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I don't know who needs to hear this but if you are a Christian planning on homeschooling your kids next year and are struggling to find curriculum, stay far away from Bob Jones, Abeka, or A.C.E.
Unless of course you want intensely selective biblical literalism, a Make America Great Again protestant triumphalism, and pro-slavery arguments! They all come from segregationist academies and worldviews.
Be wary of classical curriculum AND classical conversations stuff. It's not all bad of course, but it can be a way to westernize/whitewash history and promote western protestant exceptionalism.
So many curriculums need careful and thoughtful engagement--public schools included! But the true awfulness of Christian worldview curriculums is how they baptize manifest destiny/white western exceptionalism (cough, cough, white supremacy) as God's will for America.
I wrote about this a few years ago for Sojourners and flesh it out a bit more in the power section of my book: https://sojo.net/sojoshare/Mzk4NzF8MjI2MTY3fDE1OTQ0OTc4NDd8NA==
Here's a link to my book since this is blowing up a bit! https://www.amazon.com/Myth-American-Dream-Reflections-Affluence/dp/0830845984
I really care about this stuff because I was homeschooled until I was in 11th grade, and my parents didn't realize how intentional the curriculum was in terms of Christian nationalism. But it is incredibly strategic and deserves to be scrutinized.
Now after being a very big public school advocate for my own kids I am staring down the barrel of doing school at home next year. But the truth is, I am always doing a version of "home" school with my kids, and I bet most parents out there are.
My two cents: I want my kids to be wide readers, critical thinkers, be exposed to truly diverse narratives centering voices left out of dominant culture rhetoric--and I want them to be curious!
Ok this thread is still going! Two things: I don’t care if Abeka/Bon Jones has great math and phonics. I don’t want my money to support pro-segregation academies who have an agenda for Christian nationalism.
I don’t have the time, money, or resources to go through every Christian curriculum. But you will get excellent insight just by looking at the US history textbooks in particular. If they say America is a Christian nation blessed by God—well, it’s time to bail!
Also those of you who follow my writing know we are public school people. My plan for now is to continue what we do every summer: read all the books, khan academy for math, and duolingo for Spanish.
We have no clue what the fall holds but I want ppl to be safe and I have the resources to be at home. Our school is 94% ppl below the poverty line and I want to make sure the kids who need access to resources more than my kids get it.
Whatever we do in the fall it will be about what’s best for the community, not just what’s best for my kids. I hope more of us can keep this in mind, and keep the kids who are most vulnerable in our immoral and unjust educational system.
And let’s not bury the lede here: our educational system has been designed to be unequal and unjust. Homeschooling can and does play into this game. Anti-racism means addressing not only white supremacist history curriculum but how we have failed so many kids in our country.
