Showing posts with label Homeschooling. Show all posts

In recent months I heard the hue and cry of home schoolers around the Internet. Their complaint: Subway sandwich stores were discriminating against the home schooled children of our nation. The point of contention was an essay contest which could garner massive athletic and playground equipment prizes for the his or her school. The problem, home schooled students were explicitly excluded from the contest base.

I noted all kinds of suggestions as to why this exclusion was made in the contest rules, and also noted the responses by home school parents galore.

Subway has re-instituted the contest and included everyone who is a citizen of the USA and of school age. The only exclusions seem to be people who are part of the Subway franchise system, Scholastic (the other major sponsor) and the subsidiaries. Those kinds of exclusions that keep people from tampering with the results. You can read the rules disclaimer for the new version of the contest here.

Get your school aged children writing about the stories of their own sandwiches.

I usually don't rant and rave about things politic and hot-button issues here (my rants are usually along the lines of the grammatically incorrect sort), but this story caught my eye and my ear.

I first read about this and commented on a blog or two, then decided that I need to just sound out here. While I'm not a big proponent of homeschooling, neither am I the big enemy of homeschoolers--there was a time when we thought we might have no other choice than to teach our children at home when we were serving as missionaries. The thought that the state can usurp my parental position by telling me how to educate my children is just wrong on so many levels.

I've heard many homeschool supporters talk about "parental rights" but I think that it goes much deeper than that. I believe that the education of children is the responsibility of the parents. With that in mind, I believe it is the born duty of every person who has children to provide for them the best of educational opportunities at their disposal. For some, this means making sure that your child is enrolled in and in class at the local public school--with parents taking an active role in the day to day routine that is school. Other parents will find it necessary to find a reputable private school to place their children in. Even others may find that the very best education can be found at the knees of Mom and Dad at home. Whatever the case, it is each parent's responsibility to make sure that their child(ren) receives the best possible education.

Whoever said that the state knows better than I do how to do what is best for each of my children has gone daft in the head. And again, it is not my "right" to do what is best for my children but my responsibility. What is happening in California (unless higher courts understand it and reverse it) is nothing less than a bold attempt to remove parental influence altogether from young children.

After having read about this attrocity, I heard on radio a discussion of the same. If you would like to voice your opinion click this link and sign the petition to have the court's decision de-published. You needn't be a member of HSLDA to sign, nor a citizen of California (although Californians might have the biggest impact).

Finally, I would invite others to join in the comment section if you'd like to sound out on this issue--be aware that I try to keep a G-rating on this blog so be nice in your comments (whether you agree or disagree with me).

HT: Kevin Bussey, Marty Duren