Header image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.
In the public eye, homeschooling is closely linked to conservative Christianity. But a new group launched this month aims to raise awareness and build community for homeschoolers who aren’t religious.
“Secular homeschooling embraces mainstream science, including evolutionary biology, and is inclusive of people of whatever background, sexual orientation, gender expression, or neurodiversity,” reads the homepage of Secular Homeschoolers of Colorado (SHOC).
The group was launched by Ari Armstrong, a Colorado political commentator who writes for the conservative-libertarian Complete Colorado. (Editor’s note: Armstrong is also an opinion columnist at the Colorado Times Recorder.)
“I have long seen a need for a public face for secular homeschooling in Colorado,” Armstrong wrote in an email to the Colorado Times Recorder. “Although polling indicates that most families that homeschool do so partly for religious reasons (last year Pew reported that, nationally, 53% of homeschooling parents said they homeschool in part “to provide religious instruction”), many parents who homeschool seek a secular education for their children.”
“Recently I was able to start SHOC because I saw the need for it, I had the time and skills to do it, and no one else seemed to want to do it. The joke I tell is that cats complain that organizing is like herding homeschoolers. That goes doubly for secular homeschoolers,” Armstrong said. “Now, at least, there is a public-facing site that basically says, hello, we’re here, we’ve been busy doing our own thing.”
Armstrong, who homeschools his own child, has previously been vocally critical of religious homeschool groups, including Christian Home Educators of Colorado – a group which has platformed a right-wing pastor who has called for the death penalty for gay people.
“So far in Colorado, the only organized, public-facing homeschooling group has been religious in nature, and I would say conservative evangelical,” Armstrong wrote. “This creates a biased public perception, as much of the public, many policy makers, and many families considering homeschooling have the mistaken impression that homeschooling generally is religious in nature.”
SHOC’s website contains an overview of Colorado’s state laws around homeschooling, an analysis of reasons why families might choose to homeschool their kids, and a list of resources to help them do so.
SHOC will be holding a meet-and-greet event at the state Capitol on March 12.
