Homeschooling Fruit

Those of you that have traveled in Christian circles very long are probably familiar with the concept of "fruit." As in, fruit of the Spirit, or as in when evaluating something as to whether or not it is good or bad, you would look to see what kind of fruit it produces. For the uninitiated, basically, what do you see coming from the thing that you are evaluating?

I have homeschooled my children for nine years, and I believe that home education can be a spectacular educational tool. But as I've said in a recent post, like all tools, it is not the right one for every job. For the job it is right for, it is excellent.

I have to tell you that I am increasingly distressed at the "fruit" that I see coming from the homeschool community in this country. More and more I am reading articles in magazines, catalogs, websites, and blogs that make me cringe. Homeschool advocates seem to be losing perspective.

What am I talking about? It's homeschool enthusiasts boldly proclaiming that any children that are not homeschooled are in a pitiable situation. They say public school students are destined to become "mindless cogs in the wheel of society." I have read articles claiming that public school students today are *all the same* and *lacking in leadership skills.* All of them! Isn't that amazing? (considering that most of the adults in our society have come from public school educations, and we have such a varied population, full of leaders, followers, and everything in between, these claims seem ridiculous to me)

In contrast, I have also seen claims that homeschooled children become *free thinkers* and *leaders* and are of course more obedient than other children and go on to do what their parents think they should in their life. (Indeed, most of these same people don't want their children to be free thinkers at all. They want them to grow up to think like their parents.)

Uh huh.

(A funny--a year or so ago a woman at the church we were then attending found out that we had homeschooled our older kids. Her comment: "Really?! I never would have guessed that. Your kids aren't backwards or anything!" As I asked her what she meant about this comment it came out that all the homeschooled kids she had ever known seemed weird, awkward, socially inept, and nerdy. She had been hesitant to consider homeschooling her own child partially because of this. She thought that homeschooling kind of ruined kids....)

My main thought about these kinds of claims is that these people have obviously never met very many children that are not homeschooled, nor many kids that are homeschooled (there are all kinds!), that their own children must be very young, and that they are destined to get their rear kicked in a couple of years when reality strikes and they find out that homeschooling is not the be-all and end-all of familial bliss.

Sadder than all of these nonsense claims is the attitude that commonly goes along with it. Today it is more common than not that pro-homeschooling articles I read are

snotty
prideful
hateful
dishonest
exaggerating
and
condescending.

Frankly, this is not the fruit of a movement that is good for society, good for children, or borne of God's will. This is garbage. This is sin.

Of the young adults that are homeschool graduates there often seem to be two extremes that I have noticed. The ones that have followed their parents closely are also prideful and haughty, and even stupider since they have so little life experience to back up the things they say. The others have turned their back on their upbringing, only admit to being homeschooled as if it is a joke, and do not subscribe to their parent's values at all.

In all fairness, I do know some homeschool families with very fine young adult children that were homeschooled. Their children are well-adjusted, fun loving, interesting, and humble. The common thread I see in these families is that none of the parents has been on a hobby horse proclaiming to all the world that homeschooling is the only way, and that everything they were doing was because it was Biblically superior in every way. Nope. They were more of the, "Homeschooling is the tool that fits the job I have to do in helping this kid get from childhood to adulthood." And then they kept at it faithfully, knowing that it's only by God's grace and mercy that any of us accomplish anything.

If I was new to the concept of homeschooling and I took a look at most of the catalogs, web sites, magazines, and conference speakers that are so popular in today's homeschooling circles, I would have serious doubts about wanting to get involved. A haughty attitude that makes nonsensical claims and vilifies those that do not follow their ways is not a place I want to be.

Homeschooling is good enough without the lies, the exaggerations, the pride and meanspiritedness. If it is working for you--great! That doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it.

My hope is that homeschool advocates will take a long, hard look at their attitudes, and then do the necessary work to get those attitudes corrected. Because right now, a lot of the fruit is rotten.