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Write These Laws on Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling
 
 
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Write These Laws on Your Children: Inside the World of Conservative Christian Homeschooling (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kunzman, a professor at the Indiana University School of Education, goes behind the scenes with six conservative Christian families who have decided to homeschool. The book has a remarkably balanced tone, with Kunzman heralding homeschooling's inherent flexibility—in a ranching family, children have anatomy lessons by butchering livestock, and in another, one of seven children has followed her own drummer by enrolling in public high school with her parents' blessing. Conversely, the lack of governmental oversight can be detrimental, as when Kunzman meets a 12-year-old who doesn't know what three times three is or documents a mother ignorantly berating a child who obviously has a learning disability. Between family portraits, Kunzman offers short expositions about various aspects of the growing homeschooling movement, drawing upon his attendance at conventions and political action meetings, but also—in an intriguing section that could have used more development—analyzing race among homeschooling families. This engrossing ethnography puts a human face on Christian homeschooling. (Aug.)
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Review

"Vivid and insightful. A comprehensive, judicious assessment of conservative Christian homeschooling, Write These Laws on Your Children has wide relevance for understanding enduring conflicts in American life." 
—James M. Ault Jr., author of Spirit and Flesh: Life in a Fundamentalist Baptist Church and producer/director of the award-winning film Born Again
 
"Homeschooling, especially by conservative Christians, is a controversial topic, but Robert Kunzman approaches it with thoroughness and respect. The best aspect of this book is the time he spent in the homes of six families around the country as well as around the socioeconomic and educational spectrum. From the substantial reporting and analysis of those visits emerge the variety, energy, motivation, and challenges that these families experience. This book will be especially enlightening for those of us who work inside the schools that these families reject. It’s a rich subject and a good read." —Theodore R. Sizer and Nancy Faust Sizer, authors of The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract
 
“Alternating between fascinating, in-depth profiles of Christian homeschooling families and broader, spot-on examinations of big themes or national trends, Kunzman’s book is both fun and enlightening to read. If you want to really understand why so many conservative Christians are turning to homeschooling and what they’re actually doing all day, this is the book to read. I couldn’t put it down.”
—Milton Gaither, author of Homeschool: An American History

"In this fascinating book Robert Kunzman takes the reader on a voyage of discovery. He focuses not on abstract polemics but on the everyday lives of six homeschool families scattered across the nation, capturing their voices, their aspirations, their squabbles, and their doubts. Those who want to understand homeschooling in an empathetic yet critical way will find Kunzman a superb guide."
—David Tyack, coauthor of Tinkering toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform

"For anyone with little direct knowledge of Christian homeschooling, prepare to divest yourself of stereotypes. In this careful, beautifully written study, Kunzman uses his two years spent with six homeschooling families in five states to reveal the wide variation among homeschooling Christian families in how they teach, how children learn, the role of faith and citizenship, and attitudes toward regulation. One comes away with a deeper, more balanced appraisal of Christian homeschooling than exists in mainstream media, among public school educators and academic researchers."
—Larry Cuban, author of Hugging the Middle: How Teachers Teach in an Era of Testing and Accountability
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Beacon Press (August 1, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0807032913
  • ISBN-13: 978-0807032916
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #797,061 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A great description of homeschooler culture and families, November 22, 2009
By Almelle (in Tejas!) - See all my reviews
As someone homeschooled within America's conservative Christian subculture, I enjoyed Rob Kunzman's vivid observations of homeschool parents and children interacting, his descriptions of state conventions and his interviews with national political advocates such as Michael Farris. An empathetic observer as well as an astute critic, he shows our challenges kindly and our successes glowingly.

As a current grad student in anthropology, I was even more impressed with how Rob set up his ethnography (a book describing a people's culture) of homeschool values and perspectives, and with his theoretical reflections on the tensions between independent education and shared civic values in America.... tensions which have been with us since the Founding Fathers.

I must admit his emphasis on civics was grating, as he kept prodding parents, '...but you aren't instilling moderate civic values in your children!' And they kept responding, '...but that's not what we're trying to do at all!' Kunzman clearly has different values and a different vision for America than these families, but while insistent, he remains respectful and tries to start discussion rather than continuing the culture wars. Describing the best families at the beginning and end also left the middle feeling boggy in describing what he sees as less than ideal family situations.

My favorite line, of course, is when he asks five-year-old Elise what she would change about homeschooling, and she responds, "Instead of learning anything, we would just sit around and eat ice cream sundaes!" (202). I'm pretty sure I've given the same idea to my parents, and they turned it down, too...

At any rate, Kunzman pulls it all together at the end, where he reflects on the meaning of citizenship in a liberal democracy. Read this final section, and then read it again. Although as an educator he advocates for a basic literacy/numeracy test for all children, he acknowledges that part of being a liberal democracy is that even his focus on child welfare and shared civic values are up for discussion - and that this deliberation on how conflicting values can work together is part of democracy itself.

Kunzman is a public educator who is sympathetic enough to homeschoolers to take the time to find out - as much as an outsider can - what it's 'really' like. I hope someday to be able to describe 'cultures' as well as he can, and I expect all readers will find something to enjoy, criticize, and think about in this book. I recommend it for Americans across the board, as we all as for homeschooling families and groups to read and discuss - I know I'll be recommending it to my parents!
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12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An Evangelical Christian Perspective, July 14, 2009
By K. White (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
As an evangelical Christian I wondered what Write These Laws would say about the people I identify with. I don't home school myself, but I go to church with many who do. I must admit I'm impressed. Dr. Kunzman is not only even handed, he is empathetic. While this book is thoroughly researched, his work is not about cold, hard analysis. There's a warmth to his insights that makes me like people I otherwise wouldn't and makes me cringe more deeply than I thought I would at the flaws that I myself see in my Christian community.

If there were more writers, researchers, and policy makers like Dr. Kunzman I am convinced we'd have a better educational system overall - because we'd actually be able to talk about both the good and the bad in each other's views in ways that promote understanding.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read..., August 31, 2009
I found this book engaging and provocative. Kunzman does a terrific job of taking some sophisticated philosophical questions about the relationship of homeschooling to our societal aims for education and making them concrete and accessible for the reader. In large part, he does this through well-written and engrossing accounts of the lives of very diverse homeschool families across the country. The book gave me much to think about and challenged some of my assumptions about the homeschool phenomenon. I recommend it for parents, teachers and educators--anyone with an interest in the various ways we determine to educate children in our society.
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I am an East Coaster raised in a big city and in a home and a community that was not particularly religious. Read more
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