I'm not going to bash public schools as evil. I'm not going to bash homeschooling either.
I went to public schools, evolution was never taught one time, and there was no need to. That was possibly a Virginia thing. I do remember we skipped several chapters in the text books.
My former spouse was homeschooled, and she could barely read and write, but everyone's experience may be different.
It's not at all uncommon that kids graduate public schools completely illiterate. Kids learn how to work the system, rather than do the work. The public school experience is largely random. It depends on the teachers, the administrators, etc... some schools have excellent teachers, admins and programs. They have high rates of success while other schools are lucky to have a 50% graduation rate.
But even the best public schools aren't immune. Columbine was considered a good school in a wealthy neighborhood.
On A&E they've been airing a show where they send adults into a high school as students to see what the teachers and admins never get to. The principal seems like a wonderful woman, genuinely caring and wanting to see the students do well. Her view of the school is 'we are great. we are one big family'. It's a nice looking school. With other faculty that seem to care.
But the kids, literally, sit on their phones in class. One kid was actually on a video chat on his phone During Class. The teacher said nothing despite the 'no phones at school' rule.
The race problems are abundant, despite the teachers assertion that race isn't really an issue in her school.
And the sexual harassment in the school is out of hand. Any even decent looking girl gets bombarded with sexually suggestive (or explicit) messages, guys seeking dates (and if refused will insult the girl), etc... There are even chat rooms the guys go into, password protected, and they talk about who wants to have sex with which girl. Place bets on how long it will take to bed someone. Etc...
And we haven't even gotten into the rampant liberalism. And, yes, evolution is the standard in most public schools and has been for decades.
And, actually, the quality of education in homeschool depends more on the parent than anything else. I had a gf once that decided to homeschool her kids. She had no teaching qualifications, but she learned what she needed to do. All of her kids are graduated now. One went to a bible college for a while, but dropped out and is now a married mom of two working at the same church as her pastor husband. Her next is away at college. Her last is flopping, but that's not from a lack of education but other issues.
I also have family that have two daughters graduated from homeschooling and two more still going at it. The daughters are ALL extremely bright, sweet, happy and very talented in multiple areas. They all have wonderful artistic talent, play multiple instruments, sing, ride horse and who knows what else, i'm not too close to them. The two oldest recently went off to school, got an apartment with a third long time friend. They have been active for years playing music, even recorded an album or two and have won many awards individually for their musical talent.
The truth is many colleges and universities Seek Out homeschooled kids. They tend to be more well educated, have a larger variety of skills and talents, have greater focus, more experiences in life in general and are just as good socially as any public school kid. Often times better because they don't come with all the baggage that kids pick up in public schools so they're less prone to get into trouble.
Homeschool fails when A) a parents main goal is to keep the child away from 'evil', and not to get an education, B) use it as an excuse to be lazy, or even a chance to be abusive, C) don't take the time and effort to learn what needs to be done, how to do it, where to get help, find out what, if any, resources are available in their area and then follow through and utilize them.
If i had kids (which i probably never will) i would prefer homeschooling over public school, no hesitation.
My gf at the time new a woman that started homeschooling until high school, then let her daughter go to public school. Her sweet, conservative daughter began acting out, dressing skimpy, skipping school work, or school, rebelling and having a constant attitude, all in la few months of public school. And this was yet another quality public school.
Whether a Christian parent decides to send their child to public school or homeschool isn't my business. There is no single right answer. A parent has to us wisdom and go by their conscience to decide. Some parents would simply be a bad teacher and have no business trying to homeschool. I'll always encourage it, but i won't criticize someone for choosing to send their kids to public school either.
