Jumping on the Bandwagon

My wife and I were working on some talks we'll be giving next week. One of the topics is home education. As I thought about some of the resources currently available, my mind jumped back a few years. Things were different in the very early 1980s when we started. No, this is not going to be a "back in the day" post. It was different, however.

We had to write our own curriculum - or use Calvert. Jail was always a real prospect - and become a reality for many. And - now I'm getting to the point of the title - home education was not an industry. There are some very big names in Christian publishing and media ministries who have jumped on the proverbial bandwagon today. One very prominent individual, whose name every Christian in America would recognize immediately, was so against homeschooling he routinely spoke and wrote negative comments and kept that lunatic fringe called "homeschoolers" at more than arms' length. Today he is one of the leading lights people look to as they consider homeschooling.

Another group was so enamored of Christian schools that they had no use for Christian homeschoolers. Today homeschoolers appear to be their biggest market. Funny how our perspective changes with time - and a little financial incentive.

Are we being cynical today? Perhaps a little, but I don't let that cloud my view of reality. Homeschooling has become somewhat fashionable. That worries me. People aren't making the hard choices they once made about the education of their children. If Dr. Bob Q Christianleader says it's good - and he has curriculum and co-op, and accepts credit cards -then it must be good - and easy.

Easy always worries me. Easy money. Easy believism. Easy come; easy go.

Those are my thoughts on the subject. What are yours?