Our decision to homeschool was not really a decision at all. It was more of a realization. We were happy with our children at home. We didn't see the need to send them off to be raised by someone else. We later discovered why we felt that way. Our children are gifts from God. He has bestowed upon us a great responsibility. To raise these children in his light. How can we do that when those who seek to destroy him are the ones who are molding their minds.
As the years have passed since this journey began, I realize how blessed we are to have taken this path. Each week we are reaffirmed in our decision to homeschool. There are so many reasons we homeschool. Here are just a few
I am opposed to free education as much as I am opposed to taking
property from one man and giving it to another who knows not how to
take care of it... I do not believe in allowing my charities to go
through the hands of robbers who pocket nine-tenths themselves and
give one tenth to the poor... Would I encourage free schools by
taxation? No! (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses Vol. 18, p. 357)
There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution which authorizes the federal government to enter into the field of education. Furthermore, the Tenth Amendment says: "The powers not delegated to the United States Government are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Nothing could be more clear. It is unconstitutional for the federal government to exercise any powers over education.
(The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 298.)
I do not agree with social programs in this manner. As I have written in other posts, I disagree with government run welfare, healthcare and other such programs.
It does seem to me that we parents have not only lost all control as
to what our own flesh and blood - I use that term instead of children
because I should like to make the ugly fact as poignant as possible -
I say we have lost all control as to what our own are taught... and
also we are not even consulted about these matters. Now as a matter of
principle, surely we who pay the costs and furnish the students might
with propriety have some voice in what they whom we pay shall teach
those students... I am willing that every man shall believe what he
wishes, print what he wishes, and say what he wishes within his
Constitutional rights, but I am not willing that he shall exploit all
his idiosyncrasies in teaching my flesh and blood while I pay the
bill! I insist that he shall have all the personal freedom he can
carry, but I am not willing to extend that full and complete freedom
into a gross license and then pay him to abuse that license to distort
and debase the minds and hearts and bodies of those who belong to me
and are dearer to me than life itself. (J.Rueben Clark, Prophets,
Principles and National Survival, p. 188.)
The ultimate purpose of the adversary, who has “great wrath, because
he knoweth that he hath but a short time,” is to disrupt, disturb, and
destroy the home and the family. Like a ship without a rudder, without
a compass, we drift from the family values which have anchored us in
the past. Now we are caught in a current so strong that unless we
correct our course, civilization as we know it will surely be wrecked
to pieces. Moral values are being neglected and prayer expelled from
public schools on the pretext that moral teaching belongs to religion.
At the same time, atheism, the secular religion, is admitted to class,
and our youngsters are proselyted to a conduct without morality.
(Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, May 1994 P. 19)
Since public schools are supported by taxation, parents are compelled
to finance them. Even though the law may allow them to send their
children to private schools, in order to do so they must support two
educational systems at once, and this the vast majority of them feel
themselves unable to do. Since the law compels them to go to some
school, the net effect of all this is to force nearly all children
into the public system. Therefore, those who favor socialized
education take the position that the state and not the parents should
have the responsibility of training children during a certain period
of their lives. Nor should it be imagined that the parent can control
the education of his child in the public system. When the state hires
the teachers, selects the courses and textbooks, and dictates where
the child shall attend, it is impossible for individual preferences to
be respected regarding these vital matters. (H. Verlan Anderson, The
Great and Abominable Church of the Devil, p. 134)
Any system, therefore, which forcibly takes from the parents the power
to control what their children are taught, and who teaches them, is
contrary to the Lord's plan. It deprives parents of their most sacred
stewardship and takes the child away from those who are most deeply
concerned with his welfare. No state employee whose purpose in
teaching is to get gain can be expected to serve the interests of the
child as well as the parents who render their service without
compensation. More especially this is true when the teacher is
prohibited by law from instilling faith in the child... Since
state-financed education is one of the principle doctrines of
communism, those who accept it have adopted much of the socialist
program... It is a widely recognized fact that public schools and
universities are the foremost advocates of socialism because they
teach it both in theory and in practice. (H. Verlan Anderson, The Great and Abominable
Church of the Devil, p. 135-136.)
Let us never lose sight of the fact that education is a preparation for life -- and that preparing for life is far more than knowing how to make a living or how to land on the moon. Preparing for life means building personal integrity,developing a sound sense of values, increasing the capacity and willingness to serve. Education must have its roots in moral principles. If we lose sight of that fact in our attempt to match our educational system against that of the materialists, we shall have lost far more than we could possibly gain. (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 297)
Let us be sure our educational system turns out young men and women of character, who know the basic facts of economics, free enterprise, history, finance, and government and who have a respect for law and an appreciation of the spiritual - otherwise that educational system will truly have been a failure." (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.301)
Our educational system IS a failure. It has been failing for a far many years. I have come to wonder if it was every truly successful. Yes, many bright and talented children have come out of government education, but the system has failed us and our children. Our children are not learned in the ways of the world. They do not know basic facts of economics, free enterprise, history, finance, and government. They have little respect for law and are disciplined for showing any appreciation of their spirituality.
For these reasons, and many more, we have chosen to educate our children at home.
