Homeschooling with Christian principles

What is our understanding of Christian Principles and what does that have to do with learning in general and this web site in particular?

A "Christian" is a follower of "Christ": it is about a relationship, not a set of rules. That relationship is one is which Christ understands and cares for us and has our best interests at heart. It follows, then, that learning also needs to be about or in the context of relationship, and not about rules, and it needs to be done in a way that understands and has the best interests of the child at heart. Home schooling options tend to be chosen because parents are concerned about the relationship between their child and their learning. That's the first and fundamental Christian principle that this site is based on - supporting the relationship between parent and child and learning.

HomeLearn is not about a content that is necessarily drawn from Christian literature or sources. However, if you are a Christian parent, you can be assured that options will be available to continually support a Christian perspective on life and learning, and the mentors will be committed Christians supporting you and your child in this way. If you don't have that same "faith position", you can also be assured that this site is not a disguised way of pushing that position. The fundamental respect and support of the parent child relationship on which HomeLearn is based will ensure that your views are not openly challenged.

With all that said, those with a Christian or other faith position are often concerned at how a topic such as "evolution" is dealt with in our program. In the topic of "adaptation" (which is where evolution is normally mentioned), the scientific position is that "adaptation" is the fact and evidence of the "fit" of living things to the environment (ie ... they do fit in remarkable ways), but any theories as to how it got like that require interpretation of evidence that is almost always well beyond most young children. It is therefore NOT science to include origins here ... whether "evolutionary" explanations or, for that matter, "creation" or "intelligent design" ones. In some senior level courses, where the students have the ability to rationally examine alternate theories against evidence, we do exactly that ... offer suggestions of alternate theories and invite students to consider and review evidence. We adopt a similar approach in Earth Science topics where "long age" assumptions are used to interpret evidence.

If you don't have that faith position and come with the attitude that the "science is settled" on this (and other similar matters) then we suggest you "think again". The theory of evolution is just that ... a theory ... and although this theory is pushed as the "only" possibility, this is much more an indication of an almost 'post-truth' mentality that affects so many issues today ... including the right for you, as parents, to educate your own children in the way that you believe rather than what they are "allowed" to believe by society.