Feeling heavy-hearted for parents who have to send their little ones off today for the first day of school, losing so many amazing moments in the best years of their life. And for the little ones who have to go through it all. Remember Narnia in its decline: "'We'll be able to make Narnia a country worth living in. There'll be...roads and big cities and schools and offices and whips and muzzles and saddles and cages and kennels and prisons - oh, everything.'
"'But we don't want all those things,' said an old Bear. 'We want to be free.'"
(From The Last Battle)
Showing posts with label Public Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Public Education. Show all posts
Our Philosophy of Homeschooling
I linked to this post on the Raising Homemakers website for their link-up day. Please visit them sometime. So many interested in the art of homemaking are also interested in the art of homeschooling. For us, educating our little ones at home is an integral part of creating a home of goodness, truth, and beauty. In the article below, I give the basics for why we homeschool.
In this post, I want to discuss the educational philosophy of Saint George Academy (our family homeschool). It’s important for everyone to know why they do what they do. Many who have opted for other educational methods often wonder why people make the choice to educate at home. They see a variety of potential problems with homeschooling (some legitimate, some, eh, not so much), and even those considering homeschooling themselves worry about some of these potential problems.
So it’s worth answering the foundational question of why we do it. Later, we can talk about objections to homeschooling, and deal with those potential problems. But first we need to establish that home education is a legitimate choice; and in fact that it is much more.
People from a wide variety of religious (and “non-religious”) backgrounds homeschool their kids, so I need to establish here at the beginning that what follows is written from our family commitment to the historic Christian faith. We are what some would call “conservative” Christians, which means we believe in the truth of the doctrines and history of Christ and His Church. We believe the Bible as written, and take the historical sections (including accounts of the supernatural) as history, the poetical sections as poetry, and the whole Bible as the Word of God, without error and without anything that should worry or embarrass faithful Christians.
With that said, our philosophy of education—why we do what we do—begins in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Here is the basis for all education: "thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Moses here commands the people of God on this wise:
1. Education consists in teaching children to love (v. 5) and obey (v. 6-9) God.
2. Education is the responsibility of parents (v. 8).
3. Education is an all-day, every-day enterprise (v. 7).
***
In this post, I want to discuss the educational philosophy of Saint George Academy (our family homeschool). It’s important for everyone to know why they do what they do. Many who have opted for other educational methods often wonder why people make the choice to educate at home. They see a variety of potential problems with homeschooling (some legitimate, some, eh, not so much), and even those considering homeschooling themselves worry about some of these potential problems.
So it’s worth answering the foundational question of why we do it. Later, we can talk about objections to homeschooling, and deal with those potential problems. But first we need to establish that home education is a legitimate choice; and in fact that it is much more.
People from a wide variety of religious (and “non-religious”) backgrounds homeschool their kids, so I need to establish here at the beginning that what follows is written from our family commitment to the historic Christian faith. We are what some would call “conservative” Christians, which means we believe in the truth of the doctrines and history of Christ and His Church. We believe the Bible as written, and take the historical sections (including accounts of the supernatural) as history, the poetical sections as poetry, and the whole Bible as the Word of God, without error and without anything that should worry or embarrass faithful Christians.
With that said, our philosophy of education—why we do what we do—begins in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Here is the basis for all education: "thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Moses here commands the people of God on this wise:
1. Education consists in teaching children to love (v. 5) and obey (v. 6-9) God.
2. Education is the responsibility of parents (v. 8).
3. Education is an all-day, every-day enterprise (v. 7).
Public School Quotes
Here are a few interesting quotes. Let's see if any of you out in Facebook Land or Blog Land agree:
"That erroneous assumption is to the effort that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence....Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues, and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else." - H.L Mencken, The American Mercury, April 1924
“Our schools have been scientifically designed to prevent over-education from happening…The average American [should be] content with their humble role in life, because they’re not tempted to think about any other role." - U.S. Commissioner of Education William Torrey Harris, 1889
"A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominant power in the government, whether this be a monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy, or the majority of the existing generation, in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a despotism over the mind, leading by natural tendency to one over the body." - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
"Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them." -- Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677)
So, do you agree, or not so much? Is public education really just a way for the government to produce cookie-cutter citizens who can't think for themselves?
If so, what are the implications for your family, if any? It's a controversial subject, sure, but discussion and learning are the best parts of this online world we're all a part of.
"That erroneous assumption is to the effort that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence....Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues, and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else." - H.L Mencken, The American Mercury, April 1924
“Our schools have been scientifically designed to prevent over-education from happening…The average American [should be] content with their humble role in life, because they’re not tempted to think about any other role." - U.S. Commissioner of Education William Torrey Harris, 1889
"A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominant power in the government, whether this be a monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy, or the majority of the existing generation, in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a despotism over the mind, leading by natural tendency to one over the body." - John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
"Academies that are founded at public expense are instituted not so much to cultivate men's natural abilities as to restrain them." -- Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677)
So, do you agree, or not so much? Is public education really just a way for the government to produce cookie-cutter citizens who can't think for themselves?
If so, what are the implications for your family, if any? It's a controversial subject, sure, but discussion and learning are the best parts of this online world we're all a part of.
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