Engineer Husband and I went to the Texas Homeschool Coalition Leadership Conference in Marble Falls, Texas this weekend. It was great, made me think about our vision for homeschooling, and about a vision for future of the homeschooling. And I want to buy a building, a really big building, probably a school or a church, to start a Homeschool Support Center. I’m thinking of a library, classrooms, a science lab, a music room, a lounge, a gym, maybe even a used bookstore. I really believe such a center would be a ministry to the entire homeschool community in Houston. So I’m praying and dreaming and looking.
I admire you for homeschooling. I think it’s great you want to have a homeschool support center like that, but wouldn’t that pretty much be a school? From what I hear public and private schools have gyms, music rooms, science labs, libraries, and much more. Tax payers pay a lot for it and put it to good use. WHy do you choose homeschool for your children?
We homeschool so that I can spend time directing the education of my children. The difference between a center such as the one I’m envisioning and a public or private school is that the children and the parents who spent time at the homeschool support center would choose to spend time there. It would be a voluntary organization that supplemented the efforts and educational work of parents and children at home. Good question, though. Public schools are not voluntary, and parents are not in charge–not even with elected school boards. I believe that parents have the right and responsibility to direct the education of their own children. That doesn’t mean that homeschooling parents can’t use resources, both people and stuff, from outside the home.