Considering Homeschooling

Why You Should Care About Home Schooling

by Joel Thornton

The short answer is that at its core, the right of parents to educate their children is a religious freedom issue.

Most people get lost in their personal feelings about home school when we discuss the issue of home schooling in Germany. It is easy to do. It is likely that we all know a home school family and we either think they are doing a good job or that they are not doing what they should for their families.

It is important, however, that we find a way to put aside our personal feelings about home schooling when we look at the international movement. I believe that one of the most important requirements of a Christian is to raise their children

in the fear of the Lord. We have a great moral responsibility with our children. If they are lost there is little hope for the coming generations.

Many school systems in America and abroad are becoming more secular and more hostile to the Christian faith. This hostility is played out in a number of ways. It might be a resistance to any type of Christian faith being shared amongst students. It might also be a curriculum based not just on a lack of faith, but on a hostility to faith.

Modern man is turning further and further from God. The public education system is beholden to the government. Governments around the world are moving further and further away from any foundation of Christian faith. This means that their school systems will, by design and involuntarily, move further from any foundation of Christian faith.

We first saw this in America with the debate over the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The original request by the evolutionists was to grant them equal access to the students on their theories. They turned equal access into access only for evolution. The system that now exists is one that denies any belief in God.

The fight that is accruing in courtrooms around the country is a battle to keep out the simple belief that maybe, just maybe, there is a creator of some type who moved the process of evolution along. Even this is unacceptable to evolutionists.

Many schools are also teaching sex education from a purely secular point of view. This means that any teaching regarding abstinence is not allowed, as this is considered an antiquated religious view of sexual education.

Then there is a lot of new age religious teaching. It might be a teaching regarding spiritual matters without a Christian base -- something as simple as controlling the environment in a room by the proper placement of the furniture. Now, I believe the furniture should be arranged properly, but that does not add a spiritual power to the room. It could be teaching regarding other occultist beliefs that might seem harmless to some.

In America we have the ability to opt our children out of these questionable teaching sessions. In Europe most schools do not allow the parents to opt out their children from questionable teaching that contradicts the core beliefs of the family. There is a belief that the children belong to the State when they come onto school property and the parents do not have any right to question the educational choices of the State.

There is something going on here that is much deeper than merely home schooling. Most of the home school families I know in Europe and in America are home schooling because of a sincerely-held religious belief. They believe God has ordained for them to teach their own children.

As to that end, the German Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights both give parents the right to control the education of their children.

So you see, the education of children is a parental right that is often guaranteed by governments. This battle is not merely about home schooling, it goes much deeper than that. The battle is over whether the State or the family has the right to determine what the children will be taught. At its core the question is are children wards of the state, or wards of their parents.

It is a much deeper right than merely the right to educate.

It is a right that goes to the very right of parents to train their children in the ways they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it.

Are You Trained

to Be a Homeschool Mama?

Considering homeschooling? Get ready for a wild ride!

I remember attending public school as a kid. Honestly, I was bored silly. We all had to do the same things. We all ate lunch at the same time, hungry or not. We all flopped down on our mats, closed our eyes tightly, and tried to nap, sleepy or not. We all dabbed white glue on our popcorn and stuck it to our "sheep art thing" we all did. We all learned from the same lesson plans. We were all presented with the same material, and subsequently, we all asked the same basic questions. Then, year after year, we all moved on to the next "level."

When I would arrive home at night, I pretty much kept to myself. I was loaded up with enough homework to keep me occupied for hours, and my parents and siblings were not high on my "to do" list. They were not my top priority; school had to be. Plenty of times I was so exhausted at the end of the day--yet not finished with all of my assignments--I would let myself just doze until 4 or 5 A.M., and then drag myself out of bed to finish everything before trotting off to school to repeat the cycle. I felt like a sheep. Baaa-aaaah; better hurry, the bell's about to ring . . . again.

That is not the school life I want to give my own children. I don't want to have them gone all day only for them to come home and keep their distance from us. Why have kids? So we decided to homeschool. Then they turned five. Now what? I was not trained to be a homeschool mama. Who is? But hey, it's fun. I like having my kids with me, and they are learning! However, I must say, it's all the questions that drive me batty.

A question here, a comment there--this is fine; don't get me wrong. But imagine the never-ending question. The answer that just won't satisfy. The conversation that has no finale. One of my sons in particular has questions for me that he fires from a vocal cannon, which once loaded, can discharge for hours. When they begin to flow, my eyeballs start twitching. My hands sweat and my hair rises. Hide me. This boy (we have three) has asked us the oddest things (and I paraphrase, below) since the day he could talk. He somehow learned to chatter early, and quite well--definitely before I was ready.

Once, he spotted a spider in the upper left corner of our hallway and set out to explain to any soul who would listen, in his 2-year-old voice (and logic), that the spider was crying. How he came to that conclusion, I'll never know. The spider wasn't making a sound! Every time he saw any little eight-legger from that point on, he jumped up and down and exclaimed, "Pider cwying. Pider cwyyyying!" Our homeschooling adventure with him had begun!

I should have known that the wacky questions from my little fireball of energy would follow. Many of you, with your own kiddos, can relate, I'm sure. My son has an imagination that will not stop:

Age 2:

"Mommy, do chickens eat cookies?"

"Ummm . . . no. I don't believe they do."

"Why not?"

"Well, they were not made to eat cookies. The opportunity doesn't often present itself, I guess."

"Yes, but do chickens have lips?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake. No, they have a beak. Hey, look, we're almost at the park. Do you have your water bottle?"

"I want to be a race car when I grow up. Can I?"

"You can drive a race car, perhaps, but no, really you can't become one. You are a human being."

"But I want to be a race car."

"Son, you're 2 years old. Give your career goals some TIME. Oh, look! There's the park."

Conversations with a 9-year-old can be just as offbeat. Like the time this same funny boy came to me extremely concerned that our dog, Liesel, possibly thought that he was just a fellow canine:

He said, "But Mom, how do you know that she knows I'm a person? Maybe she thinks I am another dog. I don't want her to think I'm like the other dogs around here. I'm really human. Do you think she knows?"

"Yes, Son, she knows."

"But how do you know that she knows? She can't see herself, so she may not know what she is, or what I am."

"Trust me. She knows that she's a dog and you are a boy. A human boy."

"But how do you know that?"

"I just do. She is quite aware that you are NOT a dog like her."

"How can you be sure?"

"Go clean your room."

Years later . . .

"Can my hen climb down a tree?"

"No, that would be impossible."

"I put her up there and she's cackling."

"What on earth . . . how high?"

"Really high."

"Which tree?"

"You know . . . that pine tree out front. And the rooster is at the bottom all nervous."

"Well, I'd be, too, if my spouse were trapped in a tree! Go get her down!"

Now that he is older, the questions aren't so unbaked. Instead, they're really intense. Lately I hear myself saying, "Go ask Dad. That's a 'dad' question." I don't remember being this inquisitive in school. Nor do I recall my friends with imaginations like his. And it's not just my family. This "ever-curiousness" seems to be somewhat the norm in homeschool families. The kids are hanging out with their parents, so they ask grown-up questions earlier. They are afforded individual attention, so their time is better spent learning. They get enough sleep, avoid threats from bullies (usually, anyway), and can relax. They have the freedom to learn without worry of peers, worry of teachers, and worry of what's to come.

A homeschool house does not have a "sheep mentality." It's a living, breathing "think tank" that will challenge you in more ways than you can imagine. And across the board, homeschooled students carry on very well; you know this. And while I was not trained to be a homeschool mama, my kids are being trained to be homeschool mamas and papas. They'll do it even better than we are!

Keep up the good work, and when you are at times tempted to rip out your hair, or if you are afraid of the upcoming "school years," remember that your little talker will someday be a brainy adult . . . an independent thinker who will make a positive societal impact. To be sure, you are giving him an opportunity that is unmatched.