A friend of mine had a recent kerfuffle with the coach of a local youth sports team to which her son belonged. The coach and my friend did not agree on several things, so my friend decided to remove her son from the program.
Fine enough.
As she was discussing this topic with another acquaintance who also homeschools, the woman told my friend that when one enrolls one's child in a competitive sports program one must be willing to give up their child 100 percent to the program's coaches.
I found this interesting and disturbing.
As homeschoolers, one of the hallmarks of our decision to teach our own is that we are not willing to give over our children to the state to receive its version of an education. Likewise, anyone I pay to tutor my children in ballet, piano, or any other subject does not somehow share joint custody of my children with me.
Au contrare. They are hired by me to teach my children something I cannot. They are employed by me, if you want to be technical about it. Do my children become theirs simply because I have hired them to teach a particular skill or subject?
Nope.
The notion that it's okay to give up authority over one's child to another entity for any reason is one that needs to be thought out a little more carefully. It's especially surprising coming from someone who homeschools.
To whom do our children belong?
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