Homeschool testimonial: I was "almost totally isolated from the outside world, except for church"

[Anonymous]

https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/sarah-jones-thoughts/

My parents are classical musicians. When it came to literature and the arts, they (my mother, really, my father had nothing to do with the teaching process) excelled. Math, science and history? That’s another story altogether. This is partially due to the fact my parents are also Christian fundamentalists and insisted on using textbooks from Bob Jones University Press and A Beka, the publishing arm of Pensacola Christian College.

I know nothing about evolutionary theory. I had to completely re-educate myself about American and European history. I learned very little—nothing, really—about Africa, or Asia, or South America.

The worst bit, though, is the fact that my parents had the legal authority to keep me almost totally isolated from the outside world. I attended no activities that were not at our fundamentalist church. And that means I never had the chance to tell anyone safe that my father had a habit of screaming abuse, spanking us with household objects, shoving us, and throwing chairs in our direction when he was angry. The day after he shoved me face first into our couch, and left me with a permanent scar on my knee and a black and blue face, they simply kept me home from church so that nobody could see.

I was nine. I was nineteen before anyone told me the abuse wasn’t my fault.

The solution isn’t one that most homeschool advocates want to hear: Oversight.

I learned that the Founding Fathers were born-again Christians, and that God inspired them to create the United States and establish it as a Christian country. I learned that our laws were based on the Ten Commandments and that separation of church and state is a fiction.

These are all lies, and our Founders would be angry. They built this country to make it SEPARATE from religion – they saw Catholics and Protestants kill themselves in Britain for the previous century. The Puritans fled from religious persecution.

How can we allow homeschoolers not just to hide from oversight and enable abuse, but lie to kids about America's history?

[Anonymous]

The only homeschooled kid I know has Ivy-educated, progressive parents who certainly do not lie to her or isolate her from the outside world.

I have considered homeschooling my child with special needs. For the moment he is doing virtual schooling through his public school.

If your point is to conflate all homeschooling into this morass of child abuse and religious cults, then you're factually wrong.

If your point is that the government should have more say in how homeschooled children are treated at home, then great, I agree. If I ever homeschooled, the education inspector would be welcome any time to check on us. This is how some European countries approach homeschooling, actually. In France, for instance, parents need to prove they have provided what the government considers to be a basic education in the country's language, history and civics, as well as math and science. Homeschooled students need to pass examinations in those subjects, otherwise they are sent back to public school. I'm sure there are exceptions for disabled students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only homeschooled kid I know has Ivy-educated, progressive parents who certainly do not lie to her or isolate her from the outside world.

I have considered homeschooling my child with special needs. For the moment he is doing virtual schooling through his public school.

If your point is to conflate all homeschooling into this morass of child abuse and religious cults, then you're factually wrong.

If your point is that the government should have more say in how homeschooled children are treated at home, then great, I agree. If I ever homeschooled, the education inspector would be welcome any time to check on us. This is how some European countries approach homeschooling, actually. In France, for instance, parents need to prove they have provided what the government considers to be a basic education in the country's language, history and civics, as well as math and science. Homeschooled students need to pass examinations in those subjects, otherwise they are sent back to public school. I'm sure there are exceptions for disabled students.

A problem is that authoritarian Christian cults, i.e. fundamentalist authoritarian Christianity, are the majority of homeschoolers and also the ones pushing for more of it.
Along with Republican billionaires who fund the authoritarian evangelical campaigns, to damage public schools.

I'm just not sure how we deal with that. Maybe you're right that we should just impose a national math and science (and history!) curriculum. Kids should have to learn about science and also learn that America was founded on separation of church and state.

[Anonymous]

Read the homeschool survivors subreddit. Stories like this are common.

[Anonymous]

All the people I know who homeschool are military.

[Anonymous]

OP I am sorry for what you went through. But if you look at child abuse in this country, it is certainly not restricted to only one group, religious or not, homeschool, private, or public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only homeschooled kid I know has Ivy-educated, progressive parents who certainly do not lie to her or isolate her from the outside world.

I have considered homeschooling my child with special needs. For the moment he is doing virtual schooling through his public school.

If your point is to conflate all homeschooling into this morass of child abuse and religious cults, then you're factually wrong.

If your point is that the government should have more say in how homeschooled children are treated at home, then great, I agree. If I ever homeschooled, the education inspector would be welcome any time to check on us. This is how some European countries approach homeschooling, actually. In France, for instance, parents need to prove they have provided what the government considers to be a basic education in the country's language, history and civics, as well as math and science. Homeschooled students need to pass examinations in those subjects, otherwise they are sent back to public school. I'm sure there are exceptions for disabled students.

A problem is that authoritarian Christian cults, i.e. fundamentalist authoritarian Christianity, are the majority of homeschoolers and also the ones pushing for more of it.
Along with Republican billionaires who fund the authoritarian evangelical campaigns, to damage public schools.

I'm just not sure how we deal with that. Maybe you're right that we should just impose a national math and science (and history!) curriculum. Kids should have to learn about science and also learn that America was founded on separation of church and state.

That was probably true twenty years ago, but I doubt it is true today. Homeschooling has gotten much more popular, especially with the pandemic, and there are a tremendous amount of resources available to families who wish to do it. I think a lot of people would be fine with some sort of testing to ensure kids are meeting basic grade-level standards.

[Anonymous]

I love homeschooling my kid but I was a little shocked at how easy it is to homeschool. We are in Virginia and all I had to do was show proof of my education, a list of subjects I plan on teaching (like just “math, science, language arts, PE” etc.), and he has to take a test and get over I think the 25th percentile. I’m pretty sure you can just take a test that doesn’t ever ask about civics or biology or history.

I don’t want somebody coming i to my house or anything but I think that any information that a student is required to learn in public school should also be a learning requirement for homeschool.

I don’t know what is to be done about the abuse situation. It’s horrendous, and I know that kids get a reprieve from abuse at school and teachers are often the ones to report, but how can restricting homeschool solve the issue? I think you’d have to ban homeschool completely, because if you interview a kid about abuse, an abused kid would probably just lie about it.

As far as isolation goes…yikes. I honestly hadn’t thought of long-term consequences of that. I would hate to have to join a homeschool group and I have my kid socialize with play dates and lots of extracurriculars. How could the government step in there?

Man some parents just suck. It’s so sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the people I know who homeschool are military.

All the people I know who homeschool are either progressive liberals or raising a child with special needs and pulled them after fighting with the school system for services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the people I know who homeschool are military.

All the people I know who homeschool are either progressive liberals or raising a child with special needs and pulled them after fighting with the school system for services.

Or both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only homeschooled kid I know has Ivy-educated, progressive parents who certainly do not lie to her or isolate her from the outside world.

I have considered homeschooling my child with special needs. For the moment he is doing virtual schooling through his public school.

If your point is to conflate all homeschooling into this morass of child abuse and religious cults, then you're factually wrong.

If your point is that the government should have more say in how homeschooled children are treated at home, then great, I agree. If I ever homeschooled, the education inspector would be welcome any time to check on us. This is how some European countries approach homeschooling, actually. In France, for instance, parents need to prove they have provided what the government considers to be a basic education in the country's language, history and civics, as well as math and science. Homeschooled students need to pass examinations in those subjects, otherwise they are sent back to public school. I'm sure there are exceptions for disabled students.

A problem is that authoritarian Christian cults, i.e. fundamentalist authoritarian Christianity, are the majority of homeschoolers and also the ones pushing for more of it.
Along with Republican billionaires who fund the authoritarian evangelical campaigns, to damage public schools.

I'm just not sure how we deal with that. Maybe you're right that we should just impose a national math and science (and history!) curriculum. Kids should have to learn about science and also learn that America was founded on separation of church and state.

Where are you getting your data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/sarah-jones-thoughts/

My parents are classical musicians. When it came to literature and the arts, they (my mother, really, my father had nothing to do with the teaching process) excelled. Math, science and history? That’s another story altogether. This is partially due to the fact my parents are also Christian fundamentalists and insisted on using textbooks from Bob Jones University Press and A Beka, the publishing arm of Pensacola Christian College.

I know nothing about evolutionary theory. I had to completely re-educate myself about American and European history. I learned very little—nothing, really—about Africa, or Asia, or South America.

The worst bit, though, is the fact that my parents had the legal authority to keep me almost totally isolated from the outside world. I attended no activities that were not at our fundamentalist church. And that means I never had the chance to tell anyone safe that my father had a habit of screaming abuse, spanking us with household objects, shoving us, and throwing chairs in our direction when he was angry. The day after he shoved me face first into our couch, and left me with a permanent scar on my knee and a black and blue face, they simply kept me home from church so that nobody could see.

I was nine. I was nineteen before anyone told me the abuse wasn’t my fault.

The solution isn’t one that most homeschool advocates want to hear: Oversight.

I learned that the Founding Fathers were born-again Christians, and that God inspired them to create the United States and establish it as a Christian country. I learned that our laws were based on the Ten Commandments and that separation of church and state is a fiction.

These are all lies, and our Founders would be angry. They built this country to make it SEPARATE from religion – they saw Catholics and Protestants kill themselves in Britain for the previous century. The Puritans fled from religious persecution.

How can we allow homeschoolers not just to hide from oversight and enable abuse, but lie to kids about America's history?

OP - I do think that you need to do more reading of primary documents from the Colonial and Federalist periods. I am not sure that your assumptions about religion during the founding tell the complete story.

[Anonymous]

Public school enrollment declined and homeschooling exploded as a result of the pandemic. I expect we’ll see more articles that cast homeschooling in a negative light as part of an effort to either discourage additional parents from pulling their kids out of public school or lure some that tried homeschooling back, or both. There’s too many dollars at stake for public schools not to fight to regain the lost enrollment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love homeschooling my kid but I was a little shocked at how easy it is to homeschool. We are in Virginia and all I had to do was show proof of my education, a list of subjects I plan on teaching (like just “math, science, language arts, PE” etc.), and he has to take a test and get over I think the 25th percentile. I’m pretty sure you can just take a test that doesn’t ever ask about civics or biology or history.

I don’t want somebody coming i to my house or anything but I think that any information that a student is required to learn in public school should also be a learning requirement for homeschool.

I don’t know what is to be done about the abuse situation. It’s horrendous, and I know that kids get a reprieve from abuse at school and teachers are often the ones to report, but how can restricting homeschool solve the issue? I think you’d have to ban homeschool completely, because if you interview a kid about abuse, an abused kid would probably just lie about it.

As far as isolation goes…yikes. I honestly hadn’t thought of long-term consequences of that. I would hate to have to join a homeschool group and I have my kid socialize with play dates and lots of extracurriculars. How could the government step in there?

Man some parents just suck. It’s so sad.

Right, which is why public school teachers are mandatory reporters and provide regular, ongoing check-ins for all children in their care. I'm sure your child is doing swimmingly, but it sounds like you know very little about homeschooling outside of your specific situation and I think you can see how the current system (or lack there of) can and is taken advantage of by adults that are doing their children real, lasting harm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the people I know who homeschool are military.

All the people I know who homeschool are either progressive liberals or raising a child with special needs and pulled them after fighting with the school system for services.

Or both.

I think you're either in fundamentalist circles or you're not. They don't cross over into non-fundamentalist life at all.

I grew up in this world. We simply didn't know ANYONE who wasn't like us. I have since left these circles (my kids attend a progressive Big3 school in DC) but know countless homeschooled kids from very conservative families Most of my childhood friends/classmates are raising their kids in the exact same way.
There is almost no exposure to anyone who is not like you.