“Home schooling”

Are you a “home-schooler”? What makes someone a “home-schooler”? When we set out to give our sons their formal education at home in 1984, people who “home-schooled” were few and far between and most were thought a bit eccentric or downright crazy. While we preferred the term “home educated” because the way education happened at home didn’t always follow the traditional modern school approach; “home-schooled” is the term most recognized today.

So does “home-schooled” simply mean you did your schoolwork at home? Some people say, “Yes, you are “home-schooled” if you are at home.” To them it does not matter who directs and controls the curriculum; the term applies to the location.

I maintain that if you are using a Public School’s curriculum your home has become a branch of that Public School, whether it be local, charter, virtual, or one at a distance. This is commonly called PSAH, Public School at Home. The students I personally know who were sent home by the Public School to do their schoolwork, were students struggling in the Public School environment. Students who were failing in some or all their courses, they were falling through the cracks. These students were given some freedom as to when they study, but the Public School still controlled their curriculum. Most of these students never finished and graduated.

We did not keep our sons home to simply avoid contact with others. They were exposed to enough anti-social behavior in the neighborhood, community, and media. We were not hermits. Our philosophy went deeper than just controlling where “school” took place.

The purpose of our sons’ education was not to get a big paying job, but rather to be equipped to serve the Lord, wherever He called them.

God had entrusted these boys to us. We had a sacred call to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We would be held accountable for what we did or didn’t do. How could we be true to this trust by sending them away for 8 hours a day to be indoctrinated with anti-God philosophies? No, “home-schooled” meant the home controlled the curriculum, directed how learning would be accomplished, and was central to the entire educational process.