About
Our "Shining Star" homeschool, Philip. 2:14,15
Who am I? And what right do I have to tell you to take your children out of public school?
I have a degree in Computer Science and have worked in computers most of my life as a programmer, web designer, and instructor at the community college level, however my most significant accomplishment has been homeschooling my three daughters. Two of my daughters have graduated and my third will graduate in 2011.
When my oldest was 2, I began to consider educational options for her. As a product of a public high school in the 1970’s, I knew without a doubt I didn’t want my daughter exposed to that kind of environment. At that time I had never heard of homeschooling (home education). Believing that a Christian school was my only alternative, I started investigating the local options.
My oldest daughter attended a Christian school for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. Although the atmosphere was much better than a public school, some of the same problems existed. My daughter happened to be very advanced, reading at about a 3rd grade level in kindergarten. With a class of 20 children, the teacher had to focus her lessons on the middle of the pack. As a result the instruction was too fast for some and for others, like my daughter, it was far too slow. There were also disciplinary problems with some children who continually disrupted the class. Some days my daughter would come home in tears from being teased by classmates. My illusion that a Christian school would be “perfect” was unraveling and I began to wonder why we were paying so much money when my daughter wasn’t being taught anything.
It was around that time that God brought a homeschooling family into our lives. I was amazed to hear that teaching your children at home was a legal and viable option. I spent many hours discussing home education with this mother (who seemed like a saint to me). We attended a homeschool conference together and I began to read extensively about the subject. God had convinced me that this was the path to take.
My Shining Stars, mostly grown up!
We started homeschooling in 1994 and have never looked back or questioned that decision. It is a very freeing experience to be in charge of your children’s education and not under the rule of the school system.
Someone once said that children were not meant to be raised in herds. God has entrusted each of our children to us to raise for His glory and His purposes. I pray that you will not turn them over to a system that has removed all references to our Creator.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
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Great website!
As a retired public school teacher I am convinced that our only hope is to rescue our children from the public (government) schools and raise a godly generation. Please see “Call to Dunkirk” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRGZLSVph3A. Public schools cannot be redeemed. Saying we should not abandon them is like saying the passengers of the Titanic should have stayed aboard because the band was playing good music and the captain was a good man.
I live in West Virginia, please also see http://insectman.us/exodus-mandate-wv/index.htm.
I think you have your head in the sand. Anyone with an unbiased opinion can take a look at this world and see quite easily, that we are on a downhill slide into relativism and moral depravity. Homeschooling, from a Christian perspective, is an attempt to go against that tide. In my opinion you cannot teach anything well without injecting Christianity into it. I think that is what is behind the verses in Deuteronomy 6 that I quoted above. God is a part of everything we do or He is nothing. How can you teach American History without understanding the faith of our founding fathers and the commandments our laws are based on? Or science without confronting the evolution/creation controversy; Sociology and psychology without basing it on the absolute truth of Scripture and an understanding of sin and the fallen nature of man? And it goes on.
Why do you insist on defending a system that fails in almost every area? Homeschoolers beat public schoolers at their own game. Statistics show that they outscore public school students by a significant margin. And I would almost guarantee that we do it in much less time per day and at much lower expense. School is not the “real world.” It’s about as artificial and unreal an environment as possible. Homeschoolers live and learn in the real world. Your GIGO analogy fits perfectly for public schools where students’ heads are filled with garbage rather than Christian principles and why are we surprised when we get garbage out.
Try reading something from the 1600’s to early 1800’s before public schooling began. The average high school graduate today could not read and understand that material. People were much better educated then than they are now, using many of the same techniques the homeschooling community utilizes. Read anything by John Taylor Gatto – The Underground History of American Education, Dumbing Us Down. Maybe those books will open your eyes.
I am not trying to base my arguments on programmer logic or social-scientific points of view, but from a desire to please God and be obedient to Him. I suggest that you stop insulting me and start your own website, maybe publicschoolsareagreatoptionforchristiankids.com where you will be free to promote whatever agenda you care to.
Vicki,
Your arguments make perfect sense from a computer-programmer-point-of-view: input your data, input your rules for deriving conclusions from data, and then out pops the answer. But as you well know, GIGO. What you get out of a program depends on what you put into it.
Your arguments make no sense from a social-scientific-point-of-view. Social scientists do not compare rival social structures by selecting and emphasizing the worst data from one and the best data from the other. You can “prove” any conclusion you want that way. Suppose we select the very best that public education has to offer, and the compare that with the very worst that home-schooling has to offer. You don’t have to look very far at all to find some real horror stories of home-schooling.
Can home-schooling be done well? Yes, absolutely, and it often is. Can public schooling be done well? Yes, absolutely, and it often is. Should a particular family go for home-schooling or public schooling? It depends on a number of factors, and the answer will be different for different families because of their different situations.
You had to scrape pretty hard to find that example. Matthew Murray was 24 years old, hardly qualifies as a homeschool student.
“Nine percent of school crimes—more than a quarter of a million—were serious violent crimes including murder, rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.” (arsafeschools.com) And yes in my rural area a teacher has been fired for having a bible on his desk, and a coach for praying with his football players before games (totaly voluntary).
“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Matthew12:30
Vicki,
Settle down. I’ve read through a lot of what is on your website, and I applaud you for being so thorough, but the fact of the matter is that you are absolutely being far too general. I’m not saying that you are being too vague, I am saying that you are broad brushing ALL public schools and your accusations are absolutely false in thousands and thousands of different school districts. You are also showing your ignorance towards the United States Constitution and how it applies to public schooling. In fact, the education secretary under Clinton issued an official government position on the expression of faith in public schools: Teachers CAN (and do, I know of many who do) have a bible on their desk, students CAN (and do) pray in school (as well as run Christian clubs with teachers as administrators … completely and totally legal), publically-funded schools are to take a NEUTRAL position regarding religious faith (if they DON’T, then it’s not the government’s fault, it is the fault of parents who don’t STAND UP) … and school shootings? Don’t even get me started. Do you even remember the home schooled kid (Matthew Murray) who shot up the offices of some Christian organizations in Colorado? Now, if you are going to say, “Well, that was an aberration,” then why wouldn’t Columbine and others be aberrations?
And by the way … just because someone does NOT include God in their curriculum does NOT mean that they are automatically set AGAINST God. Where does your logic come from?
Dave
I have thought about Scripture, especially as it relates to education, for the past 16 years and am only increasingly convinced that God would have us educate our children in an environment that honors Him. This site refutes your accusation that “indoctrination” and “opposed to God” are too general. What more evidence do you need? Children can’t pray in school, teacher’s can’t have a bible on their desks, the muslim faith is protected and promoted while Christianity is suppressed, the gay agenda is pushed increasingly, our children are drugged so that they can sit through boring classes and not be a disruption, students can’t sing Christmas carols at Christmas, we can’t even call that holiday Christmas any more, school shootings are increasing, drug usage, sexual abuse of students by teachers, … Please! don’t tell me I’m being too general.
Hi Vicki,
We are both entitled to our positions, and that is a wonderful quality of this country. We both have the freedom in Christ to educate our children in whatever way we deem as appropriate, and that is a wonderful quality of God’s Word. I believe your statements on “indoctrination” and being “directly opposed to God” are far too general and broad-sweeping (and I’m not alone in that position, either), but we are all entitled to our opinions. The point of my initial comment was to ask you to think carefully about the Scriptures you use to support your position. We can all use reminders from time to time to be careful in how we use the Word, myself included.
In Him,
Dave
There are not enough hours in the day to deprogram them from the indoctrination received in school, whether it’s from the teacher directly or the peer pressure from the other students. You are entitled to your own opinion and you’re free to send your children wherever you want to have them educated. I believe God’s children should not be educated in an environment that is directly opposed to God and I’m not alone in that opinion. If this site can convince one or two others to homeschool from a Christian perspective, then I will view it as a success.
But not in the context of Deuteronomy 6:5-9. That passage is specific to God’s Commandments, not to cakes or to calculus. Christian parents who have their kids in public school CAN and DO diligently teach their kids God’s commandments (not cakes and calculus) when they sit, when they rise, as they go by the way … in every way that is presented in Deuteronomy. It is done effectively and consistently far more often than you sound willing to accept.
I know Deut. 6:5-9 very well. I believe that “teaching” qualifies as “education” whether I am teaching my children God’s Word, manners, how to bake a cake, or calculus.
How can you fulfill the commandment to diligently teach your children God’s Word if they spend the largest part of their time in an environment that is hostile to God? Now Obama wants to extend the school day and the school year so the indoctrination can be even more effective.
Vicki,
I think you should take another look at Deuteronomy 6:5-9. It actually says nothing about “education”, but it says everything about “God’s commandments”. The WORD of God shall be taught diligently to our children … it says nothing about subjects of academic interest. In fact, the Scripture tells you to write God’s commandments onto the doorposts of your house and on your gate. Have you done this? Have you bound them onto your hand or your forehead?
The reason I’m saying this is that I am convinced we need to be very careful about what Scripture specifically says about education and make the distinction with God’s commandments for holy living without reading into it.
In Christ,
Dave