H Rivers

“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” -Groucho Marx.

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

New ARTICLE📜🎉
"Building spaces of independence consists of five constituent activities protected by the First Amendment: submitting to truth above the state, speaking through grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric, publishing an independent canon, convening voluntary communities of formation, and defending those jurisdictions from state overreach."

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

TOMORROW! One of the authors himself, @TheRobertBshow reads for week 2.
"The Battle for Your Child's Soul"
That is the title of the introduction - and it sets the tone for everything that follows. Who is shaping your child's formation? What forces are at work? Week 2 is Tuesday, June 30 at 4:00 PM EST. Register free on our website- link in comments.

[Lauren Gideon @Lauren_Gideon]

Three years ago today I joined X. To mark the day, let me introduce myself.
I am a reluctant classical liberal: a philosophy summarized and articulated in the Declaration of Independence.
I love politics because, as Henry Adams observed, knowledge of human nature is the beginning and the end of political science. Politics is not merely an examination of policy. It is a confession of what we are as humans and what we are not, and it stirs within us a hunger to pursue what ought to be while acknowledging that until the new heaven and new earth, we will never fully achieve it.
Here is what you should know about me:
I am a homeschool mom, a wife of over twenty years, and a Director of Government Relations for an education company that defends the right of parents to educate their children outside the reach of the state.
I believe liberty is a confession. Jefferson asked it plainly: "Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?"
Humanity is both the pinnacle of God's creation and deeply broken by the Fall. This puts us in a pickle. No human ought to be deprived of the life God gave them without justification. And also: people are fallen, and we ought not give them more capacity to do evil than we must.
The classical liberal tradition holds both. Human beings are precious. None among us is worthy to rule another. Only Christ holds that authority rightly.
So I work toward liberty and justice for all not by force, because force undermines the architecture, but by persuasion. We can invite. Out of respect for human dignity, we cannot compel the innocent. We can build. We cannot coerce a human who has not first chosen acts that have forfeited their freedom.
Like Luther before the Diet of Worms, I did not choose these convictions so much as find myself unable to abandon them. Here I stand. I can do no other.
If you are new to the space: welcome.

[Katharine Birbalsingh @Miss_Snuffy]

White people are terrified of being seen as racist.

If white guilt permeates the online world and our schools, then our adults will feel guilty too.

This helps neither whites nor ethnics.

My ARC speech:

[Classical Conversations Inc @ClassicalConv]

"So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Isaiah 41:10

[Lauren Gideon @Lauren_Gideon]

The problem is not the Bible.

The problem is the education economy itself.

The entire system is built on depriving wealth earners of the right to control their own paychecks, a direct representation of how each individual has invested a portion of his life. Every paycheck represents hours that can never be recovered. A person exchanges a portion of his life for his wages, and then the state takes a portion of those wages by force.

The system then spends those resources without regard for the convictions of the individual who earned them.

That means people are compelled to finance matters of the soul, morality, and conscience that may directly contradict their deepest beliefs. They are forced to fund violations of their own conscience.

Then the coercion continues.

Through compulsory attendance laws, families are required to place their children under the authority of state employees who inevitably teach a particular vision of morality, virtue, origins, and human nature. Statistically speaking, many of those teachings will conflict with the deeply held convictions of the families being compelled to participate.

The entire system is an affront to life, liberty, and freedom of conscience.

Families are forced to fund the machine.

Free and independent American parents are forced to send their Children to sit inside the machine.

Adding Bible verses to that machine does not suddenly make it moral or just.

In fact, this feels more like a political power play, more than an act of Christian love. The injustice isn’t cured by adding Bible verses while leaving the coercion intact.

Would I want the Bible to serve as a foundational text for teaching truth, history, literature, law, ethics, and wisdom in my own children’s education?

Absolutely.

But I also recognize something more fundamental: I have no right to force that decision on another family, just as they have no right to force their convictions on mine.

Freedom of conscience means each family bears both the right and the responsibility to direct the education of its own children. It is a fundamental principle dating back to the founding of our nation that no person should be compelled to fund or participate in matters of conscience against his will.

The Bible is not anti American.

Compulsory funded, compulsory attended statist education is.

[H Rivers @Heather112387]

@EduIndependence I think 2020 gave us our answer.

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

The men who signed the Declaration of Independence weren't educated by the government. They were educated at home, in churches, by private tutors, and through self-directed study. Their education was independent of the very system they would later challenge.

Would there have been a 1776 Revolution or Declaration of Independence if the colonists were educated then like the majority is educated now?

[Lauren Gideon @Lauren_Gideon]

The Founders deliberately reached back across nearly three thousand years of political and legal history. They studied Hebrew law, Greek philosophy, the Roman Republic, English common law, and the rise and fall of civilizations, looking for principles that weren’t merely fashionable, but timeless.

Now, only 250 years after the Declaration, we have people who are apparently more smarter than all the thinkers of the past telling us, “Well, times have changed,” and, “Those ideas are outdated.”

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

Did you know...
The Declaration was not just a political document. It was an argument. It assumed a population capable of reasoning, dissenting, and debating — people formed by something other than state instruction.250 years later, that capacity is still the condition of freedom. Centralized systems optimize for compliance. Independent education optimizes for the child.

[H Rivers @Heather112387]

@HannahWardEdu Extra-ordinary moms do… and the secret is EVERY mom that thinks they want to, can.

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

250 years ago, individuals staked everything on the belief that the rights of man are not granted by governments —> they are inherent.
That is the inheritance we are marking. Education Independence exists because that belief is not confined by a schoolhouse door.
We are proud to celebrate America250.
Education Independence 250.

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

@JustinTHaskins This same pattern is headed for K-12. ESAs and vouchers open the door to government funding for all private education. When has government money ever entered a market without driving up costs and inviting regulation?

[Lauren Gideon @Lauren_Gideon]

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” (Psalm 92:1–2, ESV)

[Lauren Gideon @Lauren_Gideon]

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports." -George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

[Lauren Gideon @Lauren_Gideon]

Hard truth: once a society accepts the "school choice" logic that public funds should follow individual need, there is no principled stopping point. That argument justifies universal socialism for every good and service.

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

#9🏛️-- Sell stock in your education to the state—it’s easier than seeking private support.
Why bother with private scholarships or community-based support when the state is ready to buy a controlling share? Sure, private funding preserves independence, but it can require effort. It’s far simpler to join the trend and accept public dollars. Yes, those funds require you to hand over ownership, but I’m sure the government will be a kind, benevolent owner now and for generations to come. We have nothing to fear from the consequences of selling our birthright.

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

Some of those empty seats were parents making a choice. While first-grade enrollment in public schools fell 10-14%, homeschooling doubled — from 1.77 million families in 2012 to over 3.5 million today.
Parents didn't abandon education. They took ownership of it.
That's not a crisis; that's a market signal.

[Cedra Crenshaw @CedraCrenshaw]

Homeschooling inside our nuclear family has made my marriage stronger, not harder. Shared purpose, daily teamwork, watching our daughter grow together — it’s sanctifying and sweet. Nuclear families sharpen husbands and wives into better partners. Serve deeply and lovingly.

[Education Independence @EduIndependence]

The Houston school district takeover is being celebrated as a turnaround story. Maybe. The test scores improved. Also: thousands of teachers left, tens of thousands of students left, libraries closed, a $250 million deficit is projected, and researchers are questioning whether the numbers tell the whole story.
This is what government managing government looks like. Messy, expensive, contested, and still dependent on the next election, the next commissioner, the next appointed board.
The most accountable system in education has always been the one where the parents who bear the responsibility also bear the consequences.