A southeastern Wisconsin pastor takes a couple of licks at homeschoolers, revealing his ignorance of home-schooled kids, their parents, and the nature of Satan (!!)
I’m not at all enthused about home schooling: too limited a degree of
socialization, not enough involvement with a variety of peers, teachers
and situations to learn to negotiate securely outside the family
circle.
Keeping even small children hermetically sealed from the evils of the
real world is terribly imprudent. Often hell breaks loose once
teenagers are off to college with no parental controls, no helicopter
moms or dads hovering over them.
Oh. Really?
Those home-school kids often reside in "neighborhoods," Father, where there are OTHER children with whom they bike, play pickup basketball, go sledding, or wander into the store to purchase candy. Those home-school kids often participate in Boy/Girl Scouts, non-school-related athletics, (it's called Land O' Lakes) and as a consequence meet and deal with adults who are not their own parents. Often they have jobs in retail; that's not exactly "hermetic." And in actually Catholic families, where there are several children, "negotiating" within the family circle is quite an exercise.
But maybe you didn't know any of that, Father.
As to 'all Hell breaking loose' after leaving the nest, Father, surely you hear Confessions of college kids who graduated from a parochial school who........ahhh........have succumbed to temptation? No? Never??
I know several home-schooled kids. They are friends of my children. They are great kids who can carry a conversation in first-class English, do mathematics, and even interact well with non-parental adults. Some, quel horreur, have entered the priesthood.
And trust me, those home-schooled kids who become priests will not issue such un-schooled letters to the Faithful.
Oh, by the way, those homeschooling parents know a thing or two about "apps" and "the Interwebs." They know how and when to helicopter the chilluns. See, there are home-school support groups which help parents, kinda like those Catholic-school home & school organizations.
As to the other part of your letter, Father, maybe you'd like to tell us about parochial-school children and their encounters with "ask.fm". How could that sort of thing happen with kids who are properly socialized, and not hermetically sealed? Did all Hell break loose right there in your classrooms? Hmmmmm?
It's been my experience, and that of the Church, that Satan is an equal-opportunity tempter. Parochial school, home-school, public school, no school at all--makes no difference to him. I think that's in Moral Theology 101, Father. You can look it up.
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4 comments:
Yes, that article shocked me and I think Father owes an apology to homeschooling parents everywhere.
I have the highest regard for parents who home-school. It is a tremendous commitment of time and effort. They should be commended, not demeaned.
I've often heard people cite Christ's parable of the lamp as though homeschoolers are guilty of keeping the lamp under the bushel basket.
I do a lot of camping. I know something about lighting and using lamps.
One of the first lessons I learned is that when you are first lighting the lamp you MUST shelter it from the wind and weather. Until the lamp is lit and set, the slightest breeze or a single raindrop can quench the flame, leaving you in the dark.
Such it is with children. They are a fresh lamp, unlit and not yet ready for total exposure to the world.
Great post, Old Dad
"Parochial school, home-school, public school, no school at all--makes no difference to him."
Bingo.
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