Why I Homeschool, Part 2

My first post on the subject dealt primarily with the biblical reasons that homeschooling is right for my family. And while that certainly should be enough (and it is), I'll go into some of the other reasons I mentioned were "piling up".


First, I love America. But more than that, I love the freedoms that America was based on. And today's America is daily eroding those freedoms. The less dominion the government has over my family, the better. If my child is in a public school, and there is some perceived threat (psycho with weaponry, bomb scare, polio outbreak, whatever), the school/state/government has every right to lock that place down and deal with the threat. Why? Because that is their dominion. They have a responsibility to steward that which they have dominion over. My values happen to be at odds with their ways of stewardship. Say some outbreak of a vaccine-preventable-illness breaks out; suddenly they have every right to keep my child under quarantine for as many days or weeks as necessary if their immunization record is even a day out-of-date. They try that and I become the psycho with weaponry. :)

I have come to the conclusion that godliness is more important than academics. I don't mean "character" that has come to have almost idol-status in some homeschooling circles, but true Christ-likeness. While it's not an either/or choice, I believe it would be better to see my son grow up to be a wage-earning ditch-digger who loves his family and pursues God wholeheartedly than a very successful engineer or something who is too caught up in his life to bother with pursuing God. That said, I think homeschool is the best place to foster that value. Please note, I am certainly not saying that public school is the place to learn academics. Certainly not, as the statistics prove. America's children fall further and further behind their foreign counterparts, and indeed, the younger children are when they are placed in school, the worse off they are in the long term, academically and otherwise. Academic and social success is actually greater when children's placement in schools is delayed. Hmm.. So they do better at home with Mama? What a shock. Public school curriculum is chosen to be essentially amoral. Not moral or immoral, but without any moral emphasis. There may be subjects taught with some leaning towards "citizenship," but that of course is something to benefit 'the community', i.e. the State. We can publicly educate about sex (after all, parents can't be trusted to inform their children!), but we dare not step on any toes and discuss the proper boundaries of such. And how could they ever become well-rounded adults without learning condom-application techniques on various fruits or vegetables! We won't even discuss the now-taught 'acceptable' lifestyle alternatives. I'm coming to the stance that there is no 'amoral'. Nothing is entirely neutral. Either it edifies or it doesn't. We have a limited amount of time on this earth, even more limited with what we put into (or allow to be put into) our children. At the very least, we will answer for the time spent in things which don't edify. And of course, we will have built that much less when the time is up.

What about public-education via computer? A reader wants to know. I wish I had more to say about it. I'm just really not sure. A year ago I thought it would be awesome: Free for one. Organized and put-together for another. For my family, for now, I choose not. Obviously it has the distinct advantage of avoiding many of the influences of peers and even teachers. The next hostage situation across the street from the local elementary school will not (hopefully) be a huge problem for your family or their safety. The disadvantages, in my mind, are in handing over that portion of dominion to the state. Because they are given dominion, they now have the responsibility to oversee and perhaps make decisions for your student. The conspiracy theorist in me doesn't want that. However, much the way I must now prayerfully evaluate and decide the style and all subject material for my children, each family must as prayerfully evaluate if God would have the public-at-home plan for them. Please don't think that because it's all organized and scheduled that the decision-making will be easier. For me, right now, that's one of the hardest things. It's much easier to sit down at a table and be served whatever the chef decides than to select from a menu, but don't for a minute believe that you don't have the responsibility of determining whether or not that meal is appropriate for your body! You will reap the benefits or problems, regardless.

Many Christians believe that once their child is a teen, they need to be in public school for both the more rigorous academics (which we already discussed the fallacy of) and because the 'foundation is laid' they can now be 'salt and light' in the world. Would anyone in their right mind classify a teenager as one who is mature, responsible, and spiritual enough to 'salt-ify and make bright' their public school classroom? Think for a moment how many stories you've heard (or someone you know) about an amazing Christian homeschooled teen totally transforming their classroom or school, bringing glory to God and leading their peers to Christ? Now think for a moment of the stories you've heard (or people you've known) of a christian homeschooled teen getting a little taste of what's out there and falling into it? Pretty soon you can't tell the difference between the "Christian" one and the "ungodly" ones. Just because my peppers had several sets of leaves didn't mean they could withstand the windstorm a while ago. They were demolished.

So why not Christian Education? Aside from what I see as the biblical mandates for me, a Christian school is often far from what one might truly want for one's children. Oftentimes (not always), parents use the Christian school as their easy-out for bringing up their kids 'the right way.' That results in a good portion of the Christian school students being from families that aren't taking the primary role in their children's lives. Too, you have the 'concerned, but not enough' parents thinking if they take their troubled child from the public school environment, and put him in one where prayer isn't illegal and skirts are knee-length, that he will somehow be changed. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, says Proverbs, and until the heart is dealt with, those troubles will persist. Even Christian schools aren't called to caretake our children's hearts. And if you let them, all the more shame on you.

The preschool where I took my daughter for a few months was a really amazing school. They offer through 8th grade and have been there for 90 or 95 years, consistently. But even in my brief encounters picking her up or dropping her off, I saw things I don't want for my child. Again, that is subjective, I guess. One family will be happy if their kids just manage to stay out of jail. Others are satisfied if their kids don't do drugs, or don't get knocked up before marriage, or graduate from college. ...I gotta say, we haven't put together our goals for our children yet, but they're going to be pretty lofty. To me, it's "why settle?"

Yesterday we had some friends stop by for a few minutes. They were discussing their plan to put their 4 year old in a Christian school this fall. I wasn't in the room entirely, so I didn't hear all of it, but all 3 of the adults in the conversation shared about how they "were homeschooled and hated it." One didn't mind the early years, but being at home alone all through high school was terrible for her. Another hated it until high school, when her parents allowed her to join a youth group and get a job, thus making friends. I didn't hear the reasoning of the man in the group. This saddens me terribly. I firmly believe homeschool is by far the way God intended it. Obviously, though, it can be done poorly. I HATE seeing these things, because it then leads me to try to determine "why," and I fear stepping into judgment. However, I did NOT have the privilege of being homeschooled, so I can only look to others. In the first case I'd think perhaps the family, though homeschooling, wasn't involved with their student as much as she needed. Was the family building positive relationships with others? Were they serving their neighbors or community as a family unit? I really don't know. For me, I know that's something I'm working on; our extended-family is involved with each other, but most of us are not much involved with our neighbors or community at large. In the second situation, again it's too bad that relationships were lacking to the point that need was so acute.

I am a person that likes a 'checklist' to fulfill in order that the ultimate goal is reached. "If I just do x, y, z, then I will have 1, 2, 3." Homeschooling in itself is obviously not a cure-all. The cure-all is Christ, always seeking His will, working out our salvation daily. Homeschooling, discipline, character-education, even church - done without prayerfully submitting any of it to Him is building with the wrong materials. Wood, hay, and stubble will be burned to ash in the fire. Our job as parents (as Christians!) is to be building with gold, silver, and precious stones, that are not consumed in the end.