The Molding of a Champion — Helping Your Child Shape a Winning Destiny
By Dr. Gregory Jantz, published by New Leaf Books, 2006, 239 pp/paperback
If I had the power to make this book mandatory reading for all homeschoolers, I would. It's not that
it's a primer on homeschooling per se or THE textbook for Homeschooling 101. It doesn't even deal with
the idea of homeschooling directly. But it is one of the most readable and practical books I have read
about training up a child – which is what homeschooling is all about.
When I first saw the title and that it was written by a doctor and clinical counselor, I was concerned
that it was going to be another “pop psychology” manual supposedly written for Christians. I suspected
that it was going to be another example of the modern educational trend of telling all children they're
winners, no matter what they choose to do with their life.
Thankfully, this book is nothing like that. It is written from the heart of a dad who is in the trenches
daily with his own children, attempting to raise up godly adults through the grace of God with proven
principles from the Word of God. As such, it is a book that:
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will encourage you that you're not in this alone – God has already seen what you will need;
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will provide practical, step-by-step Bible-based tools that you can use throughout childhood;
and
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will inspire you and help lift you to the next level in your child-raising no matter what stage of
life your family is in.
It is a book written from God's perspective and not from the wisdom of man, yet the “Training Ground”
section at the end of each chapter gives practical tips that you can apply right now. There are a few
simple questions with each chapter that help you absorb the information. By writing down brief answers
you will end up writing a family mission statement – although the author doesn't state it as such.
The point is to give you a written vision and plan of action so that your reading of the book isn't just
something you do and then it gets put back on the shelf. The real-life testimonies from the author's own
family are intertwined with Biblical examples and case-studies that help you see the principle in action,
and make the book read more like a story than a how-to manual.
Section 1 lays the scriptural framework for understanding how God wants us to approach the task of raising
His children. Section 2 is a practical guideline for finding our children's fruit – cultivating the universal
gifts given all of God's children and identifying the unique giftings placed in each of our children. Section
3 covers what I call “biblical common sense” - how to train the whole child – body, mind, and spirit. The
material in this section used to be passed along from generation to generation, or from “old-timers” in the
church to those raising young families. But unfortunately, much of this has been lost through our mobile,
disjointed society. The final section deals with specific issues for raising girls, raising boys, raising
children through different stages in life, and raising challenging children.
A Note About Educational Philosophy
I inserted this section as a “teachable moment.” If you homeschool older children, you know the
importance of recognizing the underlying premises of a book and the author's viewpoint. This book
is based on the premise that children are a gift from God entrusted to us as parents. We're to
mold them in the same way and with the same heart as the Father molds us. This is an important
distinction, particularly for Christian homeschoolers.
If you are familiar at all with the different approaches to homeschooling, you've heard how some
educators view children as a container to be filled with core knowledge and essential skills. This
approach to education has an “outside-in” mentality that views training simply as the teacher
filling up the child's mind. This is a purely materialistic view of the child – we function as
physical matter only.
In reaction to this, some approaches stress an “inside-out” mentality that views training simply as
the teacher drawing out of the child what is there naturally, building on the child's natural
curiosity to learn and specific areas of interest at any given time. This is a humanistic view of
the child that tends to discourage imposing standards or things the teacher considers important (or
any other outside authority, for that matter). The child's inner being evolves over time and gains
expression in life. The emphasis is on the soul and mind.
While there are elements of truth to each of the above approaches, this book highlights what I call
the “potter” mentality based on the biblical view of the child. Using the analogy of the potter found
in God's Word, this approach recognizes that God has placed within each child a unique design and
calling that needs to be recognized and developed. This is the “inside-out” part. But this approach
also recognizes that given the fallen nature of mankind, a child does need to have boundaries defined
and behavioral expectations modeled through discipline and respect for authority. This is the
“outside-in” part.
What distinguishes this potter approach is that it acknowledges that the parent/teacher has some
responsibility to shape the children even while they are gaining self-knowledge through experiences.
As with an artist, there is an intended purpose in designing a specific vessel, yet the lump of clay
seems to “speak from within” as to how that design is molded. As a parent/teacher, we work with The
Artist, through the help of the Holy Spirit, to mold the child according to God's design. This book
is a practical how-to manual for doing just that.
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