Independent Are We?

I don't have to wait for the local news cast to begin on the television to find out about the weather ~ I go online straight to the source of pretty much all the weather info from NOAA. I have my zip code already coded in and it gives me our 7 day forecast including the current satelite images that the local meteorologists use.......ahhh, independence.



Same goes for local, state and national news. The Internet has proven to be a tool of independence. I need not sit in front of my television (...though I do feel compelled to do so from time to time) to watch the talking heads spoon feed me a depression session.



Isn't that our goal, as homeschooling parents, to provide our children with the tools of independence? To prepare them for a life to live independent of the world and only dependent upon the will of God?



This is just food for thought.



There seems to be a great deal of speculative garble throughout the media world of recent that describes homeschooling and it's growing "trend". I am not fond of "trendiness". Trend is driven by monetary gain. Ask any true homeschooling family and they will agree, there is absolutely NOTHING about educating your children at home that is driven by monetary gain (except, perhaps for those publishing curriculums...). Therefore, let the record show, Homeschooling is NOT a trend!



Merrium Webster's online dictionary defines "trend" as follows:

TREND:

Main Entry: 1trend
Pronunciation: 'trend
Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, to turn, revolve, from Old English trendan; akin to Middle High German trendel disk, spinning top
1 a : to extend in a general direction : follow a general course trending north and south> b : to veer in a new direction : BEND trends westward>
2 a : to show a tendency : INCLINE trending upward> b : to become deflected : SHIFT trending toward conservatism>



I bolded and enlarged "to veer in a new direction" and "to become deflected" to point out how unique these definitions of trend are. Quite frankly "veer" should be "steer" (as in drive in the opposite direction!) and "deflected", in my mind, represents abruptly changing course.........but whose course?????? Why, the world's course, of course! And why is it deemed "abrupt"? Because we had the nerve to object to the brainwashing that has been rammed down our throats since the concept of "mass schooling" in the mid to late 1800's.



Homeschooling is a call to duty; to honor the responsibility of the children we have born (added to a family) into this world.



What, you may be thinking, has sparked all this....?



I am OVER the "back to school" drama, the media hype, the marketing frenzy and the merry making of the emotional and mental slaughter that is continuing to take place in government schools ~ oh we volunteers of the cattle drive (...one behind the other with our index fingers over our lips.....).



I am a product of public schools; a total of five schools over the course of twelve years (...we moved about 4 times.....). I know I never had world history. Never. U.S. Constitution was the most memorable. My senior year the VERY MOST memorable since I was student body president and my homeroom was the school office ~ school was simply social and nothing else. I can recall two maybe three special teachers, one of which had nothing to do with academia (I was her favorite in 3rd grade): Mrs. Haywood in 4th grade and Mr. Jackson in the 8th grade. Isn't that pitiful? That an investment of twelve years has few, if any, academic memories?



When my oldest son turned five, we enrolled him in our neighborhood public school. As much as I cheered him on and played the "big school" game, I was insane on the inside. My guts were ripped apart. The day came and he and his independent self climbed on that big yellow school bus that we have been led to believe is such a childhood rite of passage. As the bus pulled away, I fought the tears trying to convince myself that this was part of his growing up. Fortunately, I had my second son to keep me busy while he was gone all day, though I will tell you I accomplished nothing.



Even considering my resistance to bring him home, the Lord blessed us with an incredible teacher that first year, a Christian woman, who became a very good friend. For the following two years, I kept her daughters while she taught public school and I searched for some evidence that compulsory schools were in our children's best interests. I found none. Even my new friend, held captive in this modern lifestyle of a working to spend cycle, admitted to me that she did not want her children to attend public schools, BUT (there's always a "but"...) "they" needed her income in order to live. In order to live we need food, water, clothing, shelter........the rest is fluff. And it is the "fluff" that drives "trend". Trend, driven by fluff, is all about the green. So if we are governed by the fluff then we are dependent upon the green and the green strips..............independence.



Through a myriad of events, we brought our sons home.



They should have never left.



What happened in the 1800's that so subtlely swept our minds, overrode our instincts and hypnotized a nation into handing over their children to the government and their so-called experts? The industrial age, driving trend, driven by "fluff" and all to gain the green. End result the deterioration of our independence that we willingly hand over every day.



If you've never seen the movie The Postman, starring Kevin Costner, I encourage you to find it and watch it at least three times. After watching it, ask yourself "What if?" If you have already seen it, re-visit it in your mind and ask yourself "What if?"



What happened to those independent ideals of this Country's forefathers that only a generation later all but abandoned? They were captured by trend.



Homeschooling is not a trend. It is a return to a God ordained natural responsibility. It is our greatest excercise of INDEPENDENCE, and at the rate of this country's mindswept trendiness, it could very well be our last.



Homeschooling: It's Only Natural



Copyright 2005

Harriette K. Jacobs

All Rights Reserved.