Homeschooling: the new monastery

[tafan]

tafan…
So in saying that, if a Catholic school is unavailible or unattendable, we are within our rights as parents to educate OUR children in the faith. The way you state it is that homeschooling is against Canon law~dont think so…

Let me address your last two sentences first. I will simply restate, exactly what I put in post 55:

tafan:

Now, I will admit, the Chuch has done a horrible job living up to its end of the bargain in these canons, and I will state categorically that the parent has the right to deside if a proper school is available to them (ie is it truly catholic and is it affordable). It is a heroic act when parents, who find no catholic schlool available to them, decide to provide a home schooled catholic education. But it is not the norm. "

wifenmommy:

Ok~ read Canon law 800-800.2…IMHO, it really doesnt have anything to do in regards to homeschooling per say, it basically states that it is the parents responsibility to make sure that the children get a Catholic education and that we support the Catholic school IF our children are attending there.

You are correct, it does not mention homeschool per-say, but you are wrong in your interpretation. That is way too slack of an interpretation of several canons that are very explicit and clearly written. They take no special intepretation. In particular, your qualification of that you only support catholic school if your children attend them is complete hogwash.

"The Christian faithful are to foster Catholic schools, assisting in their establishment and maintenance according to their means.
"
It does not matter if your kids go to the school, even if you have kids. You are to support catholic schools. Period. Thats the law. Why would a homeschooling parent feel the need to add a qualifier to this statement? It would seem, that if you are homeschooling in order to preserve the faith (ie the first post in this thread), it would be very important to you to foster other means of preserving the faith for the next generation. You do not have to be so defensive of your decision to homeschool, that success of catholic schools is a threat.

Homeschoolers are often doing a great thing. But their attitude towards catholic schools is often wrong.

 

[PaulinVA]

"The Christian faithful are to foster Catholic schools, assisting in their establishment and maintenance according to their means.
"
It does not matter if your kids go to the school, even if you have kids. You are to support catholic schools. Period. Thats the law.

Okay, what is “support”?

Part of the money I donate to my parish, and to the Bishop, goes to defer tuition for those parents that send their kids to Catholic school.

 

[shannyk]

wouldn’t a home school run by Catholic parents be a Catholic school?

 

[Truly_Beloved]

Okay, what is “support”?

Part of the money I donate to my parish, and to the Bishop, goes to defer tuition for those parents that send their kids to Catholic school.

This is a great question!

We do this, too, and we have historically given to CTODP when we could (didn’t this year), which funnels our state taxes to institutional Catholic schools. Do I, as a Catholic home educator, meet the Canon requirements for supporting Catholic away-schools through my tithe alone (is the requirement actually to support away-schools, or all Catholic education)? Or would I have to continue redirecting our state taxes through CTODP in order to fulfill the obligation? What about families in other states who don’t have a program like CTODP available?

Or would my Catholic homeschooling fulfill the requirement to support Catholic education?

wouldn’t a home school run by Catholic parents be a Catholic school?

I would think so.

 

[KCT]

So if home schooling parents are the vanguard for good Catholic education, then they owe it to the church to help solve the modern day problems in other areas of Catholic education.

Perhaps they are helping solve the problems, just not in the way some folks expect.

Maybe they are fostering more vocations; God has a plan for that.

Maybe they have larger families than average and God has a plan for those children.

There may be lots of reasons God has called families to homeschool during this time in history.

 

[tafan]

Okay, what is “support”?

Part of the money I donate to my parish, and to the Bishop, goes to defer tuition for those parents that send their kids to Catholic school.

This could be part of it. Other financial support would also be good. But also notice that the canon says “foster”, which would include finacial support, but that would not be all. Prayer would be a good thing. Involvement with a local schools fundraising activities would be good. Find out which schools are good and promote them to parents when dicussing school options (e.g. “Here is the really great home-schooling curriculum we use, but if home-schooling doesn’t work, St. Mary’s is a wonderful school”).

Here is one of my long-time complaints about home-schooling parents. They love to tell stories about some libreal practise or heretical teaching they have heard about at the local catholic school. By implication all catholic schools get lumped into the “they are not really catholic” category. Happens all the time. I am new to this forum, but have already noticed it. That is not fostering catholic schools, that is slandering them. I don’t think I can ever remember a home-schooling parent giving good examples of catholic practises at a school. For example, our school has first friday adoration and benediction for the kids. A couple of the families around here will complain about all kinds of little details in our school (some of them stories from 15 years ago), but will never compliment the school on this fact.

Lots of catholic schools went off the tracks, but by no means all of them. And many of the ones that went off the tracks have really been making improvements. Like all the liberal practices in the chuch the last 40 years, there have been significant improvements. The pedulem is swinging to the right, so to speak. Find out which school in your areas is a really good catholic school and support that one.

 

[tafan]

Perhaps they are helping solve the problems, just not in the way some folks expect.

Maybe they are fostering more vocations; God has a plan for that.

Maybe they have larger families than average and God has a plan for those children.

There may be lots of reasons God has called families to homeschool during this time in history.

All good things. But the canon is very explicit. It is nothing less than cafeteria catholocism to pretend other actions fulfill the obligation. Kind of like “well, I didn’t go to church on Sunday, but I went to the wedding mass on Saturday afternoon”.

 

[tafan]

Okay, what is “support”?

Part of the money I donate to my parish, and to the Bishop, goes to defer tuition for those parents that send their kids to Catholic school.

One more thought. I would be careful about this. It could suffice, but you really need to think and pray about it first. Here’s an analogy: we are supposed to perform almsgiving during lent. Well, part of our annual diocesan appeal goes to Catholic Charities. So can I say that my donation to the diocese fulfills that lenten obligation. Maybe for some, based on the amount the give the diocese and their personal financial situation. But I would never answer it a definitive yes. Every person has to discern if they are doing enough to fulfill their obligation.

 

[PaulinVA]

This could be part of it. Other financial support would also be good. But also notice that the canon says “foster”, which would include financial support, but that would not be all. Prayer would be a good thing. Involvement with a local schools fundraising activities would be good. Find out which schools are good and promote them to parents when discussing school options (e.g. “Here is the really great home-schooling curriculum we use, but if home-schooling doesn’t work, St. Mary’s is a wonderful school”).

I must admit that I find hard to swallow that we must all foster Catholic schools. I guess I’ll have to talk to my confessor about my lack of active participation in that task.

My younger kids go to a public secondary school, and my oldest goes to a Catholic college. I’ve made my decisions. I don’t get why I should support a school system that I have found is not right for my family. I do support the system by my donations being used to defer tuition. But, this turn the thread has taken has been very instructive.

 

[tafan]

I must admit that I find hard to swallow that we must all foster Catholic schools. I guess I’ll have to talk to my confessor about my lack of active participation in that task.

My younger kids go to a public secondary school, and my oldest goes to a Catholic college. I’ve made my decisions. I don’t get why I should support a school system that I have found is not right for my family. I do support the system by my donations being used to defer tuition. But, this turn the thread has taken has been very instructive.

By all means talk to your confessor about it, but you certainly would not have been sinning if you did not know the obligation existed. For some reason, and I am certainly not judging your situation, you have had to choose to send your kids to a public school. This reason, if legitimate, boils down to the “if they are unable to do this” on canon 798. It is the best for your child, but, just like homeschooling, it is not the catholic ideal. You support catholic schools so that, hopefully, in the future, more parents will have recourse to that catholic ideal, even though you do not.

 

[ThyKingdomCome]

The way I understand it, a large part of the mission of Catholic schools (at least historically) is charitable. So we should support the schools so that those who otherwise would not have access to Christ’s teachings can have that access while they are also receiving a quality of education they otherwise couldn’t get. In one sense, the greatest value of the Catholic schools is that it makes up for a lack.

My tax dollars support food stamps, but I don’t receive them. I also don’t receive benefits from any of the charitable organizations that I support. It is obvious that they are good for certain situations, and not necessary for others. I look at the Catholic schools in the same way. They are good and necessary for certain people - specifically underprivileged kids or kids raised without faith or other virtues. They are not only not a necessity for my kids, but I believe they are not the best type of education for my kids. Even if there was a good, cheep Catholic school in the area, I still would not judge it to be the best educational choice for my young children. For those children of means whose parents do prefer the Catholic building school education over all others, I respect that - but my obligation is not to support their educational choices, any more than they are obligated to support mine. My obligation is to help the one who has nothing. I have an obligation to support the Church’s efforts to bring a Catholic education to those who otherwise wouldn’t have it, not for my neighbor who can pay for it himself. And I certainly don’t have an obligation to include my children in that group. The canon law as was quoted here says nothing about SENDING my children there, or that the Catholic building school is the best school. It just says that we should support them. So let’s not read that to mean that Catholic school in a building is superior to other forms of education. It happens to be a useful work of the church that we should support.

 

[Truly_Beloved]

So let’s not read that to mean that Catholic school in a building is superior to other forms of education. It happens to be a useful work of the church that we should support.

Agreed.

 

[Rkirby]

Here’s a link for Catholic liberal (home) education that may set both sides of the homeschool/public school debate up in arms: www.classicalliberalarts.com, or perhaps not . I’ve homeschooled for eight years. Just last month I found this school and signed my kids up. It’s going to be the last stop on my homeschool train, no more searching for the “perfect curriculum” or science books. No more searching for the “best method.” My oldest is in 10th grade and my youngest is almost 3. I feel graced to have learned of this school.

 

[ThyKingdomCome]

Here’s a link for Catholic liberal (home) education that may set both sides of the homeschool/public school debate up in arms: www.classicalliberalarts.com, or perhaps not . I’ve homeschooled for eight years. Just last month I found this school and signed my kids up. It’s going to be the last stop on my homeschool train, no more searching for the “perfect curriculum” or science books. No more searching for the “best method.” My oldest is in 10th grade and my youngest is almost 3. I feel graced to have learned of this school.

I’d be interested to hear how it’s going after some time. I briefly looked at the website a few weeks ago, and I quickly realized I am too content with what I’m doing, and too mentally tired to look more closely. But I’m always interested in benefiting from others experiences.

 

[wifenmommy]

Let me address your last two sentences first. I will simply restate, exactly what I put in post 55:

You are correct, it does not mention homeschool per-say, but you are wrong in your interpretation. That is way too slack of an interpretation of several canons that are very explicit and clearly written. They take no special intepretation. In particular, your qualification of that you only support catholic school if your children attend them is complete hogwash.

"The Christian faithful are to foster Catholic schools, assisting in their establishment and maintenance according to their means.
"
It does not matter if your kids go to the school, even if you have kids. You are to support catholic schools. Period. Thats the law. Why would a homeschooling parent feel the need to add a qualifier to this statement? It would seem, that if you are homeschooling in order to preserve the faith (ie the first post in this thread), it would be very important to you to foster other means of preserving the faith for the next generation. You do not have to be so defensive of your decision to homeschool, that success of catholic schools is a threat.
Yes, homeschoolers DO have to be defensive of our decision to homeschool . Many examples of why we have to be are given in this forum alone…
Homeschoolers are often doing a great thing. But their attitude towards catholic schools is often wrong.

Thank you, but my attitude regarding the local Catholic school around here has merit. I attended this school myself, and have had a neice there also~if anything the watering down has gotten worse over the years……If you knew of my local Catholic school’s circumstances, you would not consider my opinion and choice wrong…

 

[Rkirby]

I’d be interested to hear how it’s going after some time. I briefly looked at the website a few weeks ago, and I quickly realized I am too content with what I’m doing, and too mentally tired to look more closely. But I’m always interested in benefiting from others experiences.

I totally understand being too mentally tired. That’s what made me look closer at it. I wasn’t enjoying what we were doing, or even getting done what we were supposed to be doing. I kept asking my kids if they wanted to go to PS but they kept saying no. Then I came across CLAA. My prayers were answered. I also understand being content with what you are doing. I’ve been there also.

 

[tafan]

Thank you, but my attitude regarding the local Catholic school around here has merit. I attended this school myself, and have had a neice there also~if anything the watering down has gotten worse over the years……If you knew of my local Catholic school’s circumstances, you would not consider my opinion and choice wrong…

I never implied that homeschooling parents have made the wrong choice. Quite the opposite, I claimed above their actions are often heroic.
What I have said, is that homeschoolers have an obligatoin to foster Catholic schools. If your local one is bad, find one that is good. And my experiece is, and browsing around this forum confirms it, that in general, homeschoolers’ biggest fault is that they continue to bash catholic schools in general.

 

[St_Francis]

I never implied that homeschooling parents have made the wrong choice. Quite the opposite, I claimed above their actions are often heroic.
What I have said, is that homeschoolers have an obligatoin to foster Catholic schools. If your local one is bad, find one that is good. And my experiece is, and browsing around this forum confirms it, that in general, homeschoolers’ biggest fault is that they continue to bash catholic schools in general.

I would not bash a good Catholic school, and I have heard that there are some good ones out there, and organisations trying to establish some as well.

However, the situation in the US is very different than it once was, and also from the European schools. In Europe, *all *schools are supported by the state, including Catholic schools. This is not the case in the US.

Additionally, when these rules were written, the schools had up til just recently been mostly staffed by religious, and this too is no longer the case. Where once it was a vocation one had given one’s life to, and the religious really needed support because they had taken a vow of poverty, now Catholic education is a job done by people who may not even be Catholic.

And in the US, there are a lot of places where there is just not the possibility of a Catholic school: too many of the Catholics in an area are older people and there are few children to be educated; the Catholics are few and far between (we drive over an hour each way to Mass and doing that for school would be out of the question); etc.

And I do not believe that historically the situation was as it would be today. I do not think that historically children were sent to schools starting at such a young age for such a long time, for example, and often with long bus rides at the beginning and end. It seems that long ago, before we had the government requirements for education, *some *children went to the priest to learn *some *things. Those boys whom the priest felt would benefit from further education were sent to schools, often distant, which were very much set within a community. But this was not the norm for all by any means.

 

[shannyk]

I never implied that homeschooling parents have made the wrong choice. Quite the opposite, I claimed above their actions are often heroic.
What I have said, is that homeschoolers have an obligatoin to foster Catholic schools. If your local one is bad, find one that is good. And my experiece is, and browsing around this forum confirms it, that in general, homeschoolers’ biggest fault is that they continue to bash catholic schools in general.

I’ve not seen that at all, the bashing.

Catholics are supposed to support Catholic schools, that can be in a myriad of different ways not just by sending our kids there or financially contributing.

 

[tafan]

I’ve not seen that at all, the bashing.

Catholics are supposed to support Catholic schools, that can be in a myriad of different ways not just by sending our kids there or financially contributing.

Yes, it can be in a myriad of ways. The canon uses the term “foster”. I pointed this out above. As to the bashing, I see it all the time. And it is quite one-sided. Parents who send their kids to Catholic schools are perfectly accepting of home-school kids. It used to be looked on as kind of weird, but not anymore. But parents who home-school often defending their decision by denigrating the catholic school system. Now, if a particular catholic school is bad, then anyone is correct in pointing out the problem. I am not saying problems should be swept under the rug. But I have seen vast improvements in catholic schools. When my oldest kid started 18 years ago, it didn’t take me long to realize that we lucked out with our parish school. Now, most of the catholic schools around here are pretty good from a “catholic” standpoint.

here is an example:
St Franc:

I would not bash a good Catholic school, and I have heard that there are some good ones out there, and organisations trying to establish some as well.

Right after saying she wouldn’t do it, she does it!!! She has “heard” there are “some” good schools. In other words, through hearsay only, she is willing to admit that there might be some good Catholic schools. That’s how it reads.

Good Day all,