We want to teach our children reading, writing and arithmetic in a loving family atmosphere, not turn them over to an education bureaucracy that thinks “school-homing” is the way to go.

What’s school-homing, you ask? Schools that dedicate as much or more time and resources to “extras” like social services and school-based clinics that offer reproductive health counseling and contraceptives, among other things. The Heritage Foundation makes the educational case against such nonsense in schools:

At the classroom level, such policies put demands on teachers that they can’t fulfill. Most teachers and administrators will readily admit they can’t make up for the fundamental role of the family and don’t want to.

At the same time, it’s frustrating for teachers if some parents don’t engage adequately in their children’s education because of challenges in their own personal lives. But the answer isn’t to push more government interventions into family life via public schools. It’s to start restraining government to its constitutional role, limiting public schools to their basic educational purpose, looking to civil society to restore family and community life, and empowering parents with real authority over and resources to direct their children’s education and upbringing.

(Read previous “Why We Home-School” lessons.)