Mark,
I wish i could home school. The best I can do, at the moment, is parocial school. My boys go to Holy Rosary. unfortunately our catholic schools are as polluted with the god state as the public schools. Have you read John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of American Education? or his new book, smaller by a long shot, Weapons of Mass Instruction? it is frustrating how far from catholic the catholic schools are but it is still better then an offical state propoganda camp.

when you say disaterous, what do you mean? my wife left and then spend monday to wednesday with her, i have them the rest of the time. it isn’t to bad, all things considered. I am working towards circumstances that will allow me to home school but haven’t figured out a way to work that out with the way things are currently. can you tell me what program you use or do you set your own? what references might you recommend?

If I can figure out the finances, I’ll be homeschooling too.

What a sad, sad commentary.  I was so fortunate, my children went to Catholic grade and high school—we were fortunate to have the nuns then and every student in Catholic High was encouraged to go to college. The nuns were great teachers and worked with the parents.  Everything changed when the nuns left and the secular teachers came in—now Catholic High is out of reach financially for most families…and as Mia Archer said, disastrous…but that was way back ‘then’...

Chesterton died in 1936 - how was he able to comment “on the alleged progress of post-Christian American culture since 1961?”

It could just be everyone will be home-schooling…with a deficit ridden govt operating our schools how long will it be before schools will be closed in great numbers…only those proven “worthies” allowed to attend the few schools remaining open. Whether those worthies wil be those with family wealth or “smart genes” remains to be seen. We had all better prepare for the inevitable. Home schooling is made for large families so Catholics already have a leg up….For those who think this is not our future in Education, who in my parents generation ( I am in my 7th decade)would have forseen the world we are living in today. Unfortunately most families are not equipped for home schooling in much beyond the most basic information. The programs out there require a dedication to family that does not exist in our world of 50% divorce rates! Congratualtions Mark to you and your wife and God’s blessings on this humongous endeavor.
Our grandchildren are in a Catholic school which does not have any nuns
but many dedicated teachers and afew priests who handle the religion classes. There are strong families involved sacrificing heavily to make all this happen. We must raise our level of holiness within families from which will come those who will once more dedicate their lives to teaching the young the Gospel message and all they need to know for the journey in our increasingly treacherous world. That most Americans are concerned about where this country is headed was demonstrated w/o a doubt by the large gathering in Washington, DC this past weekend. Occasions like this give reason for hope!

The Prophet Chesterton commented a great deal on things that are going on decades after his death.  It’s what prophets do.

I agree! chesterton can call it. and my other favorite is Hilaire Belloc. his books; Crisis of Civilization and Economics for Hellen are fantastic. Once you know what the game is though, as those two certainly do/did, then it becomes a bit easier to see what is coming. Belloc’s essays on rent and usury pretty much define our state of affairs these days. well, the last 100 years for sure, but going back to the “reformation” when usury, which the Church had slowly been putting back it the hole it come out from, was let loose. In combination with modern banking it is the perfect platform for evil to work from. I recently recieve a few copies of the catholics voting guide from Catholic.com. i was disappointed to see that the 5 biggest issues didn’t include usury. but the five that were there are all backdoor funded by it. anyway, here we are. manybe the next couple Our Fathers will bring Christ back and we can be done with it all.

I must live on a different planet. My children are in public school and do extremely well. They are healthy (mentally, spiritually and physically). I know several home school families and they do very well too. The home school and public school families I know are wonderful families and the kids are normal-progressing on all levels with normal challenges. My husband and I have never felt called to embrace homeschooling and have been truly blessed to have dedicated teachers for our children in the public schools. There are challenges and moments of doubt. But my homeschool friends have doubts too. It is really about trusting in God to lead the way.

Strange, when I look my children I have lots of hope for the schools but when I read these comment boxes, I can see others have a very differenct experience. I read lots of comments that are contemptuous of public school but never any specifics. I have had the same thing happen in school though. We will love a teacher that another family thinks is terrible. It usually comes down to personlities, behaviour of the child. Every child is different and so are the parents, what works for one might not work for another. Charity goes a long way in discussions like this. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and hope others will do the same. God bless.

Having been brought up in “non-militant” catholic family in 1970s Italy, with state school from the cradle to my master degree, I came to the conclusion that you have to be in the middle of this secular world and face it, not running away from it. But you’ve got to have a lot of home counter-cultural activity going on to make it through.
Otherwise where would your testimony go? How can you become salt of the earth if you do not get out of the box?

PS: I love Chesterton - and this post too - and I am “militant” myself now, having “lost” my sister to the secular world and having a brother who struggle a bit with his personal religious life.
But my sister and brother have been up to their task when it came to their own time of taking their stand making their choice and being personally actively pro-life, and now we are able to cheer up our old man with 7 nephews.

We raised our 4 kids Catholic and all went to public schools.  We went to faith formation and other church activities with them.  We were active volunteers and friends of their schools.  We were friends with their teachers, several of whom were also Catholic or other Christian denominations.  My point is that home schooling may not be the panacea so many commenters think it is.  In our lives, the public schools were good, and as faithful Catholic parents, we felt a responsibility for monitoring the classes, teachers, curricula, and school board.  It worked well although it was a big time commitment for us.  Whatever circumstances parents find themselves in re. their kids’ education, they must be active and involved and never reticent to display their Catholic values.

in response to Cocon’s post:
your comment: “In our lives, the public schools were good,...” You either don’t know what public schools are designed to do or you approve. Watching over the shoulder of a pedegoge and being content with what you assume to be an education, weather it is public schooling or private school, doesn’t fundimentally counter the principle affect. The “scientificly designed program” of public schooling is not about education. It is about making your child “managable” by the managers. You and your parents, and their parents are products of the same program at this point. So it is understandable that you would make the comment that you made. But it goes to show that you don’t have a frame of reference. Good compared to what? Again, the history of American education is available. John Taylor Gatto and others have documented it. look into it, understand, and resist it. it is anti catholic, anti family, anti Christ.

“The “scientificly designed program” of public schooling is not about education. It is about making your child “managable” by the managers.”

Yes, heaven forbid that a child learn to “manage” their behavior so that they can operate within a group setting. And, yes, I do believe that my children are being educated both at school and at home. But I know you won’t believe me, you won’t give me the benefit of the doubt on that but that is o.k. I hope that whatever method or curriculum you use works for you and your children.

I do find that homeschooling parents invariably display a superior, morally judgemental attitude towards those who choose a different path for educating their children. Not all public school children are in divorced or otherwise disadvantaged homes. Not all have atheists for parents nor are we “bad” Catholics.

I am finding more and more that the articles and comments at NCR are less and less charitable as time goes by. The valid points (and you may have some)are being lost in the sea of contempt and disdain. Oh, I am talking about the more “conservative” voices. It is a given that the left is nasty. Often it is not what we say but how we say it and your point is being lost. No you are not being honest or truthful just condescending and rude. A few years ago I had the pleasure of being around homeschooling and Catholic school Moms at dance lessons and such. The uncharitable way they talked about public school kids left me sad wondering what those children were learning. If the teacher/mom wasn’t displaying charity or even fairness, how could they teach it to the children?

If you want to be a good example of what you espouse then you might want to think about how you come across.

As I mentioned above, I had good grade schooling with the nuns—they were good teachers—then I went to public High School 1941-45 and the teachers were just as good. New York State had a good school system at the time along with California.  Then my children started school and I could see things go down-hill, then my grandkids started and things got worse (by this time living in No.Car). Yet, my one granddaughter won a scholarship to the College of Wm and Mary for her Masters. I asked her once what she thought of her public high school and her answer was “I tolerated it”. There was much less deportment for sure. Yes, public schools today are more difficult, but so are the Catholic schools.  A private Cath. high school in Charlotte is at least $10,000 a yr. So you know that only the rich are going there. Also, if you listen to what the priests say on EWTN, Catholic Colleges on the whole are not Catholic oriented—are very secular.  All schools today are having a difficult time—my opinion is to get rid of tenure and have smaller classes. If they don’t do a good job, they are fired and that goes for all levels of education. Some say they do not get paid enough, yet with the unions (that some have) they have great retirement. And on and on it goes.  Also, as far as I know, Catholic schools do not teach the mentally challenged child.  I have a young relative who teaches down-syndrome children in NYCity and he is very good at his job and he loves it. In the end, today parents have to be very involved with their schools, teachers and their children. Not all parents can and some do not have the ability.  It is not easy. I’ll have to read Gatto and see what alernative he has. I will say this, my grandkids were bussed and because they had to associate with kids from all walks of life, that in itself was also an education and because of this they are more accepting of different kings of people. They were not coddled and all three turned out well—

Oh Mia..Ann is NOT missing the point..she is making the point that in ehr experience (which is HERS to own)she has been treated uncharitably by some home-schooling parents who were condescending about the public schools her children attended. It reminds me of when I was involved with the local Catholic school…particularly during Catholic School Week where the mantra seemed to be “Thank God we are not in public school!”
Sort of reminded me of the gospel story about the Pharisee and the Publican that Jesus spoke about. We do have to exercise Christian charity toward all…even the public schools which in my experience are as variable as families…some great and some not so great! Any schooling must begin and continue at home…and whoever made the point that we are to light and salt to the world and not hide our light under a basket was
reminding us of a very important gospel message also. God bless ALL parents and their families as they try to follow Christ!

Mia…in all charity you are being soooooo dismissive to Ann who has every right to “own” her experiences as you do yours. Could you not share with her just what your point is that she so “sadly and badly” has over-looked? I think I might have missed it too! Perhaps it is not so much what you said as how you have said it that is causing the problem?

Actually what Ann said about how snobby some Catholics can be is right. When my two children went to Catholic High School, it was a fact that more students from their school won Merit Scholarships than in public school. The lady next door to me was a teacher in public high school and she said that was an unfair judgment because the PUBLIC H.S. had a larger enrollment from all walks of life and in Cath. High the students (tho they had some non catholic ones) had to pass a test before being accepted. So you can run into that type of thing anywhere. On the other side, my two had to take a public bus to school because they were not allowed to be bussed by the public school system. Ann is right, some Catholics do act holier-than-thou.  I know because I was married to a non-catholic and I really got it sometime—-for instance how come you only have two children and you are Catholic? or according to the Pauline Writ, you are not really married and stuff like that.  I let it fly by because I knew me and they did not.

@Mia “Sheesh”? sounds like you come from NY, my old hometown. ;o)
No, Mia I do not want to debate that.  From my experience, yes, I do believe that some Catholics are snobbish in their religion, which is sad because God loves us all, no matter what church we go to or who we are. I have respect for all my Catholic,Protestant,Jewish and agnostic relatives—-makes life interesting. If you ever watch EWTN, watch Father Groeschel, he knows how to accept all people of many faiths.  From remarks made by some of the writers above, I would say that some need to be more humble in spirit. That is how you draw people into our Church.

If you read what I wrote and you read some of the responses to what I wrote you will notice a few things. The “critical and judgmental” objections to my critics and judgment of public schools and there purpose are bizarrely divergent. I am not talking about anyone particular experience in schooling, I am talking about what it is designed to do. 
I point out that it is designed to make you and your child “manageable by managers”. Not that it can help your child manages himself. You suggest there should be charity toward public schools. Public schools are not persons. I am charitable toward you. I can appreciate where you might not understand public schools. I can appreciate where I might not have the whole picture and I can appreciate that in your experience you have not seen behind the Curtin. That is why I suggested the finest research on the matter to you. Gatto spent 30 years in public schools as a teacher. He spent 10 researching and compiling more then 2000 bibliographic sources and his experience combating the subtle and subversive design of the system.
My point, and many of you did miss it, is simply this. Our school system is designed to “school” you to do what someone else wants you to do. The people who imported the system from Prussia did not have your best interest in mind. The system is designed to break you to even being able to realize that your mind is imprisoned. Christ was and is charitable to people. But He is not remotely charitable to institutions or sins. Public schools include both. The institution is insidious as it is designed and as it is run. Some of the people in it are guilty of the evil it is. Some of them are well meaning and falsely believe they are helping children and educating them. In fact they are all serving the evil willfully or not. God will sort them out, only He knows there heart. Gatto himself, who exposes this beast, hopes that whatever damage he may have done as a teacher can be forgiven and that his research in the matter will help. Impressive humility. We should exercise the same humility and reserve our “subjective” objects till we have evaluated the object evidence before we form our opinions. And before we form an opinion we might want to make sure it is the truth we seek not our own “truth” which is just a matter of taste. But who will you believe? That requires discernment. Something they don’t teach you at school. But that brings us back to the managers who certainly didn’t want a discerning population but a docile obedient public. One with subjective opinions, short attention spans, a childish desire to buy things and take orders. I find it hard to believe that this would be hard to see. Look around you. i appologize for not checking spelling or grammar here, i have to get back to work to pay taxes and buy more managed people for the state. :)