Homeschooling and Why Stories are Important
From Parables to Personal Narratives: The Power of Storytelling
Maria was driving home after work when she saw a car accident on the side of the road. She’d seen car accidents before, of course, but, for whatever reason, she made the split-second decision to pull over. As she exited her car and approached the scene, she heard the ping of metal cooling and smelled burnt rubber. But she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. She dialed 911 and then went to unlatch the unconscious teenage girl’s seatbelt—only to find she wasn’t wearing one.
Thank God that Maria knew basic first aid.
She performed CPR, keeping the young woman alive until the ambulance arrived. When it did, the paramedics took over.
“She’d already be dead if not for you,” they told Maria. To think that she’d only intervened out of impulse when every time before she’d kept on driving. Then the paramedics rushed the girl to the nearest hospital.
A few days later, curious about what had happened to the young woman, Maria went to the hospital. She asked anyone who’d listen what had happened to the girl in the car accident a few days earlier. Finally, a nurse told her. She’d made it to the hospital, where they’d done everything they could. But the teenage girl hadn’t made it. She’d died.
Over 40,000 people die from motor vehicle accidents in the US every year. But as the saying goes, “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.”
It takes a story to make us care.
Storytelling has many advantages that we, as parents and educators, can use to better raise our children. Stories allow us to better connect with others, convey ideas, and make sense of the world around us. From ancient myths to modern novels, stories capture our attention, evoke emotion, and spark action.
The first stories are as old and dark as Original Sin. Cronus eating his own children or Cain killing Abel. That some of these stories are true makes them only more compelling.
Jesus knew the power of a good story and often spoke in parables.
When asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus could have just told us. Instead, he chose to tell us the story of the Good Samaritan. Rather than give us an answer, Jesus gave us a person. That’s what stories do. They take the intangible and clothe it in flesh. What’s foreign is made familiar and what’s impersonal is made personal.
Statistics can tell us What, When, Where, and sometimes even How. But stories tell us Why. Why did he do that? Why is this important?
Why should I care?
The Ten Commandments tell us how to live, but who would follow them without the story of Moses to explain why they matter? From Adam and Eve to Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christianity is a story. Rather than a series of random events, the Christian narrative is by design, and so that we may better follow Him, God put it all in a book.
We can teach our children addition and subtraction, grammar, and spelling, but it’s through sharing the stories of our faith that they learn the Why of life.
But while the Bible might be our greatest story, it’s not our only one. From true stories like the lives of the saints to fictional stories like The Lord of The Rings and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, we have a whole arsenal of stories at our disposal with which to enrich the mind and nourish the soul.
Statistics may be able to tell us that half of all passenger vehicle occupants who died in a car crash were not buckled up. But it takes stories like Maria’s above to tell us why we should care. Stories make the Other real in our eyes, allowing us to step into someone else’s shoes. Stories make us see a stranger as precious and feel loss at their death, even though we’d never even known that they’d existed a minute before.
Stories make us better people.
Perhaps that’s why, when God became human and walked among us, He told us stories.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Share your tips and questions with other homeschooling parents in our Homeschool Connections Community or Facebook group!
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