Slow Schooling Chapter Six

On Being "Qualified" to Teach

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The TEST: Are You Competent to Homeschool?

“You don’t have to go to college to get a degree in education. (In fact, that degree might prove to be counterproductive because education programs prepare you to teach how the state wants you to teach.) You don’t have to have teachers in your family background. Nor is it necessary that you were once the teacher’s pet, or are an expert in clapping erasers. The test is rather simple to take. It should take only a few minutes, and then you will know.

The first thing you do is wait until it is late at night. Then, very quietly, go from room to room in your house. Peek in carefully, and see if you find any sleeping children. Then be sure that these are your own children. If there are wee ones in your home during the wee hours, and if they belong to you, you are competent to homeschool. The true Expert on education is the very One who gave you these children.”

from When You Rise Up by R.C. Sproul Jr.

Hebrews 2:13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

When people learn that I am homeschooling our children, the most common response I get goes something like this: “Oh, YOU can do that because you (went to college...were once a teacher...have a lot of patience...).” The underlying assumption is that my higher education and/or teaching experiences in the government schools adequately prepared me to embrace the endeavor of home educating. Nothing could be further from the truth, and it is unfortunate that my experiences have tagged me as someone out of touch with the reality of how “hard” it is to homeschool.

Homeschooling, and certainly slow schooling, is not about adopting the government school’s means and methods of transferring knowledge and using behavioral modification in an attempt to raise a moral people. We ought to, rather, be profoundly grateful for the differences, because it is rather apparent government schools have not accomplished their own goals in these objectives, no matter how much tax money they throw at the system.

Qualifying to teach our own children is not a matter of educational attainments, licensure, or experience. And it is most certainly not a matter of permission. The deeper issue at the root is authority. The question we need to ask ourselves is, where is the responsibility for the child’s wellbeing and education supposed to reside? When a couple conceives a child, who has the authority--the right--to choose where the child lives or what the child wears and eats? God in His wisdom ordained both a mother and father to raise up the next generation in the context of a lifelong covenantal commitment (again, not as a “marriage” understood by the state). In a rational world, this makes sense. The baby knows and belongs to his or her mother and father. Only in a broken world does the mother have the ultimate right to abort her child, but not to raise him or her up once the birth day occurs. Once the child is born, the social security number is issued and suddenly he or she is a matter of state concern.

Granted, new parents are hesitant and unsure. They must learn to nurse, change diapers, and tune into routines and feedings and nap times. They must learn to discern between distressed cries for comfort and whining for sugar snacks. But no one is better able to cope with these everyday challenges than the parents, and mostly that is due to the fact that no one is more invested in the life of that little person. No one will love that child more.

At this point, the argument is usually shifted to the tragic extremes: children who are abused, abandoned, neglected, or in completely dysfunctional situations where they are expected to be the adults in the home. These are obviously deplorable and dreadful situations in which the church body would do well to embark upon Biblical counseling for struggling families in the community. Even in the worst situations, the best outcome that could be hoped for, and certainly worked towards, is repentance and reconciliation.

My hunch, however, is that readers here are not dealing with such catastrophic situations. More likely, the dismissal of home schooling is due to a lack of confidence, unfortunately fed by the state and media and culture at large. Educating your own child is not contingent upon your confidence, experience, training, or abilities. Those qualities don’t even guarantee or secure the success of children in any school system. It really equates to just one thing: You Care.

If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t celebrate your child’s first step (no curriculum needed). If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t worry about your child’s first tummy ache (chicken soup...check...). If you didn’t care, you certainly wouldn’t be reading a book and considering alternative ways of educating your child. What you need to realize is that for all of your child’s life, you HAVE been educating your child already. From the very first cuddle, you’ve taught your child that you were (or weren’t) available, that you did (or didn’t) love him or her, and that your rules and expectations were (or weren’t) expected to be met and followed. In fact, you’ve been teaching your child his or her entire life.

Why do we forget this? Or discount it? Oh, sure, your baby learned to walk...but he won’t learn to read??? I once had a sweet mother visit my home because she wanted to “pick my brain” about schooling their special needs child along with the daughter they had already brought home. The child in question came home everyday from the government school with not only stomach aches, but cards decrying her misbehavior: not finishing her work in the allotted time. I asked, “Instead of waiting for June (an arbitrary time of when learning “stops” for the summer), why don’t you pull her out now?” Incredibly, this mom was elated! She knew in her heart it was the right thing to do, but needed the encouragement and assurance from someone else who was not part of the system.

You don’t need someone else’s permission or assurance.

Except, for the most part, now you do.

Because ever since we agreed that the state had a more vested interest in our children than we do (due to the fact they are the experts...we think...), we now need to get that permission or approval to do the very natural act of educating our own children if they are in a particular age group. This was, again, not due to the fact that home educated children are failing in test scores, life experiences, socialization, work, or cultural or community involvement. This was due to, again, the wrong answer to the question of authority: where is the responsibility for the child’s wellbeing and education supposed to reside?. But here we are.

If you decide to home educate your child, whether via slow schooling or the most regimented of academic pursuits, you will need to obey the government and fulfill whatever requirements your state has set for the privilege of raising your own in this way. Some states are fairly liberal, not requiring any information whatsoever, and some are quite draconian, demanding parents hold certificates or turn in hours as proof of schooling. In any case, not only is it your responsibility to follow the law, your doing so protects the rights of other parents to continue in their own educational endeavors with their own children.

Does this kind of legislating sound repulsive to you? Or reasonable? It generally seems reasonable when discussing other people’s children, but a bit repugnant when dealing with one’s own. After all, you didn’t need a license to procreate. Not only is this an issue revolving around authority, but around liberty. Unfortunately, unless parents are actively aware of their rights and press to keep them, they will keep sliding away until our great grandchildren are not only influenced by and managed by the state, but in truth belong to them as wards. Governmental overreach only sounds like a fantasy until it involves your own family. The fact that so many families are comfortable with it attests to its power of persuasion.

You are not incompetent to educate your children. There is, in fact, NO evidence to suggest that a parent who has dropped out of high school is less qualified to teach their child than a school official with a multitude of letters after their name. [1] Teacher qualifications do not make for better students, and demanding certification or curriculum approval is not only unreasonable, it is an affront to parents everywhere. The reason I can educate my child is the same reason you have: you’re the parent. Understanding that alone will grow you in confidence and courage. Embrace it. (2)

That best academy, a mother’s knee.

James Russell Lowell

One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters.

George Herbert

1. 18 Sept 2016 https://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000002/00000214.asp

2. There are a number of resources that can help you to legally educate and raise your children, as well as keep informed of legislation and news. Some places to start: Home School Legal Defense Association (https://hslda.org/content/), Heritage Defense (https://www.heritagedefense.org/), and Parental Rights (https://parentalrights.org/).

If you’re looking for a simpler, more purposeful life outside of the rule of technology, perhaps you can glean from my experimentations in seeking a more present life. Learn more about the book (and how to get it) by clicking on its image.