The Folks In England Are Talking About Us
The good folks from The Old School House magazine planned a speaking tour to England this spring...
The good folks from The Old School House magazine planned a speaking tour to England this spring. No Greater Joy signed up to have our literature distributed on their tour. We had no idea it would cause any problem.
We are told that in England it is a crime to spank your children. Therefore Christians are not able to openly obey God in regard to Biblical chastisement. They are in danger of having the state steal their children. Christian parents do not want to be seen at an event that might be distributing literature advocating spanking. I remember how scared I was when we first started homeschooling. Because it was rare and unknown to the authorities, most were against it, suspecting us guilty of all manner of dark and evil deeds. It had not yet come to the public’s attention and the legislators had never heard of anything so “unorthodox.” Surely it was “depriving the children of a good education.” We received scary visits from the child protective agency, and they had us in court threatening to take our children away from us if we continued to homeschool. While we fought it legally, we were forced to make contingency plans to move to Central America, fleeing ignorance and oppression. But we joined with many others and fought it in the legislature of Tennessee. Parents prevailed and homeschooling was recognized to be our parental right. There was nothing on earth as important to us as our children. There was no fear greater than that of losing them. I can completely understand WHY the parents of England would be so concerned. Anyway, the blogs of England have been buzzing with all manner of misinformation concerning the Pearls.
Of course, us two old Pearls were unaware that we had become internationally infamous. Furthermore, we have been too preoccupied to give it any thought or energy. Both sets of our aged parents have been in health crisis, plus we continue to run an ever expanding ministry (18 employees and growing) besides trying to squeeze time in with our children and grandchildren. But then we started getting letters from England, informing us that Rebekah Joy’s (our eldest daughter) blogged response to the criticism was widely and favorably received. I called Beka and told her to send us a copy. Here it is.
Are Michael & Debi Pearl “Guilty as Charged?”
My name is Rebekah Anast, I am the firstborn daughter of Michael and Debi Pearl, the authors of the best-selling book To Train Up a Child.
A handful of angry people have begun an outcry against Michael and Debi Pearl for the child-training principles in this book. These nay-sayers have also struck out against The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for refusing to reject the teaching of “the Pearls.” Along with quoting out of context, verbalized anger, and false assumptions, they have attacked those associated with the Pearl family, and threatened to shake the fragile platform of homeschooling in the UK by going to the media with the sensational story that certain UK homeschool groups are hosting the infamous Michael and Debi Pearl.
