Homeschooling and Government funded programs

Another important decision for our family has been made... Chad and I were praying about whether or not we should participate in the Parent Partnership Program in our town. It didn't sit right with me, knowing there is no such thing as a free lunch, but many of my well-respected friends were involved in it and I thought we might give it a try next year.

Upon researching these "Parents as Teachers Programs", I found that they are essentially a retraining program for US the parents! They want us to think and to act in conformity with the government’s vision for education. It's actually a bit infuriating to think that they're starting out with the program that seems to bridge the gap, enabling parents to work with the government so that we can use that money we're putting into taxes to fund our curriculum and attend free classes. Yes, free swimming, Tae Kwon Do, and the like sound wonderful. They even pay you around $400-$500, per child per school year, enrolled in their program. Thus making it hard to refuse for some hard-working home-schooing familes who do not make much money.

Thankfully, we're able to say no thanks! We're not willing to support these government funded programs, willingly giving them control, and possibly loosing rights in the future, as the government moves toward only allowing "Public School at Home" participants to homeschool. Our local partnership program is launching a pilot program which gives the family all the curriculum at the beggining of the year and requires regular updates and allows the programs teachers control over what you teach in your own home. Is Bible study allowed? Of course not. I believe you even have to sign something that states you will not be using Bible based curriculum as part of your homeschooling.

There is concern that the more the government is able to convince (bribe?) homeschoolers to go along with their programs that eventually we will loose our rights to homeschool as we choose and we will be mandated by the state to participate in one of their public school at home programs. That risk is not worth the (monetary) benefits in our opinion.

I do sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed at the thought of going it alone in our endeavor of upcoming Biology and Alegebra, yet I also am excited to learn these things again, and this time with a love for learning itself. The rescources available now online are amazing. We plan to homeschool using a mixture of Charlotte Mason's style of living books and classical eduction.

"We never learn anything so well as when we ourselves have to teach it. What a blessing it is to have children to teach. And there are many things only a parent can teach his child." ~Laurie at www.TriviumPursuit.com

Amen! Well I hear a sick baby rowsing (Halle). I will post just a little bit more about classical homeschooling (classical=what is of good form and has lasting value), and what I am enjoying learning about Charlotte Mason's theories soon.