How do I know if I should send my children to a private, Christian school? How do I prioritize my children’s education in my financial life?

Hello my name is Ron Blue, and one of the questions that I've answered over the years is, "Where do I send my children to school? Christian school, public school, private school, home school?" And my counsel has been several-fold. One is that each of your children is different, so you need to think of them uniquely. You may love them equally, and as such you are going to treat them uniquely.

We found with five children that we sent them to different schools at different stages of their life because of the needs that we saw in their lives. In other words, as I look at my children, I know that my children are going to respond to a home school education or a private school education or a Christian school education or a public school education differently, because God has wired them up differently.

The question that comes back, of course, is "Okay-- now I've decided and I want to send them to a private Christian school--well, how do I afford that?" And money spent on education, which is really a high priority, will always cost you something in the short-term because you are spending after-tax dollars to send your children to school.

And you've got to ask yourself the question, "Am I willing to spend this amount of money for what I perceive to be the future benefit of that particular child?" And there's not a universal answer on that, because even if that's the right answer for that particular child, you may not be able to afford it for whatever reason. It may mean that you give up your retirement fund; it may mean that you give up vacations. It may mean that you make some changes in your lifestyle in order to fund the children's education.

That's not a wrong decision and it's really not a financial issue either. It's really a spiritual and values type decision that has financial consequences. It comes at you, maybe, financially, but it's really a bigger issue than the finances. The finances are just a cost of it. So my counsel is this: Prayerfully as a couple set down what you think is best for each one of your children--what is going to maximize their ability to be a kingdom servant--and then make that decision for that particular child. And it may be different for each one of your children, just as it was for us. It's a big, important decision

Click here for the April 16, 2009 Blog Entry