Questions on Homeschooling.

Thoughts on a Washington Post article on those that revolt from homeschool

The Washington Post had an article that feels tailor-made to produce schadenfreude in progressive circles. Titled The revolt of the Christian home-schoolers, the reporter detailed the experiences of a couple that chose to send their kids to public school after rethinking their own upbringing in closed, homeschool Christian communities. White evangelical readers will not be shocked by most of what’s written, as I believe most of us worshipped next to families that tsk-tsked mundane cultural experiences such as Halloween, dating, or public education.

Some folks almost gleefully shared the summary quote from the father, Aaron Beall: “People who think the public schools are indoctrinating don’t know what indoctrination is. We were indoctrinated.” After reading the piece I’m struck by my own ignorance of how many people’s experience with homeschooling is similar to the Beall’s. I’ve encountered dozens of (current and former) homeschool families in the churches I attended, the private school where I worked, and even in the real world! (That last part is a joke—homeschooled children become adults and usually don’t want to be labeled with the mean stereotypes of the schooling any more than those people who went to private or public school). The families I’ve encountered fall on a spectrum ranging from “act typical of any public/private school people” to “believed Song of Solomon was smut” but I’ve yet to meet anyone as extreme in their beliefs as who this article is describing.

Now you might say that the close-knit nature of these communities would explain both the siloed thinking and the reason that people like me haven’t met many of them, and that’s fair. I want to, however, make sure not to paint with too broad of a brush even as I think through some of my own concerns around homeschooling. If you’re considering keeping your children from communal schooling, I’ve framed this post as a series of questions for you.

What are you scared of?

Like the article’s subjects, at the root of many people’s decision to homeschool is the desire to limit exposure. On some level every parent practices guarding the minds of their children—oh that I was more aware of this when I took my then-four-year-old on the Monster Mansion (née Monster Plantation) ride. The tricky part is that just because some things seem scary it doesn’t make them evil.

So what are we scared of? Curriculum? Other people? The story people like those in the WaPo article tell about public schools is that they’re filled with Godless liberals who push students (purposefully or accidentally) into leaving the faith of their parents. Children, by comparison, are treated like clean sponges that will soak up any and all ideas without discrimination. I think the both conceptions are comically far from reality and the second specifically runs counter to scripture.

There are enough public schools in the U.S. that I’m sure you’ll find individual instances of a teacher preaching some faith other than Christianity, but I would bet $1,000,000 there are many more instances of Christian public school teachers influencing students. The teachers (Christian or not) I have met are, to the person, unwilling to use precious minutes of class time trying to evangelize to students—jeopardizing their jobs at the same time.

The pupils of these teachers are also not clean slates waiting to be written upon. The Bible states clearly that we are all born wicked. From that birth we spend the first few years developing rapidly—physically, mentally and spiritually. By the time your child enters kindergarten their brain has already developed 90 percent. They have deep imprints of how to handle stress, joy, want and plenty. The idea that your child’s school teacher will be able to quickly undo what your child has learned in the home makes no sense.

Are you confusing controlling the body with controlling the soul?

I’ve heard versions of this idea for years. All Christians gotta do to regain control of the country is to have lots of babies, so on and so forth. Now let’s disregard the fact that (as Mason Mennenga points out) Jesus never did, nor commanded, any of these things. The rationale behind this thinking confuses control of the body with control of the soul. As a parent, you are given particular authority over your child. You exert control to the best of your ability in accordance with scripture to benefit of your child, but you are at best a shepherd over sheep. You can keep a kid from seeing an R-rated movie but cannot stop them from imagining evil, for example.

Christian, I need you to hear me, you cannot and should not be in control of the soul of your child. Making babies does not make Christians, only Jesus’ sacrifice does that. As a parent you must raise children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but the soul belongs to God alone. To assume that you can “make” a child a believer is to put yourself in the place of the Creator. Homeschooling as an attempt to create Christians is a futile and dangerous endeavor.

Is there danger to insulating your child?

One thing I personally like about sending my kids to public school is that I can be open about the limits to their schooling. They are, at best, getting half the story in class. At home we talk through the author and perfecter of history, literature, geography, P.E., etc. When a teacher oversteps or confuses sin and virtue, it is a natural occurrence of an incomplete education and can be rectified at home. I too benefit from having other adults who care about my children speak into their lives, but I really appreciate the clear distinction of the classroom as a part of the truth. I have been in many a Christian school classroom that blurs these lines.

I finished my undergraduate education at Liberty University online. This is a program that sent home DVDs for me to watch and take notes on. In one unforgettable “class” a professor recounted the creation story by implying that Eve was so vain and stupid that she scorned Adam’s rebukes and ate the apple to bring sin upon us all. What impact would that combination of sexism, lies and Christianity have on young women? I’ve sat next to Christian teachers who have scoffed at such topics as global warming, Catholicism and income inequality, just to name a few. As I’ve written in other posts I’m convinced that my children would be much more likely to believe falsehoods or outright heresies if they came from the mouths of Christian teachers.

Would homeschooling not only magnify this effect? Now my faults and biases have no one to balance outside the home. When my child finally does leave my round-the-clock surveillance and starts to freely form opinions of their own, would they presume that my feelings about immigration, taxes, dating, etc. are foundational to the faith? When my child decides to vote differently than me, would they believe that they have now left the fold? If we put a high wall around our families we cannot be surprised if kids break something trying to peak over the edge.

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I’m under no illusion that the only reason people homeschool is to hide their children from non-Christians. The WaPo article’s subjects are unique, but it speaks to a bigger issue that I’ve regularly encountered in the church. If you lean this direction, then this post is for you. Let me know if you think I missed something, or messed something up.

-Stephen