Virtue is the basis of freedom.
As homeschoolers, we are grateful for the freedom we have to direct our children's education. It's not a freedom that every nation offers it's people, and it's one of the benefits of living in a constitutional republic.
But in order to preserve freedom, we have to teach our children virtue.
“There is no liberty to men who know not how to govern themselves.” Henry Ward Beecher
“Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people.” George Washington
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.” Benjamin Franklin
“To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical [imaginary] idea.” James Madison
“A vitiated [impure] state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom.” Patrick Henry
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams
This then, makes the state of the world today a little alarming.
I'm sure most of us can recall being a little shocked by some cultural expression, whether it's the lack of morals in film or stories, or just the constant depiction of children being unruly and inconsiderate in family movies, the expectation that people would be virtuous, that our heroes would be virtuous, has fallen away and left us with a lot of anti-heros.
But in the Peaceful Press resources, we are still fighting for virtue through heroic stories, and in Habits for a Sacred Home I reveal how continuing to honor basic Christian practices can bring restoration to culture.
We don't know what the future will bring, or what the core of knowledge our children will need to succeed will be, but according to Maxwell Leadership, it's people with integrity who will lead in the future.
So as you plan your homeschool year, and try to decide if you are doing enough, or teaching the right things, focus on hopeful stories.
When your children read about how the Moody and Ingall's families overcame their poverty and stayed together, they know they can weather hard times.
When your children read about how Shackleton courageously led his men to safety, they are inspired to have grit in hardship.
When your children read about how Corrie ten Boom stayed hopeful in the midst of a prison camp, they are inspired to trust in God even when the world seems dark.
And it's this core of knowledge that will prepare your children to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
It's giving them a feast of hope and virtue and beauty that will help them restore culture.
It's teaching them basic practical life skills and giving them opportunities to experiment with the natural world that will inspire the creativity needed to imagine new solutions.
And the Peaceful Press parent guides make it easy to spread this feast.