Our church has four families that have been or will be homeschooling children. Interestingly, none of them are homeschooling for religious reasons. (Well, unless you count the family that was in Ukraine for two years doing mission work ... but the mother had been a public school teacher, and when they returned, one son entered public school immediately, and the other returned after a year.) In fact, the other three families (I'm counting ours even though we have no children yet) have been or will be homeschooling one child while another attends public school.
I've a friend whose sister announced she would be homeschooling her son to keep him away from those who might corrupt him (yeah, it was a religious thing.) She had an interesting conversation with her brother.
Sister: "Could you tutor your nephew in math for me? You know math much better than I do."
Brother: "I can't support my nephew being homeschooled by you! You think France is a city!"
Sister: (long pause) "But France is a city."
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
jdavidb on 2004-08-26T16:09:45
This is one of the things I really like about homeschooling. There are so many different points of view. As long as all subscribe to the fundamental mantra of homeschooling, in my mind, "Parents are the best judge of how to raise and educate their own children," I appreciate what they are doing and love looking at the diversity for cross-pollination of ideas.
Somewhere I read somebody saying the tree-huggers (or some similar offensive term for leftist environmentalists) paved the way, the religious fundamentalists (some similar offensive term I can't remember, actually) fought the legal battles, and now everybody can enjoy the bounty.
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
phillup on 2004-08-26T16:52:00
Parents are the best judge of how to raise and educate their own children
And... everyone is above average too.
On a more serious note, being the best judge of how to do it (which I don't agree with... but let's just pretend for a moment) still doesn't make you the most capable person of doing it.
I personally will be home schooling my kids... every day after they get home from school. I will add to their learning experience.
Not shield them from it.
It seems to me that this is the real purpose for many poeple, they don't want their kids taught certain things. They want to limit what their children learn.
That is significantly different than providing a good education, in my opinion.Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
jdavidb on 2004-08-26T17:42:09
On a more serious note, being the best judge of how to do it (which I don't agree with... but let's just pretend for a moment) still doesn't make you the most capable person of doing it.
Exactly. Which is why, if you'll look at other comments I've made, you'll see that I insist that homeschooling is not for everybody. It is up to the parents to decide what is best for their children, and act accordingly.
For example, my wife was homeschooled, and her parents and some other homeschooling parents got together to hire a science tutor to teach science to the whole group, since that was the best option for that subject.
I personally will be home schooling my kids... every day after they get home from school. I will add to their learning experience.
Not shield them from it.
It seems to me that this is the real purpose for many poeple, they don't want their kids taught certain things. They want to limit what their children learn.
Way to not read what I said. My whole point was that of these four families involved in homeschooling, not a one of them was doing it to "shield" or "shelter" their children.
My standard response to that cry (which, btw, is raised to me far often by religious people than non-religious) is, "Shelter them? Goodness, no! We expect them to be discussing religion and politics on the Internet by the time they are six!"
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
phillup on 2004-08-26T19:05:41
Way to not read what I said. My whole point was that of these four families involved in homeschooling, not a one of them was doing it to "shield" or "shelter" their children.
I did read what you said. (Understanding... well that is a different matter.)
I also tried to write my response in such a way as to not imply I was talking about you or your situation in particular. Looks like I failed.
The only part about you specifically I was referring to was the quoted comment, which I saw you commented about elsewhere after I posted my comment. (It takes me a while to comment and there were four new comments by the time I posted mine.)
While I believe there are many valid reasons for home schooling, I don't believe that is one of them. Not until they start making better parents... or at least get more consistent at it.
Unfortunately the qualifications for having children are quite low, and accomplishing the task is not much of an "achievement" in my book. (Having one kid, and another on the way... I would go so far as to say that having children actually makes you less smart. I know there is a boatload of stuff I don't know about now!)
Or, would you contend that there is no such thing as a bad parent? And, no parent is unfit? In the ideal world, these things would be true. Where I live, it isn't.
But, the other point I was trying to make is that I don't see how replacing an educational experience is better than augmenting the experience.
That is the part I don't get. It always seems to be couched as an either / or situation, when I personally believe it should be both.
I had a preacher once that used to say:
If a couple did after they got married what they did before they got married, to get married, they would never get un-married.
I think public education in regards to home schooling is the same way. If the families would spend as much time after school with their kids when they are in public school, as they do after they remove them from public school, then they wouldn't need to remove them from public school to begin with.
Of course, this is all generalization... every bit of it.Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
jdavidb on 2004-08-26T20:06:54
I also tried to write my response in such a way as to not imply I was talking about you or your situation in particular. Looks like I failed.
I understand that. I'm just saying that you seemed to be generalizing that shielding kids is often or usually the reason for homeschooling kids
... the whole point of my journal entry was that that is changing. But, the other point I was trying to make is that I don't see how replacing an educational experience is better than augmenting the experience.
Er, well, if you augment too much, you run into the fact that there are only 24 hours in the day. I deal with that problem as an adult, but I'd rather my kids not have to deal with it until they are approaching adulthood.
Kids get different educational experiences in different public schools. Would you question a parent who moved a kid from one school to another for replacing the educational experience instead of augmenting it?
That is the part I don't get. It always seems to be couched as an either / or situation, when I personally believe it should be both.
You mean both for one family, or both for everybody? I agree everybody ought to have both options. I don't agree that a kid absolutely must receive both public schooling and attention at home. Attention at home and schooling at home will suffice for our family.
I think public education in regards to home schooling is the same way. If the families would spend as much time after school with their kids when they are in public school, as they do after they remove them from public school, then they wouldn't need to remove them from public school to begin with.
Of course, this is all generalization... every bit of it.
I'm taking note of the fact that you're aware this is generalization. There are a lot of different reasons for homeschooling. One that seems to be popular among geeks is to prevent kids from getting bullied in school. That's not always something more attention at home can correct. Then there's differing educational standards, differing values standards (not just religious
... schooling because you don't want your kids forcefed politics of either the left or right persuasions seems to be increasingly popular), etc. More attention at home remedies some of the problems for which you believe some people homeschool, but it doesn't address all issues. Public school + more attention at home (lots of attention at home would be a given , not an add-on, in my family if our kids were going to be publicly schooled) does not address the reasons for which we want to homeschool. I think you and I would agree that parental involvement makes the difference in any child's education, whether public, private, or homeschooled. I have felt this way for more than a decade before I ever even considered homeschooling.
Or, would you contend that there is no such thing as a bad parent? And, no parent is unfit? In the ideal world, these things would be true. Where I live, it isn't.
I'm saying that the existence of some bad parents does not justify presumption of the right to interfere with parental decisions in general. In our legal system, we are innocent until proved guilty. Unless evidence to the contrary can be presented, a family's choices should be untouchable.
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
phillup on 2004-08-26T21:35:30
Would you question a parent who moved a kid from one school to another for replacing the educational experience instead of augmenting it?
No. (To answer your question.)
I wouldn't even question a parent that home schools... hell, someone has to work for my kid.;-)
But, I also don't consider moving a kid from one school to another to be the same as removing a kid from school to home school instead. (My first reaction would probably be to move from a public school to a private school.)
The reason I don't consider them the same is qualifications. In general, a parent is not as qualified to teach the core subjects (reading, writing, math, science) as a professional teacher. OTOH, schools generally require some type of certification in an attempt to insure some minimal level of competence... so, it is (generally) less of an issue moving from school to school. (As long as you stay away from some charter schools.) And, yes... that is a lot of generalizing. Some parents are freaking geniuses and no school is going to be able to touch what they can teach their kids. That isn't common.
I'm saying that the existence of some bad parents does not justify presumption of the right to interfere with parental decisions in general.
I most definitely agree. Strongly. And, though it makes me very uncomfortable to say so, I don't believe the right to be absolute.
I don't think it can be if we wish to remain civilized.
You mean both for one family, or both for everybody?
What I mean is, instead of two choices... you have three. And the third is the best of the three. (IMHO) Formal school, and continued education at home.
And yes, there are time issues. But, those don't go away by home schooling. I used to be an instructor (in the military)... and one hour of classroom lecture took about four hours of prep time. And this was for "highly motivated" adults with more than four years of service... who already had a basis of knowledge to build upon.
That doesn't scale well if you aren't giving the same lesson more than once. But, that is essentially what would happen with home schooling. (For the first kid, anyway.)
So, it seems to me that the greatest learning would occur with a mixture of the two. And, while the kids are at the formal school you get some lesson prep time as a bonus.
---
In summary, I think home schooling is a great option for some kids, in some situations.
I don't have a problem with it.
My problem was with the statement that a parent knows best. I simply don't believe that is always the case. I'm not even convinced it is true most of the time. But, I wouldn't want anyone else making the decision...Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
pudge on 2004-08-26T21:45:43
I personally will be home schooling my kids... every day after they get home from school. I will add to their learning experience. Not shield them from it.
How is teaching kids shielding them learning? I could just as easily say, by sending your kids off to school during the day, you are shielding them from opportunties they could otherwise have.
What your statement assumes is that sending a kid to a school is the best or default way for them to learn these things, or that it is somehow something people "should" do. Says who? Where is this written or demonstrated? What's so sacred about schools?
Again, I can't send my kids to school just because I have no reason not to. I need a reason TO do it. School is a huge committment. You're talking well over a thousand hours per year. I need to be given a damned good reason to send my child to something that is that significant of a committment. To date, I don't have one.
It seems to me that this is the real purpose for many poeple, they don't want their kids taught certain things.
Where "many" is not "most," perhaps. Those views represent a clear minority of the people I know who are homeschooling.
But, the other point I was trying to make is that I don't see how replacing an educational experience is better than augmenting the experience.
See, and I think you have it backward. I think attending a formal school is replacing what should be the default, being taught at home.
I understand you mean both are possible simultaneously. Sure. If I did send my kids to school, I would surely teach them at home too.
I think public education in regards to home schooling is the same way. If the families would spend as much time after school with their kids when they are in public school, as they do after they remove them from public school, then they wouldn't need to remove them from public school to begin with.
You keep thinking this is about protecting kids from something or the other. Primarily, my purpose in homeschooling is to provide opportunity. Public education is a waste of time. My kids will learn a lot more a lot faster at home, without a significant decrease in anything important, including socialization. They will learn more, have more opportunity, have more diverse experiences, meet more diverse people. There's really no comparison when you line them up. There's nothing public school can offer my family, except that it costs less of us, in time and money.
(FWIW, I am all in favor of the existence of public school, and in tax money used for it. I just think it should be used a lot less, and only by those people who don't have other opportunities, or otherwise wish to use it for reasons I cannot fathom.:-)
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
phillup on 2004-08-26T23:02:56
How is teaching kids shielding them learning?
Taking them out of formal school so that they won't experience something (political, religious, social) is the shielding I was referring to.
The only case I've personally experienced was where someone started home schooling because they didn't want their kid taught evolution.
If you can't deal with exposing your kid to a theory, you have a serious problem, IMHO. At the very least, teach them to refute the damn thing. But, to completely limit exposure?
What your statement assumes is that sending a kid to a school is the best or default way for them to learn these things, or that it is somehow something people "should" do. Says who? Where is this written or demonstrated? What's so sacred about schools?
Well, if that is what you read... then I offer myself as a perfect example of someone that shouldn't teach his kids language skills. (Something I'll agree to any way.)
Let's try it this way:
Let A represent the knowledge that can be gained thru formal schooling.
Let B represent the knowledge that can be gained thru home schooling.
Note that A and B can be equal. A can be greater than B. B can be greater than A.
My proposition is that A + B > B for all cases. (Likewise, A + B > A for all cases.)
That is it. That is my message.
(I've expressed it as a mathematical equation to get the idea across. It isn't that simple... and the equation isn't even valid due to areas of overlap between A and B. Again, I only did it to make up for the lack of english skills.)
---
Now, for the most part I have been generalizing.
Some places will have excellent schools. Some kids will have excellent parents. Some will have both. Some will have neither.
But, in every case, A + B provide maximum results. (Simply because neither can be negative.)
So, I believe that the best strategy... in all cases... is formal schooling combined with home schooling.
---
One other note: I'm really only addressing education/learning.
There really are viable reasons for pulling a kid out of a school. But, I maintain that the kid should be put in another school for maximum benefit. Obviously, if another school is not available (location, cost) then home schooling alone would be better than nothing.Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
pudge on 2004-08-26T23:37:38
The only case I've personally experienced was where someone started home schooling because they didn't want their kid taught evolution.
OK. But that is the very small minority in my experience.
Although, I would note that public schools are not allowed to teach religion in this way... :-)
My proposition is that A + B > B for all cases. (Likewise, A + B > A for all cases.)
Where A and B represent useful knowledge, I cannot agree. Sure, my kids can learn some things in school they won't learn at home, like how to treat other people like shit, how to lie to teachers, how to pretend to be something you're not to gain acceptance. But as for useful knowledge, I don't buy that at all.
And if nothing else, if you have A, you have less time for B.
And really, time is the main point. School is a waste of time. Thousands of hours a year for 13 years. There is so much more and better things that can be done with that time, without sacrificing any knowledge, and in fact, gaining more by having more opportunities.
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
jdavidb on 2004-08-27T13:32:42
The only case I've personally experienced was where someone started home schooling because they didn't want their kid taught evolution.
Well, conveniently, now that you have read my journal, only 20% of the cases you have heard about are for that reason. The four families I mentioned are homeschooling for other reasons.
If you can't deal with exposing your kid to a theory, you have a serious problem, IMHO. At the very least, teach them to refute the damn thing. But, to completely limit exposure?
Who, exactly, are you arguing with? Nobody here is doing that. Do you still have it in your head that most homeschooling happens by religious people to limit exposure to the theory of evolution?
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
jdavidb on 2004-08-27T13:43:13
I've really got to agree with pudge's case that a lot of school is a waste of time. (He seems to perhaps be saying 100% of school
... I'd have to make the percentage somewhat lower.) I have an informal list of "reasons that made it easier for me to choose homeschooling." This list isn't written, yet; it consists of things that I just did not like or do not like about the system of schooling; these are not items that constitute reasons why I am going to homeschool, but things that made it easier for me to make that choice.
One of the items near the top of that list is makework! I had to do so much junk in school. I detested all the artwork I was required to do in English class and others. My brother once got a poor grade in an eighth-grade science project that was mostly artwork. He had worked very hard, night after night for a month. (It involved at least a month of lunar observations.) Now, it just so happens my father was at the time dating (and is now married to) another eighth grade science teacher from our school district. And my now-step-mother told us all about this project: seems it had been presented to all the 8th grade science teachers in the district. All of them thought it was a great idea, except for her. And it turns out later that the big buzz among these teachers was how to grade it. They could not establish any objective standard for this "wonderful" project. So my brother put in tons of work on a useless project (useless according to my well-qualified science-teaching mother) and got a crummy grade.
And I have dozens of these stories. Most of them involve work that just plain and simply did not relate to a class.
So I'm with pudge: if I keep my kids out of school, that frees up all kinds of time for real learning. My kids will have extra time to read good literature, or learn programming from Dad, or build something, or whatever. Replacing the classroom for them is going to be incredibly liberating, compared to my education.
I guess that's why it's so easy for me to react to your assertion that replacing one educational experience with another does not accomplish anything. If the time in school were used wisely, that could be true.
BTW, what in this post says anything about shielding kids from evolution? (Did you notice I said my mother is a science teacher?) Please get the point of my journal entry and drop your negative stereotypes of homeschoolers. They may have been true for the 1980's, but the 2010+s are going to be a different world.
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
phillup on 2004-08-27T16:02:02
I've really got to agree with pudge's case that a lot of school is a waste of time.
I would agree. I was bored out of my gourd in high school.
I rarely did homework... had 18 zeros one quarter in my English Comp. class.
Still graduated 26th (of ~450) in my class.
It was a totally horrendous waste of time, in my view, at the time.
And, I would totally agree that it needs to be imporved.
BTW, what in this post says anything about shielding kids from evolution?
Nothing in your post. I brought that up from my own personal experience, to support my point that the parent does not allways know what is best. That is what brought me into the conversation, it was your assertion that the parent knows best. Somehow it became a discussion about the quality of education and the reason for removal from formal school.
My point on that matter was, and is, that the formal school should be supplemented... not replaced.
But, my main point, what got me into this quagmire... was that parents aren't always the best judge of what is best for their kids.
(Did you notice I said my mother is a science teacher?)
Yes, that is great. And, makes her more qualified than many I would bet.
I would also bet her skills don't make someone else more qualified... what applies to her doesn't apply globally. Just because she is smarter, does raise the "average"... but does nothing for every other individual.
Please get the point of my journal entry and drop your negative stereotypes of homeschoolers.
How can I when my own personal experience directly contradicts something that someone many miles away has typed into some computer screen. I have to give the reality I've seen higher precedence.
My parents wanted to home school me.
I'm very lucky that they were not allowed to.
Why?
Well... parent #1... let's call her "mom". She was 16 when I was born. The highest level of education attained: eighth grade. She's dead now... drank herself to death.
Parent #2... let's call him "dad". He was 17 when I was born. He never finished the eighth grade. He quit on the third try. (His sister had her first son when she was 14.) He is still alive, an mostly sober these days.
Both were / are Baptist. That is spelled "Southern Baptist" where I came from. The only reason I even bring up their religon, is because that is what makes them think they are right. The church, for them, is a crutch to replace logic.
They didn't like the "stuff" that the schools taught, either. Of course, not having gone themselves they couldn't really use words any more meaningful than "stuff". But, they knew they didn't like it.
Even tho they don't have the mental capacity to present a cogent argument as to why. The know they don't like it.
But the government made them leave us in school. Otherwise they wouldn't give them (my parents) food stamps to feed us (the kids).
I was the first person in my family, since setting foot on this continent, to finish high school. It wasn't because of choices made by my parents.
Now, twenty two years later... you can count on one hand the number of people in my family (and I don't mean immediate family... I mean the entire family tree... deep, and wide) that have finished high school.
Parents don't always know what is best. Sometimes, kids do well in spite of everything else that happened. Sometimes.
And, my parents are typical for the part of the country they live in. (Can you say hillbilly country in good ol' "Alabama".) Granted, it is a pocket... but, it exists and they live there. Actually, I think that the "civilized" parts are the pockets sometimes...
So, while your story is nice to hear, and most likely true for a large percent of the nation... my point was/is: it isn't always true that parents are the best judge.
---
Please note that I have painfully tried to stay away from saying that one is better than the other (homeschooling vs. formal school). I simply don't think that can be said. Some parents are going to be a lot better than the formal schools around them. Some schools will be better than the parents (even if Pudge won't agree to that).
I have not been knocking home schooling. (At least I haven't been trying to.) The parents, that is a differnt story... I don't think everyone can or should home school to the exclusion of all other education.
My point in that respect has been (still is) that a combination of the two is most optimal.Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
pudge on 2004-08-26T21:30:38
There's not much extreme about homeschooling anymore.
What's sad is that anyone would even think of it as extreme in the first place. Homeschooling should be normal, should be the default.
I don't accept things just because society tells me I should. I don't say, yes, you will go to school because that is what is expected, I ask, what benefit is there in you going to school? What are the pros and cons? The pros are few and far between, and the cons are many.
merlyn, as someone who is quite intelligent and has been very successful without attending college, you should understand how unimportant formal education is.Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
phillup on 2004-08-26T22:06:19
Homeschooling should be normal, should be the default.
I just can't help thinking that I don't want the people I see at the grocery store being the sole source of education for their kids.
merlyn, as someone who is quite intelligent and has been very successful without attending college, you should understand how unimportant formal education is.
Is? Perhaps you mean: can be?
Unimportant? Perhaps you mean: unnecessary?
Otherwise, it looks like a logical fallacy to me. (Ironically, I wouldn't have known these things had names if I had not gone to college.)
I dare say that college would not have made merlyn any less intelligent.Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
pudge on 2004-08-26T22:28:00
I just can't help thinking that I don't want the people I see at the grocery store being the sole source of education for their kids.
And I don't want Britney Spears as a role model for kids. Life is not about my will.:-)
Is? Perhaps you mean: can be? Unimportant? Perhaps you mean: unnecessary?
Well, I think I used the correct words, but don't wish to spend time arguing it; I readily concede that my intended meaning apparently matches the words you think I should have used. For the record, I am saying that because it is unimportant, that means it is not necessarily the best for everyone, not that it is not useful or necessary etc. for some.
I dare say that college would not have made merlyn any less intelligent.
I didn't mean to say he was intelligent because of school or lack of it, but that he is intelligent enough to see how unimportant formal education is.:-)
Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
rafael on 2004-08-27T07:53:17
I don't have this impression; replace "extreme right/left" by anarchist and "center" by authoritarian and I'll agree. (as global tendencies, not as labels)Re:Homeschooling - both extreme left and right
Usher-Banipal on 2004-08-29T15:20:04
Yes, we didn't join the "underground railroad" and start "unschooling" our children until the late-70s (and continuing through high school age [1996]; when we first started, "unschooling" was considered "illegal" but now "unschooling" is legal in all 50 states) but had had quite an introduction to the concept early on (early-60s through early-70s) in reading Paul Goodman's Growing Up? Absurd! and Compulsory Miseducation, all of John Holt's works (through 1989 [posthumously] - too lengthy a list to include here [do an LOC search]; still try to keep in touch with the movement through the Growing Without Schooling newsletter), and, of course, Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society and Tools for Conviviality, and Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Other authors significant to preparing our philosophical background and approach to "unschooling" included Herbert Kohl and A. S. Neill.
I suppose in the final analysis our decision to "unschool" was faith-based (a strong faith requires strong critical skills) but at the time I think we saw "S-chool" serving a deep social function by firmly maintaining the status quo of social class for the majority of students and the "S-chool" as an institution viewing education as a commodity they sell, rather than as a life-long process they can aid. To us this created a substance that was not equally distributed, was used to judge people unfairly, and -- based on their lack of school credentials -- prevented people from assuming roles they were otherwise qualified for.
An analogy for those in the programming profession might be Mike Hammer's statement to his introductory "Computer Science" classes at MIT - "This class is not about 'computers' and not about 'science' but, rather, about a way of thinking!" Which not only opens up the realms of "General Systems Theory" and, more specifically, "Systems Dynamics," but also the "mystification" that surrounds technology. As I tell my programming students, "Programming is just writing stories for machines that can only tell the difference between a one and a zero. Minimum wage work at best."
There is good and bad in everything. I support homeschooling, I will be homeschooling my children but that doesn't mean that I think "everyone" should homeschool nor should some people who are now homeschooling be homeschooling.
I do not think the government should be able to tell parents how to school their children though.
Re:Ah yes...
jdavidb on 2004-08-26T16:07:34
I support homeschooling, I will be homeschooling my children but that doesn't mean that I think "everyone" should homeschool nor should some people who are now homeschooling be homeschooling.
I agree with that. It's a matter of parent choice, more than anything.
I was reading something recently on a religious homeschooling mailing list, where a woman was upset that her sister-in-law had been saying ever since her children were born she was going to homeschool them, but was now taking steps to get them into preschool. She was upset, and looking for ways to "remind" her sister-in-law about homeschooling. Most folks on the list reminded her that it wasn't her decision to make.
I do not think the government should be able to tell parents how to school their children though.
Bingo! That's my number one issue. I shouldn't need anybody's permission or approval for the education I choose for my children, and we need to get more legal protections in place so people who think otherwise don't have the power to enforce it.
Thanks for feeling this way.
Stangely enough, I've heard some Christians denounce homeschooling because they want their kid in school so they can evangelize other public school kids.
Re:There are lots of homeschooling stereotypes...
jdavidb on 2004-08-26T20:09:06
Both of us had a poor education from the public schools and we decided they deserved (much) better.
Heh; I had a great education at our public schools, and I still plan for my kids to be homeschooled.
:) Stangely enough, I've heard some Christians denounce homeschooling because they want their kid in school so they can evangelize other public school kids.
Guilty as charged. Although actually I said it against private Christian schooling, not against homeschooling. I don't say it any more.
Strangely, a large proportion of the opposition to homeschooling comes from religious people.
Re:There are lots of homeschooling stereotypes...
bluto on 2004-08-26T22:07:30
Strangely, a large proportion of the opposition to homeschooling comes from religious people.It certainly does seem that way...
Re:There are lots of homeschooling stereotypes...
zatoichi on 2004-08-26T21:23:10
"Stangely enough, I've heard some Christians denounce homeschooling because they want their kid in school so they can evangelize other public school kids."
That is the wrong reason to send your child to school. The majority of children even when properly instructed by parents cannot withstand an all day assualt by the school and peers.
