Frontispiece to Fireside Education, Samuel Griswold (Goodrich) (from here (en.wikipedia.org))
Confinement to home with all schools closed because of COVID-19 opened the door for many parents to homeschool their children. They’re finding it works and works well. Some may continue the practice long after schools reopen in the fall.
Homeschooling raises a real problem for liberals who want all children to be educated in America’s public schools. Period. That way, they have absolute control over what the children are taught, and that according to ‘party line.’
Certainly, our public-school system was started decades ago as a fundamental right for our nation’s children. For a long time, American kids were among the best educated in the world.
More recent data indicate that our children are falling behind compared with their peers in other nations of the world. The STEM curriculum and emphasis is one result of trying to reverse that trend.
Homeschooling our children is another solid way we can turn those data around to a large extent. And that’s what makes the liberals fearful. Mike Smith, a member of the board of ParentalRights.org and the president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, expressed his views over at HSLDA’s site (HSLDA to Harvard Prof: Homeschooling is a Fundamental Right). He speaks from the perspective of a homeschool parent, something many parents have not experienced first-hand.
Whether or not you’re a parent considering the homeschooling option for your kids going forward, you will do well to be informed about this growing trend away from it. Even as a voter and parent, it’s important that you know what members of your school board believe and stand for.
Cast your ballot for candidates who still espouse the American way: freedom of choice in how YOUR children or grandchildren are educated. Public school, private school, home school—those should remain your options. Don’t allow politicians to remove your freedom. Once it’s gone, it’s gone! Defend what is yours! Stand for what is right! Stand strong
— Posted by Tom Salmon for Doris, a fellow member of the Prince William and Manassas Family Alliance
Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance 
Reblogged this on Citizen Tom.
Tom,
I wonder how many parents would decide to homeschool if they were paid the amount per student being allocated to school districts.
For example, if my daughter who is a teacher was paide $13,000 per child for her three children, she would probably choose not to work as a teacher and stay home.
Frankly, I think her kids are being taught better now even though they attend a private school.
Just a thought?
Regards and goodwill blogging.
@Scatterwisdom
Decent private schools don’t get as much money as government-run schools. In fact, the amount of money the government-run schools get is quite a bit larger, larger than the government bureaucrats like to admit.
The bureaucrats usually give us a number they call the “operating cost”. That does not cover capital costs, like what they pay for the school buildings. Can you imagine shopping at Walmart and just paying the operating cost of a product? Walmart would go out of business, and so would the public schools.
This is one of the differences between paying for something with our taxes and paying a private vendor. Competition helps to keep people honest. Because no one likes dealing with liars, competitors have an incentive to keep each other honest.
When we are allowed to shop around, we just have to compare the prices and the qualities of the available products. We don’t have to elect the board running a private corporation. We don’t have to trust a bunch of politicians to be honest with us. We just have to shop and compare. Therefore, it is not as easy to fool us.
When we are dealing with a government-run monopoly, on the other hand, all the people who have a vested interest in that monopoly conspired to fool us. Does that sound outrageously ridiculous. Then consider. In the South slavery was legal for hundreds of years, and the people of the South, even though most of them did not own slaves, supported the institution of slavery. All the people who benefited from that peculiar institution conspired to uphold it, even if it required them to distort the teachings of the Bible.