The Public School Teacher as Homeschool Mom

The recent "guidance" from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education may have you wondering about a subject that is taboo among public school teachers: homeschooling your own children. It's a tough topic, partly because so many people are ignorant of state laws regarding homeschooling. Besides thinking homeschooling is illegal, many people think it's neglectful. You'll have some assumptions to overcome.

One assumption people will make is that if you teach in a public school, you should be loyal to the system and all that it stands for. Meaning, keep your child in school. Another is that you won't be able to manage homeschooling and holding down your job--one or the other will suffer. Still another is that your child will automatically fall behind. I've heard it many times: the one-time homeschooled child re-enrolls in public school, and teachers whisper about placement testing to find out "which areas have the most gaps." But homeschooling doesn't have to leave gaps. It fills many that the public school cannot.

It is true that many parents who withdraw their children from public school in order to homeschool them are unprepared to do so. They may sign their child up for online classes, or they may try following a more traditional curriculum. Either way, it takes time and dedication to make it work, and some families just aren't up for the task.

But parents should not let the difficulty of the journey keep them from making a positive change in their child's education. God calls some parents to remove their children from public school. If you're one, know that public opinion ultimately does not matter. Homeschooling is legal, affordable, and fulfilling. And there are people and organizations there to help you.

This topic isn't purely academic to me. I was homeschooled K-12 by my mom, inspirational author Susan Page Davis. I know whereof I speak. Now, even though I teach in the public school system, I made the tough choice to homeschool one of my kids. My middle child is enrolled in the public school where I teach, while my husband and I homeschool our firstborn using Google Docs as a planning interface. I create lessons that align with the state standards, linking to relevant Internet content and tapping into Reagan's God-given interest in art and science. It's not perfect, but she's thriving--something she was not doing in public school.

Every homeschool family has a personal reason (or reasons) for choosing home as school. No matter your beliefs, home is the best place to teach values. Now that the White House is reaching in and illegally bullying students and staff of America's public schools, I expect homeschooling to attract a new wave of followers. If you're among them, here are a few parting thoughts.

1. The Left does not like homeschoolers. If you do it, do it well. Document everything. Have your child create a learning portfolio. Know your state's laws.
2. Join a homeschool co-op. Other parents can help supplement your teaching, and you and your kids will make lifelong, like-minded friends.
3. Teach your child the Word of God, and prayerfully trust God to bring that child into the flock.
4. Tap into select activities of the public school system, from music or PE class to extra-curriculars and even testing.
5. Embrace liberty. It comes from God because of His love.

Homeschooling is not for everyone. Do your research before taking the plunge. For starters, Reader's Digest recently posted 13 Things Homeschoolers Wish They Could Tell You. And here, read David French's reasons why it's time to declare independence from public schools.

Public Schools, Transgender Kids, and a Breakneck Run Toward Totalitarianism

"Have a nice weekend," Obama says to the world. "And here's my latest totalitarian manifesto for your reading pleasure."

What the Department of Justice and the Department of Education call "guidance," Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls "blackmail" and Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas "social engineering."

David French of National Review puts it bluntly: "You may not have realized it yet, but the Obama administration just destroyed the traditional American public school." The battle has come home. If you are a parent, it now affects your child. If you are a public school teacher, it now affects your workplace, your calling, your livelihood.

This isn't about what the Bible says about sex. (For biblical perspective on the transgender bathroom issue, I wouldn't steer you to the usual passages about sex just at this moment. Instead, check out Romans 9:20, and in the King James at that: "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?") Instead, this is about what the United States Constitution says about government interference in the daily lives of American citizens.

Even before legalized gay marriage, the Obama administration was passing off the word "sex" in Title IX for the word "sexual orientation." Now schools are told, under threat of being defunded, to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their sexual orientation. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Students and staff alike will have a new lexicon to learn.

The letter, while not legally binding, has Texas considering cutting ties with government-funded schooling altogether. And how will Christian parents respond? Will there be a mass exodus from public schools? As Christian parents, what is the right response?

The Christian citizen should not react by saying, "I believe homosexuality and sex changes are sinful, so this is an outrage." We're talking about a fallen world, a human-made government, and a government school system. Expecting that system or that government or that world to follow the laws of the Bible would be naive (or worse). America does have a Constitution, however. It's there to protect the citizen from tyranny by government.

I commend to you the words of Ronald Reagan: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Obama may be on his way out, but voters have bleak options at the polls this election cycle. The likely nominees of both major parties appear all too willing to issue Obama-like fiats guiding individual Americans toward more help from the Government. Is it time to lose hope?

God would not have us despair. Paul wrote to the Romans, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." That's not just for when things are going well and the economy is good and there's a conservative President and Congress and Supreme Court doing things our way. It's for when we need hope the most. Paul certainly knew persecution for faith--he'd doled it out to others, and, after his conversion, endured it.

Teachers, let's continue in hope. And let's be praying.

"Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure."

Ronald Reagan