There's a window of opportunity and realization which is closing on America's parents and their school-aged kids. For well over a year, families have had video glimpses of the drivel and anti-American evil being foisted in America’s government-run classrooms. They’ve also gotten a feel for what it takes to educate their children at home. But unless they make their move this summer to exercise their authority in deciding where, what and how their kids are taught, this unprecedented chance will likely be lost.
Despite many parents not believing that they can educate their own kids, those naysayers are not appreciating the fact that all parents are teachers by definition and necessity. Additionally, Proverbs tells us to train our children in the way they should go, and Deuteronomy says we should diligently teach our children. And that wasn’t just the simple ABCs, but the laws of Moses!
In truth, the biggest problem for most is money, both in the associated costs as well as the possible lost employment involved in staying home. But there's a simple solution which can mitigate both drawbacks: state funding. There's no good reason why parents, or even neighborhoods or other organizations, should not be paid well for taking over the government school mission.
Dennis Prager’s recent column tells parents that to take back our country, we should yank our kids from public school en masse. But the huge number of students needing to be emancipated from this educational rot is way too large to be accommodated by the current private, religious and charter school systems.
The best answer is an unprecedented homeschooling movement.
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And the responsibility need not fall on each individual family. A dozen kids living in close proximity can easily form a local classroom and be taught by any of the parents or a hired instructor. The key is securing some level of funding from the taxes that are used for each child in the government schools. Educational expenditures in this country per year per student range from a low of around $8,000 in Utah to a high of around three times that amount in New York and the District of Columbia – with DC producing perhaps the worst academic result and Utah perhaps the best. With just half of average state funding following the student, those 12 neighborhood kids could have a six-figure classroom. This is more than enough funding to pay a well-qualified teacher and provide necessary supplies. Along with rotating parent volunteers, it could form the basis for expansion into full-size, American values-based, instructional institutions all over this hopefully still land of the free.
There’s nothing wrong with not wanting others to essentially raise your kids, especially in the lower grades, as elementary-age kids are prime prey for the government-sponsored indoctrination currently permeating our schools.
There needs to be a lobbying effort in each state for legislators to direct tuition tax dollars to any homeschooling parent who will assume the responsibility. For those that argue that this will hurt the established school systems, they are wrong on at least two counts: only a portion of funding will follow the child so the remaining student body will have a higher per-pupil level of funding, and the competition involved will prod the schools losing enrollment to up their game. The argument about lack of socialization is also a canard as they're not locked up 24/7 but rather have plenty of time to interact in their communities. Leftist drama queens are quite experienced at the Chicken Little role and we should have learned long ago to ignore their hysterical rants.
The Left is openly flaunting their grip on our kids and has changed education’s three Rs into racism, reparations and revolution (HT: Don Weaver, Tucson, in the Arizona Daily Star). We must turn those tables back and ensure that our kids’ formative years have a solid basis of basics as well as appreciation for the astonishing country we've been lucky enough to grow up in.
An encouraging note is that Census Bureau information is showing a significant rise in home schooling. From 1999 to 2012, U.S. homeschooling rates roughly doubled, then stayed level at about 3.3%. By April 2020, they increased to 5.4%, and then more than doubled again to 11.1% by October. Another doubling would approach critical mass.
This is a threshold opportunity. If we can cross that line and start educating kids by the millions away from the current corrupt system, we can start turning this country around and raise the next generation of Patriots.
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