There are so many reasons why we say "Boy, am I glad we Homeschool".
Most of those reasons are positive.
We love being able to help each of the boys learn to the best of their ability in their own way.
We love being able to take off and go on field trips or vacations when we are studying something interesting.
We love being able to choose challenging curriculum, that is tailored to each particular learning style.
We love being able to work one on one and watch the way these fabulous minds spark and catch fire.
There are so many positive reasons to do what we do, that we frequently forget about the other reasons....the negative ones.
In our homeschool there are no bullies, and no one is allowed to belittle or demean another person. That doesn't mean that it never happens, but it does mean that we do not tolerate it.
In our homeschool there are no school shootings, no knife attacks, no beatings, and no one is allowed to be disrespectful of the teacher. It really helps that we love each other so much, but I have noticed that the boys seem to be carrying these lessons out into the world.
In our homeschool there is absolutely no fear for personal safety. Each and every one of my boys knows that we love and respect every part of each of them; mind, body and soul, and that they should love and respect the minds, bodies and souls of others. We are very careful about where they go and who they are with, and we have an open line of communication that we hope they will always feel free to use.
In our homeschool there is no condescension and no mental abuse.
I am not saying that our school is perfect, far from it. We struggle. We are always concerned about whether we are doing the very best. I try to make sure that they all know that I am mom, and not just teacher. I think and pray about our direction, and I am constantly trying to evaluate my own performance.
The reason I am so concerned is because I love my kids so much and I want more than anything to see them become capable and happy adults. I want them to be able to do anything in this world that they decide they want to do. I know them and I love them more than anyone else does, well, with the exception of God and their dad!
We are so blest to have the right to choose the educational direction that we believe is best for our family.
There are people that don't agree that we should have this right. For many reasons these people feel that parents are not competent to teach, not trained in the formal processes of education.
Recently it came to my attention that the High School in the town that we call home, our small city by the bay, has been the center of a very hot controversy in the area of parental rights.
Parental rights are something that I hold very dear. The right to raise our children the way we believe best has always been one of the greatest rights and responsibilities that we have in our American Culture.
There are those, in our own country and in international circles, that believe that parents are not the best people to decide what their children should learn, believe, or be exposed to and when. There are actually people out there who believe that in parenting, the parents must prove their fitness and that most parents are less than capable of knowing what is best for their children.
In the case of our High School it has become apparent that when children are at school, during school hours, the administrators and staff believe that they have authority over all that the young people see, hear and experience, and that, for those hours, parents are not the primary caregivers of their children.
The issue involves a now-controversial program that the school has been using to reach young people that may be facing serious mental health issues, with the hope that they would be encouraged to seek help. Help that is available through the school.
The name of the program was Drama Therapy, and it is actually a proven method of therapy within a certain framework of treatment or diagnosis. "Drama Therapy" itself isn't the problem.
I have gone to a screening and viewed the content, and while it was not in any way wholesome, it would probably fit the Drama Therapy parameters, if there were actual therapists present and participating. It seemed to me that it was students treating students..but that is another story...
If you want to read more about it, including excerpts from the plays, you may read about it here.
The problem arose when some of the parents of the young people that attended the mandatory assembly, where this program was performed, heard that it had been done without any parental or even administrative involvement. No parents were informed that it would be taking place. There was no chance for anyone to review the scripts or opt their kids out of the program.
This was a HUGE oversight on the part of the administration. Looking back they can see the errors and the potential for problems in the way that it was handled, but there is no excuse for the way that the families that came forward to express and uphold their rights as parents were vilified and disregarded.
The program was put on by a group of very well-meaning people, who had the kid's best interests at heart. We have the right to protect our children from "well-meaning" people.
The program was put on to help the kids find direction and inspire an environment of openness.
We have the right to direct our children and to protect them from an environment that we feel may damage them.
The program may have been intended to put into play the values that the organizers felt the children need to be focusing on. We have the right to define the values and help to inform the consciences of those children in our care. There was no direction, no lessons taught by anyone in authority.
People in this country have been sold a bill of goods by the nanny state.
They believe that only "professionals" are capable of knowing what is best for their families, for their health, for their futures.
Who are these professionals? Do they have it all together? Do they know whereof they speak?
We have the right to know what is going on in our kids classrooms, and we have the right to say that we do not approve.
We have the right to say that there is an objective moral absolute and that we expect our educators, leaders, politicians and government to live up to it.
We have the right to be appalled at the lack of rigor in our school systems, the dropout rate, the illiteracy, the tenure system that keeps incompetent teachers and professors in their jobs.
We have the right to expect to be listened to when it comes to the health and well being of our kids!
Not everyone can homeschool. Most don't want to. They shouldn't have to!!
I am so glad that we can...
I am so grateful that we have the laws that we do in this country. Many people have worked very, very hard to make sure that we continue to have this right. There are those that would strip it away.
We need to be aware of the attempts to remove parents as the primary authorities in their kids lives.
We need to elect people that will respect and uphold those rights.
Do some research. If you can't get a straight answer from a candidate on this issue, then look elsewhere.
Find out if they will oppose the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which will put parents directly under the thumb of the UN.
Go to ParentalRights.org and read about what needs to be done and who is working on it.
There is only so much time, your kids only have one childhood...
