The number of homeschooled children in the United States has soared nearly 62 percent over the past decade, and national homeschooling organizations are anticipating even further growth in home education as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide.
The U.S. Department of Education celebrated the court’s same-sex marriage ruling with the militant LGBT rainbow in its Facebook profile picture, a sign that even more of the LGBT activist agenda will likely be finding its way into public school classrooms and curricula.
“Public schools may be forced to be philosophically compliant with this decision,” wrote Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) founder and chairman Mike Farris on the national homeschooling organization’s website. “Children will be taught that there is only one way to view marriage and the family.”
“We believe that families are going to seek educational alternatives that allow them to teach their children according to their conscience,” he continued. “Consequently, homeschooling will grow. And as it grows, those who wish to impose philosophical restraints on homeschooling will increase their efforts to force us to comply.”
Farris added private homeschooling support groups may be pressured to conform.
“We’ve been getting a number of questions from homeschool group leaders who have concerns about what this could mean for their groups, because some of them hold to traditional religious views of marriage that could have implications about their leadership or vendors they accept at conferences,” Michael Farris Jr., director of HSLDA Media Relations, tells Breitbart News.
“Anything that could directly impact homeschoolers is speculation at this point, but we’re keeping an eye out to ensure that all homeschooling families are able to teach their children according to their conscience.”
Attorney Deborah Stevenson of National Home Education Legal Defense (NHELD) tells Breitbart News the continued rise in the number of homeschooling families has been due to a sense among parents that their constitutionally protected right to raise and educate their children as they see fit is gradually being eroded in the United States.
“Parents whose children are enrolled in public schools, more and more, are already critical of the way the government has eroded their rights in terms of the collection and distribution of data about their children,” she said. “They are upset that their rights are eroded when ‘educational standards’ are developed by national groups and implemented by induced monetary incentives from the federal government, thereby weakening any local control over curriculum that parents may have had.”
Stevenson said the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision and the U.S. Department of Education’s blatant support of it could further add to parents’s concerns that they are gradually losing control of their ability to educate their children according to their own wishes.
She continued:
Part of the upbringing of a child includes instilling in the child a sense of moral values, regarding all manner of things. Some parents may agree with the Supreme Court’s decision and the attitude of the Department of Education to incorporate moral values into the curriculum, but others may not. Among those who do not agree, undoubtedly, some will see this decision as a defining moment and choose to withdraw their children from enrollment in order to homeschool, causing the ranks of homeschoolers to grow yet again.
Stevenson said both federal and state lawmakers now have to make choices regarding how much of an impact the Supreme Court’s decision will have on the nation.
“Individual parents also have choices to make,” she added. “The most important thing to remember is that in this country, thankfully, there are choices that a free people can make. They can choose to leave the government school in order to homeschool. One thing is clear, however, that freedom must remain untouched so that parents continue to have a choice.”
Stevenson asserted that any encroachment upon the rights of homeschooling parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children will be met by a strong coalition of parents ready to fight against the invasion.
“Rest assured, there will be many parents who stand ready to fight such an attack on parental freedom,” she said.
Wisconsin homeschooling parent Sara Lehman tells Breitbart News that though she has taught her children to be loving of all and respectful of the decisions of others, she “draws the line” when “the White House and our Department of Education proudly display the ‘rainbow.’”
“The hypocrisy of our government and this administration is disgusting,” she said. “And they want me to trust them with my childrens’ education?”
“My only option, in good conscience, is to homeschool,” Lehman continued, adding that her oldest child – a high school student – was “stolen” from her by the public school when he joined an LGBT club to support his friends, but then decided he was both bisexual and an atheist.
“I can’t complicitly just hand over my other two children,” she explained. “It’s my turn to try and teach my children in the ways of our beliefs and I am just so angry at myself for not being awake much sooner to see this coming.”
Lehman said civil disobedience is a possibility if the government attempts to regulate homeschooling.
“So many people are seeing homeschooling as their last hope to save their kids,” she said. “I truly believe that I am ‘rescuing’ my kids by taking them out of public school, and that is so sad because I am a product of a decent public school system (in Colorado) and I turned out pretty well.”
Homeschooling parent Angela Cutter tells Breitbart News that while many factors led to her decision to homeschool her two children, the “final straw” was the Common Core standards.
“I think it would be inappropriate to address LGBT issues in public school, although I know that it’s coming–even in my red state of Kansas,” she said. “It may even be part of ‘Common Core’ education.”
“I would like to think that we will see an uprising of people choosing to homeschool their kids, especially evangelical Christians,” Cutter continued. “However, when my son was in public school and they switched to a new ‘Common Core’ history curriculum, I asked if I could read his new book, but was told I would need an appointment with the school office to do so since books are no longer sent home.”
“I quickly realized that I was alone in my request and that the majority of parents just don’t care what their kids are learning,” she added. “So, I am not convinced that there will be a rush of new homeschoolers based on these recent events.”
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