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“As much as I’d like to raise them to adulthood in the bubble of my own home, I know that in the long run it will do them more harm than good.”

Speaking as a graduate of the homeschooling “bubble” at age 17, and incidentally as a magna cum laude graduate of one Tier 1 university and a PhD student at another, I have to take issue with your characterization of homeschooling. You argue that public school parents are more involved because they must “keep tabs on what’s being taught, what materials are being used, etc.” Granted this is not an easy process and I applaud your willingness to get and stay involved in your kids’ education. However, you’re ignoring the fact that careful attention to curriculum, attitudes, lesson plans, etc is a central part of homeschooling, whether a parent does the majority of the teaching or uses co-ops, tutors, community colleges, etc to supplement the child’s education. Can you honestly say that all or even the majority of your fellow public schooling parents give that much attention to how their kids are taught?

“So why not just home school? Because if you don’t stand up to liberals in the public schools, they will be free to churn out mindless, indoctrinated socialists. They would like nothing more than for all conservative parents to pull their kids out of the public schools. Then they’ll carry out their indoctrination unopposed.”

And what makes you so sure that exposing your children to that indoctrination for 12+ years will not outweigh the potential benefits of “standing up to the liberals” in the first place? I’ve got news for you: real conservatives are outnumbered a lot more than 3-1 in the public schools, and the ratio only gets worse as you move into high school (I note that your oldest is only 14) and college. So yes, keep fighting for a more Constitutional approach to education (which in my view would mean dismantling the NEA, among other things), and keep supplementing your kids’ political and moral education. But don’t be misled: we’re not going to win back the public schools by being the occasional voice of dissent (assuming that voice isn’t bullied into submission by teachers, principals, et al), but rather by demonstrating that children both learn better and become better citizens when removed from government control.

However, you’re ignoring the fact that careful attention to curriculum, attitudes, lesson plans, etc is a central part of homeschooling, whether a parent does the majority of the teaching or uses co-ops, tutors, community colleges, etc to supplement the child’s education.

I was merely countering the previous poster's assertion that I view enrollment of my children in public school as a transfer of my responsibilites to the school. I was not speaking of home schooling parental responsibilities.

I’ve got news for you: real conservatives are outnumbered a lot more than 3-1 in the public schools, and the ratio only gets worse as you move into high school...

Please re-read my post. My claim was that conservatives in general will be outnumbered at the ballot box 3-to-1, not in the public schools. And that includes your homeschooled kid. The difference is my kids will have experience countering the liberal mindset.

I'd like nothing more than to see the NEA dismantled, and primary education completely privatized. The simple fact is that the public schools system has grown too large to counter from the outside, it needs to be changed from the inside.

I totally agree with your perspective, sthguard. The Dept. of Education is one of the biggest bureaucratic jokes in existence. No matter how much money is thrown at it and the “education” it supposedly fosters, the schools are just absolute concrete jungles that are falling apart. Nothing but little petri dishes full of malleable kids who have to endure the Left’s latest social theories and experiments. I hate to use the word, but so many of them are simply hellholes. If you like the looks of government schools, then you’ll LOVE Obama’s healthcare takeover. Instead of books, supplies, and resources being rationed as they are now, it will be medical care.