I'd Move

I love living in Savannah. After having grown up in the frozen tundra of western New York State, the warmth here is wonderful. On top of that, we have an historic, fascinating city that is near the beach. The people are friendly, the food is great, and we can get to Florida in two hours. Nice.

So why would I move? I've been thinking about that recently. Quite frankly, there aren't many reasons that I would leave Savannah.

There is one reason, however, that I would vacate quickly (something like the guys in this photo are doing). If the state of Georgia ever told Alice and me that we could no longer educate our own children in our home, we would leave immediately.

In some of the more liberal-leaning states in the Northeast and West, parents' rights to educate their own children are gradually being taken away. Nowhere has a state yet said that you absolutely cannot homeschool (although Germany has), but several states continue to make it increasingly difficult. How do they do this? They do it by requiring certain educational levels of mothers. Or they require all kinds of paperwork to be turned in to the local public school system. Or they force parents to use state-approved curricula. And the list goes on.

We may ask what motivation that states have for making homeschooling difficult. What is their agenda and/or thinking? Some people in education believe that kids are better off if they are educated by government schools. This way the government can determine exactly what they are learning. Remember, the school system wants to create good citizens of the state.

Christian parents, however, are given the wonderful task of raising godly children. This is not the same thing as creating good citizens. The two can co-exist, but they are not the same thing at all.

Some folks in governmental positions are afraid that homeschooling will bring about people who are not loyal to the state government. I've even read some things that make it sound like homeschooling is dangerous because the kids might end up being extreme in their ideology.

All this is nonsense of course. Homeschooled children always do extremely well in all educational and social criteria. What about socialization you ask? Homeschoolers are fine, thank you.

Homeschooling gives parents the wonderful opportunity to determine what their children are learning. This way, all of the curriculum can be Christ-centered. It can be flexible. It can meet the needs of each child.

I'd like to live in Savannah for the rest of my life. However, if Georgia decides that homeschooling cannot be tolerated, then we'll move. Where? Wherever we can continue to raise godly children according to biblical standards.