Christian Home Schooling - Is That the Issue?

Maybe Not

Friend Scary Fundamentalist from BC picked up on this juicy morsel from over here on the east side of the Northern Hemisphere, in downtown Meredith, NH.

Martin Kurowski married Brenda Voydatch and they had a daughter Amanda in Massachusetts. The mother moved to New Hampshire with her daughter prior to 2002, where the divorce was registered. There is no evidence to suggest that she moved to New Hampshire because the Kennedy's wouldn't leave Mass.

The mother has conscientiously home schooled her daughter with state approved texts since grade 1, and she is now ten years old and is described as "well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level", which is often typical of home schooled children who have the benefit of one on one attention.

The parents had entered into a parenting plan that is the source of the problems basically as the father and mother disagree on home schooling, among other things. The parenting plan called for mediation in the event of disagreement. Because the parents could not come to an agreement, this came before the Court and with a Guardian ad litem in tow, the Court issued the order here.

The order has plenty of detail worth reading. Amanda was a very conscientious student, and had to bug her father to take his responsibility seriously when he was the custodial parent, so conscientious is she. The mother was diligent in getting the materials, ensuring that she understood her job, and in making sure that Amanda not only did her work, but also was socialized appropriately by attending some classes at the local public school, but also by doing other activities like piano lessons. I ask: What's the problem, huh?

There is strain between the two parents which is rubbing off on the daughter probably. It always does. Amanda's mother seemed to be trying to limit contact with Amanda's father and sought counselling to prove the point. But the tables got turned somewhat as Amanda has a strong faith, which a counsellor had trouble grasping, and called rigidity. The counsellor figured Amanda should spend time with her half sibling with Dad more for socialization, which probably made Mom see red.

But, there is a real rigidity to Mom that colours things to her perspective, and does not come out in the Court Order that makes me wonder what the truth really is. The things I read in articles about the case make me wonder if this is a hill to die on.

Pages 2-8 of the Court Order are good reading, and leave me with the thoughts that the Marital Master is a very thoughtful man, intent on doing the right thing here, and caught between a rock and a hard place.

There is nothing in the world I care about more than my Christian faith. Next to that there is nothing I care about more than the salvation of my loved ones. Over the years I have learned that caring about their salvation is best acted out by loving them where they are at, no matter how far they are from a Christian walk (as I see it), but loving them no less for where they are, without condemnation.

The sense I get from reading this case information is that on one side we have a real Scary Fundamentalist, not like friend SF out west, but a real died in the wool one, who none the less loves her daughter, and wants the best for her. On the other hand, we have a father who also loves his daughter, and wants the best for her, but wants his daughter out of the hands of her mother for more hours of the day, to open her eyes to the rest of the world.

There is more to this case than what's on the surface, folks. The noise being made is not what the real case is about. It is being blown out of proportion.

Not a hill to die on.