Remembering Our Roots
By: Lisa Guidry
Posted: May 26, 2005
This is an article I wrote last year - before there was an Texas HB 386. These
are still my thoughts and my heart. Recognize that whatever choices and decisions
we make today, not only affect us, they affect future generations - including our
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. All our choices have consequences - some good
and some bad - but not all consequences appear immediately. Some take years to surface.
So it can and probably will be with HB386.
In December of 1987, a week after Ron and I returned from our honeymoon we attended
a Christmas party given by a friend of ours. One of the guests, Paul McClintock, began
to talk to me about this thing called homeschooling.
Homeschooling? Well, it sounded interesting and I'll try almost anything once! So,
I went home with a short list of books to read -
Mary Pride's Big Book of Home Learning
(it was only one volume back then) and
Gregg Harris's The Christian Home School.
I found the books and bought them...and devoured them. I could quote almost the entire
Mary Pride book. My poor husband! I was now "fully" prepared to homeschool
my two children! I was committed to being the best mom and homeschooling had now been
placed on the "Best Mom's do this:" list. Ron was not too sure that I would
be able to take this homeschooling thing on just yet. You see, I was now pregnant with
our first child, and Josh and Rachel were doing well at the private school they were
attending (public school had never even been an option - and that meant I was one step
closer to homeschooling, right?), so he said we should just wait until the baby was a
little older (and life was more manageable?).
I tried to talk to a few friends about homeschooling, and they would look cross-eyed
at me - like, "What is home schooling?" Some said I was crazy (yes, well, I
had already tried homebirthing and liked it, so why not homeschooling?) and so, after
much 'discussion with Ron', the year of "The Great Adventure" arrived.
Of course, I am now pregnant with our second child (my manageable life?) and having
absolutely no clue as to what I am getting into - I've ordered my books (Abeka Video
School - no muss, no fuss - perfect for the "I've-never-homeschooled-before-and-
this-is-the-easiest-road-to-take" dummy that I was), and ta-dah! I am homeschooling.
Of course, what we really learned those first few years was not learned from any
book. No, it was life that taught us our biggest and most permanent lessons. Homeschooling
was not popular to 80-90 percent of Texas (forget the rest of the US).
We learned that you couldn't just go outside during school hours to play - that is
unless the children played in the backyard quietly. You did not open your blinds or
drapes until the public schools let out (neighbors, truant officers, and other
"family police" could see in and find you had school-aged children at home
and not in school and then they were "obligated" to help you learn the
errors of your ways).
You could not let your child answer the phone during school hours - we had a
ring-code system to identify that it was Ron or I calling if we had to leave for some
reason. And most importantly, you never, ever, even if your life depended on it, you
never answered the door during school hours! It could be just a neighbor or it could
be the sheriff or CPS. This is how we homeschooled for the first 5 years and because
we live so close to the Katy school district, we were even more cautious.
During our first few years of homeschooling (1989-1993), there were families still
being hounded by CPS. Once, we were attending a reception for a Republican candidate,
when in walked this family and everyone started clapping and crying. This couple had
just been released from jail for homeschooling - right here in Texas. They had been
able to hide their children while they were in jail. Reality had come home to my backyard.
There were people who so disagreed with us (parents who chose to homeschool their
own children) that they sought to have us thrown in jail, take away our children (if
they could find them) and all of this because we were exercising our right to choose
the best education for our children.
Although homeschooling in Texas has always been a constitutional right, it just has
not always been a "public" right.
I remember when we joined our first homeschool support group -Heritage. We had an
end-of-school-year program at Cypress Community Bible Church where the children could
display their handiwork and/or perform or recite something they had learned that year.
There were awards and recognitions given. The exciting thing about that night was that
we learned that the Texas Supreme Court had agreed that homeschooling in Texas was
constitutional and had always been constitutional. I was still somewhat naive in that
I thought, "Well, it's over now. We don't have to hide anymore." Wrong, if
anything, I believe it got worse.
We didn't have email, or yahoogroups, or park days to network and get the word out
about something. We had "phone trees" and tough knees. So for the next few
years we were still on guard against those that "knew better" how to raise
our children!
During this time there weren't many bookfairs and conferences. Gregg Harris held
workshops on homeschooling at Sagemont Baptist Church every January and SETHSA had
their conference there every June. And we were faithful attendees. Ron and I got to
know the Harris's very well and the things that Gregg imparted to Ron and I are still
invaluable to us as a family today.
We have come a long ways in the 10-15 years that I have been involved in homeschooling.
Texas has always been the leader in homeschooling freedom. It is kind of weird - I
remember Tim Lambert before Texas Homeschool Coalition was, and "Little Bear"
(Richard Wheeler of Mantle Ministries) was just getting known here in Texas, and Adrian
Van Zelfden (Pray for Texas Ministry) would keep us up to date on family and homeschool
legislature in Austin, and here I am in 2004 still homeschooling young children. I have
had the best of both worlds - the battles and victories of the homeschool frontier and
the enjoyment of the fruit of those very hard but very exciting days.
When you embark on a journey of many unknowns, you will encounter storms and enemies
along the way. The companions that you choose to travel with will help you endure, help
you overcome, and comfort you during the intense battles that come your way. Homeschooling
has not always been easy, and if given the opportunity again, I would still choose to
homeschool.
As with any great success, there is a great sense of accomplishment, but there is also
that tinge of sadness that the effort, and sweat, and hard work, the tears and all that
encompasses the heart, the mind and the emotions from that battle will not be understood
or grasped by those that follow. Just as we will not ever totally understand all that
Christopher Columbus endured to follow God's leading to the New World, or what Lewis and
Clark experienced as they forged a trail to the North West, or how the pioneers of the
west felt when the way became so hard that they threw from their wagons those precious
family heirlooms that they had so painstakingly chose to bring with them on their journey,
so it is that the moms and dads of today do not really comprehend all that was sacrificed
for them to have this freedom to homeschool. That those things that they are so willing
to compromise are the very things that we saw all those years ago as certain cracks in
the dam that keeps the government out of our homes.
Yes, we veterans may seem so very hard-headed and adamant about giving up certain
"rights" or "freedoms" for the greater good. But what is the greater
good? If we give a little now, and then a little more down the road, where will it lead?
Will it lead us back to 1987? I pray that history does not repeat, that the young will
listen to their elders and seek their wisdom and guidance. We had no one to guide us,
except God.
But you, as young homeschooling moms and dads have a wonderful gift from God - us.
The veterans of homeschooling, with our battle scars and insights into the strategies
of those that would take away our freedoms, let us help you remember your history.
When I have completed this homeschooling journey I will have homeschooled 10 children
for an approximate time period of 30 years (unless Liberty finishes early). I would
prefer not to have to fight the same battles again, but I will if necessary. What I
would like is to see is homeschooling become the norm and government schools abolished.
But the future is what we choose.
Just after the completion and signing of the Constitution, in reply to a woman's
inquiry as to the type of government the Founders had created, Benjamin Franklin
said, "A Republic, if you can keep it."
To paraphrase Master Benjamin, "We now have the freedom to homeschool in Texas,
will you (can you) continue to keep that freedom intact?"
Mother of the Tribe!
Lisa Guidry
