The Evils of Homeschooling

It may surprise some people to read this from me.  I would say it may surprise anyone who knows me to read this from me.

“Rev. Dick, writing of the evils of homeschooling?  Why he himself (with wife GraceKay homeschooled his children.  And he was forced out of his former denomination, the PRC, for this homeschooling.  How could he write of the evils of homeschooling?  Why would he?”

Glad you asked.

Because I write of the evils of homeschooling not per se, not as such, not as if homeschooling were evil—all of it and any of it, end of discussion.  But I write of homeschooling gone wrong.  As follows:

*When folks choose not to send their children to schools, even Christian ones, merely to save money.

*When folks choose to homeschool for convenience’ sake only (like not having to ride the bus; the freedom to visit the national parks with the family when most families cannot due to the school schedule).

*When folks choose to homeschool for reasons bordering on Amish (let’s have a simple lifestyle); or monkish (as if the physical separation of our children from others, even Christian children, is the best way to keep them holy).

*When parents are not qualified enough and/or disciplined enough to teach or to enlist others to teach subjects such as English, Math, History, or the Sciences.

*When parents do not appreciate the need for teaching anything but virtue.

*When parents do their homeschooling in isolation from the Church and its instruction (Catechism) of the children, even to the neglect of the Church and its instruction of the children, and to the neglect, also, of the care homeschoolers should show towards all the families of the Church—those who homeschool, and those who do not.

Lots of homeschooling pitfalls.  Pity it would be if us homeschoolers were not sensitive about these, and were not repentant, nor zealous to improve our attitudes and aptitudes regarding the education of the covenant children entrusted to us.

A pity it would be if our homeschooled children ended up homeschooled dufuses, homeschooled home-church people, homeschooled social misfits.  Indeed, a pity it would be if just one of our homeschooled children became such a casualty.

Such evil outcomes only strengthen prejudiced minds against all homeschooling, and sow discouragement among homeschool moms and dads and homeschool students whose many imperfections only remind us that our Teacher needs be God and grace if we would learn things of His heart and His home and of our happy and holy calling in this world.

Let us have done with whatever evils have infiltrated our education efforts, even those that have seeped into our homes.  So then may we be able to testify of the blessings of our homeschooling, the children themselves being the greatest witnesses to this.