Comments on: Homeschooling: does it require state regulation? http://tomorrowstrust.ca/?p=2579 A Review of Catholic Education Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:38:21 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: CrimsonWife http://tomorrowstrust.ca/?p=2579&cpage=1#comment-1648 CrimsonWife Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:18:52 +0000 http://tomorrowstrust.ca/?p=2579#comment-1648 One thing to keep in mind is that in the U.S., Catholic education is funded by the parents rather than by the government. It's not like in Canada where families can send their kids to Catholic schools without any additional costs above & beyond what they're already paying in taxes. Where I live, parochial schools cost around $6.5k per year per child for elementary and $10-15k per year per child for high school. The high cost of Catholic schools leads many American Catholics who are not hard-core traditionalists to choose homeschooling. Mr. Borst cannot generalize from the handful of Canadian Catholic homeschoolers of his acquaintance to the broader Catholic homeschooling community. As for the whole Creationism/Evolution debate, the Church has taken no official position on it aside from affirming that God created the universe and everything in it, and that there was special creation of the human soul. Whether the 6 days of creation represents some time period other than 144 modern hours and whether there may have been evolution of the human body is a matter of personal belief, NOT Church doctrine. I personally lean towards the theistic evolution side, but I respect the right of other Catholics to take a strict literal interpretation of Genesis if they so choose. One thing to keep in mind is that in the U.S., Catholic education is funded by the parents rather than by the government. It’s not like in Canada where families can send their kids to Catholic schools without any additional costs above & beyond what they’re already paying in taxes. Where I live, parochial schools cost around $6.5k per year per child for elementary and $10-15k per year per child for high school. The high cost of Catholic schools leads many American Catholics who are not hard-core traditionalists to choose homeschooling. Mr. Borst cannot generalize from the handful of Canadian Catholic homeschoolers of his acquaintance to the broader Catholic homeschooling community.

As for the whole Creationism/Evolution debate, the Church has taken no official position on it aside from affirming that God created the universe and everything in it, and that there was special creation of the human soul. Whether the 6 days of creation represents some time period other than 144 modern hours and whether there may have been evolution of the human body is a matter of personal belief, NOT Church doctrine. I personally lean towards the theistic evolution side, but I respect the right of other Catholics to take a strict literal interpretation of Genesis if they so choose.

]]> By: Principled Discovery » Does homeschooling require state regulation? http://tomorrowstrust.ca/?p=2579&cpage=1#comment-1647 Principled Discovery » Does homeschooling require state regulation? Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:57:31 +0000 http://tomorrowstrust.ca/?p=2579#comment-1647 [...] This is in response to an article by Liz McCloskey, a doctoral candidate at the Catholic University of America, who took some time off her doctoral pursuits in order to spend more time with her two boys.  Borst seems to want to warn us that, while McCloskey’s reasons for homeschooling may be noble, most of us aren’t like that. In my experience with home schooling parents, this is not the typical motivation. Most often a parent has a difference of opinion with the curriculum of either the public or Catholic school. This difference, in many cases, involves a dispute regarding the role of sex education being taught in the school.  Tomorrow’s Trust [...] [...] This is in response to an article by Liz McCloskey, a doctoral candidate at the Catholic University of America, who took some time off her doctoral pursuits in order to spend more time with her two boys.  Borst seems to want to warn us that, while McCloskey’s reasons for homeschooling may be noble, most of us aren’t like that. In my experience with home schooling parents, this is not the typical motivation. Most often a parent has a difference of opinion with the curriculum of either the public or Catholic school. This difference, in many cases, involves a dispute regarding the role of sex education being taught in the school.  Tomorrow’s Trust [...]

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