I mentioned that last week we took our required Iowa Tests. I was mentioning that to a friend who is a non homeschooling mama and she said, "Well it's good that they regulate homeschoolers. That way they make sure homeschoolers are doing what they are supposed to be doing and teaching their children." Her concern was not for the average, ordinary homeschooling family, but for those people who say they are homeschooling and really do nothing with their children. She thinks that the state has the right and the responsibility to make sure that children are being educated "properly." Here are some of my thoughts on that.
Why should it be up to the state to make sure "OUR CHILDREN" are being educated properly? As parents, it is our responsibility to raise and care for our children. The Bible tells us to, "Train up our children in the way they should go and when they grow old they will not depart from it." The idea of government run education has not been around very long and looking at it right now is not doing a wonderful job educating our children.
Who decides what is "proper" education. Each state varies in its homeschool regulations with some being strict, some not having any regulations, and many in between. There are so many methods and ways to homeschool, how do you choose what is right and proper? How can people who do not know me or my children decide if they are being successfully educated? What some people believe is the most important things for children to learn, others may not agree on. What I put as first in my homeschool is not even allowed to be taught in Public Schools. Homeschooling is nothing like the public school system and cannot be compared even in the area of academic mastery.
What about the people that are really not homeschooling? Regulations need to be in place to make sure this does not happen. This is the extreme exception, not the rule. Regulations should not be placed on all because of one. Also, what about parents that feed junk food to their children all day long, or let them play 6 hours of video games after school, or let them stay up all night. Regulations on homeschooling is a step into the direction of regulating other things that go on in the home.
It is my right as a parent that has been given to me by God when He entrusted me with these children to educate them how I see fit. Do I think there should be regulations on homeschoolers? No. Do I abide by the ones that are in place? Yes. We follow the laws that are in place, even when we don't agree that they are necessary.
When I hear people say stuff like that, my favorite response is, "When the state can figure out how to properly educate the masses they are in charge of, then they can have the audacity to try and regulate those of us who are successfully educating our children." Pfffft - the public system is broken, but they are the experts we should have to answer to?? I don't think so. :)
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