Peace Like a River
Telegraph Education Keep it in the family
I just finished reading the book Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, a wonderfully compassionate book about an asthmatic boy whose older brother is a fugitive from the law and whose father is a conduit for the works of God. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Engers are a homeschooling family. Leif Enger left his job with Minnesota Public Radio to spend more time with his family, a point that didn't exactly encourage my dh, like I hoped it would. More about this in a later blog entry.
I don't care for a couple of points of this article. For instance, the author of the article refers to the problem of homeschooling children not being "socialized."
"The boys mix far less with their contemporaries than they would at school, and participation in team sports is also often difficult to arrange."
Also, the author says, "But the Engers are living proof that families do not have to be religious zealots or education obsessives to choose the home schooling option." Maybe Britain just isn't up on homeschooing yet, but I thought most people realized that homeschooling isn't just for "religious zealots" anymore. And even so, being a Christian is not a nasty disease.
This reminds me of a point a friend made to me recently about the concept of calling Christians judgemental.
"This is akin to your child saying that you're 'lecturing' him/her when you tell them the evils of drugs or staying out late or whatever. By labeling it 'lecturing,' then your words are made meaningless. By labeling your moral position on something as 'judgmental,' then your words are dismissed as invalid. This has become a characteristic of our culture--there are no absolutes anymore."
Anyway, while this is a tangential entry, it relates to the book because...um...it also follows a tangential flow. After all, it *is* written from the viewpoint of an 11-year-old boy. :-)
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