homeschool

Good morning! We had planned to go to the library this morning (Allison is going to get her very own library card), but Abby's car seat is in Chris' car, which is with Chris at work. So we are waiting (eagerly) for his return!

I thought I would give a brief summation of why Chris and I decided to homeschool. There's been some discussion lately about this, with various people, and so I decided to state some of our reasons in my blog as a sort of visible record.

Our primary reason is - quality of education. First, let me state, that we believe there are many excellent teachers, some of whom are wonderful believers, teaching in the public school system. For this we are thankful and we prayerfully support them. However, we have noticed a trend of decline within our lifetime. State testing requirements have put a pressure on teachers that causes them to teach only what is covered on the tests in order to boost scores. The "No Child Left Behind" initiative has caused expectations and requirements to fall dramatically. Discipline is extremely limited, leaving many teachers struggling to simply maintain order in their classes. The government has made it so that anyone can graduate from high school. While this sounds great in theory, what it means is reality is that even those who put little to no effort into learning can graduate. It is those students who have set the bar for all of the rest. It used to be that a college degree would get a graduate a well paying job and a start in their chosen career field. Now days, a graduate should feel lucky to achieve this. Things simply aren't the way they used to be. Just because a person has a college degree, or high school diploma, does not mean that they are educated, intelligent or know how to make capable, logical and informed decisions. Public elementary school seems harmless when considering high school and college, until you consider that the majority of the foundation for a persons' education is developed in elementary school. Basic mathematics, reading skills, grammar, punctuation, language development, etc. are all covered in elementary school. With this being said, Chris and I are in agreement that the challenge to homeschool is great. By choosing this route in our children's education, we are stating that we will do a better job of educating them than the local school district....and that is our intention.

A secondary, but equally important, reason has to do with our personal beliefs. We believe that God wants us to raise our children in His truth and love. We believe our children would be taught certain things in public school that we do not agree with and some things that are simply lies passed off as proven facts. Examples of these things are: sexual education, promoting not abstinence, but "safe sex", taught in elementary school. Also, the unproved theory of evolution is taught as fact, when it is fiction. The Pledge of Allegiance has been deemed unconstitutional in some states because of the use of "God" in the text. Children are not allowed to pray in school. These are simply a few very obvious examples of things taught inappropriately in the public schools. The people who have the most time and access to your children are the people who are going to mold and change them. It seems so innocent and harmless....just send your children to school, what could be wrong with that? Keep in mind that a secular government controls those schools and what they teach, Christian teachers and non alike.