What Shall We Teach? Proper School Age

“It has been the custom to encourage sending children to school, when they were mere babies, needing a mother's care.”—Christian Education, 182. PH124 1.1

“Parents should be the only teachers of their children until they have reached eight or ten years of age.”—Christian Education, 8. PH124 1.2

“Do not send your little ones away to school too early. The mother should be careful how she trusts the molding of the infant mind to other hands. Parents ought to be the best teachers of their children until they have reached eight or ten years of age. Their schoolroom should be the open air, amid the flowers and birds, and their textbook the treasure of nature.”—Christian Education, 170. (See also Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 60-72.) PH124 1.3

“The only schoolroom for children from eight to ten years of age should be in the open air, amid the opening flowers and nature's beautiful scenery. And their only textbook should be the treasures of nature.”—“Testimonies for the Church 3:137. PH124 2.1

“It is in the home school that our boys and girls are to be prepared to attend the church school.... Wise parents will help their children to understand that in the school life, as in the home, they are to strive to please God, to be an honor to Him.”—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 150. PH124 2.2