Our comments on home schooling (at end of our 10-26-06 posting) have generated some negative responses. It's definitely a controversial and emotional issue. Here's one:
I'd actually like to make a short response to your opinion of homeschooling. I'm sorry it was such a negative experience that you have decided it's not the way for parents to fix the situation we find ourselves in as a society. You're right, it does demand too much sacrifice, but that's because the state still makes it too difficult with punitive taxes. What we ought to do is demand the state make it easier for us to homeschool, not shoot down homeschooling in favor of improving the public schools. It is a pipedream that they ever will be improved. Let's face it - God has been totally kicked out, and He will never be brought back. Therefore the devil has filled the vacuum.
What is needed to persuade the state to make it easier to homeschool is a massive no-confidence vote in the public schools, manifested by pulling our children out of them. We need to make homeschooling a reality they must deal with, instead of a mere threatening possibility that they will eventually overtly try to head off. Also, aside from the issue that the state has evil intentions concerning our children, the fact is that it is not the state's job to educate our kids. It is the job of the parents to do that. If we try to avoid that God-given responsibility by shifting it off to the state, we have no right to complain about the results. It is not about how 'happy' we are or our children are while we homeschool - it is whether we are doing our duty. I am not saying I don't understand the terrible pressures that homeschooling can create. I just think we should take the fight in the right direction - let's fight for the relief of the state-created pressures.
