キリスト教世界でなされていた教育のモデルを引き合いに出しています。このモデルは３学科（Trivium)
と４学科（Quadrivium)---数学、幾何学、天文学、音楽といった当時における専門学科 からなっています。
この小論においては、学問をするうえでの土台となる３学科に焦点をあわせています。
文法（Grammar)、論証（Dialectic)、修辞（Rhetoric)からなる３学科（Trivium)は生徒たちにとって基本的な学問的訓練でした。
文法段階においては子供達は膨大な量のデータを覚え込みます。次に、 論証段階 になると文法段階で学んだデータを論理的につなぎ合わせることを学び、 修辞段階 になると子供達はそれまでに学んだことを組織立てて他の人に教えることができるようになります。このレベルに到達すると、学生は大学レベルの専門領域に進むことになります。中世においては１５歳でこのレベルに達していたのでした。
また、私たちの信仰の父祖達から学ぶことも重要なことです。神の掟には「あなたの父と母を敬え。あなたの神、主が与えようとしておられる地で、あなたの齢が長くなるためである。（出エジプト２０：１２）という御言葉は私たちが私たちの信仰の父祖から学ばなければならないことを教えています。彼らは私たちに受け継ぐべき実に膨大な信仰の資産を残してくれているのです。子供の教育において、私たちが例えば、伝統的なキリスト教教会音楽に注目するのもこの理由によります。
古典を学ぶということは、歴史のテストに合格したものを学ぶということを意味します。
３）神の律法 が造り主である神の御心をあらわしていること、そして聖書的世界観を持つことを目指す
私たちは家庭教育において聖書という絶対基準を持っています。わたしたちは律法の第三用法を強調します。（ 註：律法の第三用法とは律法を守ることによって人はすくわれないが、キリストの十字架によってあがなわれたキリスト者にとっては神の律法は神の御旨をしめす役割を果たすという宗教改革によって見いだされたクリスチャン生活のための基本的な教え）
また、私たちは聖書的世界観にも注目します。聖書的世界観を持つことによって、私たちはこの世界でなにがおこっているかについて、深く理解することができ、私たちの子供達は、ホームスクールを卒業してから この世において直面する問題や試練に聖書の原則にしたがって、たちむかうことができるようになるのです。
４）自己規律/訓練をもつことができること
わたしたちの友人であるケビン・スワンソン牧師はその著書 UPGRADE 10 Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child
においてつぎのようにかいています。「人格形成こそが教育の土台であり基本構造である。教育を家に例えるなら、人格こそコンクリートの土台であり骨組みである。地理、幾何、地学といった学科は壁紙にすぎない。」
家庭教育の目的は自己訓練ができる子供達を育成することです。いついかなるときでも倫理が最も重要です。
５）未来を見てあゆみ、次の世代を育成すること
「ひとはたとい全世界を得ても、命を失ったら何の得がありましょう。（マルコ８：３６）
この主の御言葉がわたしたちのホームスクーリングの出発点です。契約の子供たちを公立学校にやってしまうことで、教会は信仰を受け継ぐつぎの世代を失いつつあります。教育、とくに人格形成においては両親のみが責任を負います。この部分においては学校の先生には何もできません。
箴言は子供の教育を主眼において書かれています。そこに教育の基本原則が示されています。
「こどもたちをその行く道にふさわしく教育せよ。そうすれば年老いてもそれからはなれない。（箴言２２：６）
わたしたちのゴールは神の国のために次の世代を育成することにあります。わたしたちの子供達は全世界にひろがる神の国の有能かつ良き市民になることが目標です。そして私たちの子供達も親となったときに主の教育と訓戒によってかれらの子供達（つまりわたしたちにとっては孫たち）をそだてるようになること
これがわたしたちの第一の目標です。
Copyright © 2006 Shu Suzuki
14.10.