Welcome, my friend, to the machine

My wife told me a story.

Yesterday, she was leading an Atrium class of 5-7 year olds at the St. Michael Parish school, when in walked the Fire Marshall, escorted by a school official. He looked about the room, then left.

Okay, class, teaching moment.

What did this teach us?

It taught us, that on private property, a government official can enter without permission, and do his undeclared business.

Did the school official take my wife aside beforehand so she could prepare the children for this intrusion?

No.

"But," my wife asked, "maybe the fire marshall was afraid I might try to hide something ..."

Okay. WHAT?

If this official suspected something, such as illegal active (and okay, like what illegal activity?) then he presented a warrant, right?

RIGHT?

No, he did not.

Here is what your children are learning in schools, public and private: that its government, our government, can trespass at will and at their whim.

And who's teaching this to our children? Our teachers. By remaining silent, and not saying: 'Excuse me, sir: I am responsible for these children and am currently presenting a lesson. You, sir, must wait until this lesson is over, or you, sir, are in violation of the law."

Instead of that, and allowing this to happen, we: you, me, our teachers, are training our children that the government is right and we are wrong, and we must suborn our rights and freedoms so the government may do whatever it likes whenever it likes and not have to provide justification nor follow due process.

Why do I homeschool?

The fire marshall shows up at my door then he (yes, he) and I are going to have a conversation, and he is going to go away and return with a warrant, and I, in the meantime am contacting the HSLDA.

Here's the problem.

You are not homeschooling, are you?

When did the fire marshall walk in on your kids today at school? Will your kids tell you? Mine didn't. Will your teachers tell you? Do you even know (all) your teachers' names? You're entrusting the lives of your children to your teachers who are, yes, good people, God-fearing people, doing the best that they can... but it's not their house. These are not their kids. And they have an unhealthy respect for The Law Man Carrying Out His Official Duties.

We don't need Obama, nor Bush, to destroy our Nation. All we have to do is entrust our children to the State and kowtow to it.

The Fault is Not in our Stars, dear Brutus: the fault is ours.

And our government, no matter who is at its head, is not going to save us. We, you and me, dear readers, are.

I march. I write. I homeschool, because I love my God, first, my family, next, and I especially love my Country, 'tis of thee, and for which it stands.

Oh, and p.s.: and the education? 'Common core,' which is not fostering thought but cranking out resources with a predicted set of usable skill sets (see the film 'Building the Machine')? And sexual education for children, now 10 years old? So they get to ponder their sexual orientation and to be ready for their sexual activity now, without need for your guidance but with the guidance/pressure of their peers?

Don't get me started.

Yes, I homeschool, and my children are not lacking in social skills and poise. No, in fact: my children are socially-better adjusted than the 13 year old in my daughter's ballet class taking about what she did with her boyfriend or the 14 year old who's scared about what she has to do at school so as not to be ostracized ...

So, they are not learning those 'social skills,' And what they are learning is more than just to be another brick in the wall.

Please. We, you and I, can make a difference. You're too busy to homeschool? I know a single mom who home-schools. You both have to work? Look at how much money you are spending on your children to make them latchkey kids entrusted to daycares or private school, and figure out how much more money you'd make with one income-provider so the other can stay-at-home and not spend all that money to cast your children aside. Because, guess what? A six-month old child in daycare so the mom can work? That's what we're doing now. Today.

And daycare? More than 90% of them do not meet Federal safety standards (Ha! 'Federal' safety standards! A joke! But at least they are a start, and daycares don't even meet those!)

How about later with (expensive) private schools, that do not pay their teachers above the poverty line, either, by the way, and when you do that, your children are no longer yours: they are the State's, they are your overworked daycare provider's, they are the what culture in private schools, exactly?

The drug culture's. And the snobs' culture's. Do you listen to how cruel private school kids are to others and to themselves? (Sad to say: Catholic school are the worst, or the 'best', at producing snobs and monsters eaten up with pride, from what I've seen). And you want to put your children into that environment and pay for the privilege of losing your children to that culture, that religion?

What religion is this?

You remember school, right? That religion. The teachers are tyrants, but ... the other kids are much, much worse.

But not your little Johnny nor Jane.

Because you're raising them up right, right?

How many hours a day do you spend with your kids? How many hours does the school have them?

Then when they get home, do you spend any time with them? Or is it supper on the go for you, and 'just leave me alone, I've had a long day. Go to your room and text your friends or surf the web unsupervised or something, okay'?

This is my plea to you.

Just one hour a day.

Okay, that's way too much.

Then the whole family at dinner, and ban the phones. You sit, you eat, you talk with each other. Start there.

Then read to your children. The Bible, sure, or the books that they're reading at school. Aloud. You'll learn a lot. Have them read. Have them reason about what they read. You'll learn some more.

And it will be pulling teeth, probably pulling yours, right? and they are going to whine and complain. Tough. Your turn to read. Read. Talk. Think. Agree, disagree, debate, have a real conversation.

That opens the door for them: that they are allowed to think and that they can talk with you.

Wow.

Well, it's a start.

Please: take this start, for your children's sake.

And, I've seen this, when your children start to think, and start to believe what they believe, not believe what they are told ... then your children start to save other children out there.

There are so many lost children out there, getting straight-As at school, and then you wonder why she snapchatted herself nude to her boyfriend, or got so drunk (or high) at the (unsupervised) party at 14, and had sex with how many upstanding boys on the football team? And you'll never find that out until it's all over the school and she kills herself, or does something else, or doesn't tell you or anyone.

And this is not happening just in Stubenville ... this is happening in the school you are sending your children to ... just in your case, it doesn't make the news, see, so it's okay, right?

It's not okay for my children... nor is it okay for yours, either, right?

So, start the conversation with your kids, every day. Not about this, 'cause that's just weird. Just talk, every day, about school, about work, about what happened today, about what's important in your life, for you, about what's important in their lives, for them.

Please.

"We hold these rights to be self-evident." Do you know what these rights are? Do you know what they mean? Do you know what they are worth?