Are You OK With That?

Towards the end of the "My Story" page, I pose several questions that I think every family should answer; actually NEEDS to answer before even considering public school.

I think you will find that once you carefully and prayerfully consider each one, you'll become disheartened, disappointed, dissatisfied, and sometimes even disgusted with the state of public education in the United States. 

So let's take a look at the questions:

• Are you OK with a non-Christian secular view being promoted and taught?
  
  Kids who attend public school from kindergarten through 12th grade will have logged thousands of hours of public school programming. No amount of church on Sundays and Wednesdays or parental influence can compete and counteract those numbers.
  
• Are you OK with Common Core?
  
  Common Core contends that every child should learn the same material at the same time during the same grade level across the board. Are all kids the same? I should think not! What happened to individualized learning styles and interests?
  
  Just check out these 8 Problems with Common Core as stated by the Washington post article.
  
• Are you OK with state standardized tests?
  
  Watch this short video from a teacher titled "I'm Sorry Students" (posted March 4, 2016). Then decide if you're OK with these tests. 
  
  
  
  
  
  Check out the words of a veteran teacher of 33 years in the article 11 Problems Created By the Standardized Testing Obsession by the Washington post. 
• Are you OK with worksheets, packets and hours of homework?
  
  I had my kids doing these packets and I, unfortunately, was one of the ones assigning the work. What are they doing all day at school if I then need to spend an additional 2 to 3 hours every night doing homework with my child? If you're doing that amount of work every evening with your child, guess what? You are already 'schooling at home'! Interesting, huh?
• Are you OK with transgender bathrooms and other politically driven decisions infecting and being dictated by the schools?
  
  This decision was recently dictated by the superintendent of schools in Fort Worth ISD to all the teachers, staff, principals, students and parents without discussion, debate or vote. 

It was so ingrained in me that once my kids were 5, they would be going to the local public school. I only considered "which" school, never realizing the real question I should have been asking was "if" I should send them at all. I wonder how many other families out there have made the same mistake.

I will be taking a further look at each one of these questions in my "Are You OK With That?" series of posts. If you have kids in public school or will have kids getting ready for school, I highly encourage you to answer these questions for yourself. 

If you want to get a head start with an in depth look regarding these and other issues facing public schools today, I highly recommend the book "They're Your Kids: An Inspirational Journey from Self Doubter to Home School Advocate" by Mrs. Sam Sorbo. 

The first half of the book looks at what's wrong with our current public school system (and the list is a lot longer than I've posted here). The second half then "guides you through implementing a better educational approach for your family, one that is tried and true." (excerpt from Amazon description).

Do the research for yourself. Do a quick search on these topics and others then ask yourself (and your family), "Are you OK with that?"