Someone on the Form+U+la email list asked for input (from anyone) on what’s involved in earning an "Honors Diploma" through the school system. Another mom posted an answer (about a mile long) with all the requirements, adding that it probably wouldn’t be too hard for a homeschooler to fulfill most of them. Without even looking at the requirements, I had a "gut reaction" that I felt compelled to share on the list. Here it is...

I'd just like to interject a comment here that I hope won't feel like a "wet blanket," but when this topic first came up, something inside me kind of cringed, and I wasn't sure what it was. As I ponder it, I realize that I don't have a problem with this topic itself, but I guess I just want to interject a little "heart check" here. I think what bothers me about the very idea of an honors diploma boils down to this: What I talk about so much in my stuff is the idea of pulling out of – unplugging from – "The System." The idea of an "honors diploma," to me, infers that not only is there not an "unplugging" but that there is the desire to be at the top of this system, what it considers to be of value. The whole foundation of my message is striving after what is "honorable" to God, not to the world.

Perhaps your student may be wanting to get a scholarship within the system, and that's why they want an "honors diploma," but I guess I just want to challenge us all to make sure our hearts are right in the midst of doing so. I'm not saying anyone's heart isn't right – just wanting to make sure they are.

After looking at the requirements, much of what I saw listed throughout them is very binding, very worldly-minded, and very "system-ish"; there isn't any way you could "please both God and man" in fulfilling most of them. (With some, you could; many others, no way.) These requirements could far too easily become "Lord" of your child's education without you even knowing it. So again... what do you think I'm going to say? Yup...

Hear God!

To my above answer, one mom responded:

"Thank you Barb for

being a "wet blanket" and helping me

to be able to breathe again!"