Children are our future, but what does that future look like when depression is skyrocketing, two-thirds of U.S. students can’t read at a proficient level, over 50% can’t do basic math, and sexuality is pushed in classrooms as young as kindergarten? Some states even determine how many prison beds they’ll need in the future based on how elementary students are performing on reading tests.

The biggest mistake conservatives ever made was remaining indifferent toward education over the years and allowing activist leftists to seize the reigns at every level.

It’s impossible to go more than a day without hearing about a drag queen story hour, tampons in boys’ bathrooms, and boys participating in girls’ sports or some other upside-down event on the news.

Unsurprisingly, there are growing concerns among parents about the education system. According to the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, 64% of parents say they wish they had more information about education options for their children.

Education options include public schools, charter schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschooling. School choice supports all of the above. Many would argue charter schools are a better alternative to public schools, but charter schools still receive government funding and are subject to their rules. Unless you know every single teacher, do you truly know who you’re sending your children to? Unfortunately, private schools have been known to succumb to wokeness as well. Does this mean all schools and teachers are inherently bad? No, of course not. What it does mean is that there is no way to know exactly what is being taught to our children behind closed doors, and we certainly cannot expect them to repeat seven hours’ worth of learning every single day to ensure they’re taught properly.

Voddie Baucham said, “We cannot continue to send our children to Caesar for their education and be surprised when they come home as Romans.”

When parents send their children away for seven hours a day to those who statistically despise their values, not only do they forfeit their role as the biggest influence in their child’s life, but they hand it directly to those who oppose them. Some will find this offensive, but as a mother of three who has experience with public school, charter school, private school, and now homeschooling, when we attend traditional schools, mornings are rushed, you don’t see your children all day, and the hours after school are filled with extracurricular activities, homework, cooking/eating dinner, bath time, and bedtime routine. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I am a Christian and firmly believe that God gave children parents, not teachers, for a reason.

One of the things I hear most often when I bring up homeschooling is that parents feel inadequate to educate their children. I’m always curious how parents who were educated in government schools and feel unequipped to teach elementary school math and reading, at the very least, think it’s in their child’s best interest to send them back into that same failing system when roughly 50% of the country can’t read proficiently or do math at a basic level.

An anti-homeschooling talking point that often makes the rounds is that homeschooled children aren’t socialized, but nothing could be further from the truth. Homeschool is the fastest-growing form of education, which means educational and social opportunities are growing, too. Opportunities are often so abundant there isn’t enough time to participate in them all. According to the National Home Education Research Institute, 87% of peer-reviewed studies on social, emotional, and psychological development show homeschool students perform statistically significantly better than those in conventional schools. Homeschool students score between 15 and 25 percentile points above their public-school counterparts on standard academic achievement tests, according to NHERI.

Homeschooling, on average, takes 30 to 45 minutes for early elementary, one to two hours for later elementary, two to three hours for middle school, and up to four hours for high school. This calls into question the amount of time wasted in regular schools that could be spent living life and exploring the things that interest our children instead of conforming them to a pre-determined educational mold. Children deserve to be treated as individuals who learn at their own pace. There are several reasons homeschoolers perform better, but certainly, the hours parents reclaim with their children contribute to a child’s overall well-being and performance.

America will not thrive with a population that cannot read, write, or do basic math. We need healthy families and educated but not indoctrinated, well-adjusted, emotionally stable children. Our children deserve it, and our future depends on it.

Christine Yeargin is part of an ambassador program in conjunction with The Patriot Post. Follow her on X (@christineyeargs), Instagram, or visit her website.