The other day another homeschooling mom I know made a comment about “Christian homeschoolers,” that she did not understand them. You had to hear the inflection in her voice to really know what she was saying, but it was not good. She has a picture in her head of the rigid schedule, the all-day memorizing of scripture, the shut-ins who cut themselves off from the rest of the world.
I felt kind of uncomfortable. I am a Christian homeschooling parent. Should I say something? Should I call her on her prejudices?
I decided not to because I am not one of the weird ones that she was thinking of. I just happen to be Christian and homeschool, but I am not one of those “Christian homeschoolers” that she is talking about. I don’t even use Christian curriculum.
Then later that night, I was reviewing the Learning Language Arts Through Literature book, so I would know what we were going to be doing. I noticed that the first passage was about God and the Bible. Ha! I guess I do use a Christian curriculum!
And Switched-on Schoolhouse, which we are using for math is from Alpha Omega Publications - a Christian curriculum publisher.
I began thinking about how I did not notice that before. I guess it’s because God is such a part of our life that a passage in a book that talks about God and the Bible does not jump right out at me or strike me as strange.
We read the Bible. We pray together. We discuss things through the lens of a Christian world view. We use Christian curriculum. I guess we are “Christian homeschoolers.”
The problem was that I was prejudging other Christian homeschoolers. I also had this stereotype in my head of families who shelter their kids from the world. I know we are different than that. Partly because we have not always been Christians, or homeschoolers for that matter, and partly because that’s not where God is leading us.
The truth is, if I had been a Christian before my kids went to school, I probably would have sheltered them a while longer, too.
I also know that there are as many different kinds of Christian homeschooling families as there are Christian homeschool families. Some choose to use a strict schedule. Some unschool. Some use an entire curriculum that is Christian. Some use secular materials. Some choose to keep their kids sheltered from the ways of the world until they are older. Some are out in the world early on. Each family needs to decide what works best for them and God leads each family down a unique path.
It was wrong for me to fall into the trap of judging other Christian homeschoolers by a negative stereotype created by people who are hostile to our values and way of life. I am sorry for that.
The next time I speak to this homeschooling mom, I will let her know that we are Christian homeschoolers.
6:22 pm on September 6th, 2006
Interesting, thanks.
This part of your comment so struck me that I’m going to have to go talk about it now!
It was wrong for me to fall into the trap of judging other Christian homeschoolers by a negative stereotype created by people who are hostile to our values and way of life. I am sorry for that.
11:23 pm on September 14th, 2006
Thank you for making me think–I too have been kind of critical of “those” Christian homeschoolers, feeling that I didn’t want to be categorized with them. But you’re right–if we judge each other the way the world judges us, then we are no different than the world. I’m sorry too.