… in a world of masks, new lockdowns, social distancing and a hundred other things wrong with “public” schools.

For the first part of this discussion of homeschooling and the public schools, please go HERE.

I ended the first part with this thought: Two discussions in the past year point out the way in which, finally, very large numbers of people are rejecting the government-controlled “education” system. (Let me quote from FEE and AntiWar and other on-line liberty-minded publications here.)

This first one, by the very able Kerry McDonald, shows how several fictions about home-schooling are being addressed.  NOT through government fiat, but by common sense and voluntary cooperation. Parents and Teachers Starting “Learning Pods” Are Done Waiting for Permission from  Foundation for Economic Education by Kerry McDonald. Not only is this a way for parents (and grandparents and extended family) to provide good knowledge about a wide range of subjects, despite their own often-poor education – and deal with the necessity of two wage-earning parents. This is also a way that addresses the often-claimed “problem” with home-schooling: that children do not learn to socialize. McDonald writes in part:

“The widespread ‘pandemic pods’ that are emerging as back-to-school alternatives this fall are models of parental ingenuity, educator adaptability, and entrepreneurial agility. These learning pods, or in-home microschools, involve small groups of families coming together to take turns facilitating a curriculum for their children in their homes, or pooling resources to hire a teacher or college student to lead instruction. They are a creative, spontaneous response to uncertain or undesirable school reopening plans that make at-home learning easier, more practical, and more enjoyable for more families. These pods are also a prime example of what Adam Thierer calls ‘permissionless innovation,’ where new solutions and discoveries are born without explicit regulatory blessings.”

Then we have this very challenging article,  Subsidiarity Must Become a Reality in Education, from Heartland Institute by Larry Sand. Sand makes some good points:

“Originating in the Catholic Church, subsidiarity is an organizing principle that stipulates ‘matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority.’ And our times are most definitely screaming for this simple but powerful concept to be applied to schooling. A perfect example is here in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom, in conjunction with the California Teachers Association, has decided to halt in-person schooling for over 2.5 million kids and 250,000 educators all over the state. For many parents and teachers, that was a welcomed decision. But what about parents and teachers who want to return to a traditional school setting without navigating through an onerous state-directed waiver mechanism? There is nothing they can do; they are powerless. Why not leave the decision up to an individual school — its parents, teachers and administration?”

However, I suggest that Sands does not go far enough.  The smallest, lowest, least centralized authority is indeed the oft-maligned “nuclear family.”  That is, the parents.  We know that there ARE perverts, sick “adults” (based on age and physical characteristics) who abuse, fail to provide for, and even kill their children. But these evil people are far less common that the media and gossip would make us think.  And certainly a threat to children far more miniscule than the threats presented by the circumstances of “public” school: politicians, bureaucrats, staff, faculty, and even other students.  Combined with the threat of abusive, unloving parents.

Much of the crisis facing the Fifty States (and much of the world today) can be blamed with much justification over the cesspools called “public schools” and those who have been allowed to run (and ruin) them for more than a century.  This will come to an end; the only question is how and when.

More and more people – in particular parents – are starting to understand not just HOW to school their own children at home, but WHY it is important to do so.  And thereby weakening the power of government over the new generations. And doing it sooner than later.

IF we want our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to live in liberty and freedom, peace and prosperity, we MUST liberate them (and ourselves) from the intolerable burden AND danger of public schools – government-ruined, theft-funded schools. Homeschooling is the clear choice for now, and the more the better.