First, the Amazon link at the end is an odd one. I have no idea why, I have no control over it, and Amazon can’t seem to correct it. You may have to do a simple Amazon Search to find the actual book.
But second (and the reason for this blogpost and link), I have come to the decision that I must strongly suggest to all parents that this is the time for drawing the line in the sand to seriously consider homeschooling.
By now you have all heard that Biden, Fauci and the CDC are poised to again make face masks mandatory. It is sadly disheartening for most of us. But the ones who stand to be most severely affected are our vulnerable children.
It is easy to get caught up in discussions on whether or not children are truly vulnerable to the virus, and if infected whether their cases are extreme. No matter on which side of these arguments you fall, one thing is certain: masks on children have been shown to create anxiety at levels we’ve never seen in kids & teens.
Even for adults, masks can trigger negative feelings and difficulties. An article in Psychology Today by Susanne Babbel notes:
Stephen Porges (2011), a professor of psychiatry, observes that we need cues about others such as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body posture to appraise whether or not a person is safe. As trauma specialist Bessel van der Kolk points out, “To survive and thrive, we must be able to distinguish friend from foe, know when a situation is safe or dangerous … and without it, we are prone to misinterpret safety as a threat” (Porges, 2011, p. xiv). Facial expressions of others help us to calm our nervous system, but if we don’t receive those signals, we might go into survival mode.”
If it is difficult for adults, consider the effect on the young.
Lifesite News ran an informative article on how masks harm children. The lead-in to the article states:
The problems that children are having wearing masks include increased irritability, headaches, difficulty concentrating, less happiness, reluctance to go to school, malaise, impaired learning and drowsiness or fatigue.
With the new push to mask these precious children comes a burning question each parent must answer: At what point do I do what might on the surface seem difficult in order to protect my children?
Right away you may balk at the prospect.
*I’m not capable
*I have no patience
*We need my 2nd income
*My child has special needs
*(Fill in the blank…)
I am not here to judge you or your situation. However, many have gone before you with these and even more difficult situations. In our case, I turned my back on a great job as secretary to a medical department in a hospital in order to care for the children at home. I also was between a rock and a hard place when we decided to homeschool, and had to abandon studies for a degree.
But in mine and all the other cases I’ve seen, the overriding determining factor was in understanding the primary goal of parents…particularly mothers. We as parents are mandated to be the primary teacher to our children. And mothers as nurturers are best suited in this endeavor.
Don’t get me wrong. There are challenges. It calls for creative finance strategies and there definitely is a learning curve. But the benefits are enormous. We as parents hold a unique position in that we know our children better than anyone else (even public educators), and want the best for them (again, much more than public educators.)
With all this in mind, I am asking you to reevaluate the coming school year in light of another year of masking your children. They deserve more than what public education offers in general. But even more so, they deserve more than another year of the emotional and physical dangers of masking.
Take a moment to review the book I wrote below. You can find it on Amazon, Leonine Books, Barnes and Noble, and fine Catholic bookstores everywhere. When I published it, I had no idea that there would be another reason tied to face masks that should compel each parent to consider the beauty of home education.
God Bless!
[P.S. Our boy is a Magna Cum Laude graduate in Philosopy with two minors, and now in graduate school at Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology…all in spite of my initial insecurities as a homeschooling mom.]
References
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/study-shows-how-masks-are-harming-children
95 Questions 
Great article. I hope everyone will homeschool.
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