By Lisa Ellison
Educational freedom is one of the cornerstones of a society dedicated to liberty. Parents have many choices as to how they educate their children. Homeschooling has proven to be the best choice for my family, because as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.
My son is twelve years old. He has been homeschooled the entire time except for kindergarten which was a hybrid program. Why did we choose to homeschool? Because we want to raise him with integrity, good moral values, and to love God. We want to have a good relationship with him. We did not want to send him away for most of the day, still have homework at night, and get very little time together. We were concerned about the influence a public school may have on him, and that concern has only grown in the last few years.
Because we homeschool, he has a teacher solely focused on him and what he needs in order to succeed. We are not bound to staying with curriculum designed for his grade-level. He is only twelve and doing well in Algebra 1. We can take the time to read books and take field trips whenever we want. We can research or study whatever interests him. While most kids were still in school last spring, we had the opportunity to go out west. We were able to see sites that many people have not; we also learned much about science and our nation’s history.
I truly enjoy homeschooling my son. I am learning right alongside him. I’m learning history, algebra, philosophy, civics, grammar, Latin, and more. I got good grades in school, but I did not learn half of what we’re learning together now! I don’t remember learning any ancient history, I knew nothing about Latin, I had never heard of most of the philosophers we studied this year, and even though I had a good government class, I am learning a lot more now. Not only is my son learning a lot more than I ever did, but I’m redeeming my own schooling! I am also growing in my patience and dependence on God as we determine how best to educate him.
You may have heard that our legislators are discussing a requirement for homeschoolers to register. This might not sound like a big deal to most of you, but it is an encroachment on our freedom. Some legislators are using child abuse as a reason for registration. This is not logical for many reasons, the biggest of which is, there is no correlation between abuse and homeschooling. Nheri.org has several research articles on this subject under the research tab, please look them up if you are interested.
Another reason this is not logical is they already know about our kids. We have a social security number, health insurance, etc. Having homeschoolers on another list will not protect anyone. Do a good job at enforcing the laws we have. There is no need to make more laws or create nothing-burgers for Child Protective Services to investigate.
Why is registration a problem? Because that’s not their end goal. A CBS reporter asked Rep. Matt Koleszar, “I imagine a lot of parents would say, ‘Surely they will want to know more than just knowing where the children are. I mean, receiving a letter that says, ‘This child is homeschooled’… Surely there would have to be some kind of home visits, some interaction, right?” Rep. Koleszar’s response was, “It’s fair to say that, but I think right now the main thing we need to do…is find out where they are.” Some people would like to completely control my son’s schooling and tell me exactly what I can and cannot teach him. This is eerily inching toward Hitler, who outlawed homeschooling and required all children to attend German public school where they were immersed in Nazi propaganda. Here in America, we have the freedom to practice our religious beliefs and raise our children as we see fit (so long as we are not abusing them). Since my Bible says to raise up a child in the way he should go (Proverbs 22:6), and teach him diligently wherever we go and throughout the day (Deuteronomy 6:7-9), and this is a big part of why we chose homeschooling, any encroachment on that freedom is problematic.
Maybe your children are all grown, or perhaps you chose a different schooling option, so you are remaining silent on this issue. I implore you to speak up for our rights to homeschool freely. This quote from Martin Niemöller comes to mind: “First they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Catholic. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.” Please speak up for our rights. Please contact your legislators and ask them to protect homeschoolers from more regulations.