Against Homeschooling?

oh, and my kids go to the school where I teach. It works really well for us. I will not send them to the public school in our town. A first grader came to church last year telling about some sexual stuff that went on on the bus the Fri before and he knew what it was.

Yes, we are to be salt and light, and I want my kids to be that. But they are not equipped yet.

If I could not teach where I do, I would home school.


Gracious,TinyTim. Thats horrible. I hope something was done about that.

 

Prayers have been offered on your behalf brother. Both that you can fix this situation and that you can maintain your testimony while doing so. I would hate to have to maintain my temper if that was happening to my child. My God give you the temperament to deal with the situation. Please let us know how this works out.

Every time I consider mainstreaming mine I hear a story like this.

 

Thanks you all. We went there, talked to the assistant principal, I brought my son in, and he brought his artwork in. The assistant principal pulled the other boy in to face us, but nothing could be done, since there was no eye witnesses that he had done it.

He said he didn't draw the picture, so it was my son's word against his.

So I don't know if anything was really accomplished.

I think everyone in the room KNEW he done it, we just couldn't prove it.

But the Assistant Principal lectured him for about 15 minutes in front of us about his behavior.

To tell you the truth, I really felt sorry for the boy. I have a sneakin suspicion he is neglected at home, he had bruises on his arms that he says he got from "falling down" . His clothes were shabby, and hair oily.

So I am at a loss for an explanation... As a father I was angry... as a Christian I felt sorry for him.

 

Tim:

As a father my heart goes out to you. You have to protect your own child first but you also see the needs in the other boy. My prayer is that through your son this other boy can be helped. What a learning opportunity you have in front of you. Regardless of the final outcome I think your son is growing fast right now.

 

I agree, Don. And praying for your son's situation now, Tim -- my family has been there. I hear what you're saying too, Tater. We've experienced the same. I learned so much teaching children in past years. Even having my own children, I think I learned more about life those years. My kids are sheltered, very sheltered. I got and ear/eye full teaching other children.

There are many variables in deciding upon public or home schooling. We live in a small town and don't see most of what's been mentioned ... and we thank the good Lord for it. My husband and I have lived here all our lives, went through the same public school systems so had some idea of what to expect. Many, many variables when considering your children's schooling needs ...

 

Actually, it is quite normal. Moral? No. Normal? Yes.

 

Perhaps I should have used the word "acceptable"

 

The same can be said of a home school environment. In both situations, it depends on whether or not the parents are believers ...

 

My wife and I have chosen to homeschool our son. For us, this is the right decision.

I have heard the argument that when Christians abandon the public sytem that we are turning it over to the world and that the schools need the Christian kids to stay there and be witnesses for the Lord.

I dont know about your pre-schooler, but I think mine is not ready to be sent off to school so he can be some sort of missionary. When a 5 year old is read a book called "Heather Has Two Mommies", he is easily influenced by the context, especially when it is presented by a teacher that he is taught to respect.

As far as the "socializing" argument, he has plenty of friends at church and is encouraged to play sports and other social activities, we just feel that we should dictate what he is taught.

AJ

 

Absolutely, PJ. To say that somehow parents of children taught in public school have somehow less influence on their child's moral compass is absolutely wrong.

love,

Sopranette

 

How can you possibly have the same influence on your child when you allow strangers to educate him/her?

Unless you go to school with your child, you cant stop the immoral influence that teachers with agendas are imposing on our kids. True, you can teach good morals when they are at home, but you have no control over what they are taught when they get to school.

I recently saw a story from somewhere in New England where several parents of kindergardners and 1st graders were with holding their children from school because of some curriculim promoting a homosexual agenda. The parents were being prosecuted. The school district is not going to back down, they believe they know what is better for you child than you do.

No, you cant possibly have as much influence on your child's moral compass if you let strangers teach your child

AJ

 

Not only am I my own children's most important influence, I also have a say in what they are taught in school. Every parent does. You think I just send them off to school and not keep track of every thing that goes on in their day? I did choose this neighborhood and this school for a reason, and it was a very good choice. Besides, the answer is not to seclude them from the world, but teach them how to work in the world. Every child needs to know this. And my children can influence others in their schools, as well.

love,

Sopranette

 

You're making assumptions that aren't yours to make.

• Not all teachers are "strangers." In many communities (particularly smaller ones), the teachers are friends of the family. My son has yet to have someone other than a member of our church teach him.
• You're assuming that all public schools on the globe push the same agenda. Not all are cut out the same.
• Priesthood of the believer, baby. (said in rbell's best "Kojak" imitation )...if a parent seeks God, I believe He will guide them as to the best way to educate their kid. Ultimately, the first line of "defense" if you will is the God-given role of the parent. The church should not be telling parents, "You have to educate your kids in this way, or you're not right with God." Now, you weren't doing that...but this point should always be in our minds & thoughts, IMO.

 

I get the feeling that people often see homeschooling as an either-or issue. Why not teach your children at home and send them to school too? That is what my parents did. We did that with our daughter. She will soon graduate with a 3.95 GPA and scored a 31 on the ACT. By the end of kindergarten she was writing in paragraphs.

I grew up on a dairy farm and worked about 6 hours each day and went to school too. I will soon finish a doctoral program. If kids do not have at least 4 hours of homework each night then they have a lot of idle time.

I once taught high school and now at a university. I see the real story.

Parents need to be the parents not a friend. Too many parents do not parent their children. Too many babies and complainers are raising children to be children just like themselves. They need to quit complaining and get to work taking full responsibility for their children's training and education. "The apple does not fall far from the tree."
Seldom have I seen a teacher's children get into trouble. Most troublemakers come from the homes of those who do not care much.

Bill Cosby is right. Parents need to step up to the plate and be parents.

A lazy society, lazy teachers, and lazy parents breed lazy children. Its really quite that simple. Children see the example of their parents much more loudly than what they hear. When parents complain about education their children do not value education and see little importance in it.

 

Private schools are not as isolated from these issues as some would have us to believe. I went to a Christian private school in high school, my best friend in that school was one of the biggest drug dealers in the city. So don’t think that because it is private or even Christian that the same things that go on in public schools do not go on there. When I left that school and moved to a public school, that was where I started seeing real Christ like teens. But I also know my case may not be typical of all private schools.

My point is simple, public schools, private schools, home school what ever, and if a parent is not invested in their kids their education suffers.

I talk with my kids every day about what went on during their time at school. When my daughter had a teacher try and teach her evolution, we talked and then she stood up for creation the next time he tried. Did he influence her in this case? Sure he did, he influenced her to be strong in her faith no matter who it is. When there was a practicing homosexual on campus, we talked about the sin and an appropriate response to sin in general. Did this influence her? Sure it did. It influenced her to go to the sister of this person when everyone else shunned her or was making fun of her, my daughter stood by her and displayed the love of Christ for all to see.

I could go on and on and not just about my daughter but others who stand up for what is Godly. I am not a parenting guru. All I know about it I have learned from my kids. We talk about right and wrong and how to respond when someone else is doing something right or wrong, and this seems to work.
Last night my daughter was on the computer and received and email that said if you love Jesus then forward this email to ten people, if you are ashamed of Jesus then delete it. My daughter wrote to not only the person who sent it to her but responded to all the emails attached to it and said I do not show that I love Jesus by sending emails I show people that I love Jesus or that I am ashamed of Him by how I live everyday.

I feel better knowing there are teens like my daughter out there in the world taking a stand in the schools and not just in church on Sunday.

 

Sorry this turned into a treatise, which I had not intended in the beginning. As some of you know this is one of my failings.

I agree with you on home schooling, which I was not, nor my children, but familiar with parents that did and do, as well as children. I would put no limitations on home schooling, but bringing in "professional tutoring" for some could be required (blind, deaf, etc).

Our public school system today is one big "boon doggle", and a place for the State, and US Government to teach you all they know (God help us). They want our very young children to know all about sex, how to perform same, and not only tell, but show (starts in elementary now) them how to use condoms, and speak to "pills" so not to get pregnant.

As I see it the greatest draw back to "home schooling" today is Sports. As to socialization, they get this at the church, neighbors and such. They may be considered "naive" when they emerge into the world, but this "naivety " also has its effect on the world.

In most classes teachers can no longer control their classes as everybody has their rights, regardless of rights of others by those that demand their rights that override rights of all others. At one time in our schools there was Right, and there was Wrong, and if Wrong was done there were consequences. There are few instances today that punitive corrective action can be taken in our public schools. Are there exceptions - of course?

As to learning (High school in my area) only four schools graded over 70 (passing in my day) in math out of twenty-six schools. In the sciences only three out of twenty six. Speak-a-the English did much better; twenty of twenty-six schools had a passing grade. This to me speaks volumes as to the failure of the Public School system in our country. I don't believe anyone can say "Home Schooling" could not do as good, or better.

I do not live in a "backward, or uneducated" City, but one that is considered "sophisticated, talented, and upscale." Yet the diversity of inhabitants does not live up to those levels. I believe all Cities to be the same, regardless of how they are known. Much of this, I believe has to do with our "Public School System".

There are many "good and acceptable students" coming out of our public school systems that are acceptable to the world today. But is their thinking, their ways, and their habits of over indolence in eating, drinking, drugs, and sex acceptable to we Christians, or to our world of sixty years ago. The transformation has been slow and steady. I personally believe the United States of America is teetering at this point. I hope this means the "rapture" is near, for the world is becoming ripe for the anti-christ to be accepted by the World.

Our children are our children, and while they, and we, are subject to laws of our Government, and State, I don't believe this USofA has yet made it Law that the Government has now declared all children to be "wards of the State". Until this happens, and I can't say it never will, the parents have the say so of how to raise their children. If some of those Home Schooled are considered "under educated", then they can take their place beside those in the public schools that are also "under educated". Regardless whether genius or idiot, each will rise to the level of their competence, whether in Public, Private, or Home school. We still have Freedom of Choice where to guide our future genius' or idiot's.

However with all of our "blustering and soap box speeches, we are told "For ye have the poor always with you"

 

There are good and bad home schools.
There are good and bad public schools.
There are good and bad private schools.

I'm not against home schooling but I would put it as the last option for my daughter of the above three, even with a wife who went to teacher's college and myself who has had formal teacher training and practice.

There are a few reasons some already mentioned.

1) Socialisation
While some say public school socialisation is something they want to protect their child from. I want to be a parent who prepares my daughter for the dangers of the social world around them so that they will know and be prepared to do the right thing when faced with those same dangers when she is no longer under my guardianship. I believe school socialisation is part of that preparation. Some home schools manage to incorporate more socialisation then others.

2) Quality of education and diversity of teaching strategies
I believe that my wife and I could make great teachers for our daughter in our fields of expertise. But we wouldn't be able to provide for her what a well-trained teacher in other topics can and we only know how to teach our way. The reality is that she will need to be able to learn from a variety of teachers and teaching styles when she leaves my home. Some home schools to manage to incorporate specialist teachers for more difficult topics to compensate for this.

3) Handling the diversity of ideas
Some folks choose home schooling to protect their children from ideas that disagree with their personal philosophy such as sexuality and evolution. I want to raise a daughter that has her own set of ideas and a mind that is able to critically analyze the pros and cons of any ideas that she faces from any source, including myself. Part of that is to have her ideas or the ideas she recieved from her parents challenged by opposing ideas and seeing if they can stand up to scrutiny. Some home schools are able to incorporate exercises to develop critical thinking of a diversity of ideas.

4) To be a salt and light in the world
I think separating my child from the secular world prevents her from practicing what it is like to be a follower of Christ in a world that does not know Him. It prevents her from positively influencing the secular world with the good news of the gospel to others who need to hear.

I recognize that for some families, homeschooling is the best option out of the three mentioned above. Some of my relatives homeschool their children with varied levels of success. However, that option is my last option for the reasons above.

 

What Gold Dragon, you don't think you're capable of teaching a diversity of ideas at home? You think that somehow she'll miss an idea that's being thrown out there? You must not have cable!

Seriously, there isn't much in the way of "other" ideas that my kids haven't gotten off the TV. Discovery channel does a very good job with evolution along with Animal Planet and the Science channel. Alternate lifestyles? Well, you don't have to look very far in our community to find those. We have the drug lifestyle, the gamblers (thanks to now rampant "bingo halls" that are nothing more than slots in disguise), those who shack, homosexuals, you name it, it exists in full living color in our rather small town. My kids don't have to go to public school to be exposed.

That said, I have one homeschooler and two public schoolers. If I had only known how wonderful homeschooling was before I was forced into it, my eldest would never have experienced the drama that goes on in middle school. Ideas and lifestyles are nothing! Attitude and drama are much more difficult to deal with cause you can't smack someone else's kids (for foul language, sexual innuendos, plain smart aleckness) and you can't pull out the what little is left of the teachers' hair because they've resorted to intimidation and humiliation techniques to control little cretins.

Health reasons may have forced us into homeschooling, but middle school will keep us doing this for the next few years.

Someone mentioned lack of sports as a drawback to homeschooling. I haven't found that to be a problem. We as a family participate in Tae Kwon Do. Our local Park and Rec sponsers just about every sport under the sun in season. Our church does an Upward Basketball league for kids up to 12. My daughter (who'll most likely start homeschooling next year) participates in a "travel ball" fast pitch softball team and travels around competing against teams from around the northern half or so of the state. There are soccar teams available that do the similar type thing. There are dance schools, team gymnastics, team cheering all sorts of stuff available.

Socialization? So far we haven't lost anything but the drama. Our church is located a couple of blocks from the middle school our son would have attended. After school about 50 or so of the kids come play in our family life center until their parents get off work. A couple of afternoons a week we drop in and stay for a while. He socializes while I sew with some of the church ladies. Makes us both happy.

But, a person has to be committed to homeschool. It's very easy to say, "lets take the day off. We'll catch up tomorrow" and not catch up tomorrow.

 

Down Under, cable costs double what it does in North America and gives you maybe 10 more channels than the 4 free broadcast channels. Australia does not have a TV culture so we aren't getting cable for the next few years out here. When we get back to Canada, I don't think my wife will be able to survive without the Food Network.

We are also hoping to minimize television exposure to our daughter, not because of exposure of ideas, but for health, lifestyle and developmental reasons. It is going to be more work for us to entertain her, but hopefully it will pay dividends down the road with improved attention, fitness and creativity.

I also think that the unidirectional medium of television is not a substitute for a critical dialogue of issues that occurred in my public school education. I'm sure many homeschools do manage something similar.