When our family began homeschooling in 2008 I considered us fortunate to have a CHOICE in my children’s education. Had we left our then 8-year-old in her current school I think things would have been fine - not great, but fine.
Our reasons for abandoning the ideal of public school were many, but we didn’t feel an URGENCY to leave her current elementary school. In fact, we had waffled back and forth with our decision for over a year.
In the nearly fifteen years that have passed since then so much has changed in our world, and so much of what has been going on in public schools for many years is beginning to make its way onto the radar of the average American parent.
Parents - homeschooling is no longer an option, I believe it is a NECESSITY.
Some of you don’t want to hear this.
Some of you believe you have bought a home in the best school district and this protects your children. It doesn’t.
Some of you send your children to a “Christian” school and believe this protects your children. It doesn’t.
Some of you may find it easier to tell yourself “not at my child’s school”.
In truth, there are no guarantees when it comes to our children’s education.
And I know many of you will say “Well, not everyone can homeschool and not everyone SHOULD homeschool, either.” I don’t debate this statement. I’m not advocating for abolishing public schools or forcing people to homeschool, but I will ALWAYS advocate for those who are willing and able (which is many more people than you would think) to home-educate their children.
If you get anything out of this post, let it be this:
THE ONE WAY to control your children’s education and the influences they have in their formative years is to bring them home and educate them yourself! Stop complaining about your schools or turning your back on what is going on in them; educate your children yourself!
Schools Are NOT Built for Children
Schools are not built for the children who attend them. They are built for the adults who work in them. This is a simple fact I learned when I was working on my Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership and Administration. My favorite professor told us this often.
It’s sad, isn’t it?
This single fact should be enough to make you homeschool your children.
Schools are controlled by teachers’ unions, textbook companies, bureaucrats in state capitals who are far removed from the classroom, and a host of other entities.
Even your beloved private school has controlling interests - board politics, church politics, and more.
If you really look at them, schools are a sterile, unnatural place for any age child. Looking more like prisons than inspiring places of learning, it’s all about how we can move the most children as quietly and efficiently as possible throughout a system that cares NOTHING for them.
There is no better way to beat a love of learning and individuality out of a child than to stick them in a building, force them all to work towards the same objectives and underpay the well-meaning teachers who are supposed to make sense of the mess.
If 2020 taught working adults anything it was that they liked working at home! Don’t you think children would thrive better at home, too?
Parents, Put Your Children FIRST
Here’s something else you don’t want to hear: parents need to start putting their children first. It is NOT the government’s job to provide your children with an education. You did not give birth to a ward of the state.
Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school laws in 1852. New York followed the next year, and by 1918, all American children were required to attend at least elementary school. That means we are only ONE HUNDRED YEARS into this public education experiment, and it is NOT going well.
I recently created an Instagram reel - 4 things people assume about me as a homeschooling mom. It was quite popular because so many homeschool parents could relate. Current homeschooling parents aren’t superheroes, we aren’t independently wealthy, we aren’t gifted with tons of patience, and we don’t come with an encyclopedic knowledge of every single thing our children need to know.
What we DO have is a fervent desire to make our children’s education MATTER - and we’ve all decided to make the necessary sacrifices. We have found that by putting our children FIRST - and not considering them as a distraction or detour from our dreams or career - we are reaping a harvest and experiencing blessings beyond our wildest dreams.
We are living in an entitled world that wants to tell people (women especially!) that they can have it ALL - but I am here to tell you that our society is suffering because of that lie that has been perpetuated since the feminist movement took hold in our country.
Do You Want Conformists or World-Changers?
Home education is necessary because we need radical change.
Because of our reliance on public education, we are now seeing a society of people who are unable to think for themselves. We see people who can repost others’ opinions and who can support the latest causes without knowing how to articulate their OWN thoughts about them.
When I witnessed my daughter being “standardized” in the third grade I asked myself if that was all I wanted for her. Would my husband and I accept standards for her that were below her level of capability? Would it be best for her to go along with the masses through high school?
Or, did we want to educate her ourselves and nurture things like compassion, generosity, and selflessness - things that all run COUNTER to what traditional schools are about.
As we’ve watched both of our children move through their education at home, I can see young people that don’t care what others think of them, and young people who are willing to think FAR outside the box. They aren’t perfect, but at the end of the day, I can say that my husband and I did our level best to equip them for life.
We Must Fight For Beauty
Our children deserve a BEAUTIFUL education.
They deserve nature walks, slow mornings with beautiful books being read aloud to them, time to listen to and savor beautiful music and art, and abundant time and space to be immersed in the Word of God.
There is so much beauty in our world - beauty that is increasingly under attack. Or, beauty that goes unrecognized because so much time is spent focusing on evil.
“Children are often called our greatest resources as if they were deposits of tin. But a child is not (just as an adult is not) a level in an economic machine, a vehicle for commerce, a revenue source for the all-powerful state. He is a human being, made in the image and likeness of God - made, that is, for goodness and truth and beauty.” ~ Anthony Esolen
There simply isn’t the time to cultivate beauty in a traditional school environment. Cultivation of beauty requires relationship, time, and most importantly - faith in God who is the source of all beauty. God is under attack in our public schools.
Why in the world would we - as Christians, send our children into an institution that is fighting to EXCLUDE HIM?
Our Children Deserve to Be Safe
As saddened as I was by the recent school shooting in Texas, I wasn’t surprised. Unfortunately, schools have become targets in our fallen world.
I had just begun my teaching career when the Columbine shooting occurred - and it has seemed to escalate since then. One day in 2005 (the year we pulled my daughter out of public school) I was driving home from taking her to school. I was stopped by police at a roadblock in our area - they were searching for a fugitive on the loose. They had also locked down my daughter’s school for the remainder of the day.
I got home and wondered why in the WORLD I wasn’t homeschooling her? She could have been home with me. Safe. Learning.
If you feel like the public schools aren’t a safe place for your children I urge you to TAKE THEM OUT. Your children are only young once, and they don’t have time to wait for the adults “in charge” to fix the school safety problem.
