Statutory Rape in Christian Homeschool Perspective

The sad thing is that my parents often said they were homeschooling to keep us safe.

Why This Simone Biles Homeschool Success Meme is Disrespectful to Homeschool Alumni (and Simone Biles)

Editorial Note: The following is reprinted with permission from Libby Anne’s blog Love Joy Feminism. It was originally published on Patheos on August 15, 2016. Edited by Wende Benner, HA Editorial Staff Meme features picture of Simone Biles with this text: But how will homeschooled kids ever compete in the real world?  Pretty well, I guess. Speaking as a homeschool alumna, this meme is disrespectful

Is Josh Harris Actually Taking Responsibility?

Josh Harris was interviewed on NPR recently. I know this because my husband started yelling at me to come into the kitchen right freaking now and I was like, wait, you can’t just order me to drop everything like that, that’s not how it works, and he was like, trust me, you’re going to want to hear this. And there it was. Josh Harris on NPR, discussing his 1997 book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye.

I Was Raised to Be a Conservative Culture Warrior. Then I Jumped the Political Fence.

CC image courtesy of Flickr, Grufnik. Editorial note: The following is reprinted with permission from Libby Anne’s blog. It was originally published on July 11, 2016. I grew up in a conservative homeschool family and religious community firmly ensconced in the Christian Right. I was raised to be a culture warrior. I was raised to create change, to be a mover and a shaker. But only

For the Children of the Latest Target Protestor

By now, you’ve probably seen this video of a mother of twelve walking through Target, Bible in hand, loudly condemning Target for its trans-inclusive bathroom policy.

Here are some of the things the woman said as she walks through the store:

“Mothers, get your children out of this store!”

“Are you going to let the devil rape your children, America?”

“Repent, wicked Target…the judgement of God is coming on this nation and Target!”

Bill Gothard And The Dynamics Of Abuse

HA note: The following is reprinted with permission from Libby Anne’s blog Love Joy Feminism. It was originally published on Patheos on May 11, 2016. Yesterday I found out that a Catholic priest who was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl decades ago has been made director of a teen pregnancy center. This made me think about all of the ways abusers within the church

Oregon Refuge Children Hid the Guns before Running

Last Friday, as soon as their mother climbed in the shower, five Sharp children bolted down the driveway of their Auburn, Kan., home.

Before they left, according to testimony in a Wednesday hearing, they took the guns out of a cubbyhole in the house and stashed them at the end of the drive. Then they got a ride from a neighbor to the Shawnee County sheriff’s office in Topeka.

Do You Love God More than You Love Your Children?

CC image courtesy of Flickr, Jon Grainger. Editorial note: The following is reprinted with permission from Libby Anne’s blog. It was originally published on March 30, 2016. I’ve written a lot about the evangelicalism I grew up in. I’ve written about patriarchal ideas about male leadership and female submission, and about what it was like to believe demons were literal beings I might encounter.

About My Homeschool Success Story . . .

Let me tell you a dirty little secret: Some homeschool graduates excel in college because they are intelligent and driven and college is the first time they’ve had access to instructors and education.

Stop Using My Homeschool Success Story to Erase Others’ Educational Neglect

I am just as unhappy with stereotypes that posit all homeschoolers as backward and uneducated as I am with stereotypes that posit all homeschoolers as innovative and well educated