Homeschooling breeds rebellion?

I have a friend that is a homeschool mom as well and she has a couple on public school mom friends that she shares playdates with after library hour each week. Her friends have asked her several questions about homeschooling (your know, the usual stuff-what about socialization-do you test them-do you report to someone-how can you homeschool with no degree?) but they recently asked her one I had not heard or thought much about before. Doesn't homeschooling breed rebellion? Aren't you teaching them to rebel by homeschooling?



My dictionary defines rebellion as "an organized uprising to change or overthrow an existing authority." At first glance, and based on that definition, homeschooling may appear to be a rebellious act against government run schools. As homeschoolers, my husband and I have organized together and are changing an existing authority in our family. We are replacing the governments authority over our children with the authority of us as the parents. On the surface that may look a little rebellious but when we look a little closer, the opposite is the truth. The government started the rebellion when they started public schooling and took the God given authority over children from the parents. The public school system is the organized uprising and they have changed and/or overthrown the authority of the parents and the authority of God. That is the rebellion-not the homeschoolers. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 6:7 "And thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." When we read verses 5 and 6, it is clear that when the Lord is telling us to "teach them diligently" the them is referring to "these words, which I command thee". We are supposed to teach our children the things of God and we are to teach them to our children ALL day. The only way to teach our children things of God all day is to have our children with us. When we send our children to a public school where NOTHING of God is taught or even allowed to be discussed, we are rebelling against God. The government school system was started as a help to the parents and parents were essentially in charge. Gradually the school systems have taken over more and more of the parental rights to the point that some believe the parent's rights end at the doors of the school. It has been going on so long now that the parents willing GIVE their authority over to the government schools. They have forgotten (or never realized) that God gave the children to THEM and they do not have to surrender their children to the government run schools. They do it just because everyone does it and they think they have no other choice. They don't think twice when they have to submit to background checks before they are allowed to go on field trips with their own child. They don't think twice when they must send a note explaining to the teacher when they decide to take their own child out of school for a day. They don't think twice when they have to rearrange their entire schedule because the school has to do some make up days at the end of the year. They don't think twice about the schools teaching their children concepts that they fundamentally disagree with like evolution or homosexuality. They don't think twice about these things when it comes to their own children but then feel like WE are being rebelious because we choose otherwise for our children. They think that we are teaching our children to rebel because we homeschool but don't realize that the public school system is actually teaching their children to rebel. It teaches the children to rebel against the God given authority their parents have over them. If a child can not submit to this God given authority they will rebel against all other authority throughout their life. Lots of people (including me a few years back) say that they could never homeschool because they don't think their children will listen to them and get the work done. My son was in 3rd grade when I discovered and began researching homeschooling. Anytime I had to help him with his homework, it was a fight. I did not do things just like his teacher did and therefore, in his eyes, I was wrong. He had been taught that his teachers had the final authority not his parents. He was taught to always look to someone in the school system for the right answers and not his parents. The first year of homeschool was spent with just he and I rebuilding our relationship and yes there were some fights involved when it came to getting his work done under my direction but within that year he realized that I am not as stupid as the public school had caused him to believe. His father and I have now become the ones he comes to with questions and he looks to us for guidance. The questions are not so tough yet but in a few more years when the questions will be about sex or drugs, I am soooo thankful that he is in the habit of seeking advice from his parents now instead of from the school system or teachers or school counselors or peers. Because my children are learning to submit to their own parents now they will be more likely not to live a rebellious life later. A person can not easily submit their lives to God if they never first learned to submit to their own parents. Many christian parents think they can undo the teaching their kids get in school about topics they may not agree with but that is very unlikely. If I could not even undo my child's thinking on a simple math problem because his teacher did it a little differently, how would I ever have been able to undo everything he may have learned about evolution after several years of public school science classes. My child would have always had in his mind that the science teachers at school had more authority than I did. So some people may think of me as rebellious for going with God's plan instead of the world's and in some ways maybe it is but I will continue to choose to rebel against the world and not rebel against God. The consequences are way too high the other way around!!