Meet OCHEC

Purpose

The purpose of OCHEC is to serve the homeschooling community primarily (but not exclusively) in the province of Ontario.

Service

1. Promoting homeschooling over alternative forms of education.
2. Promoting sound, high-quality homeschooling programs which address the spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical needs of children, and contribute to their development of a Christ-like character.
3. Providing encouragement and information to those interested in homeschooling.
4. Aiding in the creation and growth of homeschooling support groups throughout the province of Ontario.
5. Obtaining and disbursing information regarding the legal climate for homeschooling families in Ontario and in Canada.
6. Advocating for the freedom to homeschool in Ontario and in Canada by advising Ministry of Education personnel, elected representatives, and any other appropriate officials on the interests of homeschoolers.
7. Conducting and encouraging homeschooling research and the dissemination thereof.

• OCHEC affirms the primacy of parental responsibility for the welfare, socialization and education of their children.
• OCHEC is dedicated to the education and socialization of children in the natural setting of the family.
• OCHEC acknowledges that the state has an interest in the education of the young, but asserts that such interest is secondary to the responsibility of parents over education.
• OCHEC believes that the right to homeschool includes not merely a right over the place in which education occurs, but a right to determine the content, process and timing of this education.
• OCHEC holds that student assessment is an integral aspect of the education process, and that therefore parents have the ultimate right and responsibility to determine the methods and instruments to be used.
• OCHEC holds that the state must exercise its interest in the education of the young by the least intrusive means.
• OCHEC pursues and recommends, within the framework of its philosophy, a policy of constructive interaction in dealing with officials of the Ministry of Education and local school boards.

From the OCHEC Statement of Faith (Article 4)

Scripture

We believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, the final authority for faith and life, without error in its original writing both in doctrine and historical details, and that all true knowledge is consistent with its revelation.

God

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus

We believe in the deity of Christ (3), His virgin birth (4), sinless life (5), and miracles. We believe in His vicarious and atoning death (6), resurrection from the dead (7), ascension to the right hand of the Father, (8) and in His personal return in power and glory.

Man

We believe that man was created in the image of God. (10) He sinned by disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. (11) That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation. Man’s nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. (12) Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Salvation

We believe that salvation is a free gift of God brought to the sinner by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, (13) whose substitutionary death on the cross paid the penalty for man’s sin. (14)

Marriage and Family

We believe that the God of the Bible established marriage as the exclusive lifetime covenant of union between one man and one woman. (15) It is His unique gift that echoes the union of Christ and His church, (16) and is the ideal environment that He has ordained for procreation and for the raising of children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to the glory of God. (17) We believe that children belong to God who has given the responsibility and authority for their discipleship and education to their parents. (18) We believe that there is no neutral academic discipline and that all education is religious in nature since one’s view of the world and life is inevitably involved in teaching.

Government

We believe that civil government has been instituted by God. (19) Such government exists to serve the people through the promotion of justice and order.

Footnotes

1. 2 Timothy 3:16 – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
2. Mat 28:19 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
3. John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
4. Matthew 1:18-25 – “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.   And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.  But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”   All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:  “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).   When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”
5. Hebrews 4:15 – “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
6. Hebrews 9:27-28 – “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
7. 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 – “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,  and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you–unless you believed in vain.  For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.  Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
8. Acts 1:9-11 – “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.   And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,  and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
9. Hebrews 9:27-28 – “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
10. Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
11. Genesis 3:17-18 – “And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;  thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.”
12. Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
13. Romans 3:24 – “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”
14. Romans 3:25 – “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”
15. Genesis 2:24 – “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
16. Ephesians 5:23 – “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.”
17. Ephesians 6:1-3 – “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
18. Deuteronomy 6:7 – “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
19. Romans 13:1 – “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

Note: All quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV)