Homeschoolers worry about laws that affect homeschoolers. We worry about what new legislators will do and how politicians will view them. We worry about school boards giving us a hard time. We worry about our freedom to parent. We vote based on these worries and concerns.
I received an email this morning from someone who was thinking about supporting Obama in his presidential bid. They asked me if I was aware of anything Obama had said or done to support homeschooling. My guess is that this would greatly affect their vote. The only thing I could find as something he had written in his book Audacity of home. He said, “we should be guided by Lincoln’s simple maxim: that we will do collectively, through our government, only those things we cannot do as well or at all individually and privately. In other words, we should be guided by what works.” Now I have heard from many homeschoolers that to support Obama is to be against homeschooling because he does not have a family values platform and that he is not in line with conservative Christians. I understand their points, and I suggest that each and every person follows their own heart in this.
However, I am convinced that the biggest threat against homeschoolers is a bad economy. In the years since my family began homeschooling, I have watched our income drop dramatically. In fact, for nearly two of these years, we had very little income and lived off our savings. This had a dramatic effect on how we homeschooled our kids and the opportunities we could provide.
I have had numerous former homeschoolers tell me that they put their kids back in school because they needed the money that a second income could provide. They could no longer afford for one parent to stay home and continue teaching. Fortunately for myself, my kids are at an age where I could work from home while they homeschooled as they don’t need my constant attention. But for so may other homeschoolers, the journey had to end as mothers return to work and fathers take second jobs.
So I guess I am asking homeschoolers to consider this when they think about voting for the next president. Forget about the personalities. Forget about whom your friends and fellow homeschoolers are voting for. Look at the issues. If Obama has some policies that just don’t sit right with you, don’t vote for him. The same goes for McCain. But don’t worry about what kind of mouth-service the candidates give to homeschoolers. Worry about how the candidate will affect your ability to even stay home in the first place to get the job done.
Read:
Homeschool Legal Defense Association Stands against Obama
Homeschooling Sectarianism & How It Hurts Us
PS. I am not supporting any candidate over the other in this blog, just answering a question to the best of my abilities.