Andrée Seu Peterson on the "Time" cover 
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Come now, let us reason together
Sharp new pencils, crisp clean notebooks, unsullied glue sticks, markers still inked up and ready to go. Fall has definitely descended upon Target.
This wonder is lost neither on me nor on my kids. When I see the preprinted lists of back to school supplies on the cardboard racks, I feel a slight twinge because I’m not required to follow a list to get what my kids need for school, and they miss out on the cultural rite of passage of selecting a new backpack and lunch box each year.
Still, there is something about joining these kids and parents digging through the bins of 25-cent crayons that brings us together, regardless of our schooling choice: We are thinking about and preparing for another season of educational intention with our kids.
Having a husband who is a schoolteacher is of great benefit to this homeschooling family. When he returned to the classroom two weeks ago (which seemed insanely early, but not unusual), it spurred a natural response in my own kids to resume their studies. When I announced to them that we would begin our own studies within four days, they were neither surprised nor disappointed; it was the natural course of things.
Similarly, I have become Facebook friends with a lot of people from my past who are now living out their lives in the field of public education. The homeschooling me of three years ago would have really been intimidated by this, but the homeschooling me of now knows that we’re not enemies; we’re both doing what we believe is the best thing for our kids. Their shared enthusiasm inspires me to be a better teacher in my own home, and I’d like to hope my zeal does the same for them in their classrooms.
When I see my friends with children in the local public school gather together weekly to pray for their children and their teachers, it strikes something very deep inside me. I’m proud of them for doing that; I need to do the same within my own school at home.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” In the sometimes-fierce educational philosophy debates, the tendency is to be sharpened so much that we have a dangerous edge. I think if we allow ourselves to drop our defenses, we would see we actually have much to learn from one another . . . and much to teach our children by doing so.
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My sons miss out on the “cultural rite of selecting a new backpack and lunch box each year” also. Their backpacks are in perfectly good condition after three years of steady use, and if my younger son gets tired of his dinosaur lunchbox he can use the Finding Nemo one from two years ago, or ask his older brother to let him use the Rocketeer lunchbox that is currently used for storage of cards or crayons or something, but hasn’t been opened, to my knowledge, in years. (The older son, now a senior in high school, refuses to take lunch in anything but a paper bag.)
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I don’t see hostility towards homeschoolers coming from parents who still have kids in the public option schools. The hostility and outright belittling comes from the following in no special order: (1) State education bureaucrats (2) Local school district bureaucrats (3) NEA union members (4) Political comedians like Maher or Jon Stewart and (5) Columnists like MoDo et al.
Are there “bad” homeschoolers? Unquestionably so. That remains a continual dread. What if one day in the future my own children (after conversing with same-age friends) discover they somehow were short-changed by the homeschool process?
Mind you I dont see that as likely. Just a hypothetical
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I pulled the Labor Day holiday shift last year at the newspaper and so I spent my day hanging out at the local Target and Staples doing a story on families who were buying supplies for back-to-school.
I had a blast, seeing all the long lists from the schools that parents were trying to fulfill, the kids perhaps a little less excited about the whole prospect, but still thrilled with the giant wall of colorful lunch boxes and backpacks from which to choose.
There is just something about the run-up to a new school year that strikes a chord in all of us, whether we’re in school or not, whether we’re teachers or not, whether we have kids in school or not.
Seriously, I feel the urge to go buy some cute new notebooks and pencils today. I’ll use them for that new Bible study this fall.
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I’m with Megan on this one, speaking for myself, that there is an increasing convergence between the home school and the formal school option (public or private/religious). Talking with the home schoolers it is often the case that we share the same basic view of education, its goals and ends. Our means? They differ.
As to Sawgunner — a few years ago, when the the culture wars were flaring especially bright, it was not unusual to read real contempt for public education from home schoolers or from Christian school folks. That animosity did no one any favors, and certainly made the task of those you mentioned all the easier. If iron sharpens iron, contempt often produces a comparable reaction as well.
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We got to do that last week, just before starting school (at the kids’ request). The kids got to buy a new pack of pencils and erasers and select whether to get college ruled or wide ruled paper.
Not sure I have time to reason together yet. Daughter who has been an ‘A’ student in ps has now joined us in homeschool. Entering seventh grade, she reads at approx. ninety words per minute. An ‘A’ student. How is that possible? How would she be able to read her work and do it in the alloted time? Anyway, at least she is reading and with practice should catch up. She sees youngest brother at two hundred and younger sister at three hundred and she understands they have been practicing. Perhaps she will now see the value of practicing rather than just saying she has read it when she hasn’t. She still takes an entire day to get done, focus is not her strong suit. The others, with more work, are done by noon. But we will persevere and she will get through this as she is determined to make it. She is very smart, very good in math, can read but has not trained herself to focus and did not need to at the other school. She was an ‘A’ student after all. End of rant.
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Sorry, Harris, having just brought the last of my current batch of precious children out of there and seeing how they were letting her slip by has me not quite ready to think we are on the same page. Especially after the kids were told to tell their parents to vote Obama so we could have an AfAm president. Methinks it is not so much about education as indoctrination.
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Mumsee, I remember being at the dog park one day when a 6th grader (public school, L.A.) and her mom were talking before the election — her mom said something about the election, and her sixth-grader says “Why aren’t you voting for Obama??” Don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing they were getting the pro-Obama msg in school.
My friends in NY w/8 kids were staunch supporters of the idea of public education (dad’s mom was a longtime school board member). But about 18 years ago, they decided to go into home schooling after their kids were being told to not necessarily “trust” your family when it came to reporting abuse issues, etc.
They never looked back, they home schooled from then on — and today their kids are literally getting into Ivy League universities and colleges, earning advanced graduate degrees. They’ve also retained their strong Christian faith, quickly finding Christian groups (and sometimes professors) on campus with which to associate.
Just very interesting to me as I remember when the home schooling movement was so derided a decade or two ago. Nice to see that, on the whole, it’s been so successful for so many.
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When it comes to public schools, a great deal depends on the school district. There are things every school has to do to comply with federal or state mandates, but a great deal also depends on the teachers, administrators, and local school board.
My older son, a senior in high school, is taking a class in economics, and he was initially dismayed when he saw that the textbook was written by someone he knew to have a very liberal perspective. But his teacher, he discovered, has much more conservative views. He lets us know when one of his teachers expresses views he disagrees with (like my husband, he is very conservative), and it hasn’t happened often.
When we lived in northern Michigan, the district was implementing a new sex ed curriculum, and they made sure it reflected the values of the people in the district. I knew some of the people on the committee that evaluated and chose the curriculum, and I knew – even before reviewing it at the public meeting where they presented it – that it would be something I would be comfortable with my son being taught.
I don’t know how much it has to do with living in a pretty conservative community, and how much with people from evangelical churches being involved as teachers and school board members as well as parents – but I’m sure that helps.
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How could this teacher resist not commenting here?
I asked the question at in-service to fellow teachers, “Is public education a sin?”
Awkward silence for a few moments which then yielded some reluctant head shaking. “Well, no. Of course not.”
We’d been haphazardly waxing emotively about the benefits of Christian education via a critique of public schools. The critique was not praising Christian education, but finding holes with the way the world does things. We were doing so at such a fever pitch, I thought the comment worth saying.
There is no end to finding fault with methods created by fallen human beings.
It’s far more difficult to find the good than to critique the negative.
I mentioned that it was a public school curriculum, high school diploma, government service and benefits and a degree from a state university which had enabled me, led me to teach at a private Christian school where I now “plunder the Egyptians” . I am now taking what I’ve learned and done “from the world” and posit all that experience and knowledge in light of the Christ and His Word.
Rejoice that God has granted His wisdom and knowledge through multiple methodological approaches to learning, however fallen and imperfect.
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
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Putting my children in public school this year was something I thought about and prayed about for over a year. Our closest friends homeschool their children, and yet we dialogue about our choices, our hopes, and our fears openly because we both understand what OldHickory 68 put so well, “Rejoice that God has granted His wisdom and knowledge through multiple methodological approaches to learning, however fallen and imperfect.” There are no guarantees with any option that our children are going to turn out the way we hope them to. The certainties we think are certain just aren’t. All the sweeping generalities all sides have of one another are more dangerous than helpful. I appreciate the open dialogue I have with my friend, but it would shut down and lead to isolation for both of us if we chose to judge or even secretly condemn each other. And that, for our kids, and for us, would be a huge loss.
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Back on the rant:
I was willing to give that they were a benefit, willing to allow that there are other ways of teaching, but when they were willing to promote a child as a straight A honor student without having her do the work, I am bothered.
Granted: teachers make or break the system. They can work with what the rules are and still teach what they believe is right. And there are many many good school teachers (I have known them and am related to many), but, in this particular case, the teachers were lying, allowing the children to drift, claiming to be the parent in the place of the parent and therefore able to keep secrets with the kids, and teaching a strong bias. Wrong.
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My friend home schools a boy from another family along with her kids. When he was in public school, it was a similar story to Mumsee.
He coasted along, passed everything, and thought he was quite smart…until he joined my friend’s home school. Then she learned that he barely read, could do long division (and was in 7th grade!), couldn’t spell, couldn’t write a paper to save his life, didn’t know punctuation, and so on.
Yet, the schools kept telling him he was fine.
We don’t want to hurt anyone’s self-esteem, after all!
I have done all three: public school (as a student and a teacher), private school (as a teacher) and home school (as a teacher.) Each one has its pluses and benefits.
Still, I think most of the negativity and criticism started amongst those who defend public school. Sadly, some home schoolers and private schoolers picked up on that and started doing it back.
But, being nice doesn’t mean looking the other way either. Public schools are doing a terrible job in general. Of course, there are exceptions, and individual children can thrive. But, that doesn’t mean that all options are equal.
Sometimes, we have no choice. God will bless our children anyway if we put our faith in Him.
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Whoops! Could NOT do long division. (She took his calculator away from him, and hasn’t yet let him have it back for math, even though he is now 9th grade.)
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TRS, Isn’t it illegal to homeschool someone else’s child?
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I had not intended to make the suggestion that “all things are equal”. As we’ve all suggested, there are levels of quality in each method and the quality depends on the spirit and the individuals involved. Certainly.
I simply posit the notion that “in all things there is good” without meaning “all things are good“. All things do however, work out for our good, especially as believers, even if it is a difficult educational experience.
As the opening chapter of Hebrews expresses, Jesus upholds all things by His power. Colossians 1:17 says that in Christ all things consist, which is consistent with the opening chapter of John where it says all things were made through Him.
How this miraculous, sustaining power is worked out and related to individuals and organizations which reject Him remains hidden from my understanding (as is Pilate’s power over Jesus “granted from above”), but for the Christian who struggles with the educational options who seeks to be pleasing to the Lord, this should be a comfort. God sustains it all; governments, organizations, people, knowledge all for the good of His children and His glory (Romans 8.28).
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Mums
I mean not to diminish your frustration and displeasure with what is truly unrighteousness. Obviously this is a problem which is widespread. But it is redeemable. Where there is life, there is hope.
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Amen to that. I fully agree there are good teachers and I fully agree that even if there were none, God could still bring it to good as He promises to do.
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#14
No. It depends on state and circumstances, as with much else. Each state has its own home schooling laws, some of which are insulting and intrusive and even downright ridiculous, all the way to some states who pay virtually no attention to home schoolers at all, even to the point that they don’t even ask them to register.
In our state, I think it might be technically illegal (not sure) unless my friend were a certified teacher (which she is not), but lots and lots of people do it, and the state is pretty lenient with home schoolers, although they do require registration and testing in certain years.
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If you want to home school, do NOT live in Pennsylvania or New York (very ridiculously intrusive laws regarding it, although it can still be done if you’re a hoop jumper.)
Oregon is nice and Texas is even nicer.
I live in Oregon, and appreciate my state’s attitude toward home schooling.
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Idaho. No questions for now. No registering.
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Whatever the methods, I firmly believe there was something to Jesus’ “small-group instruction”.
It was the Word – made flesh – dwelling among us. There was lecture and practice, learning and application, “classroom” (temple) and practical “hands-on” and real-world instruction and apprenticeship. Life experience became the lesson and the lesson became life experience.
Lesson without application is dead (sort of like faith without works).
Knowledge without love is noise and amounts to nothing (1 Cor. 13).
The Good Teacher, out of the abundance of His heart, brings forth life to the classroom and the classroom to life.
In the garden, the temple, the streets, the seashore, a boat, a home, in the marketplace, during a festival. This Word made flesh truly lived and taught among us.
I pray this teacher will, by God’s grace, be able to teach in such a way for His glory.
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We do small groups at church, but not for schooling
I start back to school..taking a grad class on environmental engineering. I hate textbooks..such boring reading.
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Sawgunner #2:
I see a fair amount of belittling coming from homsechooling families who cast aspersion on families whose kids are in public school, implying they’re bad parents, bad Christians, or both.
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Mumsee — I’m sad about your experience, mine (and ours with our daughter) was far closer to that of Pauline.
What I was thinking about especially, were the conversations this past summer at camp with a variety of folks who home school. We start talking and it’s pretty clear this is not us v. them, but rather they’ve chosen this as the best choice for their particular children. In our conversation it was also clear how much we share in our educational vision.
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Yes, I used to get annoyed with homeschoolers that talked as I have been on this thread. As I said, still recovering from this last one and the shock. Daughter had her first home quiz today and looked at me aghast when she asked what she should do if she did not know the answer and I told her to leave it blank or guess. She seemed to think I would give it to her. I am hopeful it is just this school and even then only certain teachers, the ones we got.
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MUMSEE,
I pray you read this post. I know you do selectively skip a few (and I don’t blame you, not all of my posts are gems.)
The lack of ability to read is saying something. What it is saying can be quite diverse as there are many good kids who have trouble in this area. They are not necessarily autistic, dyslexic, or any of the other Icks that may be popular at times. There is a development in children that is only beginning to be truly understood. These are some things to check out. Please consider these for your child.
Color perceptivity. This is much bigger than people realize. I realized it for myself as an undergraduate! When I discovered how soothing my Accounting book was to read. I am a very fast reader to begin with but up until then I did not realize that the act of reading could be as physically soothing on the eyes until my accounting book which was dark green letters on a light green page. Not only did it increase my speed yet more my eyes did not fatigue as fast. I investigated and indeed children in particular truly can benefit from experimenting with colored filters. Not every child experiences reading in the same way. For some who read excessively slowly it is because the letters move (YES MOVE!!!) on the black and white page. The color filters can almost eliminate that perceived motion.
Some children cannot read fast because the background of the letters may at times dominate the foreground. I am sure you have seen such optical illusions. But imagine living day to day with such illusions and being told that they should be able to handle it!
Lastly for this post. When you see a poor reader, don’t assume laziness. Assume 1) eyesight (all aspects) ; 2) Physiognomy (if her face is just slightly asymmetric that can cause certain problems; 3) Eye to brain perception (color, movement) ; 4) Right brain dominance over the left brain (which leads to great right brain coping skills but retards certain left brain skills since they aren’t needed (until crunch time)) ; 5) the icks, and lastly 6) behaviour (laziness, spitefulness, anger, etc.)
With great love, Monty.
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Maybe you’ve seen this before: “hte huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe”
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#10 Jessdagger,
.
Good to meet you
I hope you don’t mind my parsing your post.
Putting my children in public school this year was something I thought about and prayed about for over a year. It is great to pray about all of the decisions regarding your children, where they are to go, and what they are to do. The time spent on the knees can save a lot of grief time later. My kudos for you and continued encouragement in that aspect.
Our closest friends homeschool their children, and yet we dialogue about our choices, our hopes, and our fears openly. This is great because parents should consult other parents on a wide range of issues. It keeps one from being stale in thought and deed. It makes for a broader base for making good decisions.
There are no guarantees with any option that our children are going to turn out the way we hope them to. The certainties we think are certain just aren’t. Life is what happens while you are making plans. And it is so true that life unfolds a bit more each and every day. And no two children will react exactly the same way to the same stimulus. Which is an idea which I wish were better implemented in all of our schools. Homeschool and Public Option Schools. The teacher is often relegated to a mere presenter of a text. And when that happens it ignores both the student and the teacher. The most powerful part of education is not the text. It is the texture. The texture of the teacher /student relationship is extremely important.
All the sweeping generalities all sides have of one another are more dangerous than helpful. I appreciate the open dialogue I have with my friend, but it would shut down and lead to isolation for both of us if we chose to judge or even secretly condemn each other. And that, for our kids, and for us, would be a huge loss. I could not agree more with you here. Dialogue with others who care is important. It is not always fruitful but then forming a good relationship takes time. I hope you come to this blog often and I would love to bounce some ideas off of you.
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#2 Sawgunner,
Thank you for the new term, “PUBLIC OPTION SCHOOL”. That is apt in so many ways. And the initials are telling.
I am for good schools. Whether they be homeschools or POS’s. The key to a good school is a good parent. A parent who knows more than just where to dump the kid off in the morning and where to find the kid after the schools dump him or her off later on.
I know that many parents claim not to have the time nor the energy to homeschool. And certainly there are expenses which some parents cannot cover. But a child’s early years are precious. Then they are the most vulnerable. That is when good loving help makes so much difference!
If the parent will not invest in the child why would the child expect anyone else to?
A parent also needs to see the warning signs of a bad teacher as soon as possible. And in the POS’s there are many bad teachers. With unions and rules on firing, the system often allows a bad teacher to coast through. Look for the warning signs and act early.
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How to tell a bad teacher
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell041998.html
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Monty,
We have encountered the color thing and always keep it in our repertoire of things that can help. First daughter was unable to read until we brought her out of public school in second grade and found her color filter twenty years ago. Suddenly she had it, exciting times all around!
In this case, the child has never learned to focus for a period of time. We are working on that. She is doing well. I suspect she will quickly make gains as she is expected to focus and retain rather than expected to wander and forget. They all three have serious difficulty remembering things. They may be totally excited about a conversation one day, and totally have forgotten it the next. We suspect there is a bit of damage due to the training and environment and drugs and alcohol they had for the first few years. But we had hoped the school would work with us at helping them develop compensating tools, not just say “they are special needs so they are “A” students”.
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Quote Montyfisherwoof #29:
“The key to a good school is a good parent.”
While this may not be the only key, it sure is the main one, I think. As I mentioned on another thread, a parent needs to be ready, when the child comes home from school, to take that child’s spiritual temperature. Be available; ask questions; discuss; pour in spiritual values. Be a squeaky wheel at school, if you must. While not allowing disprespect on the part of your child, never assume that the teacher or principal is always right or that policies can never be questioned.
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I’ve mentioned in the past that my older daughter, Emily (20), was a homeschool dropout. (I think I’m more embarrassed about that than she is!) At least she had a job which she cared about.
As she matured, she regretted not finishing high school, so she studied for, & got, her GED. She is now planning on going to community college (evenings, so she can keep her job) for an associates degree in Early Childhood Education.
Now she has advised her younger sister, Chrissy (17), to get her GED instead of finishing with homeschooling, & get a job or go to college early.
I remarked that high school is about more than just passing a test, that it’s about education. Emily doesn’t think so, she thinks college is more about education, specifically education/training for a good job.
I think her ideas are more on the pragmatic/practical side, but I still like the idea of learning for general knowledge.
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Karen, I can see your daughter’s point, in a sense. I tend to think that high school is dragged out and could probably be accomplished in 3 years instead of 4.
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Hopesprings – Yeah, I see that point, too.
If Emily had taken that route, instead of dropping out, I would have been fine with it.
My Chrissy, though, is a whole different bird. She is a late-bloomer, emotionally younger than her physical years. But still very bright, & she surprises me with her insight at times.
She needs the extra time at home. In fact, because she is behind in her work, her senior “year” is going to be more like a year & a half (or maybe even 2). I’m okay with that, because it’ll give us more time to prepare her for the next stage in her life.
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Wisconsin is very good for homeschooling – fill out an annual “notification” form that requires just very general information. That’s it, and I’ve never heard of someone being bothered by state officials.
I was a public school teacher for nine years – my missions field at the time, I am sure. And now – just as surely – my main “mission field” is my own children and homeschooling them. As someone said earlier, much does depend on the local school district. In my case, I am in the third largest district in the state and it tends to lean quite a bit to the left. Individual teachers are either solid believers or very conservative-minded personally. But the trend is toward liberal indoctrination, and that is part of why I homeschool. If I lived in a small town where I could more easily be actively involved, I might consider the public option school (LOVE that description!). But it is not an option in my case – and I know it without a doubt, having taught in that very same district.
I am convinced that as many believers as possible need to be teaching in public option schools. But to put young people there – into questionable settings, spiritually and morally – well, that is a much more difficult question.
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Monty,
Thanks for all the helpful info. I’m going to try and find a color filter. Where should I look for it?
23. Buddyglass – The belittling goes both ways. It’s amazing how you can go out in public and someone you’ve never seen before will say, “do you homeschool?” (How do they know? I guess you just have that homeschool look?) In WalMart the other day I was doing my back-to-school shopping/bargain hunting, when I was approached by a middle aged woman. “Do you homeschool?” she asked.
“Yes, I do, how did you know?” was my reply.
“Oh, you can usually tell,” She said. By now I had a funny feeling that she was a public school teacher. (I wonder how I knew, I guess she just had that teacher look?) She went on “I don’t know how you can possibly give your child a decent education at home. What about science, and algebra, and foreign languages, and subjects like that?”
Well, she had asked the wrong person that question, if she was trying to discourage my homeschooling. I tried to be polite as I gave her my answer. “I majored in French education, and lived in Italy for 3 years” was my reply,”and if my children don’t care for Italian or French they can learn Russian or German from their father. Even if a parent doesn’t know how to teach a foreign language, there are lots of good programs out there that do not require a teacher.”
She was a little deflated after that, but gave me some advice about where to find some useful geography materials. Maybe she meant well, but she had assumed that homeschool parents in general are uneducated dummies who have nothing to share with their children (which is somewhat insulting). This attitude that teachers are the experts, and the dummy parents should just hand the kids over is enough to give me an attitude sometimes. I do have friends who send their kids to the public school and who teach in the public schools, and I can see that they are living their lives in Christ the best way they know how, just like me. While I do think that homeschooling is a better option in many circumstances, I am glad to leave them alone to make their own decisions. (although I am happy to give advice when asked)
Tina,
I totally agree that the public schools are a great place for missionaries. It would be better though if we could send Christian children to get a Christian education in private schools. It would make the teacher’s job easier, wouldn’t it? Still, we work in the world as it is, and do what we can to fix it. May God bless your efforts to train up your children, and may we and our children glorify and enjoy Him together forever.
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Rossignol,
We got ours from the school supply aisle, just used those clear but colored report folders. Bought several colors and let daughter try them to see what worked for her. She settled on green as I recall but it might have been red. It helped.
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Thanks Mumsee,
I enjoyed your rant. I also think you’re on the right track with your daughter. It takes time, but you’ll get there. I’m on the same page with some of my younger children who have not gotten as much attention as my older ones have been getting. It’s their turn now. :0)
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I had never heard (that I can recall) about the color filter thing. That’s fascinating.
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I am so thankful that God gives me the responsibility for my own chldren and no one elses.
Parents are the #1 factor for a great education whether they chose the public school option, private or home education.
For me, and just for me, education wasn’t so much about algebra and science etc. but it was and is about character. I could not send them someplace else for 8 hours a day and mold and shape that character. There just hasn’t been enough hours in the day if I send them to someone else. My dh and I believed that if we could mold their character and train them to have a heart to serve others then the algebra and science etc. would come. I could not expect someone else to instill my values into my children.
I have felt blessed beyond measure to stay at home all these years (32 yrs today) and shape souls. God has been given us amazing grace to finish the race. My hat is off to ANY parent who trains their children the way the Lord wants them to whatever option they chose.
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Jiller – I agree about character education being more important than the academics. That was in my mind, too, when deciding to homeschool.
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Jiller- Lots of loud amens coming from this amen corner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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#38: I’m not saying it doesn’t go both ways. My post was a response to the general attitude among home schoolers that they’re the ones predominantly being looked down upon.
I have no statistics to back this up, but I would guess that the percentage of home schoolers feel that public school is “categorically bad” for children is higher than the percentage of public schoolers who feel that home schooling is “categorically bad”.
The typical response I see from parents with kids in public school, with regard to home schooling, is that as long as the kid is taught properly and has the opportunity for socialization then home schooling is not a bad option.
The typical response I see from Christian home schooling parents, with regard to public school, is that it’s toxic, harmful to children, overtly hostile to their faith, and that its a terrible idea for anyone, anywhere to send his or her child to public school.
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Quote Rossignol #38:
“It would be better though if we could send Christian children to get a Christian education in private schools.”
There are Christian schools and there are Christian schools. Some operate on a shoestring and the education that the children receive is sub par. I don’t necessarily think that these schools need all of the bells and whistles that a public school has. However, the teaching standard and curriculum should be excellent (which is not always the case).
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Buddyglass –
The public schools CAN be “toxic, harmful to children, overtly hostile to their faith” Read the news. I have a friend who was enthusiastic about her daughter being in public school, until her daughter started getting beat up every day. In the first grade, older boys were messing around with her in inappropriate ways. The schools totally refused to deal with the problem, so she pulled her daughter out to homeschool. She hasn’t looked back. I could tell you other stories..
Homeschoolers ARE persecuted too. A homeschool football team just started in New Orleans, and you should read the comments in the News. Some of the comments were really nasty. So maybe there’s a reason for homeschoolers to have an attitude. Here’s the link.
couldhttp://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2009/08/the_home_team_16_local_homesch.html
Homeschoolers are not perfect and there are probably some who are nasty in their attitudes, just like there people who are nasty in the public schools. Homeschoolers are human after all, we bleed just like everyone else. But in general the homeschoolers I know are generous and kind, not judgemental and rude towards public and private schoolers.
Hopesprings – You are right about that. Some Christian schools are not a great place to get an education. It is hard for them to survive when the competition is being subsidized by the gov’t. However, with the public schools in general performing so poorly, maybe the Christian schools would be better anyway?
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