Unless Gov’t Schools Reform, Homeschooling Is Your Only Option
We’ve repeatedly warned parents who care about their children’s education and moral grounding to get their children out of public (read: government!) schools.
As Voddie T. Baucham Jr. observed, “We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.”
Deciding you don’t want a house full of pint-sized Romans can be daunting for many families. The decision flies in the face of the culture, many of their peers, the “educrat borg” and left politicians who send their children to private schools.
That’s why it was so refreshing to read a very positive story in the Tampa Bay Times featuring three Florida families that took the plunge and homeschooled their children.
Their reasons for making the change mirror many of the reasons we urge parents to start homeschooling:
- Schools that don’t let parents see what is going on inside the classroom
- Violence in public schools
- Sexualization
- Radical gender ideology
- Lack of a moral foundation
- Leftist indoctrination
Dina Smith’s story is one of the most interesting because she was homeschooled as a child and most definitely did not want her children to be homeschooled. But after moving to Florida from Nebraska she noticed ominous changes in her 11 year-old son.
“He came home angry every day,” she said.
Smith added, “His schoolmates were cliquish, unwelcoming to her son. He felt bullied by teachers for his slow reading.”
Husband Phil found government school ideology was simply wrong, “God created us as men and women. I don’t want them to be in an environment where they’re being told something different.”
Now brother and younger sister are learning from home and happy.
Cherise Schurdell was a pioneer. “[She] didn’t know anyone who homeschooled when she pulled her three youngest children from public school in 2004.
“Two decades later, Schurdell and her daughter-in-law were among a sea of nearly a thousand parents at the Tampa Bay Homeschool Conference last month in Trinity.”
Her motive was simple. “Schurdell started homeschooling when her school stopped allowing her to volunteer in her son’s class. If she couldn’t be in the classroom, the classroom would come home to her.”
In the last 20 years the number of children learning at home has tripled.
“From 2017 to 2022, Florida’s homeschool population grew nearly 70 times faster than the state’s public school enrollment and was among the highest rates in the nation, according to an analysis in The Washington Post.
“Tampa Bay is now a haven for homeschoolers. Nearly 11,000 homeschool students live in Hillsborough alone — more than any other school district in Florida.
“About another 9,000 live in Pasco and Pinellas, according to the most recent numbers from school districts.”
The irony is one of the major factors in this increase was caused by schools and teachers themselves. Schools closed during the COVID-19 panic and teachers really liked fulltime pay for parttime work in the “virtual school.”
What they didn’t know was keeping children out of the classroom let the parents in.
Kim Hannon, president of the Tampa Bay Homeschooling Conference, explains, “The pandemic got parents used to teaching kids in their home and gave them insight into exactly what their children were learning. Those with strong Christian or traditional viewpoints did not like what they saw.
A lot of parents will say to me: ‘I don’t really want to homeschool, but I don’t know what else to do because I don’t trust the government.’”
Parent saw firsthand where their kids were getting left-propagandist ideology.
They didn’t like it.
It was a fight for their children’s minds and these parents decided to move the battlefield.
Jessica Chapman said values are important to homeschool families. “These families have political, cultural or religious ideologies that clash with the mainstream — or their understanding of it.
“‘Their kid comes home spouting off about globalization or socialism, and suddenly they feel like they became the villain,’ Chapman said. ‘They’re tired of unwiring and rewiring their kids’ brains after they come home from school.’”
“Someone is forcing values on the child,” she said. “Should that be the parent or the school system?”
We think it should be you. That’s why it’s important to get your children out of government schools.
(A related story may be found here.)
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Mr. Reagan is an in-demand speaker with Premiere Speaker’s Bureau. Read Michael Reagan’s Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of “Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now With Added Humor!)” Read Michael Shannon’s Reports — More Here.
© Mike Reagan