Homeschooling Freedom 2
Two of the mamas who visited with me in North Carolina during Memorial Day weekend were friends who were exploring the homeschool conference together. Both were timidly and excitedly making preparations to pull their children out of public school and begin to homeschool this fall. Both shared stories about why they were deciding to move home for school.
One mama told about a recent experience in her family when her fourth grader worked on math homework until 10:00 p.m. four nights during one week. Knowing the teacher wasn’t going to grade it, the mama had told her daughter that it was okay with her if she didn’t finish it. What fourth grader needs to be up until 10:00 p.m. when she has to get up and out for school the next morning? What fourth grader needs to do that again and again? And what is the purpose of evening after evening of homework that took her that long to complete? Poor little girl.
The other mama is planning to quit her part-time job in government so she can make this change for the good of her family. One of her many concerns is how little her children are learning about America. For example, she and her husband were shocked when their daughter, a junior high honor student, asked them, “Why do we celebrate Independence Day?”
American and other Allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy seventy-three years ago today. They fought for the freedom of Europe and for freedom for the world. These mamas’ stories are also about freedom. Does the mama of a fourth grader have the freedom to tell her daughter she doesn’t have to complete homework assigned in a government school? Do government schools have a responsibility to teach the backstory of Independence Day by the time a child has become an honor student in the seventh grade? I think the answer to both of those questions is yes!
It is no surprise that the modern homeschooling movement began in the United States of America. Freedom is one of our country’s founding principles. I’m thankful that one fourth grade student is about to be free from spending whole evenings on math homework and that one bright student is about to learn why America celebrates Independence Day.
I’m hopeful that both of these mamas will learn to celebrate every homeschooling day as a day of independence from the expectations of other people and a day of dependence on the Father Who sets people free in Jesus Christ.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
Romans 8:2