The dark side of home schooling: creating soldiers for the culture war

The Christian home school subculture isn't a children-first movement. Some former students are bravely speaking out

Katherine Stewart
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 May 2013 07.00 EDT
Several decades ago, political activists on the religious right began to put together an "ideology machine". Home schooling was a big part of the plan. The idea was to breed and "train up" an army of culture warriors. We now are faced with the consequences of their actions, some of which are quite disturbing.

According to the Department of Education, the home schooling student population doubled in between 1999 and 2007, to 1.5 million students, and there is reason to think the growth has continued. Though families opt to home school for many different reasons, a large part of the growth has come from Christian fundamentalist sects. Children in that first wave are now old enough to talk about their experiences. In many cases, what they have to say is quite alarming.