by David Robert

Created on: November 23, 2006   Last Updated: May 13, 2007

I am a product of the public school system. Ever since I knew I was going to be a parent it was on my heart to home school. My wife is the daughter of two college professors with aunts and uncles in the public school system. Every time I brought up homeschooling with her it was like hitting a brick wall. She didn't want to hear it.

To home school your children requires sacrifice and financial expense. It would be much easier and cheaper to make them get up bright and early and catch the bus. As a tax payer I help finance the public schools, but I'm totally and solely responsible for financing my home school.

My wife did come around to my way of thinking through a series of three minor miracles that occurred within a two week period of time. First, in my Sunday newspaper three homeschooling families were profiled in a positive light. The dad of one of the families was a public high school math teacher, yet he chose to home school his own daughter. I made sure my wife saw and read the three articles. Second, a married couple that are friends of friends of ours wrote us a long letter extolling the virtues of homeschooling even though my wife and I have never met this couple face to face. Third and last, a young couple who have never been financially well-off who are friends of my wife and I sent us a two hundred dollar kindergarten curriculum totally out of the blue. My wife said, "I guess I'll try it." She is now sold on homeschooling more than me.

My main interest in homeschooling was the desire to be able to expose my children to things on my terms first before their school mates influenced them, and also to have more control over who they chose for friends. I have no desire for my children to grow up naive. One method I use to help avoid naivety is the viewing of movies. e.g. Brokedown Palace (1999) We are able to discuss what we see during and after the viewing. They do not have free and unlimited access to television. We have a DVD player, no cable, no satellite, and no antenna. Parents put locks on their door to protect their children, yet allow anything and everything to be piped into their home through television to influence their children? We do have Internet access. The computer is in a public place where everyone can easily see what is being viewed. In addition to their regular school book curriculum, I have "Why Wait?: What You Need to Know About the Teen Sexuality Crisis" by Josh McDowell and Dick Day as required reading as they approach adolescence.

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