I like my customized Google News page, the keyhole through which I see not only major world and U.S. stories, but also the latest news on specific topics of particular interest to me, such as home birth, home education, and Basel, Switzerland. That's how I occasionally come upon little gems I'd never find otherwise, such as Homeschooling Grows Up, an article from today's Catoosa County News. Have you ever heard of the Catoosa County News? How about Catoosa County itself? Me, neither. (It's in Georgia.)
Not that the article says anything spectacular or new to those already in the home education field, but it caught my eye because of a conversation I had recently with Janet, in which she noted that in her lifetime home education has gone from being considered extremely counter-cultural to being so common some people homeschool simply because that's what's expected of them, at least in their own circle of friends. It's hard for me to imagine the latter, but apparently in places it's true. I can't get too upset by that—I don't see it as being any worse than sending your kids to public school because "that's what's done"—but admit it does pose some risks as the pool expands.
Be that as it may, Homeschooling Grows Up struck me as a nice summary of the diversity of homeschooling experiences available today.I've twice had (different) people assure me that a certain family must be Christians, because they home-schooled their children. In one case, when I asked where the family in question went to church, the answer was "they don't".
Home-schooling as proof of salvation?
I would think that making homeschooling "customary" would be a great victory.
The more people do it:
1) The more legal protection you have. (think midwifery)
2) The more you can divide labor to lower the costs of homeschooling.
3) The more marketable homeschoolers are to private high schools and colleges
Sounds good to me.
Thanks for speaking up! I agree with all your points; it's just difficult to adjust from the position of explaining myself to people who have no idea what homeschooling is to explaining myself to people who think they know about homeschooling but have in reality a totally different picture from mine.
Now that's something that surely would have surprised many of the early homeschoolers -- and saddened them as well, because there were (and probably still are) some very hard feelings as some (certainly not all) Christian homeschoolers circled the wagons and excluded non-Christian homeschoolers from their support groups. (The Kingdom of Children will give you a glimpse of the problem.)
I believe home education has become so popular among Christians because much of that population already recognized the value of non-government-sponsored education, and welcomed homeschooling as a lower-cost alternative to Christian private schools. (See Sticker Shock.) In the process, the movement has changed, and those of us who remember the old days may not always appreciate the changes, but I believe the Christian homeschooling movement deserves much credit for the explosion of resources and opportunities now available for homeschoolers.
Many thanks for writing! I hope you will find time to make more comments in the future.
