Dangitbill! has an interesting post resulting from his first experience at a homeschool conference, a sort of baptism into the “homeschool culture” as he defines it. He makes some interesting observations, ones that I think may become more and more common as homeschooling becomes more “mainstream.”
What is interesting to me is that I agree with the speaker he is talking about…to a point. But these issues can all be taken to an unhealthy extreme, as well. It is a problem, I think, with taking matters of private conviction (homeschooling) and confusing them with a biblical world view. Homeschooling isn’t going to save Western Civilization. It can’t even save our own children. I think many Christians have confused the process with the goal, something that Brian addresses well.
Furthermore, the problem is not bad education, it is bad character (sin). The solution is not homeschooling, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ and participating in the growing kingdom of God. The utopian society is not homeschool grads in power, but the consummation of the kingdom of God which will only occur at the second coming of the Lord in glory. I fear that many in the Christian homeschooling movement have a false understanding of the problem, the solution, and the ultimate goal. And smooth-talking, eloquent, yet misguided speakers that give vision and encouragement to homeschooling parents are not helping build the kingdom of God.
For the most part, the true “evangelists” of homeschooling make me nervous. The underlying message of the speaker in question is not that far removed from the words of Reverend Drake to the media in regards to the re-hearing of the case out in California.
The Bible, our legal document, says the family is required to educate children based on the Scriptures,” Drake said. “We’re against government schooling in any form. People who put their kids in public school probably should be arrested.” LA Times
There is a sort of sentiment that we need to free kids from the public school system, releasing God’s children from the hand of Pharoah. And here it is worded more directly, from the good people over at Exodus Mandate.
“Today some 12-15 million evangelical Christian children, or 90% of the children from Christian families, are still attending government schools which are now totally hostile to their faith. If these families were to leave Pharoah’s schools for the promised land of Christian schools or home-schooling, it could trigger the spiritual awakening we are all praying and longing for to renew our churches, our nation, and our debased culture. This event could seriously cripple the power secularism now holds over our culture by holding our children as near-hostages in state schools.” Exodus Mandate Project
If I were to get into the religious aspect of this, I would say E. Ray Moore, Jr. has it backwards. If there were to be a “renewal” of our churches (meaning if they all agreed with Mr. Moore), then these parents would be increasingly likely to withdraw their children to either homeschool them or send them to a private Christian school. But the fact is that the referred to government schools are not “totally hostile to their faith.” Perhaps their faith is not quite the same or perhaps their schools are more tolerant than the ones Moore has direct experience with. I am a former public school teacher, my students were deeply religious and there were no conflicts. None at all.
Actually, I fear that some of these overzealous arguments against public schools do more to close people off from the idea of homeschooling than anything. And I do not think that running from the public school system is the best reason to homeschool. It is a little too reactionary for my tastes. Parents should choose homeschooling for the benefits they see to their family, not out of fear of the public school system.
For the most part, these kinds of opinions are effectively harmless. They encourage those who are already inclined to agree with them. Those who don’t? They don’t really listen, roll their eyes, or go off to complain about how homeschoolers are involved in some sort of dominionist plot to overthrow the government and replace it with a theocracy. But we are talking about a subgroup of a subgroup of American society. Too big of a protest ends up being more of a tempest in a teapot than anything.
As I mentioned in my comment on his blog, I think part of the problem is a sort of disconnect between those speaking at conventions and the “modern day” homeschooler. Even those homeschooling more or less for religious reasons are not necessarily of “the same stripe” as those who pulled their kids from the public school back when homeschoolers feared leaving the house during the day and prayed they wouldn’t be fined or jailed. We don’t necessarily view public education as inherently evil. We don’t necessarily view homeschooling as the only possible way of rearing Christian children. We don’t necessarily equate advancing the Kingdom of Christ with reforming the nation’s laws to suit our beliefs. But this newer “generation” of homeschoolers also hasn’t been around long enough to be landing speaking engagements at homeschool conferences.
I am curious what it will be like ten or fifteen years from now. Will the tone of speakers at homeschool conferences slowly change and adapt to a changing audience? Or will an increasingly large number of homeschoolers feel alienated by the conferences which are meant to encourage them?
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Irrelevant, but they are my baby’s first steps. And simply adorable.
And an update: Spunky adds her thoughts. She notes:
There are those that have that goal and actively worry that homeschooling is at a crossroads and in danger of becoming polluted with a “big tent” philosophy.
And shares a note to Doug Phillips earlier this year. Homeschooling “polluted?” Losing its covenentatl vision? That is something to perhaps worry about in your home or your church, but in homeschooling? What does that even mean? But I do agree that over time, conventions will likely expand to meet the changing “market.” But they will likely epand by proliferating, which is perfectly fine. In response, the existing conventions are likely to become more narrowly focused and more exclusive in their practices.
Principled Discovery is a place to stop and discuss news and information related to faith, family and particularly education. Pour yourself a cup of tea and join the conversation! 
LOVE LE Fant’s first steps. That’s cuter than feeding the animals in the petting zoo!!
That’s all I’m going to say for right now because it always seems to wind up that you are posting at the same minute I’m checking blogs early in the morning. Back later when others have said hi and weighed in the “issue.”
I doubt I will ever attend my state’s homeschooling conference again. It drives me crazy that so many sessions are about “Christian worldview” and “building up your family” and “vision.”
I’m sorry, when I go out of my way to attend a conference ostensibly about education, I’d like to actually learn something that would help me educate my children better.
And even when I did go, I never attended a keynote address.
In my experience, both (Protestant) Christian homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers tend to assume a context of homeschooling vs. the public schools.
In my neighborhood, most of the homeschooling families are upper middle class, and are seldom choosing against the (not great) school district, but against the various private school options. And as a Catholic homeschooler, most of my social circle is made up of families for whom public school was never even on the radar; they’ve chosen, for whatever reason, not to enroll their children in a parochial school.
So I’m always bemused by these homeschooling debates, where everyone involved takes for granted that the choice to homeschool entails a rejection, for reasons religious or academic or social, of one’s local public school. For a large and growing segment of homeschooling families, public school was third on the list, at best.
It seems like great presumption especially to be informed by representatives or supporters of public education that my children ought not to be taught at home, so that they can be taught by credentialed public school teachers and encounter non-Christian worldviews. Have they never heard of the Catholic school system? We do have a pretty extensive one.
But it’s equally odd to hear accounts, such as Dangitbill!’s, of “homeschool culture” having as its chief touchstone the rejection of “government schools.” It’s a culture very alien to great swathes of homeschoolers.
Homeschooling isn’t going to save Western Civilization. It can’t even save our own children.
Great point! I’ve said that myself, but not so concisely. And you wrote this when you were tired? Wow!
State schools may not be actively supporting Christianity, but they also do not force anyone to worship the state. I don’t want to send my children there, but I do not condemn someone who does.
I’ve only attended one homeschool convention, and I was too busy looking at books to listen to many speakers. I prefer going to hear Ms. Dang speak. That’s not a homeschool convention per se, but I’m always challenged and encouraged.
LOL - I don’t go to my state’s homeschooling conference (Indiana). My reason? To paraphrase, the theme is always “How do we bring Christ into our schooling” and I’m atheist. It’s way too heavy.
OTH, I’ve found a great inclusive conference up in Chicago and it’s worth the 4 hour drive to go there.
Our state’s homeschooling conference isn’t even called a homeschooling conference now; it’s the Christian Family Conference. And “Christian family” is defined quite narrowly.
“I prefer going to hear Ms. Dang speak.”
Anyone interested in listening to Ms Dang, I have a series on CD available, free, shipped by snail mail. Just contact me through this website.
Don’t get me started on homeschooling conferences.
However, there was one thing you said that I strongly disagree with.
“Parents should choose homeschooling for the benefits they see to their family, not out of fear of the public school system.”
Three words, Louisiana Public Schools. Now, there are some pearls among the swine, but as a whole they are rated forty-ninth or fiftieth in the nation every year. When I moved to Louisiana as a child, I was a book ahead of my class. For years I coasted.
The schools in New Orleans (at least pre-Katrina) are frightening. Education aside, as a matter of personal safety I would hesistate to send my child there. I imagine you could say the same of other inner city schools. I know there are some in Memphis with A LOT of violence on campus.
My father was originally against homeschooling. After he took my youngest to speech therapy and occupational therapy at our small town P.S., and had to sit outside the office for an hour, he brought my son back and said, “Keep the kids home.”
Sometimes fear (and not of eternal damnation, but of a substandard education or of a bloody nose or broken ribs) is a darn good reason to homeschool.
OK, well, if you live in LA (either the state or the city), or some other substandard school district…:)
But I still think it is better to choose homeschooling rather than merely reject public school. Maybe I should rephrase and say “the best reason to homeschool is when you believe it is in the best interest of your children, rather than necessarily a rejection of something else.”
When parents are motivated by their children’s best interest, I think homeschooling works great. Where we fall short, we seek to improve or find help. Parents do extraordinary things for their children.
I don’t mind that a Christian homeschool convention has Christian themes, nor necessarily that they have speakers on certain topics that don’t even make ripples among evangelical Christians outside of homeschooling. Maybe I’m wrong, but there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of views outside of that. As an example…there are a couple of articles I would like to write exploring some of these kinds of issues. But where would I even go to find a place to publish them? They are Christian articles exploring issues in Christianity. Hardly relevant for the secular magazines. They are too narrowly focused to be of much interest to a non-homeschooling magazine. But the homeschool magazines I am aware of all come from the same basic, very conservative-bordering-on-fundamentalist mindset. I don’t mean that as criticism. I write for one of them, and really enjoy it. I just don’t write on those issues. Each are run as a sort of ministry of the family who owns it, and that segment of the homeschool community isn’t exactly nonexistent.
But are there Christian homeschooling magazines which are open to both articles written by Chris Klicka and those written criticizing HSLDA? Or by Vision Forum and those who reject some (or all) of their teaching? I think such a magazine would likely have a rather broad appeal and likely enough readership to do pretty well. At the moment, the “market” seems saturated with a single type of magazine. Perhaps the market is larger than I perceive it to be, but I think that endeavors that are viewed largely as a ministry are not that responsive to market forces. Not that they shouldn’t be, just that this doesn’t necessarily imply that this subset of homeschoolers is as large as it appears.
Dana,
I agree 100% - well, except I also agree with the previous commenter about keeping kids home due to the poor quality of education in our local public schools. I have a daughter who struggles with reading; I am absolutely convinced that the only reason she does nearly as well as she does is the individual time and attention she gets from homeschooling. In a public school system, I’m quite sure she’d be labeled - at the very least a “slow reader,” and possibly special ed.
But I too get very frustrated at the tendency of many homeschooling advocates to make this a huge battleground. Our state organization is becoming more and more strident in tone - and the funny thing is, that’s in spite of the fact that homeschooling is becoming easier and more popular all the time. The criticism becomes more heated every year, and the range of those criticized becomes greater. This year, our homeschooling organization allowed only those curriculum providers who would sign a young-earth creation statement. Now I’m a young-earth creationist myself, but I think that’s just wrong! Homeschooling does not benefit when homeschooling organizations become exclusionary: you must be a Christian, you can’t be enrolled in any kind of government schooling program, you must be a young-earth creationist - and it wouldn’t surprise me if soon you’ll have to believe birth control is wrong, too.
Unlike a previous commenter, I still like the seminars on Christian worldview, building up the family, and maintaining a vision for homeschooling - many of them are pretty good and help keep me going when things get stressful. But I, too, am beginning to avoid the general sessions - and there are certain speakers I simply won’t go hear, because they are far too contentious.
Why do we ask for war when it’s not necessary? And whatever happened to Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone”? Or Colossians 4:5,6: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders . . . Let your conversation be always with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone”? It seems to me it’s time for a little grace, you know?
Thanks for getting me thinking again!
Dana,
I’ve linked to your post on my blog (yes, I’ve finally updated again!). Here’s the link to my post:
http://marcys-musings.blogspot.com/2008/07/stridency-of-many-homeschooling.html
Oh, the pictures of your little one are just precious! I remember doing that with my older dd and a DQ Blizzard - dh sat on one couch with his, and I sat across the family room with mine, and dd toddled back and forth from one to the other. Such memories!
I’ve stopped attending my provincial homeschooling fair. The organization that started it was originally inclusive but over the last couple of years they’ve paired up with a Christian homeschooling mother’s group and invited the HSLDA and the family values crowd as guest speakers. These are small moves but they isolate people who aren’t Christian.
I suspect in another couple of years it will be an unabashedly Christian event and resembling more of your talking about.
“It is a problem, I think, with taking matters of private conviction (homeschooling) and confusing them with a biblical world view.”
We do this so often, don’t we? I think we feel that with the authority of God’s Word we can make a stronger case. …but often the Bible does not say what we want it to.
This was a really thought-provoking post. I’m going to need to let this all sink in.
~Luke
I agree with Dana’s statement that the real problem is sin, but bad education can encourage children to indulge their temptations rather than to struggle against them.
Dana may not have seen this as a big problem in the school where she taught, but in certain areas of the country it is. Where I live near San Francisco it seems that everything is tolerated except for traditional Judeo-Christian morality. And unfortunately, the parochial schools in this area have become so secularized that they’re not much better than the government-run ones. Alexandra Pelosi, the daughter of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, attended Catholic schools in S.F. from K-12 and was quoted as saying they never taught abortion or homosexuality as immoral, just “choices”.
What concerns me is how the public school systems are moving into this area as homeschoolers aren’t.
Here in MD, the “Parent Information Meeting” offers a speaker from a talented youth center, library personnel, magnet school supervisor, community college material, and resource center personnel. So you have something that sounds very open and I am sure it will garner attendance. However, discussion and information gathered regarding curr and the like that is not required will be collected, etc.
How much money and personnel have they added to the hs budget for the new survey? I don’t want to join a public sponsored online education program when the state will pay $5000 per pupil to the company when their cost is $250 per pupil. Another waste of my tax dollars.
Where is the parent training? Why can’t a parent attend the teacher training? Because this would upset the teachers hold on power. This is the area I would like to see homeschoolers expand. This effort is worth mobilizing.
Homeschoolers should be allowed to attend district teacher training. California attys should follow-up here in light of the court ruling.
Maybe he should attend the upcoming Live & Learn Conference and see is he can get a clue to how diverse the hsing world is.
http://www.liveandlearnconference.org/
Nance
Crimson Wife, I understand what you are saying and agree. Every school district is a bit different and as you say, private schools are not always that different. I just think that parents are best equipped to make those decisions…in some cases, they will choose the schools because the things they are worried about are not really issues in their schools, in some cases, the parents do not care about these issues as much as many leaders think they should and in some cases they are concerned and are helping their children navigate through it.
I would like to see these leaders spend more time developing real options for families who feel trapped. Ways to help build strong families, because children tend to adopt the values of their parents regardless of their schooling. And real alternatives. Advocating private school or homeschool is great, but not everyone can do it. It still sort of bugs me that when we send out missionaries to foreign countries, one of the first things they do is set up schools. Here? We charge tuition rates that the poor cannot afford. I understand most have scholarship opportunities, but it still isn’t a real option for most families with lower incomes.
FeFe, the district level teacher training I attended was great and I wouldn’t mind being allowed to participate in them even now. But that would be a bit expensive. I wouldn’t expect the schools to pick it up, and I doubt most of us would pay $400 for a seat at one of these trainings.
And I fear that it would quickly turn from being “allowed” to being required to fulfill a certain number of hours of “professional development” in order to continue homeschooling.
I actually disagree - mass public education is the big cancer that is killing Western Civilisation. Homeschooling is the chemo.
I believe education is a reflection of the culture. It certainly has its effect on culture as well, but only in trying to “fit” the minorities into culture that is already changing.
Good post, my comment turned into a blog post. But trackbacks aren’t working on Haloscan. Thanks for all you do for homeschoolers.
I think that ten or fifteen years from now the exclusivist Christian groups will be the same as they are now and were ten years ago. They’ll still be fighting to be *the* face of homeschooling. They’ll still be shutting themselves off from the broader homeschool community by acting like our organizations don’t exist or spreading false testimony about us.
But there will be ever more of the wide variety of us.
My comments are turning into a blog post, too.
IndianaJane, I agree. I think those who are convinced that homeschooling is part of a “covenental vision” will likely get more exclusive as the face of homeschooling changes. They certainly have as much right to their speakers, etc., as any other group. But I wonder how relevant they will even be as other groups begin to form.
Dana said: “And I fear that it would quickly turn from being “allowed” to being required to fulfill a certain number of hours of “professional development” in order to continue homeschooling.”
HA! I can see it now…
Course Title: How NOT to blow up the kitchen during Chemistry Lab.
I need that course.
I agree with you wholeheartedly but I’m not nearly as good at saying it. I agree with Life on the Planet about rejecting public school for safety reasons. May I add emotional safety with physical safety?
That said, it’s easier to stick with it long term if there are more reasons on a deeper level as well a rejection of the system. If I didn’t see family, spiritual, and emotional benefits, I think it would be difficult for me to resist the tide to send my children back to school.
Shoot! I stopped reading to comment and found it went on when I went back up to finish reading the comments.
This is a wonderful site though. I’m glad I found you.
LOTP: “Course Title: How NOT to blow up the kitchen during Chemistry Lab.”
Hey, my dad did just that when he was a boy (back in the fifties when a chemistry set contained things you could probably get arrested for nowadays!) And, actually, it was the garage, not the kitchen. But he went on to get a PhD in chemistry, so maybe a little fire insurance…?(lol!)
Well, we became homeschoolers because of a reaction against public schooling. Since then we have discovered the many positives to that choice. My husband is a public school teacher and we have found that the public schools here in CA are most certainly against faith. Hmm, maybe I should reword that. CA is in support of the very things that are completely antithetical to faith.
Forget homeschooling for a minute. At some point every single public school teacher is going to have to decide if they can even BE a christian and teach in the public school system. By 2012 by husband is going to have to use textbooks that feature homosexual historical figures. Already his first grade textbooks define “family” as any group of people who choose to live together.
“Religion” is taught in the very same paragraph as old wise tales and fables. He already has to march his first graders down to a yearly “tolerance” assembly. While not coming right out and preaching against faith, the public school system undermines faith, family, and the authority of parents (who pass on their faith) every chance it gets.
Daisy touches on what we’re talking around but not addressing.
Neither home education nor public schooling — no schooling or education — is about being Christian or not. The majority of Americans choose to identify as “Christian” no matter where they learn or how they live. Even public school TEACHERS.
Same for “faith” and “religion” except more so — the OVERWHELMING majority of Americans express personal faith through identification with some sort of organized “religion” although it might not mean savior-god worship. Favorite Daughter is a comparative religions student and tells me even Christians may be “non-theistic(??)–
So when a public schoolteacher defines Christianity — parenting, faith and family too! — so parochially as to believe all that is holy forbids teaching from a textbook if it includes historical figures who were in fact homosexual, then I agree (for every reason in the book) that it’s time for that person to change careers.
Daisy, it isn’t that I disagree with you or think no one should pull their kids out. Many homeschoolers develop their philosophies after choosing to homeschool, myself included (although we didn’t opt out of public school because of anything going on in school.)
But when we ask why it is that more Christians don’t see the problems in schools, we need to be realistic about the fact that not every school in America is like the ones you have experience with, and not every Christian parent sees these issues the same way. And many who do who do not opt for another educational option believe that their testimony is strong enough to help their children through it.
I think we need to trust parents to make the best decisions for their own children, and give them the support they need to succeed in that choice. We don’t need to condemn them and act like they aren’t “real” Christians or are too caught up in their own lives to realize the danger their children are in. That only drives people away…and the Bible says we are to live at peace with all men so long as it is within our power to do so.
Wow- this really has me thinking. It seems to me that there is a middle ground to be met here. Do all messages concerning the problems with the public schools have to be delivered with scorn and condemnation? And on the other hand do we not speak out about the dangers of the public school in the name of peace? Seems to me that neither of these is the most loving way to approach this. I think we all agree that scorn and condemnation is definitely not the right way, but I am wondering if supporting parents in their decision to send their children to a place statistically proven to be a danger to their children’s faith is any different than supporting someone who smokes even though it is slowly poisoning their body? Would love to hear your thoughts further.
First, I think we have to decide what the real issues are. At its foundation, I think we are looking at an issue of basic rights. Do we trust parents to make the best decisions for their children? If not, than we are doing the same to other parents that we complain society is doing to us when they question homeschooling.
I think in the end, all parents are best served when presented with real options and support for what they are trying to do. It is difficult to prove statistically what happens to a child’s faith in public school and why it is happening. Children take cues from their parents about what is important and I do believe that committed parents can do a lot to help their children navigate the struggles kids face in schools.
I also believe that committed parents will take appropriate measures when there is a problem. The overly strident comments are really only useful to those who already agree, and they frequently lack the tone that I read of in scripture about being gentle, humble, full of self-control, and at peace with all men so long as it rests with us.
Great points Dana - you have really given me some food for thought. Thank you. ( :
I completely agree with you, Dana. I hope you don’t think I was suggesting that parents aren’t “real” Christians if they send their children to public school. My best friend and a wonderful Christian lady sends her kids to public school.
I only become frustrated when I see how many parents so easily abdicate their authority to others who they think “understand children better”. If a parent is making an imformed decision regarding their child’s education, then great. Most parents I come in contact with, view public school as the default button. They are not making an informed decision. As a matter of fact they don’t even know what their child is being taught. They’ve never seen a textbook (district doesn’t allow them to go home), never been to an assembly, never even been in the classroom. That is only reason I even mentioned what was in some of my husband’s textbooks. So many parents do not know.
I just want those parents to understand that they have options. That they really should stop to think about what their child is being taught and what their child is not be taught in their current educational environment. I’ve seen public school, private school, and homeschooling students spiritually strong and spiritually weak. I believe in a Soverign God who is so much bigger than an educational choice. I’m a strong advocate for parents taking the authority and responsibility for their child’s education, whatever form that takes.
I’m a little confused about this: “not every school in America is like the ones you have experience with”.
I’ve personally attended nine different (and yet the same) ones growing up. Isn’t every public school affiliated with the NEA? Don’t they think that parents are stupid?
http://www.nea.org/espcolumns/dv040220.html Aren’t they the ones that pass a resolution every year to combat homeschooling?
This sounds a bit much like “to each his own”, which, of course, may be what was intended. Homeschooling in itself is not the answer to sin and its ilks, but it sure is powerful stuff to disciple your own children on a daily basis (Christian or not). Personally, I’m fine with all of the different conferences and flavors in magazines and don’t think it’s that big a deal. You know, “to each his own”
I was also a former public school teacher (and NEA member and representative). “Tolerating” all religions meant “accepting” them all…which meant distain for Christianity…which, of course, comes swinging with there-is-only-one-way-to-God. Furthermore, there is (or was, when I was teaching) a great pressing need to teach about all cultures except ours (excepting where ours involved angry white European men killing off innocent natives and taking over land….or more recently, killing off all the rain forests…). Evolution was never allowed to be questioned or debated, because, duh, it’s true and all. And of course, the school nurse was entrusted to pass along information and support for birth control and abortion services information without thought to the student’s family’s values regardless of their religion.
So, again…..are there really schools in America that are different? Just wondering.
No, I don’t believe all public schools are the same. I attended several and never had the kinds of experiences people describe. I was a public school teacher (and NEA member) and never experienced the kinds of things talked about.
I am not an apologist for the public school system, but when homeschool advocates are making statements like Drake’s that those who send their children to public school should be sent to jail, there is a serious disconnect. You talk about the NEA’s stance opposing homeschooling, but how different is the tone and character of statements made by Drake and the Exodus Mandate, really? Homeschoolers can talk about parents of children in the public schools with the same kind of arrogant attitude which often can look like these particular advocates have no more respect for the ability of parents to make educational decisions for their own children than the NEA.
These kinds of statements are not going to make parents with children in the public school system reconsider that decision. It only pushes people into their respective camps and makes homeschoolers look like we are bit nutty.
Of course homeschooling is a wonderful way to disciple your own children. After all, that is a large part of why I homeschool. But I really don’t think that the harsher tone some of these groups are striking benefits anyone.
I never said that these different groups shouldn’t exist…private organizations have the right to include or exclude whomever they choose for whatever reason. But how many different “flavors” are there really? Eventually, the market will expand to include those who currently feel excluded, because homeschooling seems to be growing at leaps and bounds…a “problem” some seem to be meeting with attempts to “regain the covenantal vision” of homeschooling as someone wrote to Doug Phillips.
Of course, the tongue in cheek joke here is that you really cannot be a public school teacher without belonging to the NEA (unless you fight it).
I am certainly glad you had good experiences; mine were for the most part also. However, it doens’t mean that these things did not occur even within the very same schools to other children and adults. Someone got bullied on the playground, and someone got bullied in the teacher’s lounge also.
I agree that Drake’s statement was ludicrous. I hear the opposite views often enough; that homeschoolers are abusing their children and so forth. It is all nonsense. However, the real difference between the two opposing sides is that one of them is funded by taxpayer dollars and has the full backing of the law, social services, and public opinion (although I like to think that public opinion has changed in the last twenty years or so).
I think ideas such as “regaining covenantal visions” are geared to evangelical Christians who are currently homeschooling for reasons such as academic achievement, which isn’t really a Biblical ideal as I understand it (and I can be wrong here of course). It also means that without a broader “vision”, homeschooling falls apart when times become tough.
I don’t believe homeschoolers of any kind ought to feel “excluded”. Homeschooling is not a club with a one-size-fits-all approach (unlike, dare I say, public education) that a parent has to sign up for under certain rules or points of view. A parent is 99.99999% of the time the best teacher for his or her child, period. However, if you’re a Christian, homeschooling is just part of the family system (as it were) that helps to encourage faith and give children live and walking models on a daily basis of what it means to be followers of Christ. Renewal/revival begins at home, and that just isn’t likely to happen when the vast majority of Christian parents expect other teachers/pastors/counselors and whomever else to disciple their children.
“Hostility” isn’t always met with swords. Sometimes it is just with the persistant (and arrogant?) insistance that a secular, consumer and employee driven, tolerant, and liberal worldview is the only proper response to the nation’s problems. The idea of “sin” is rather quaint, and isn’t allowed in any public school that I know of, anywhere.
It is true some words are hurtful. Most are probably birthed in frustration and all need to be tempered with grace. My hope is that parents of all walks will begin to homeschool their children, AND that they would all know the joy of following God through Jesus Christ in doing so.
Good discussion, great job.
See, we don’t disagree on all that much.
I just think that when we are talking to people outside of homeschooling, we do better to encourage parents to be leaders in their children’s education and see education as their responsibility. Let them know they have the right to contact teachers, administrators, school board officials. That they should be going over their children’s homework, and know what is being taught.
With this kind of involvement, kids tend to do well regardless of the school environment, and if the environment is truly damaging physically, intellectually, emotionally or spiritually, the parents will feel more empowered to do something about it.
Starting out with “Homeschool or your children will rot in hell,” really only shuts people out and makes us all look like a bunch of unsocialized nuts.