Are all parents who homeschool Christians?

My wife and I are. The 70's crowd seemed not to be so much. But seems more and more it is mainly Christians.

 

Dear Thankful,
It is hard to understand the way many are treated for doing what the Bible calls them to do. Many who are Christians feel that God has called them disciple and educate their children.

Because of this many people, including those who are closest to us do not understand what we are doing. Many in my family say and have said, "If public school was good enough for you why not your children?" Or they say, "What about soicalization?"

It has been frustrating when I have tried over and over to exlain what we are doing and why and the response is still very much the same.

And no, not all homeschoolers are Christians. Many homeschool simply for the academic benefits. I have met a few who homeschool simply so their children can excel academically.

 

Hmm. I went to college with a lot of homeschooled kids, and it seemed that most of them were non-Christian kids. That may not equate to non-Christian parents (and I know that for my best friend, it certainly doesn't), but it didn't seem that most of these kids came from Christian homes. A lot of them had aging hippie parents (come on, it was a Quaker school!), and still others just lived in areas with not-so-good public or private schools.

But that's just my experience. I'm sure parents that actually homeschool and keep up with these sorts of things would know better.

 

My last years of teaching were partly concerned with the charter school at our county which works with homeschool families, teaching courses the families don't feel qualified to teach, etc. About 400 families were involved as I recall, and only about half were homeschooling for religious reasons (and not all of them were Christian). Major reasons for homeschooling here was to improve the education their children would be getting in the public school situation.

 

Funny you asked this question. Today at the store, I asked that lady who is always at the store, when she should be teaching something....was she doing this for religious reasons? or because the Lord lead her? and what Church does she attend? She does not attend any church.

Her reason was, she was against the local government, and the people serving on the board of education. She did not vote for them, and so her daughters would not be going to Public School. She said it had nothing to do with how she believed in Jesus Christ, or any of those reasons.

It seemed she was related to someone who was the Mayor here, at one time, and when he got beat out, they were determined they were not going to patronize our town. She was right about one thing...where I live..the county is under investigation for taking children out of their homes, while at school, and placing them in Foster care. That was an issue for her. And it was a total correct issue. We are number one in MO, for more kids being taken away from there parents.

Wonder why they just did not move? Ok I did really ask. She said all their family property was here. She could not sell it.

While she was trying to convince me to home school, I was fortunate to talk to her about the Lord and invite her to my church. She said she was going to come, and in exchange she would bring me some homeschooling numbers to call. So I compromised.

But my kids will be staying in the Public Schools.

Sherrie

[ May 06, 2003, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: Sherrie ]

 

A child needs to learn to break from Mom's apron strings and they won't learn that by staying at home with Mom or staying in such a controlled environment. While some of the public schools are awful, I still think that a lot of kids would fare better either in a Christian school or some other alternative school. In our state we have some schools called Montessori Schools which allow kids to learn at their "own" rate. It may cost a little more to send your child there, but having that interaction with other kids and other adults is very valuable. And I do believe that many of the families who home-school in our community do not have the credentials or the ability to home-school adequately. At least not from what I've seen.

It also greatly disturbs me when I see one church in particular that seems to instigate the home-schooling experience. That is what I saw happen at my former church some years ago and I can't say that I believed that was a good thing.

 

Thankful, not all homeschooling families are Christians. There are even WICCANS who homeschool, believe it or not!

As for folks sayin' that public school teachers are not Christian, well we all know that there are indeed some who are and some who are not. It is wrong to indicate otherwise.

Concerning our response to what our families will think of us, well, it IS our family and it is heart-wrenching to be treated badly by the people you love because of a personal decision. Now, personally, I try not to let it get me down or sway my decision or even allow their disapproval to cause me to question my decision, but some face much persecution by their families.

Julia

 

HI Betty, Nope. In fact, this article, which I've linked to earlier, talks about homosexual couples who home school.

I DO NOT home school for religious reasons or because I have problems with our goverment. I chose my home school material to not have too much biblical reference so as not to 'burn out' the child. Our local school system and Georgia in general is awful. I home school because I want Nick to have a well rounded and good education.


http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010827/cover.html

 

Stubborn Kelly,
You mentioned that your best friend was homeschooled and is from a Christian home. And now she is not a Christian. Why do you think she is not born again? I am wondering because for us it is very important that we pass down our faith. So, I want to know what to avoid.


Thankful,
Just today I had another "discussion," with my mother. My mother is not saved and she seems to hate the fact that I homeschool. I think she also hates it that I am a stay at home mother. She is very feminist.
Anyway, I called her to tell that one of grandchildren just won a poetry contest. Instead of her acting happy she began to tell me about the contests that I won when I was a child.


Then she tells me the public schools in her area gave surprise tests for all of the students and most did failed them. Then she tells me that some are taking their children out and putting them in private schools because of this. No mention of homeschooling. Of course the media tries to avoid homeschooling, in my understanding. And she seems to get her theology from television.

Then she says the public schools are doing better than a few years ago.

It hurts, yes it does. I cannot even have a conversation with my own mother about our homeschool. But, I have learned that I cannot impress everyone. And I certainly cannot get everyones approval. It would be nice if she approved of it one day.

I feel that no matter how well my children do I will always be a failure in her eyes for staying home and giving up my career.

[ May 06, 2003, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: Headcoveredlady ]

 

Stubborn Kelly, I went to Bessie Tift Baptist Women's College and learned what a homosexual was while there. What a shock! I began to wonder if many of the girls in my dorm were sent to a Christian college to try and keep them out of trouble!

Hubby went to Ottawa Baptist University in Kansas and was corrupted by a girl there.

Gina, my mother was shocked and upset when she found out we were going to adopt Nick. She didn't want me to 'ruin the rest of my life taking care of a child'. She was upset when she found out we had chosen to home school. NOW she brags about our home schooling and has read lots of articles on how well h/s kids are doing.

Diane

 

Hi, HCL! My friend was homeschooled by her mother from when she was little, as I understand it. She attended some public high school classes, and did spend her senior year in public school (moved from her mother's house to her dad's, and he worked full time). She was raised in a Baptist church, is to this day very well versed in Scripture and studies theology and thealogy as a hobby. But she is not a Christian.

I don't know that it was one thing or another that led her to the path she currently takes. Her mother was very isolationist, I do know that, and kicked her out of the house when she was 16, because she was reading science fiction. But she was not Christian at that time, either. Maybe it's backlash against her mother (her father's not Christian, and he's the parent she's closest to), I don't know.

It's funny - the people I know who have turned from Christ are among the best Bible scholars I personally know - and most were before they turned from Christ.

Diane, I think there's something to that concept. A lot of the kids in my church's school were . . . unruly to say the least. It's not the rule, certainly, but it does seem that a lot of non-Christian parents send their trouble kids to Christian school for disciplinary reasons. It used to be a trend in Catholic schools, but has spread beyond, I think. Just for anyone who might want to pick that apart, I'll say again it's certainly not the rule.

My college, though, was a haven for those of us who never "fit in." It was fabulous.

 

HCL....I am very proud of your child who won the contest. I feel so sad inside for you. I know what it means to try and get some sort of approval from your mother. Mine dumped me at 4. and I was in younger years always looking for her approval.

I may not always agree with you, but when it comes down to brass tax, we both believe in the same God, the same Jesus Christ, and we both help make up the body.

Please know my heart is very sadden for you, and I am truly excited and proud your child won a poetry contest. And it was because you taught your child.

HUGS!
God Bless
Sherrie

 

There's a family in my local Esperanto Society who homeschool their daughter, and while I'm don't think they're Wiccans, I'm pretty sure they would describe themselves as Pagans of some sort. Their daughter's name is Çravixtha, which is of Sanskrit provenance, but I don't think they're Hindus. I very much doubt that they homeschool primarily for religious reasons.

FWIW, they are planning to attend my wedding in August at Japanese Baptist; so whatever their belief system (if any) it must not be of the dogmatic "wouldn't set foot in a church if my life depended on it" school. Be interesting to see if any collateral evangelism results.

Haruo

 

Sherrie,
You have no idea how much your words meant to me, thank you so much.