OK Senate vs. Home Schooling

A few weeks ago, in the dark of night, I heard, "You're house will be under attack." I didn't feel the need to jump out of bed swinging, but I also had no clue what it really meant. While I believe there are many aspects to that statement, I think the following can be one of them.

There are two new bills to be proposed in the OK senate on Monday, February 2. I first saw this story here. It intrigued me as I felt our home schooling rights were being stepped on a little bit. So I started doing a little research. First, I found this. I felt a little better considering the Chairman of the Senate Educational Committee, State Senator John Ford said,

“Our home school community is a vital asset to this state. The way home schooling parents currently educate their children is a process that has worked fine, and I feel it is important for them to have the freedom in determining what will best serve their children’s needs.”

So, he, at least, is opposed to these two bills. Upon further research, I discovered the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) was in action on these two bills. See here for Bill 472 and here for Bill 308.

So, how does this relate to the house under attack thing? We home school our children. My wife has prayed about it since we started having children, and we pray about it before every school year. We didn't home school Bobo or Bear until we moved to Altus. We have absolutely nothing against Altus schools, we just felt the Lord was telling us it was time to teach our children at home. Again, we pray about it before every school year, because we don't want to be disobedient to God. We will put them in the public school system as soon as God doesn't want us to home school anymore. This is the Lord's will for our life in this season, so we do it.

We believe it is a parent's right and God-given duty to teach his or her child(ren). See Proverbs 22:6 and Ephesians 6:4 among others. The fact that society has created public (and even private) school systems to teach children en mass, does not change this truth. In fact, it endangers it. Read Matthew 18:6, 7 and 14. Does a worldly school system not have the potential to put major stumbling blocks in front of our children?

Both of my parents were school teachers, and Bridget's mother still is. They taught/teach with integrity and respect for the children, their parents, and God. I have nothing against the teachers. They are doing their job. We, as parents, are doing ours. If the government feels the need to control that, then we are headed for a sad day indeed. I encourage you to pray about this issue and then act as God would direct you. We are sending an email to our state senators. Read up on it yourself, and make up your own mind. Don't just take my word for it.

Be encouraged, God is in control.
R.C.