On My Soapbox

This might be classified as a Random Rant instead of a Random Rambling....It's long, and if you don't want to read my opinion, don't go any further.

If you are a homeschooler, you have probably seen the article released by MSNBC and Fox News entitled, "Top Homeschool Texts Dismiss Darwin, Evolution." Even if you don't homeschool or haven't read it, please do so. The article is scary enough, but what really disturbed me were the comments on the poll that MSNBC posted "Is it OK for Homeschool Textbooks to Dismiss the Theory of Evolution?"

I spent some time reading through these and was absolutely shocked, horrified, surprised....at what these people were saying not only about Christians, but about homeschoolers in general. I'm not sure why I was so shocked, horrified, surprised....I'm not naive and I know there are people who believe other than I do, but there were some very hateful comments posted.

I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That's fine. I have mine and they have theirs. However, that said, if the posters wanted to share their opinion they should have at least some knowledge of what they are commenting on. I always hesitate to comment on things I have no knowledge of.

I'm guessing from the quantity and type of comments that most of these people have no idea what homeschooling entails. Nor are they Christians. The posts I did find that were made by homeschoolers were few and far between and mostly in rebuttal to a topic that was already started.

Some of the comments read like this:

"And we wonder why our children are so behind the rest of the world in terms of math and science. Now I know one reason."

Huh?? What does the personal choice of Christian homeschoolers dismissing evolution have to do with the state of our educational system as a whole? Homeschoolers make up a small percent of the total educational system. And we are not all Christians, and we don't all teach creationism. Maybe the poster should take a look at what the public school system is churning out. Two of my kids did attend public school, so I'm aware of what they learn or don't learn there. My niece who is currently in 8th grade (public school) has repeatedly said she's learned nothing in her history class. They tend to watch a lot of movies.

Another poster said:

"how can you teach someone that the earth is only 2000 years old..how do they explain king tut and other mummies that have been found."

No one ever said we believe the earth is only 2000 years old. If she had done her research, she would have found out that we believe the earth to be at least 5000 years old. We are in 2010 A.D. There were a few years before Jesus was born that the earth existed. And what does King Tut and mummies have anything to do with it? Joseph became ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt. There were pharaohs ruling long before Moses came along. My daughter, in fact, just finished a study on Ancient Egypt and learned all about pharaohs and mummies.

Some comments stated that not teaching evolution was equal to "child abuse" and "neglectful."
Others stated that homeschoolers are ignorant, going to end up working at a fast food place and likened teaching creation to teaching fantasy or mythology. All because of what we believe?

I'm sorry, but I think these posters have all missed the point of the article and the poll. The question deals with our rights as homeschoolers, and the rights of the curriculum publisher. Isn't this more about freedom of speech than how the general public feels our children are going to turn out? One of the reasons I'm homeschooling is so I can ground my children in our beliefs. Do I want the government or the state education system regulating that? No way!

If my daughter was attending our local public school this year, she would be taught in her science class that evolution was the way we came to be. And I would have no say so, whatsoever, in this. So why is it OK for the public schools to not give us a choice in what our kids are taught, but not OK for us to choose in our home what to teach? Makes no sense.

I purposely chose to use a Christian curriculum, Apologia to be exact, so my children would learn about the earth that God created. If the mom in the article didn't want to teach her children in that way, that is her free choice and she should not have chosen a book entitled "Exploring Creation with...." Duh! (OK, that was a little childish, but it's how I feel.)

My children know what evolution is. They also know what adaptation and survival of the fittest is and how it all fits into creation. Now, I've not yet personally reviewed the Apologia Biology book that was being referred to in the article, but my understanding is the book talks about Darwin and evolution, it just doesn't promote it as the absolute truth. This is the biology book my children will use when they hit 9th grade, no doubt about it.

OK, that's it. Off my soapbox. For now. It's time to go teach my children some mythology~