Posted on 01/02/2009 2:45:20 PM PST by IbJensen
Critics of America's public school system have launched a new effort highlighting the need for Christians to exit the system.
The initiative -- dubbed The Call to Dunkirk was launched by Dr. Bruce Shortt, author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools; Rev. Voddie Baucham, author of Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God; and the founder and director of the Exodus Mandate Project, retired U.S. Army Chaplain Lt. Col. E. Ray Moore.
Moore explains the proposal. "The Call to Dunkirk is a special emergency effort to try to get other ministries, churches, pastors, and the major Christian right and pro-family movement to join with us and the other K-12 home-school ministries in rescuing the children from the public schools during the year 2009," he says.
Although Christians have fought other aspects of the culture war such as homosexual "marriage," Moore contends they are losing the fight when it comes to the education of their children.
" The real target of the liberals and the left has always been the children. And we can see in California where the conservatives won Proposition 8 -- the vote [was] 52 to 48 [percent] -- but...when Proposition 22 was voted on [in March 2000], they had a 61-percent margin of victory. So the culture is turning against Christianity and against the pro-family movement primarily because we've allowed our children to be educated in their schools," he adds. "They're converting our children; we're not converting them."
The Call to Dunkirk gets its name from the historical WWII event when the Allied forces of England and France were run out of Europe, but ordinary citizens rallied to their aid and used their own boats to help more than 300,000 soldiers escape safely in order to return again on D-Day.
Egypt? or Sodom? Lot was told to run and don’t look back.
We started HS'ing in the middle 80's....and finished K-12.
There were very strong HS'ing groups then....and I'd say 95% of them were Conservative in their beliefs.
FWIW-
I hear this being said by non-homeschoolers all the time — that “not everyone can home-school or afford private schools”.
We do exactly what we want to do in and for our families. We find a way — especially those of us who are Christians and conservatives. Saying you cannot afford to do something simply means you’re choosing to prioritize your life differently. You’re making choices — we all do.
I worked for a wonderful Christian executive years ago who always said something simple yet profound: “It’s only expensive if you can’t afford it.”
I cannot afford NOT to homeschool my four children. The price we all paid that first year they were in public school (after I adopted the siblings) was hell — as bad as the hell they faced in foster care. The rewards of the sacrifices I make to homeschool them far outweigh the “price”.
And if I can homeschool, as a single adoptive mother, anyone can. I cannot afford to purchase any curriculum, and am not too proud to receive donated materials all the time. We use the library, and the internet. Our life is envied by others, even though our life is incredibly simple and non-high-tech.
If you really want to homeschool, but honestly think you can’t afford it, PM me privately and I’ll help you figure it out.
I hope this grows some legs, but alas, I doubt it will get more than a few people who were already thinking of pulling their kids out anyway. While home education continues to grow, it’s not growing fast enough.
You see, Government education isn’t so much about education, it’s about state subsidized daycare. Or as I prefer to call it: Aid to Families with Dependent Parents. And like any group of welfare queens, parents who rely on AFDP will find a way to rationalize their behavior regardless.
Try it out. Speaking as a former public school teacher, I can say it was life changing and I will never go back to the public schools. Your priorities will also shift more towards your family than they already are.
I can cater to the learning needs of my children, take as many field trips as I want, choose the curriculum that works the best for my children, school year-round if I want so we can take more field trips to places further than 30 minutes from our home.
We are in several homeschool support groups which have Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Book Clubs, Robotics Clubs, Chess Clubs, sports associations, regular park days, co-op classes, girls’ activities, boys’ activities, swim team, band, football, choir... you name it and they have thought of it. There are so many social things on the calendar I could not possibly fit everything into our schedule. I don’t even try to. We have found the ones we like and pretty much stick to those.
Another thing to keep in mind is that while it can get to be expensive, it really does not have to cost that much. Before I was homeschooling, my son was in a private Christian school, and I was expecting our daughter. I had taken the year off teaching. My husband and I went through expenses and income, specifically my income as a teacher. We found that it was actually more costly for remain teaching. All of my income and more would go towards day care and afterschool care. So, my staying home with the baby was actually saving us money.
Additionally, I already knew some of the things that I didn’t want to use with my children, and some things I wanted to use with them. A little research and you can find a lot of things available online for a small fee or even free. Ambleside Online is one of the free curricula. Most of what is available to private Christian schools is also available to homeschoolers.
Seriously, you could homeschool your children with a Bible and a library card and have everything covered, though I don’t do that because my children are noisy and I like having the books we use within reach any time we need them. (I confess. I am a bibliophile. I love books, and I surround my children with them. Our living room is now the family library.)
“I don’t think it is time to leave Egypt yet.”
I imagine there were Hebrews in Pharoh’s time who wanted to “work within the system” even after that strange, white- haired fellow with the staff showed up.
Thank you for adopting! It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?
You don't have to imagine. Even after they left, they were complaining to go back!
I don’t see homeschooling as running away. I see it as owning up to a problem and taking care of it the best way I can. We have four children and one income. We are well below 6 figures and manage. Is it easy? Heck no! Do I wish we had more sometimes? Of course! Our kids don’t know we are poor. We spend a lot of time together and feel very blessed.
LOL! I love books, too. I somehow manage to purchase the books but can’t afford the bookshelves to store them all!! I, also, was a public school teacher that will never go back. I still have nightmares from my teaching days. I am so happy at home with my children!
Hm. Might want to rethink voting for vouchers. The govt would dole out the $ which means the govt would have their hands in what you do with the voucher and what the school would teach. Whenever the govt gives $, there are certain expectations/conditions/demands.
Ditto my wife.
It's not a conspiracy as much as it is a slippery slope of tiny steps pushed by individuals WITH agendas.
God HAS been forced from schools.
Liberal issues are pushed.....gays, any non-Christian religion (pushed as "culture", rich vs. poor (class warfare), sex at an early age, the list is long.
The woman who lived in the house before us was a public school teacher. The other day in the mail I got one of her NEA magazines. In it was an article filled with pictures of an NEA sponsored Obama rally with No on Prop. 8 signs everywhere. My point? Politics are rampant in public schools.
We have none of this in Ohio. In fact, I was surprised after Woodstock GA which did not allow the kids to sing Christmas carols...the middle school actually changed the words to Silent Night the year my daughter was in chorus which infuriated me- to find a school in a blue state ( this year anyway)that had Merry Christmas plastered all over the school.The children sang real Christmas carols during the school performance and during the caroling at a local book store. Some of the teachers are conservatives (my kid’s government teacher), and I see any in church on Sunday. One would expect Georgia to be more conservative and allow more Christmas celebrations, but it was just the opposite.
If you think about the public school system in terms of a corporation, we would all be clamoring to boycott that corporation! It refuses the mention of God or the Bible? Boycott! Its’ employees are not allowed to share their religious beliefs with others? Boycott! It actively promotes, and in fact, provides brain washing in favor of abortion, man-made global warming, gay marriage and gay “rights”, an anti-America agenda, etc. What kind of conservative and/or Christian would happily support and defend such a corporation? We’re very happy homeschooling our children and would never consider public school as an option. I used to be a public school teacher and trainer, by the way.
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