There seems to be some twittering (no, not the website) going on in the blogosphere home school world about funding and government involvement. A year or so ago I decided to save all of my receipts for my home school materials and deduct them from my (itemized) taxes for the year. Lo and behold, we do not have the right to do that! I was livid. Here I was up to my elbows in receipts from the year (copies, books, school supplies, etc) totaling at least $500.00. At least. And Turbo Tax, very succinctly informs me that home schoolers can have no exemptions. What? The way I understand it (and anyone can correct me if I'm wrong here) teachers in public or private schools can deduct any expense they incur for classroom use (such as say, candy, if it is used for math purposes...) but I cannot deduct my actual curriculum? I was LIVID. I don't just mean a little perturbed. I was mad.
But then...
But then I realized that if the government helps me to buy my supplies I am not actually totally home schooling. The government (the powers that be) would have their nose and hand and any other parts of them they chose in my business. The business of my children's education. And, although I forget this focus sometimes, the main reason I home school is so that I might "train up a child in the way he should go..." (Proverbs 22:6). Academics are important. Definitely. Are they the be all, end all? No.
Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
and
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
And I could post more verses on wisdom than anyone has time to read right now...most out of Proverbs-the book of wisdom. But the point is, my whole reasoning for home schooling my children is that, in these early, formative years,they not be steeped in the world. I cannot, and will not, "protect" them forever-I well know that. But I can protect them during the years that they are supposed to be innocent.
See, I got off track again! If I let the government reimuburse me for my teaching expenses...do they not have the right to know what they're paying me for?
We'll eek by and pay for our own curriculum. That which I have decided with God's help and my husband's help is best for the hearts and minds of our children.
2 comments:
Oh, this is a slippery slope. I, for one, am totally in favor of keeping the govt out of my DD's education for as long as possible. BUT...they DO know what you're teaching - your kids have to pass standardized tests, right? And don't some of your property taxes go to pay for the public school system that you don't use? So I think it would only be fair to be able to deduct homeschooling expenses. I still have a couple more years before I get to that point but by golly, I'll have something to say about it!
Meredith-actually, in TX my kids don't have to do the standardized testing. I consider that good for us b/c I actually do homeschool my kids (they are taught all of the stuff they need on a daily basis) but bad for the kids whose parents just don't want to send them to school. Kwim? It saves me a lot of red tape so to speak but I feel bad for the kids that are slipping through the (grand canyon sized) cracks. I've known a couple of them-you know, can't read at graduation age.
As for the property taxes. Yep. We pay em. We pay dearly for them. And we get nothing from the school portion. Very frustrating, but like I said, how could the school operate w/o my $$? I don't know. But then maybe the schools would have to step up so that more would go to school and pay their taxes. You're right, it's a slippery slope. Kind of a catch 22. Are you planning to home school Miss K?
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