by Lorinda K. F. Newton
Nehemiah, the cup bearer of King Artaxerxes, heard that the walls of Jerusalem remained in ruins. In response, he asked the king if he could go to Judah to rebuild the city’s wall. The king gave permission, and Nehemiah traveled to Jerusalem and encouraged the people to rebuild the wall.
Seeing the work being done, neighboring enemies of the Jews tried to stop them and planned an attack. Nehemiah got wind of their plans and made his own action plan.
“From that day on, half of my servants carried on the work while half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows and the breastplates; and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah. Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon. As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built….”
In the same fashion, homeschooling families must not only teach their children but also defend their freedom to homeschool.
While the number of homeschool families has more than doubled over the past two years, those who oppose home-based instruction have demanded more regulation. Therefore, parents must stay alert to government encroachment on their God-given right to educate their children as they see fit.
Education Is a Family Matter
Throughout time, most families have educated their children at home. God set up this practice for the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:7
“You shall teach them [God’s laws] diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
In colonial America, most children were educated at home, often by tutors. One-room schoolhouses existed, but even these had short terms. Parents oversaw most of their children’s instruction.
A shift in this educational model began in the 19th century. Though most children were educated at home, more started to attend schools (mostly private). Even these encompassed only a fraction of a child’s life. School days only lasted a few hours, and children attended on average 78 days a year.[i] Most learning occurred at the family’s workplace and in the greater community.
Shift to Common Schools
Progressive thinkers such as Horace Mann and John Dewey wanted America to have government-run schools.
“The objective of this state-controlled system of popular education had little to do with economic or egalitarian goals; it was to shape future citizens to a common pattern,” with children taken from their families and the churches so that the schools would bring up citizens properly fit for the state.[ii]
Many objected to this government intrusion into the family sphere. However, the progressives pushed their views and gained control of American education.
By 1900, 72 percent of children attended state-run schools. During the 1930s, the states consolidated the multiple school districts, closing most one-room schoolhouses and reducing community oversight. Home-based education nearly became extinct by the 1970s. When President Jimmy Carter raised the Department of Education to cabinet level, the federal government entered the classroom.
Return to Homeschooling
After prayer and the Bible were removed from the public schools in the 1960s, Protestants started private Christian schools to protect their children from secular humanism. (The Catholics had already created their parochial school system.)
Others chose to return to the historical method of education—homeschooling. In 1982, Dr. James Dobson interviewed two home-based educators, spreading this concept to his nationwide radio audience. I first learned of it through Dr. Dobson.
When I began to homeschool in 2004, only about two percent of children were taught at home. According to Brian D. Ray, approximately 2.5 million (or 3 to 4 percent of) children were homeschooled in the spring of 2019. By January 2021, four to five million (or 7 to 9 percent of) American K-12 children received home-based instruction as independent homeschoolers.
Yet, this success has hurt the public education industry. Not only has declining enrollment cut into public school budgets, but some professional educators dislike the idea that parents often teach from a religious worldview. They will continue to fight for their ability to transfer their worldview to the next generation—even at the global level.
UN’s Negative View of Homeschooling
Most people give little thought to international organizations such as the United Nations. We don’t see how they shape our lives. But they do, for better or for worse.
A recent UNESCO report, Global Education Monitoring Report: Non-state actors in education: Who Chooses? Who Loses? discusses how non-state actors (any nongovernmental entity that performs a role in education) influence education from early childhood through vocational and college levels.
Michael Donnelly of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) studied this document and found that the UN believes homeschooling
- promotes “inequity” and “privilege” and “tests the limits of inclusion.”
- increases gender imbalances.
- is contrary to democracy and pluralism.
- interferes with moms’ ability to be employed.
Therefore, the UN concludes that “all education institutions be treated as part of a single system with common rules and common financial support and oversight mechanisms” where “government oversight through school inspections, evaluations and learning assessments should be common to all providers” (emphasis mine).
This push to unify all educational institutions under the direction of a national government runs counter to the founding principles of the United Nations and fundamental human rights.
In response to Nazi Germany, the UN published its Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which states that education “shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.” And that “parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”
Donnelly concluded:
“But it is troubling that an organization dedicated to human rights, and that purports to be an advocate for children’s rights and education, would write so negatively about an educational choice that so many children have benefited from and which offers solutions for education when innovation and new ways of thinking are required. If the UN is really interested in solutions to the educational chaos and problems that schools have, home schooling is one of them.”
Be on Watch and Stand Firm
Homeschoolers in England, France, Portugal, and Hungary are now fighting to preserve their educational freedom while their governments are passing restrictive legislation. We can’t let that happen in the United States.
To preserve the freedom to homeschool, parents must remain vigilant to possible government overreach. You can do this by staying informed and acting on bills that might affect your ability to teach your children. Check with local, state, and national groups such as HSLDA for newsletters on this topic.
In addition, promote homeschooling in a positive light. Educate others about the advantages of homeschooling and how homeschool graduates become good citizens and productive members of society.
Like Nehemiah’s men on the wall, you need to hold a textbook in one hand and public policy news sources with action items in the other hand. Stand firm to protect your right to educate your children.
Lorinda K. F. Newton began homeschooling her children in 2004, and her family joined Academy Northwest in 2014. Her family lives on beautiful Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Washington. She writes about faith, culture, and governing from a biblical worldview at Lorinda’s Ponderings. ©2022 by Lorinda K. F. Newton.
[i] United States Department of Education. Digest of education statistics, 2009. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 2010. 63-64. Cited by Brian Ray.
[ii] Glenn, Charles L. The myth of the common school. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts, 1988. 76. Cited by Brian Ray.
