Where do I begin? So many reasons… It all started in my History of the 1960′s class in college when I read the following article:
“School is Bad for Children” by John Holt
I also noticed in college how poorly prepared I was for critical thinking and clear expression. I was an excellent student throughout my public school years, but I felt that the majority of that time had been wasted. I also noticed that the university I attended was actively recruiting homeschoolers into the honors college. These several observations I made in college started me thinking about homeschooling.
As I read books, articles, and websites about schools and homeschools, I also began to conclude that schools are not just a waste of time that could otherwise be put to good use, but that they are in fact dangerous to children. Not just for the reasons John Holt or Richard Mitchell describe – those of stifling curiosity and impairing the ability to reason – but also for philosophical and theological reasons as well. Schools indoctrinate children in the modern philosophies of secular humanism, cultural relativism, anti-westernism, anti-christianity, and radical feminism.
Here are some things I’ve read that have helped me in making decisions about the education of my children:
How Children Fail, How Children Learn by John Holt
Less Than Words Can Say, The Graves of Academe, The Leaning Tower of Babel, The Gift of Fire by Richard Mitchell
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto
“The Lost Tools of Learning” by Dorothy Sayers
Losing Our Language: How Multicultural Classroom Instruction is Undermining Our Children’s Ability to Read, Write, and Reason by Sandra Stotsky
The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming our Young Men by Christina Hoff Sommers
Why Our Children Can’t Read and What We Can Do About It by Diane McGuinness
Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee Simmons
The Latin-Centered Curriculum by Andrew A. Campbell
The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
Inside American Education: The Decline, The Deception, The Dogmas by Thomas Sowell
