“Poisonous Individualism”

If I told you that homeschool parents had established a leadership academy in their home, you might be surprised. Even most homeschool parents would be surprised because surveys show the two main reasons parents choose homeschooling are to avoid the negative peer environment of public schools and to teach from a religious perspective. Few homeschool parents identify training their children to be leaders as the reason they chose home education. But are they right? Perhaps many homeschool parents are training their children to be leaders without realizing it.

So begins this article by HSLDA President J. Michael Smith, recently published in the Washington Times. He’s right. We have four children, and they would all scoff at the suggestion that meekly following the agnostic and “whatever feels good, do it” crowd is even remotely desirable.* Our goal has always been to teach, lead and counsel, and always based on the truths of Scripture and common sense. Though they haven’t always been wise nor sinless, no one would say any of our kids are crowd followers.

To find out where the title of this blog entry comes from, read the whole article.

Guess we accidentally raised a bunch of leaders. Praise God! We are so proud…

*Even Andrew, our son who died several years ago in a tragic accident of his own creation, managed to do it by stepping out of the crowd. Later, at a Louisville Youth Choir function where his memory was honored, at least one person described how he had been a leader in ways we didn’t even know…

One Reply to ““Poisonous Individualism””

  1. That is such a good article dad. Unfortunately, or fortunately I don’t know, there are a lot of people at Ohio State who seem to be wonderful leaders on the outside. I have no way of knowing what they are like on the inside though, and it is through watching their fruits, that you can know them. I have experienced this already, finding people who seem like good leaders and later finding out they aren’t so hot after all. And you certainly taught me to be a leader, though I think I would have been one regardless of where I went to school. It is the question of what kind of leader I would be, that is what you made sure, that I would be a godly moral leader who tries to do what is right, no matter what. Thanks dad (and mom of course).

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