In Kentucky, Lexington home-schooler Mia Perry remembers feeling disheartened while flipping through a home-school curriculum catalog and finding so many religious-themed textbooks.
"We're not religious home-schoolers, and there's somewhat of a feeling of being outnumbered," said Perry, who has home-schooled three of her four children after removing her oldest child from a public school because of a health condition.
Perry said she cobbled together her own curriculum after some mainstream publishers told her they would not sell directly to home-schooling parents.
Wendy Womack, another Lexington home-school mother, said the only scientifically credible curriculum she's found is from the Maryland-based Calvert School, which has been selling study-at-home materials for more than 100 years.
What is ironic is that a small minority among homeschooling families feels discounted because of a lack of non-religious curriculum. When Christians point out that there is a similar disparity in worldviews in the public school, we are accused of pushing our agenda. The big problem is not a lack of secular material for the small minority of homeschoolers who want it, it is that the public school textbook cabal won't sell to homeschoolers. Don't blame Christian homeschool curriculum companies, who create a product in demand and offer it to those who are interested. Blame the secular textbook companies who won't sell their materials to homeschoolers.
Rather than complain about the companies that already provide a product in demand, if you want secular homeschool materials create a market and someone will fill the need. That is what Christian homeschoolers did for a long time.
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