More on homeschooling, starting with why nots and whys.
1. We do NOT homeschool because the local school system is guaranteed to turn our children into hedonistic disciples of materialism, greed, and sensuality. Schools and peers within them have a great measure of influence on children, and as school days and school years get longer, that influence will certainly grow. For a lot of kids, their parents have disconnected from them and the school is the primary influence, but that is not the fault of the school system.
There is no guarantee from homeschooling that our children will not find evil influences anyway. Just as an example, Hello Kitty is not purely evil but it's not a cartoon character we bothered introducing our children to. We introduced them to VeggieTales, 3-2-1 Penguins, Scooby Doo and to the important cartoons: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Taz, and the Road Runner. No prohibition on Hello Kitty, but no family effort for it. Meanwhile, my middle daughter became a Hello Kitty fanatic simply by exposure from friends. Guess what? If my child at 4 can find Hello Kitty, a homeschooled kid at 15 can find drugs or alcohol.
It's not a complete protective bubble at home anymore than it's a guaranteed sewer at school. We do not homeschool them because their morals will definitely collapse at school.
2. We DO homeschool them because we want to strengthen the moral influence we have on them related to drugs and alcohol. Some of that is related to raising, just a little, the age of initial exposure. What do I mean? I learned about drugs at school. In the effort to teach us to "Just Say No," my elementary school brought in a police officer with a demo kit to show us drugs and tell us to reject them. In fact, the only marijuana I've ever held was given to me by a police officer in elementary school. It was in a sealed baggie and he was right there, but that's the only time I've seen it and held it.
I don't remember if that was 4th or 6th grade. Guess what? My 5th grader is being taught about what is healthy right now, being taught self-control, and taught about long-term consequences. Does she get it all? Not hardly. She's 10. We're building a foundation. But she doesn't have to hold the stuff she doesn't need to get that. We've held that innocence a little while longer.
We want to equip our kids to make good choices, make right decisions. To that end, we keep them at home and teach them at a better pace that fits them. We also want to be the primary influencers of our children, so why give them to someone else for the bulk of their waking hours?
Good stuff. Agreed.
ReplyDelete~Luke
Thanks, Luke. Hope all is well out there in the mountains. I hear you guys are due for snow or something like that!
ReplyDeleteDoug
I'm with you, Doug. I WISH I could protect them from exposure to evil, but sadly, it comes from within. Still, I'd rather have the family be their primary influence than peers.
ReplyDeleteHG: I think I'm headed for "socialization" next on this. Not sure.
ReplyDelete