All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 – 1860)
Homeschooling, while an ancient concept, is viewed by most of us as a relatively new idea. An idea whose validity many question. Sometimes I wonder if it is an idea which will ever regain its legitimacy, or will forever be assailed by objections that are made specifically to threaten its existence.
The basic problem is that the act of schooling your children yourself, under your own roof, and accordng to your own ideas and values is not motivated by a consistent need. The reasons parents choose to school at home are nearly unique to each family. You cannot find a large group, united under identical motivation, who teach their children at home in a specific manner. Everyone does it slightly differently and for a slightly different reason. And for the millions of parents in the United States who sacrifice time and money and opportunity to school their children at home, there is only one united concept they can all stand behind: let us exercise our rights as parents to choose for our children.
Parents choosing for themselves is a huge threat to progressives who, if track record is any guide, wish to control and dictate nearly every choice people can make through governmental regulation and law. Freedon of religion, adherence to a constitution many seem to find misguided, healthcare choices, and even homeschooling threaten a progressive’s ability to control your and my choices in life.
In the case of the millions of us who do choose to homeschool, we face a constant uphill battle fought by those who are somehow threatened by our desire to choose for ourselves, leave others to their own choices, and get on with our lives.
But why are they so threatened?
Maybe it is because that choice parents have to determine how to raise their own children is really a natural right – a truth. It is a truth which is not fully recognized by society at this point, but I think homeschooling and parental rights are on their way to becoming a universally accepted truth.
I think that Schopenhauer was right about all great truths passing through three stages to acceptance. I think that in fact sucessfuly passing through three stages may a litmus test that helps to define an idea as a truth.
So, where are we today?
Stage One – Ridicule.
This stage is pretty much passed. It gained momentum more than a decade ago as many proclaimed that homeschoolers were crazy religious fanatics who kept their children at home in order to indoctrinate them in a false narrative. Obviously this wasn’t the case and the myth eventually lost its power.
Stage Two – Violent Opposition.
I think that this is the stage we have been in for the last decade or so. Uninformed and irrational objections are raised such as the socialization issue. Unfortunately for the opposing progressives, homeschooling families are not a coherent group with similar motivations or learning profiles. Everyone is doing things a bit differently and in fact many change the way they homeschool often, unintentionally creating a moving target for those trying to oppose parent’s choices. Also homeschooling families are growing in number and becoming more and more visible. The days of keeping your child hidden away during school hours have passed in much of the country. As former homeschoolers reach adulthood and become exeptional members of society, and as the institutionalized schooling options become more and more untenable for increasing numbers of parents, more and more people realize homeschooling is a good and viable option to consider.
I think that we are at the tail-end of the violent opposition stage and rapidly accellerating towards acceptance as a self-evident choice.
And in this, the week after school choice week, I think that the operative word describing homeschooling’s future really is choice.
