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03/13/2023

From the archives...

Federal education dollars flowing to home educators, sounds like a great idea, right? NO, NO, NO! Government shekels = government shackles! Government money = government mandates! Government cash = government control! Government funds are inversely proportional to individual freedom! How many ways can we say it? Of course, the authors of this proposal have all the best intentions, but great ships can be sunk by waves of good intentions.

“If the government schools decide not to meet in person in the fall, I think every parent should have the right to take their tax dollars to the school of their choice,” wrote Sen. Rand Paul in an op-ed accompanying his new bill.

03/13/2023

From the archives...

If the compulsory schooling age is raised to 18 and the federal voting age is lowered to 16, then teachers who are under the thumb of the regressive (my paraphrase of “progressive”) National Education Association (or one of their subordinate organizations of similar ilk) will be able to pressure millions of new young voters to vote for anti-capitalistic, anti-faith, and anti-freedom issues and candidates.



https://intellectualtakeout.org/2019/03/lawmakers-want-to-give-voting-rights-to-teens-they-treat-like-toddlers-with-compulsory-schooling-law/

Disclaimer: Sharing of this content does not constitute an endorsement of any specific content by the author/original poster, website, or affiliated organization(s).

Newly-elected US Rep. Ayanna Pressley caused a stir this month when she filed an amendment to lower the legal federal voting age from 18 to 16. While

03/13/2023

In the third article of this series, Dr. Jason Lisle (Biblical Science Institute) tackles two of the most common objections to home education, and he does so from a biblical perspective: 1) Socialization (the myth that won’t die in my opinion) and 2) the Salt and Light argument. On the second one Dr. Lisle says, “One reason some Christians send their children to public school is so that those children may be a good witness to others” but I suspect that this is more of an after-the-fact justification, than an intentional choice. It is how Christian parents can seem justified in sending their Children to receive an “education” based on the religion of Secular Humanism, but even if this were a purposeful decision, the statistics bear this out to be a failure.

Education: Objections to Biblical Principles by Dr. Lisle | Mar 11, 2022 | Theology What is the most important aspect of rearing children?  Is it ensuring that their physical needs (food, clothing, shelter, medical care) are provided?  Is it teaching them skills necessary for them to provide for t...

03/11/2023

From the archives...

“The temptation to blame public schools for our high rates of functional illiteracy is strong, but the onus must rest firmly in the home.” ~ Jeff Minick

I tend to agree, that government schools are not failing, but rather, they are succeeding at their intended purpose of social conformity at the expense of true education. There are numerous works that can demonstrate this: 1) Crimes of the Educators - Blumenfeld & Newman, 2) Get Out Now - Hasson and Farnan, 3) Tyranny Through Public Education - Cox.

Parents must retake the mantle of responsibility for educating their children and adults who have been failed by the system (as it succeeds in its purpose) must take it upon themselves to do so. Many, myself included, would stand ready to assist anyone who chooses to do so.

Room 241, a blog maintained by Portland’s Concordia University, reports these dismaying statistics regarding the current state of the Three Rs – reading,

03/11/2023

From the archives...

For those who proceed from Christian faith traditions, education should have an entirely different purpose. According to Scripture, all knowledge, truth, and understanding proceed from God (specifically, His Word - Prov. 2:6, John 17:17), and our purpose on earth as created beings in His image is to bring honor and glory to Him (I Cor 10:31, Ps. 150:6). Therefore, education should be complementary to that goal and home education is the way parents can maximize the likelihood that this will happen. Unfortunately, many Christian families are content to follow the world’s purposes in schooling, which is why a supermajority of Christian homes have children attending government schools. A system founded on the worldview of Secular Humanism will inevitably produce materialist product.

A mercenary is defined as a person who does something merely for the sake of money or some other reward.

03/11/2023

From the archives...

This article got me thinking about why a “chore” would need to be named and assigned in the first place. Assigning chores assumes that most domestic responsibilities are “naturally” assigned to a parent (most often a mother) and perhaps makes sense if children are sequestered for most of the day, five days a week, in institutional schooling away from the home. However, many home educating families work to fulfill all the family needs as a unit, and even incorporate academic lessons throughout the application of what others might call “chores.” Math in cooking, geometry and physics in woodcutting, chemistry in cleaning, etc. An even higher purpose of such a collaborative home life is the character in teaching, “Let all things be done decently and in order” (I Cor. 14:40). This makes me wonder if there was a prevailing need to assign “chores” before compulsory public schooling existed? Is the need to assign “chores” another negative side-effect of industrialized government schooling?

Years ago, one of my little sister’s least favorite jobs was sweeping the kitchen floor. Although the kitchen was small, the chore would take her forever, and

03/07/2023

03/06/2023

From the archives...

This is another example of how an intentionally implemented process is needed to implement something among those institutionally schooled, but those in home education often accomplish these things effortlessly. Although not universal, the general impression I get from my work among the home educated is that children do get more play time, and not just with their siblings. Also, independent activity and unstructured or exploratory learning are very common. Home educators as a whole are probably still more protective than their parents were, no doubt due to some of the societal assumptions mentioned in this article, but perhaps not stiflingly so. It never ceases to amaze me that home educators accomplish many things naturally, often without a conscious effort, which government school educators and parents of institutionally educated children require an intentionally implemented process to accomplish.



https://intellectualtakeout.org/2019/03/schools-renormalize-raising-adults/

Disclaimer: Sharing of this content does not constitute an endorsement of any specific content by the author/original poster, website, or affiliated organization(s).

Many of us are old enough to remember how childhood used to be. Our afternoons were spent outside playing with the neighborhood kids—no adults or cell phones

03/06/2023

From the archives...

The college-for-all idea is fading, but it has not yet gone out of vogue. Among the home educated, I still see and hear countless conversation about college, not usually in the context of a genuine need for a student to fulfil his or her God-given calling, but more of an assumption that post-high school studies are the expectation or the norm. As someone with more than my fair share of time in the post-secondary classroom (albeit always while working full-time), it might seem like disingenuous counsel, but be careful about falling for the myth that college is needed for “good” employment (in most cases) or that college is what young adults need to do. Be extra cautious if the pressure or need for college leads a student to choose a university without a true Christian worldview (and there are few of these).

It’s not that college is too good for many young people; it’s that more and more young people are too good for college.

03/06/2023

From the archives...

This article demonstrates that there is no limit to the rhetoric that proponents of public schooling (opponents of homeschooling) will employ to try tear down effective education and bolster their failing system of government schooling. Home educators should be prepared to hear more accusations like this as homeschooling continues to grow. We can be comforted by the Scripture that promises “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Timothy 3:12).

HSLDA Michael P Donnelly

Are homeschooling families indoctrinating their children to be future terrorists? Susan Johnson seems to think so.

03/02/2023

From the archives...

So many reasons to homeschool (boiled down into a very quick read with links for deeper inquiry if you desire).

Kerry McDonald

https://fee.org/articles/100-reasons-to-homeschool-your-kids/

Disclaimer: Sharing of this content does not constitute an endorsement of any specific content by the author/original poster, website, or affiliated organization(s).

A surprising number of famous people were homeschooled.

03/01/2023

From the archives...

Government schooling continuously “requires” greater funding without producing measurably better results because they are a 1) monopoly 2) government 3) industry. A monopoly means there is no need to produce anything better or at a significant cost savings, because there is no substantive competitor to drive the cost down or the quality up. Government, by nature, is an insatiable beast that will always continue to grow until some type of revolution slays the beast and starts small again. Industry is all about the profit, and there is profit (at taxpayer expense) in keeping/expanding government schooling regardless of the outcomes. The final recommendation in this article is a “voucher” system, but since this would likely still be government (taxpayer) funded, I would opposed that also, because that isn’t truly free-market.

The United States spends about 60 percent more per student than the average country—yet we’re below average in math, reading, and science. Schools have money, it's just allocated poorly. Fortunately, there's a simple way to fix the problem.