“Public school is child abuse!”

Yeah, that got me fired up too, even though I’m a homeschool mom.  I’m signed up for a local homeschool group’s Yahoo group here in Missouri, and I read that on one of the messages that came through.  The person actually had it on their signature that goes out with every message.  I was not impressed.  What are your thoughts when you read that phrase?

See, we are a homeschool family, and sure, we hold certain values and beliefs that influenced our decision definitely….but never that public school is even remotely close to child abuse.  For Dan and I, we believe that decisions regarding schooling your own children are just that….your decisions.  Every family has to make that personal decision for themselves, and they shouldn’t have to worry about being judged for whatever decision they end up with.  We chose homeschool because, for one thing, it gave us more time with our boys to give them more of a foundation here at home.  We are able to insert our values and beliefs into the curriculum that we use, so that they can hopefully form a strong foundation.  Another reason was that the school district that we lived in at that time was not the best; a lot of the kids that came out of that school ended up not being able to read (Jacob was already struggling with reading enough as it was), and there was just such a huge drug problem.  We were afraid that the quality of his education wouldn’t be what we could give him at home.  We didn’t want his already growing problems with reading to become a factor. (Now he reads anything in sight.)

Are our kids perfect, and are we perfect for homeschooling?  Absolutely NOT!  We made the personal choice as a family, and noone, NOONE, has the right to judge our decision.  Just as noone has the right to judge our decision if someday Jacob ends up wanting to attend public school, and we feel that it’s a good move.

I do not agree with the phrase above, and honestly, I get so tired of the negative flak that opinions like that give the homeschooling community.  We are not all judgmental, know it all people.  I’m not trying to be rude here, but as Jesus pointed out, when we see the speck in our brother’s eye, maybe we should also look to see the beam that is in our own (Matthew 7:3).

Am I proud to be a homeschool mom?  You betcha!  Do I judge you for sending your kids to school?  Absolutely not!

What are your thoughts on this topic?