Posted on 07/04/2013 5:47:17 PM PDT by haffast
(RNS) When KellyAnne Kitchin began home schooling her three sons three years ago, she had difficulty finding curriculum programs that fit her atheist and humanist beliefs.
So Kitchin, 33, cobbled together what she could. She left out one geography textbook’s description of the earth as God’s creation and another’s disdain for Darwin, and substituted her own point of view — that no supernatural powers guide human beings, who alone have the power to improve the world.
She also found many online forums for home-schoolers were unwelcoming. Some had statements faith members needed to agree to. On others she was made to feel unwelcome because of her lack of beliefs.
So Kitchin has formed an online group of like-minded home-schoolers from across the country. She hopes to create a lending library of resources that humanist, atheist and other nonbelieving home-schoolers can use with confidence.
“I found out there were a lot of people who were in the same boat I was in and did not know how to come out and have a community,” said Kitchin, of Winchester, Va. “I am hoping we come up with a big place and have some resources and some support.”
While two-thirds of home schooling families are Christian evangelicals, the number of secular home-schoolers is significant —25 percent, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at religionnews.com ...
She should try public skools. She is already a child abuser.
God works in mysterious ways.
Das Kapital, the Communist Manifesto, Mein Kampf, Blood and Soil and so on.
Nice to be wacko crazy for Him BTW. Hard not to be once you get to know Him.
Whadda Guy!
Idiot statement. Trying to imply that Christians only home school for the purpose of religious indoctrination, and to hell with education. Only non religious home schoolers are interested in quality education?
Here is an interesting thought. We know that the government has a great antipathy for home schooling, particularly because so many of them are religious. What happens when a significant number of HSers are not "Christians", i.e. "enemies of the state"? Presents the nanny staters with a dilemma.
Good for her. Instead of demanding that society conform to her demands, she used her own resources to create a solution to her problems. I wish parents of “transgendered” students would do the same instead of demand special potty privileges.
She's guilty of child abuse in raising her children in a godless environment. They'll grow up without any moral compass or direction.
This is a really really weird article.
I know a lot of people who homeschool. Generally for more academic rigor than the public schools. Mostly they want hard sciences, mathmatics, and language. God comes into play in very few core areas.
This woman is just using a girbilist to generate free advertising and maybe rope in some young liberal parents too lazy to look into what is out there.
Clutch your pearls a little tighter won’t you? It’s not illegal to have her beliefs, or lack thereof rather. Those beliefs certainly don’t coincide with mine, so all I can do is pray for her and her children that the truth will set them free. Actually, by homeschooling there is an increased chance of that happening. A certain Voltaire quote comes to my mind.
I really can’t understand why this woman would avoid public school
Not completely true. American atheists are blessed to live in a Christian country founded on principles of liberty. In her case liberty of thought.
The history of atheist run countries is dismal when it comes to liberty of thought. I wonder if she’ll teach her kids that history?
Ever read The Children's Story? Interesting, short book by James Clavell.
But don't let that stop you from writing an article bashing Christians....
I’m here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I’ve nurtured every sensation man’s been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him. In spite of all his imperfections, I’m a fan of man! I’m a humanist. Maybe the last humanist.
Al Pacino as “John Milton”, The Devil’s Advocate (1997 film)
They had a natural right to raise their children in their own beliefs.
We can challenge them in the field of argument, persuasion and appeal, but we should be glad they're homeschooling. One thing all homeschoolers, or all philosophies, have in common, is that they care enough about their kids to give them their prime time and energy.
A good thought, Rooster.
That's not necessarily true. Lots of agnostics and atheists are still riding on the cultural momentum of a used-to-be-Christian society. They derive their best moral principles from th Judeo-Christian tradition, whether they acknowledge it or not.
Even the deist/agnostics among our Founding Fathers (e.g. Jefferson and Franklin) had cultural assumptions which were Judeo-Christian --- like this notion they considered "self-evident" that people are "created" equal. That can be true only with religious and transcendent assumptions --- whether acknowledged or not.
Atheists are not so bereft of morals as you think. St. Paul said they still have the moral law in the hearts, and it approves them when they do right, accuses them when they do wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.