In Defense Of Parents Who Home-School

Since the story broke of the ‘California Torture House’ there have been no shortage of hit-pieces demonizing parents of home-schoolers.

As parents who home-school our children, we can’t help but get a little angry reading them.

They are disgustingly ignorant in that they are only focused on cases where abuse has been found to be caused by “nut-job” parents (i.e. the Turpins, the Duggars, the Branch Davidians and the Texas Polygamists).

Let me just say that those cases are the exception, NOT the rule.

The vast majority of us are well-rounded, well educated parents who just want our kids to have as good of an education (or better) than what we had. To demonize us all because of the acts of a few is purely willful ignorance.

Those folks who write these (dare I say) articles, should be ashamed of themselves simply because many of them claim to be educators or administrators.

Judging them on their own words, we should not only question how much of an educator they really are, we should also question their motives and integrity. As parents we should cast doubt on their intent and credibility.

We’re not all religious extremist “nut-jobs” either. In fact, quite the opposite.

I digress.

My kids used to attend public schools, and our reasons for homeschooling are not all that complex.

It started over our decision to opt our children out of standardized testing. It’s a story that was well documented by local media and is now also a matter of public record.

Having battled this out in court for six-months, we wanted to ensure it was made public to help set a precedent for other parents who may want to choose to opt-out of these grueling tests. We were successful.

We felt that it was an obligation to share our story with other families. So we did.

Having chosen to home-school our kids doesn’t mean we have completely given up on public schools. Far from it.

We still have the utmost respect for public school teachers, and we’re still believers in that, when done properly, public schools are a vital resource to the community at large.

We still fight for public school funding, teacher salaries, and ensuring a quality education for all children.

Our biggest problem with the current state of the public school system is the emphasis on standardized testing and the cost that comes with it.

These tests don’t improve the level of education for our children and only serve to generate revenue for private companies whose biggest concern is their own bottom line.

These tests have turned our children into commodities and educators into unwilling participants in generating profits for private companies.

This use of taxpayer dollars for testing has been proven to provide no benefit and is counterproductive. It hurts our schools, teachers and most importantly, our children.

This is why we home-school.

We do it because we feel a moral obligation to our children to provide them with a well rounded education.

With so many resources available that come at little-to-no cost, it makes the process much easier than it has been in the past.

Being parents that have had several home-based businesses in the past (and still work from home today) it makes it easier for us.

Let me add that homeschooling is not for everyone. It takes a lot of commitment and can be trying at times.

It requires patience, diligence, and organization. LOTS of organization. I can’t stress that enough.

More and more people are choosing to home-school everyday and some of those people quickly realize that their children’s education is better left to professionals.

But for many of us, it’s not that difficult.

Once kids get into their rhythm and their daily schedules, they do it on their own. They know what their daily and weekly goals are, and they get it done.

As I write this, my kids have just finished their daily curriculum and are working together developing children’s game that can be played on any device or platform.

Yes, they are learning to code too.

So while there are people out there trying to demonize those of us because some sickos used home-school as a cover to commit the most disgusting acts against children in recent history, I just want to say that they couldn’t be more wrong.

Generalizing an entire group of parents who want nothing more than to do better by their kids is shameful.

It is my hope that this reaches you, the writers of these hit-pieces, and shows you that the majority of us are out here doing it better than the current school system ever could.

Providing individual attention and focus on how our children learn, ensures they are better prepared for success.

With the help of courses from Texas Tech and MIT, along with assistance from the detailed lessons at Khan Academy and other educational resources, our children are far more advanced than other kids their age that are attending public schools.

Those same public school kids come over to our house after school and learn to code from our kids. Our kids have embraced being teenaged educators

Yeah, that’s a thing that happens over here.

Don’t ever forget that our kids are the future; it’s our obligation as parents to ensure that they are better prepared for it.

It’s also your obligation.

(For the record, that same sense of obligation that I discussed earlier also made us targets by school administrators, local law-enforcement, and judges. I write under a “nom de plume” to maintain my children’s privacy as much as possible. Doing what you think is right for the betterment of others, almost always comes with unintended backlash. While you may be seen as heroes to some, others will always to come at you. Despite that, we have no regrets.)