By Marc Fey, M.A.
TOS Magazine is pleased to present to you The Good News in Homeschooling, a column dedicated to the propulsion of the ever-increasing GREAT news for homeschoolers. Here, you will have the opportunity to partake in the general conversation taking place at the grass roots level of the movement and beyond. This issue, please welcome an organization which has helped proclaim the good news in homeschooling for decades. We can thank Dr. Dobson and Focus on the Family for their numerous, long standing contributions—contributions which continue today, over 20 years later.
Perhaps you heard Dr. Dobson’s recent comments criticizing public schools, going as far to say that if he had a child in the public school system in California, he would pull the child out and find an alternative educational option. The comments have certainly riled up opponents and stirred up the dust of public debate over education.
But for homeschooling families, and perhaps for many of you who have been listening to Dr. Dobson for years, his comments were hardly revolutionary. Why? Because you have heard him promote homeschooling since the 80’s. Dr. Dobson’s radio guests like Michael Farris and Raymond and Dorothy Moore for years have helped to bring national attention to the grassroots movement of homeschooling.
But in the landscape of today’s educational world, things are heating up, and there are many voices attempting to redefine education, including the homeschool movement. For that reason, I thought it beneficial to lay out Focus on the Family’s educational values to answer the question, “Why does Focus on the Family continue to promote homeschooling as a superior education solution for many families?”
First, Focus on the Family believes that the education of the individual is foundational for developing humanity toward its fullest potential.
In the Garden of Eden, we see that God instructs Adam, with specific directions about the garden, and later, his relationship with Eve. What is interesting to me about this familiar passage is the love and care that God showed to Adam in giving him instructions about life and the world around him. With those instructions came increased responsibility (naming the animals, living beside the temptation of the two trees) and blessing (the provision of the garden and the intimacy of relationship with God).
Homeschooling parents are serious about this first principle, which explains the great sacrifices that they make to educate their children at home. That is a far cry from the public education philosophy popularized by John Dewey at the turn of the last century: that education is about socializing individuals in the context of the group for the purpose of developing society.
At Focus on the Family, we hold to a “high view of education” which we share with homeschooling moms and dads. Of course, the research confirms the effectiveness of homeschooling. In his study of homeschoolers across America, Dr. Brian D. Ray found that home education is linked to high academic achievement1. Interestingly, Dr. Ray attributes this success at least in part to “value consistency, value communities, and social capital.” These are “researcher terms” for trust. Homeschooling families build equity between family members through meaningful, ongoing interaction, including in the home education setting. When we develop the individual to his or her potential, by extension we develop society.
Homeschoolers’ achievements are bearing this out. In 2002, 10-year-old home school student Calvin McCarter became the youngest winner of the National Geography Bee. Seven year-old Faith Nejman-McNea, also homeschooled, won first place in her age group out of 38,000 contestants in a 1998 literary contest (Crump, 1998). And their achievement is broad as well as it is high. In a 1999 study by the Education Policy Analysis Archives, Dr. Lawrence M. Rudner demonstrated that homeschooled children are distinguished by high achievement and distinct family characteristics, including the teaching of values and the socializing of children into adulthood.2
Secondly, Focus on the Family believes that at its foundation, education consists of 1) equipping the child’s mind and 2) shaping the child’s character, which together results in developing the architecture of the soul.
In the Garden, Adam was held responsible for the instructions that God had given him. In other words, there was a clear causal relationship between God’s Word and Adam’s actions. Why? Because God knew that what was at stake was the very personhood of Adam. Who he was, or would become, came out of what he did.
I am reminded that God’s trust in us comes from his desire to have men and women who worship Him freely. With that freedom comes the potential for relationship with God, illustrating the kind of interdependence we see between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Homeschooling mothers and fathers understand this principle every day that they educate because outcomes and results define progress and achievement, but the context of that achievement is in relationship with others. The watch-word of the day in the public education sector is accountability (testing, school choice, standards, etc.) To homeschoolers, the formation of their child’s mind and character is worked out every moment of every day, each lesson interwoven with the formation of what the child thinks and how the child acts—mind and character. The context of homeschooling provides for this kind of accountability; it is not just what the child does but also who the child is becoming.
And finally, most importantly, Focus on the Family believes that the most important educators in a child’s life are his or her parents.
We believe that those closest to the child usually have the child’s best interest at heart and are best equipped to guide the child’s learning experiences. Therefore, educational responsibility lies first with parents.
I notice in the chapters of Genesis following Adam and Eve’s fall the absence of Adam and Eve from the lives of their children. The alienation that Adam experienced between himself and his God was manifested in his relationship with his family.
The homeschooling movement beautifully illustrates healing between parent and child. Dr. Isabel Lyman, author of The Homeschool Revolution, understands that fundamentally the homeschool movement is a “family restoration movement.” In a recent interview she explained to me, “The homeschool setting is where the child learns to be loved.” I would say also that it is where the parent learns to love. What a wonderful and poignant way to sum up the value of homeschooling—and certainly, why Focus on the Family will continue to support homeschooling as a superior educational solution for many families.
Marc Fey is the Education Policy Analyst for Focus on the Family. With Masters degrees in Education and Ministry, Marc taught English at the high school & college levels for eight years and served as a pastor for the past seven years. He and his wife Kathy are also the founders of The Learning Company (http://web.archive.org/web/20031218182804/http://www.thelearningcompany.net/) which uses a cognitive skills development program for their one-to-one tutoring approach. He resides in Colorado Springs with Kathy and his three children, Jonathan age 12, Paul age 9, and Anne age 3
1Brian D. Ray, Strengths of Their Own, NHERI Publications, 1997; p. 24.
2Lawrence M. Rudner, Scholastic Achievement and Demographic Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998.
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