@Homeschool_Forum Hi all! I am so glad to have discovered this site and forum and have been reading like crazy these past few days.
I’m a second-generation homeschooler (from Maine), and I grew up very YEC. I saw Kent Hovind speak when I was a kid and owned most of his VHS tapes (one I even bought with my own money). I just always enjoyed listening to him speak and hearing his stories. My family has been very invested in Answers in Genesis – we’ve been to the museum and my parents were five-year charter members (their name’s on a big wall of names at the museum – due to making a certain-sized donation, I’d assume).
I’ve been wrestling with my beliefs in this area for a while, and I know I still have more reading to do, but I’m about 1000% done with Answers in Genesis, after feeling pushed farther and farther away by Ken Ham’s antics over the years. I have come to realize (and I see I’m not alone!) that my faith was based much more on “proof” and “evidence” and one particular reading of Genesis 1-3 than on Jesus Christ. I was literally terrified to take a biology course in college, because I was afraid of how I’d respond to evolution without compromising my faith (but knew there was no way I could actually go toe-to-toe with a biology professor), and so ended up majoring in English since that seemed “safer.”
My issue now is what to do about homeschooling. Fortunately, we have some time since my oldest is only 4, but he has become a HUGE fan of dinosaurs (which helped spur my learning quest), and eventually he’s going to realize that his secular dinosaur books give him a different story from some of the Christian ones, or from the opinions of people at church,and I’m going to have to tell him something. I’m planning to use Sonlight and not stress about it for now, but I’m looking forward to reading the curriculum suggestions on this forum.
I’m also conflicted because my mom was pretty much my only teacher for 18 years of my life, and if she found out I am veering away from something she sees as so foundational to Christianity, I’m quite sure she’d be disappointed and possibly upset with me too.
Anyway, thanks for listening and thanks for creating a place where these things can be honestly discussed!