I’ve been reading a book called Write These Laws on Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling (Beacon Press, August, 2009) by Robert Kunzman. The book is a look at six Christian families and how they homeschool their children. Not every family fits the stereotype I know I have in my mind. Some are impressive; others leave much to be desired.
In the following passage, the author visits Bridgeway Academy, a homeschool umbrella organization (with over 100 families enrolled in their program) in Los Angeles. The founders are Alan and Priscilla Bartlett.
The author brings up the point that, for some children, homeschooling may not be the best option:
“So is the child just out of luck,” I ask, “if she happens to be born to parents who neglect their responsibility to educate her, and she’s functionally illiterate at age eighteen?”
“The child is not out of luck, because, see, there are larger issues here,” Alan says. “There is the providence of God. Children don’t just arrive in families by happenstance. And as hard as it is for us to be willing to understand, every family, every individual, is under the providential direction of God. But the other issue is, the family doesn’t exist in isolation. You don’t just jump from the family to the state government. There’s extended family, there’s community, there’s church. And all those things used to have a tremendous force, and to the extent that government has this larger and larger role, those forces have broken down. And the state can’t raise children. (p. 69-70)
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