Homeschool Conference - Last Day

This morning we listened to a talk about the importance of disciple-making in homeschool. There were three more hours of breakout sessions, but we were ready to go. (All together there were 11 different hours of breakout sessions offered, with about 75 different sessions to choose from.)

Overall impressions:

1. This annual conference is highly beneficial, particularly to those considering or beginning homeschool. I would recommend anyone to go.

2. Those who tend to criticize homeschooling as creating shy, sheltered young adults would do well to see the hundreds and hundreds of students that were roaming around this weekend. They were very independent (you almost never saw them with their parents) and very confident in interacting with others.

I agree with JC's comment about homeschooling not being right for everybody - however, for Christian families, I can think of very few occasions when it would not be right. Having subbed regularly at what has to be the best public elementary school in Nash County - where the vast majority of teachers are kind Christians - I can still tell you some reasons why I would not send my child there (or to any other public school):

1. From the time young kids enter school, they are taught that learning is "uncool". Everytime I tell the kids at school "Take out your reading book", I am greeted with "Do we have to?" or "Can't we go outside instead?" Kids that actually look forward to learning are called names and made fun of. Their innate desire to learn is lost as they seek to be liked.

2. Though the vast majority of teachers at the school I sub at are Christians, the worldview being taught in the textbooks (and most of the Accelerated Reader library books) is decidedly secular.

One example: feminism is rampant in even the literature for the youngest kids - a complementarian perspective is seldom if ever presented.

Another example: Two weeks ago I had the joy of teaching 5th graders from their history textbook about the first two decades of the twentieth century. I was absolutely astounded at the liberal perspective presented. Page after page praised the "progressives", and defined a progressive person as "someone who desires to make positive changes". As most of you probably know, a "progressive" is the name that most liberals use for themselves. In all of those pages, there was only one sentence referencing the fact that some people didn't agree with the explosion of big government that took place in that era. It was truly an awful presentation of history.

Allow me a third example: On several ocassions I've had opportunities to go to FCA's and speak to the high school students. On some of these, I stopped by the library and looked for a book on the Puritans. In every case, the only books in the library that said anything about the Puritans said the same things: they hated women and burnt witches.

I could give more examples of the anti-Christian worldview in the public curriculum and library books, but I'll stop with those three.

3. Homeschooling provides a much better teacher / student ratio. Ask any teacher, and most will tell you that the key to better schools is a lower teacher / student ratio. Obviously, you can't beat the teacher / student ration in homeschooling.

One more point: In homeschooling, as the student learns, the whole family is learning together. The father, the mother, and the child are all learning. They get to do science experiments together, take field trips together, etc. Since homeschooling can be done in the evenings, even the working parent can take part. And what is the result of all this? The result is a family spending quality time together. Isn't that what we all want?

I know the objections people raise - I've raised many myself. Here's a couple:

1. I'm not qualified to teach. The fact is, statistics have shown over and over that what matters most in teaching is not how well-educated the teacher is, but how involved they are willing to be in helping the student learn. It's not the parent's job to know it all - it's the parents job to help the student learn. In conventional schools, most of the teachers teaching don't know in their head all of the things they have to teach. That's why they use textbooks. The most important part of teaching is simply to be involved, and most any parent can do this.

2. But we'll go broke. This objection comes up because homeschooling typically means that one parent stays home and doesn't work. And yes, there is a financial sacrifice here. But quite frankly, I think it is well worth it. It is very hard in our culture to learn to live on one income, but it can be done. Few families are going to go hungry because of homeschooling. They just may have to live in a smaller house, go out to eat less, and not be able to afford cable television (gasp!). If there really is a family that would have to go hungry in order to homeschool, their church ought to come around them and help them. But this is seldom the case. Worldliness is pervasive - even in the Christian church.

I could keep going on this, but this post is already too long. If anyone's interested, we can discuss a particular aspect of all this in a future post.

JN