How many of you had to answer the question, "How do you know that your teaching them the same thing they'd be learning at in public school? I've got to admit that, not only have I had to answer this question, but I used to ask it, too. I was an elementary education major in college when I first met a homeschool family and I cringe now on how I absolutely grilled that mother.
As a general rule, I'd say that people really don't realize what an offensive question that is. (I certainly didn't) They have been indoctrinated with the idea that some decision-maker in the educational system knows what is grade appropriate for every child, and that all children/schools should basically follow that course.
But we know better. Just as children potty train at different ages, we know that they can learn different skills at different times. As far as I've been able to tell, nowhere in scripture did the Lord ordain that all children should learn cursive handwriting by the third grade or state history in fourth.
When someone questions you about what your child is learning as compared to their child in public school or the cousins or whomever, just smile sweetly and tell them that your focused on another topic/skill at the time, but you will definitely be covering that.
Homeschooling gives us the freedom to individualize our children's education, so don't be intimidated into following the public school's agenda ( It's not that great of a role model) YOU are your child's first and best teacher! God gave those children to you to train up in the way they should go-even according to their bent.
Nancy Carter
I would just like to add something I read, "Who are we really trying to please? God's Honor Roll is determined by a Heavenly standard that defies the "wisdom" of this world. Put aside striving to compete with the world in standardized tests of achievement and begin to focus on higher goals. Get your priorities straight, for the children's sake and the lost & dying world, we must seek with all our hearts to possess true wisdom and Godly character" -Skeet Savage
We also need to keep in mind one of the many reasons we do not send our children to public school is because they are failing academically. So why do we compare?
American’s are farther behind in educational status than countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and China. The teachers spend too much time on the little things and forget the real reason why the children are there. Not only that, but the textbooks hold inaccurate information and do not contain the whole story. Some textbooks stated that the atomic bomb ended the Korean War (instead of World War II) and that only 53,000, rather than 126,000 Americans, were killed in World War I (Klicka 24 25). One book summarizes Abraham Lincoln’s and George Washington’s life in approximately six lines each. Not only are the wrong things written in the textbooks, they teach the children wrong values. In public school textbooks, marriage is never mentioned as the foundation of the family, and yet these books are supposed to be the textbooks that introduce the child to an understanding of American society. Abortion is another issue. Mel and Norma Gabler’s document states, "Abortion is discussed as an aspect of birth control in biology and health and homemaking books" (Klicka 56). Not only that, virtually all sex education textbooks used in public schools throughout the country teach that any kind of sex is all right; such as premarital sex, adultery, masturbation, homosexuality, and lesbianism.
One example of humanism in our schools is that they teach evolution, not creationism. Some people believe that this problem is happening because of the removal of God and prayer in public schools; the U.S. Supreme Court did this in 1962. Beginning in 1962, SAT scores plummeted. Teen pregnancies, teen sexual diseases, teen suicides, teen alcohol, drug abuse, pornography, and illiteracy rates abruptly increased 200 to 300 percent (Klicka 48). Violence is one of the main factors effecting are schools today. Rape is a growing problem among juveniles. A juvenile commits one out of every five rapes that occur in the United States. There is also a higher use of drugs and alcohol among kids in public schools. Over 80 percent of public high school students drink alcohol and 45.7 percent have used marijuana. Drugs and alcohol make most people extremely violent. That is also why our violence and crime rates are so high. Over hundreds of millions of dollars are spend on the security of our nation’s public schools. In 1965, a drastic shift in the focus of education from academics toward behavior modification took place when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) opened the door to federal funding to schools-not teachers-but social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Since that time more than 7,000,000 children within the government school system hav been labeled, registered and treated as patients. Increasing numbers of boys between the ages of six & fourteen have been " diagnosed" with ADHD.
Yet we worry about if we are teaching our children the same things they'd be learning in public school! By grade 8, the average homeschool student performs four grade levels above the national average! It blows my mind that SO many of us worry about if we are "covering" everything! The problem is a lot of parent's have this mind set that, "if it doesn't work we'll just put our kids back in school" I believe that is just a set up for failure. If we are always comparing and worrying then we are homeschooling for the wrong reasons. We have missed the very heart of homeschooling. In Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's book, "For The Children's Sake" she explains how God has made each child different and for us to compare and expect Suzy & Timmy to read a the same age of five is ridiculous! What pressure we put on ourselves and our children! How sinful to expect all children to be the same and try to change what God has placed within our child! We as homeschool moms need to stop trying to bring the public school into our homes and allow God to be our ONLY standard by which we live. God's Word is the standard of true wisdom!
If you feel weighted down as a result of homeschooling, you have allowed someone to push something on you that God would not ask you to carry. It may be a standard, or a tradition, or an image, or a false assumption, or feelings of fear, guilt , or inferiority. Whatever it is before it causes despair, you must rid yourself of anything that does not pertain to God's standards. Jesus said, His yoke is easy! When we realize this we are truly going to LOVE homeschooling!
Academic Statistics on Homeschooling
http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/comp2001/HomeSchoolAchievement.pdf
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp
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