Except in rare occasions, Catholic or Christian parents should not enroll their children in a public school. Most government-run, atheistic schools are wretched when compared to other, far superior, virtuous options.
The government is often corrupt, dishonorable, and inadequate. This is evidenced by everything from politicians’ behaviors to the incompetency of the IRS and the DMV. Yet, many modern-day moms and dads have relied on government employees to tell them when their kids were ready to read, what to teach their kids about morality, and how their kids learn best.
Why would parents want to turn over their children’s souls and impressionable minds to a government system commonly run by secular, morally corrupt employees? I tend to think that it is primarily because government-run schools are free. But recall the adage, “You get what you pay for,” and the axiom ”Nothing is really free.” Think about the ramifications of “free, public schools.”
Catholic or Classical Schools May Be Options
A popular option for parents who quit the public schools is to enroll their youngsters in the local, diocesan Catholic school. But the 21st century has seen a developing crisis in Catholic education. Many parochial schools have lost their way.
Instead of appropriately focusing on teaching the academic basics and orthodoxly passing on the Faith, a lot of Catholic schools are no better than their public school counterparts in the community. They bought into the woke, experimental curricula, and they diluted their religious instruction so to not “hurt feelings” by preaching truths. Additionally, these superficially Catholic schools employ many lukewarm, semi-practicing Catholics.
Parents need to scrutinize if their local Catholic school is worth the cost of tuition. Are they teaching tried and true, fundamental academics along with authentic faith formation that positively benefit their children’s souls?
One way to verify the scholastic strength and proper Catholic identity of a parochial school is to use this checklist from the article, “Can Your Catholic School Check-Off Everything on this List?”
If a family cannot find an authentic parochial Catholic school, a second option is to enroll their children in an independently-run, classical model, Catholic school. Classical model Catholic schools will more likely have a higher demanding curricula. As importantly, the classical Catholic schools adhere more devoutly to Catholic doctrine. They expect their students to study Scripture to a greater degree and frequent the sacraments more consistently.
Parents can check out maps both here and here to locate classical Catholic schools in their areas. Specifically for high school education, Catholic families should consider one of the 74 secondary schools in the U.S. operating as part of the Network of Chesterton Academies.
The schools at these sites may please Catholic parents searching for a better school environment. These schools are faithful to Catholic teaching, conservative in policies and programs, and willing to go against the current.
But in my opinion as a professional educator, only one type of schooling perfectly matches an authentic Catholic family’s worldview. It’s called homeschooling.
Homeschooling Makes the Most Sense
When a family homeschools, their children’s teachers will be of the same mind (literally) as the parents. When a family homeschools, mom and dad will serve in the role of co-principals and thus have the final say on the choice of curricula. When a Catholic family homeschools, the kids will learn unabridged theology and authentic Church doctrine. Their homeschool “employees” will not be watering down lessons so to come across “politically correct.”
Moreover, the contemporary talk in education is to “meet the unique learning needs of each student.” No type of schooling has the ability to customize education to a particular child better than homeschooling. Who better at knowing when and how to fuel a child’s passion for a specific subject matter than that kid’s own mom and dad? Who better than mom and dad at immediately recognizing their children’s frustrations and thus being able to spontaneously pivot to change subject matter or go outside for a break of playtime?
A homeschool does not have an automatically timed recess bell. It does not an inflexible schedule of when one academic subject must end and a new subject must commence. It also does not follow a “magical” clock and calendar that mandates schooling must take seven hours a day for 180 days a year.
In most schools nowadays, the students are flooded with stimuli so they don’t get bored. They receive instant gratification, over-exposure to computer screens, and daily math lessons that incorporate cartoon videos. All of this sensory overload is what today’s kids are being conditioned to expect. The problem is this overwhelms youngsters as the pace can be too speedy, the content too mature, and the noise level too high.
Homeschooling Is Healthier
The homeschool environment has numerous other advantages as well. Students benefit by spending more time in silence. They can have the lights turned down low or keep a soothing beverage within reach. They can learn both intentionally and unintentionally through structured and unstructured times. Instead of being tethered to desks from 8am to 3pm Monday through Friday, homeschooled students spend as little as a few hours a day, a few days a week in what is referred to as “seat work.”
In a typical school, students wait for their teachers to tell them things. They wait for an adult’s instructions on what to do next or how to fix something. Homeschool students are more likely going to learn self-reliance and figure out things themselves. They are given as much time as they need and more freedom than their public school counterparts.
Homeschooled students also do not suffer from the pressure mainstream educational students have – constant tests, grades, and square pegs crammed into round holes. This results in better mental health.
The Benefits Just Continue
A further upside of homeschooling is that of 45 peer-reviewed studies on the performance of homeschooling, 78% found that the homeschooled students performed significantly better than their conventional or institutional school peers not only in academic achievement, but in their social and emotional development, and future success both at college and into adulthood.
There are also many add-on benefits a homeschooling family receives, such as:
- the capacity to vacation when others are in school;
- the “authority” to take off random days, such as when the weather is perfect for a hike or family members are not feeling well;
- the ability to turn the building of a backyard birdhouse into a math and science lesson;
- the capacity to better accommodate many kids’ (especially boys’) energetic natures and needs for more physical movement and expression.
Coming up in part two:
more advantages of homeschooling, resources for parents, and refuting common objections to homeschooling.
A PRINCIPAL'S PRINCIPLES FOR PARENTING 
Dan,
It’s a fact that most “Catholic” schools today bear an uncomfortable resemblance to public schools, differing only by a mandatory Mass and a theology elective or two. Despite heavy Catholic branding online, traditional faith integration largely vanishes when examining actual coursework. Core subjects—such as English, history, civics, arts, math, and science—are practically indistinguishable from those taught in standard public schools down the street. Ultimately, Catholic bishops, administrators, and educators must answer for this disappointing erosion of institutional identity.
My brother identified this destructive trend a decade and a half ago when he strongly criticized the appalling decision of Catholic dioceses to implement the Common Core State Standards. For the Church’s leadership, yielding to these frameworks represented a severe capitulation to modern secularism and external bureaucratic authorities. The situation has only deteriorated since.
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