Christian Home Schooling, Family Values, and Politics

As the political season is in full swing, it appears obvious that this is going to be one of the most intense and highly debated political races that the United States has seen in a long time. On the Republican side, Senator John McCain is the inevitable candidate, having knocked Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani out of the race while still competing with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is refusing to drop out of the race. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are now in a heated battle for the nomination as North Carolina Senator, John Edwards has dropped out.

As the party conventions approach, it seems like every special interest group imaginable is throwing their hat into the ring to either throw support behind a like-minded candidate, or to challenge the politics of a candidate that they believe particularly threatens their agenda. I heard an interesting discussion on the radio recently concerning Mike Huckabee's endorsement by a Christian home school group who believes that the former governor's evangelical Christian background (he's a former Baptist minister) makes him their candidate of choice.

Christian home schooling is becoming a very popular form of education across America, particularly for evangelicals who see it as a way to ensure that their children receive only influences that they deem to be appropriate. Furthermore, the Christian home school agenda allows family bonds to be strengthened as children spend more time in the home where family-based activities can be encouraged. Additionally, parents are able to have a much bigger hand in the home school curriculum of their children.

While there are obvious arguments for and against the lifestyle of Christian home schooling, neither the pros nor the cons should be considered out of context. The benefits, including the increase in family and personal values, the ability to move at a quicker pace, and the ability to more closely control your child's home school curriculum are very strong endorsements for homeschooling.

While the potential for homeschooled children's social skills could be a deterrent from some parents, there are numerous social groups available for homeschooled children that were not available several years ago. Additionally, church and community activities, such as boy scouts and girl scouts can help nurture a child's social life.

Obviously homeschooling isn't the epitome of family values, but it certainly does help in a society such as ours to instill stronger families and thus stronger citizens. That being said, there are certainly many additional factors that we should all consider when selecting our next President.

Art Gib