Thursday morning’s Aberdeen paper ran Megan Raposa’s November 28 report on home-schooling. I found the report interesting in its concerted effort to de-emphasize the role of religion in home school in South Dakota. Raposa consigns religion to third place in her list of reasons parents teach their own kids:
More parents are taking their children’s education into their own hands for a variety of reasons, from dislike of Common Core curriculum, to wanting more family time, to wanting religion in children’s education [Megan Raposa, “More Parents Taking Kids’ Learning into Their Own Hands,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2016.11.28].
Raposa refers to religious motivation as one of the “stereotypes” that homeschool families face. Joel Brunick of Sioux Empire Christian Home Educators “says it’s a stereotype that families only homeschool their children for religious reasons.” Yet every person and organization Raposa includes in her story appears to bring an obvious and strong Christian commitment to homeschooling:
- South Dakota homeschool pioneers Cathy and Bernie Schock: Bernie Schock once led the South Dakota Homeschool Association. Apparently a devout Christian, he said Christians should not marry or maintain close friendships with non-Christians. However, he encouraged Christian home-school groups to involve non-Christian families, mostly because their Christian example would help convert the non-believers. Cathy Schock lists her LinkedIn occupation as “Servant of God.”
- Living Legacy Academy: The organization’s website says, “We are a group of inter-denominational families whose purpose is to provide support and education to Christian parents who are teaching their children at home.” Their website banner features no text other than Bible verses.
- Natalie Michael, eastern South Dakota chapter of Classical Conversations: Classical Conversations brands itself as a “Classical Christian Community.” Their website banner offers the slogan, “To know God and make Him known.” In their discussion of how classical and Christian education align, they express the expectation that, “As students comprehend God more deeply and develop a deeper relationship with Him, they will want to praise Him continually.” Their non-discrimination statement on their new families application leaves the door open for exclusion based on faith: “Classical Conversations admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights and privileges, programs, and activities made available to enrolled students. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, or tuition assistance, nor in hiring facilitators, tutors, or administrators. We are a Christian organization and hold to the orthodox doctrines of the Christian faith.
- Joel Brunick, Sioux Empire Christian Home Educators board: Brunick’s organization says it was founded in 2002 by families who “desired to form a group where their belief and acknowledgment of God was an integral part of their homeschool organization.” SECHE’s doctrinal statement opens with the infallibility of the Bible as the Word of God, offers several more Christian tenets, and concludes by declaring that “our home school association should reflect and defend these beliefs in all of its activities.”
- Brooke Theisen serves on the SECHE board along with Brunick.
- Sarah Kramer (private school tuition became too expensive), one of two primary contacts for LLA.
Boy, if there’s anyone in Sioux Falls doing homeschool for reasons that don’t headline deep Christian faith, Megan Raposa didn’t find any.
The homeschoolers in Raposa’s story have connections to a national homeschool organization with strong Christian leanings. The first hyperlink on the LLA resources page is to the Home School Legal Defense Association. Sioux Empire Christian Home Educators is an official member of the Home School Legal Defense Association. HSLDA declares its mission “To preserve and advance the fundamental, God-given, constitutional right of parents and others legally responsible for their children to direct their education. In so doing, we rely on two fundamental freedoms—parental rights and religious freedom. We advocate for these freedoms in the courtrooms, before government officials, and in the public arena. Additionally, we assist other educational organizations in similar activities, where possible and appropriate.” HSLDA has clear connections to religious right-wing activism; however, HSLDA elaborates on its FAQs page that “Our mission is to protect the freedom of all homeschoolers, no matter what their faith background. HSLDA membership is open to all who choose to exercise their fundamental parental right to educate their children at home, regardless of their religious beliefs. Additionally, we place no religious restrictions on member families’ choice of curriculum.”
We can find some “inclusive” home school groups in South Dakota, like Our Way of Learning—OWL Sioux Falls. But we hear nothing about them in Raposa’s story
Not all home-schoolers are religious activists. But a lot of religious activists have made home school a key part of their exercise of faith and sometimes theocratic politics. That’s not a stereotype; that’s an accurate description of prevalent motives in South Dakota homeschooling.
key part of their exercise of faith and sometimes theocratic politics. That’s not a stereotype; that’s an accurate description of prevalent motives in South Dakota homeschooling.
That’s not a stereotype- its a condemnation and these fanatics are bat guano cra-cra.
Home schooling can be a great option for students who aren’t making good progress in schools, who have learning styles or behavior issues that are difficult to provide for in a classroom or who are bullied, etc., and the school takes inadequate measures to correct the problem. If one or both parents have the time and learn how to do it right, I have no problem with home schooling.
What I could never understand, though, was why homeschool lobbyists pushed exemptions from standardized testing that the state required for public school kids. I lean toward the idea that we go overboard on standardized testing, but I think one day of bubble testing a year is fine, as long as it is a good test that provides meaningful data.
School board members had to vote to let students out of the mandated public education to attend private schools or be homeschooled. We had nothing objective on which to base our decision on whether these students were being adequately educated, let alone making good yearly progress. Some board members knew that some of the kids were just being ignored, and “homeschooling” was being used as excuse, often, to get the kid and the family out of trouble for being constantly truant.
“it’s a stereotype that families only homeschool their children for religious reasons.”
I think the key word in the quote is “only”. A lot of home schoolers, including my family, chose to homeschool for non-religious reasons…yet because we are Christians, it plays a role in the education of our kids. I do not think the author was trying to de-emphasize the role of religion, as much as to highlight the other reasons people homeschool.
I wrote something up for a blog a while ago talking about our motivations:
The majority of people is SD are Christians, or Christian leaning. I am willing to go out on a limb and say that the majority of homeschoolers in SD are Christians, or Christian leaning. It makes sense to me that if they band together as homeschoolers, there will be a Christian element to their organization. It also makes sense that since churches usually encourage family growth and development, homeschooling families at these churches would band together. I am not aware of too many, if any, secular organizations where families gather together on a weekly basis to encourage family growth and development. Maybe if those organizations existed, we would see more secular homeschooling groups.
Christian is too broad a description to be used as a generalization for labeling. There are mainstream Protestant Christians. Born again, evangelical Christians. Catholic Christians. Christians who don’t go to church at all. It seems the born again, evangelical Christians are most prone to home schooling. Catholics prefer to have their own Catholic schools. Protestants prefer public schools as do Christians who don’t go to church at all. It’s important that public schools thrive and shun religious teaching completely. Because, you Christian readers, not all students are Christian.
Oops … sincere apologies to any Christian denomination I carelessly forgot to mention. Mormon LDS Christians for one. *sorry, Toni.
Religious homeschoolers want to teach their kids that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that Global Warming is a hoax. They tend to think they don’t have to teach their kids standard subject matter if their kids don’t want to learn it.
These parents are doing their children a grave disservice by willingly handicapping their own kids abilities to succeed in this country while still claiming that they love their children.
America is about reaching for our dreams with all the capacity we can muster in our lives, and encouraging our children to work hard and smart enough to be the very best they can be. Instead, crazy Christians embrace the dumbing down of our youth with radical ideology and keeping them from developing the social skills necessary for real actual success in this world.
When educated parents want to home school their kids, I understand. When uneducated radical ideologues want to do the same, it makes me wanna puke.
I’ve always said if you bring them into the world, to be fair, to their being you teach them everything. THis includes what you don’t believe in, for when they are older they have chioce to Believe for them self. Home schooling doesn’t do this. Our kids where exposed to five different churches even though I do not believe, everything from catholic to the synagogue,,,home schooling raises
models of the teachers and their education level, my experience with home school in our area an actual home school kid told me there is evil in public classrooms and was petrified from other kids. This kid didn’t have a clue we actually trade commodities to other countries (14 year old) thought we r grew food and took it to stores so they could make bread. The kid worked for us for one week trying to do odd jobs but reluctantly declined because the swearing around the shop was the devil. He left scared to death thinking we were Satan So if home schooling isn’t about religion why the emphasis on “lords work” and Satan.
So this test isn’t random sampling it studied a select few and not sects that actually home school because of religion purposes.
Blame it all on wingnuts who despise public schools because they aren’t allowed to teach jesusy non-sense and besides they are socialist hotbeds for liberal think-which is the only kind of thinking to be done.
Public education funds could be better wasted funding (illegally) religious and private schools which hurt public schools by using that funding illegally. Like it is not legal or constitutional to use public funds for other schools. But then so many wingnuts can’t read or comprehend. Must be all that private schooling they had in their iimopressionable years.
I didn’t go to private schools and I made up a new word-limopressionable. I believe what I meant, before my keyboard went totally rogue, was young and dumb years. :)
Joe, I continue to support and respect parents who make the sacrifice to home school their children. I maintain that home school—small-group instruction conducted by caring, intelligent adults who love (important, meaningful word!) the children in their charge and have great autonomy in choosing the curriculum, methods, and time of instruction—is the optimal model for education. I regret that economic pressures and other barriers make it practically impossible for the majority of American parents to avail themselves of home school and require us to settle for a necessary but second-best model, public education free and open to all students.
That said, I am concerned that many South Dakota home-school parents have a strong religious motivation that, per the concerns raised by Adam and T, undermines science and commitment to secular democratic institutions.