We homeschool parents have a reputation of being skeptical of almost everything, including mainstream narratives about public education. This skepticism is rooted in an abiding desire to protect our children’s minds and hearts. But there has been a shift in the narrative and typically cautious homeschoolers have found themselves caught up in a movement that has been gaining steam across the nation and right here in Idaho: school choice.

“School Choice” has been touted as the miracle that will save the American education system. Proponents hawk sales-pitch slogans, like “Fund Students, Not Systems”, as if they were vendors at a carnival. State legislatures are frequently facing bills that spend more and more money on school choice programs, often pressured and funded by lobbying groups from outside of the state.

The darling of school choice is currently a government funding mechanism called an ESA (Education Savings/Scholarship Account). As homeschool parents, we need to be able to cut through all the hype to uncover the truth about ESAs.

Taking government funds, even in the form of an ESA, means no longer schooling independently from the government. The New York Times called education savings accounts a, “redefinition of public education.” Once ESA funds are used, the line between independently homeschooling children, and putting students into government education has been crossed.

Increased funding rarely improves academic performance in public schools. Taxpayers regularly see public school funding increases. Academic results however keep slipping further and further. Why should we expect different results for private and homeschool students? For decades, homeschool parents have achieved stellar results with a little faith, ingenuity, hard work and small budgets.

Children are a gift from God, given to their parents to raise them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Homeschooling is one of the most direct ways that parents can provide not only a stellar academic education, but discipleship in the Lord. Homeschooling helps mute/tone down the outside voices and influences that seek to lead our children into the humanist philosophies that dominate western civilization today, that deny the existence of God and sets mankind up as the arbiter of all truth.

Even as far back as the founding of our country, people of faith have resisted attempts by government to define and dictate, often at the edge of a sword, what truth is and who gets to define it. They chose instead to stand on the Bible as the ultimate authority over life and truth. They have resisted government control of truth by fleeing their homelands, by fighting civil wars, by marching in the streets, by peaceful protests, and by vigilant prayer. Today’s government has found a far less violent, though insidious, means of once again setting itself up as the ultimate authority on truth – through our public school system. This time peaceful resistance looks like homeschooling.