Throughout the years, I have observed that parents who choose to educate their own children in the safety and security of their own homes have many different motives and reasons for doing so. Of course, there are no right or wrong reasons for home schooling. But avoiding the public schools is a good reason. Even as a kid, I had the nagging feeling that something was not quite right about my getting up early, getting on a bus, and sitting still in a classroom for hours. Meanwhile, as I memorized the rote for the day, I was thinking why couldn’t I just leave and enjoy the outdoors. Yes, I was just a kid, but I felt the classroom was a prison, and all I wanted to do was escape. Those twelve years in governmental school system were the most miserable ones of my life for many reasons—bullying, peer pressure, and objective tests to name a few. I hope your home school allows a lot more time for exploring outdoors rather than insisting your scholars sit still and do their “seat work.”
During my earliest years of life, I failed to realize the simple fact that everyone has a choice—we can choose to be miserable, or we can choose to be content with our circumstances. Recently I expressed to a friend of mine the importance of understanding what existence is all about. As many of you know, your worldview makes a real difference in your disposition. Sadly I am witnessing a lot more people with hot tempers and just an overall deterioration of common courtesy in public. There appears to be this group of angry people who are ubiquitous, never satisfied, and who think they are entitled to create as much of a fuss as possible.
However, I understand the reason for all this anger expressed by these people, which comes back to their worldview. Like me when a youngster, who thought it was unfair for me to be cooped up in a smelly classroom and who thought it was unjust that grown ups forced me to attend school, while I had no say in the matter, today a large number of people believe they too are living in a prison unjustly and unwillingly. These individuals believe other people or events have enslaved them in an existence for which they did not ask, and they are angry at the perceived injustice. The life they are experiencing simply cannot be right, someone is to blame, and there must be some other reality. Therefore, what is needed is liberation. Whether it is too much ketchup on a hamburger or not being waited on quickly enough, being trapped in the wrong body, or being subjected to so-called systemic racism, the issue is always the same: “If it weren’t for these people, my life would be much better.” Then the pent up anger is released.
So, having an employee fired, forcing others to celebrate one’s mental illness, or eliminating entire classes of people is seen as a way to make existence better for the self-perceived prisoner. Those who choose to exist in a prison of their own making are simply narcissists, who care for no one but themselves, and see human relations as a means of making themselves feel important. A good example of this is when a mother grooms her child to be LGBT in order to receive much desired attention and praise for being such an “affirming” parent. Rank, unbridled self-centeredness. Those who are thinking they are trapped in a prison of existence, liberty is simply a choice, because the Lord Jesus Christ has released all the prisoners.
I told my friend also that it took many years before I understood that existence, the mere act of being, is a miracle. If you are reading this article, think how resourceful your ancestors had to have been. Over 4,500 years since the days of Noah, history has recorded wars, famines, and plagues. It is the story of death, millions upon millions of lives cut short. The fact that any of us exist today is nothing short of astonishing. I am fond of saying there is nothing natural found in nature. The division of a cell into two separate independent cells, the warbling of a songbird, the colors coming forth from a setting sun, or the birth of a child can only be described as miraculous. In short, our existence is a gift, and the older I get, the more I see the miraculous in everyday life. With every additional day of life I approach this existence in awe and with gratitude.
Because existence and life are miraculous, I believe this to be the actual reason home educators teach their own children rather than turning them over to someone else. Whether by instinct or by knowledge, parents down deep within their souls realize that children are truly unique gifts—a special, miraculous creation. Embodied in the child is the future of their hopes and a continuation of their legacy. This legacy is too important to allow just anyone to use their children to be receptacles to pass on alien values and beliefs other than their own. Home educators should desire to relay the very best of customs and traditions to their students, who will in turn enrich their neighbors, unlike the narcissist who uses and manipulates people. Thinking existence to be merely an unjust prison sentence is alien to anyone who truly understands that liberty resides in good choices. Choosing to educate at home is a good choice. Indeed, home education is the finest expression for showing sincere gratitude to the miracle of existence, a fitting tribute to one’s ancestors.
THE DUNCE'S CORNER 