By Jasmine Baucham, posted on 5 February, 2010

When I set out to watch Homeschool Dropouts: Why the Second Generation is Now Headed for a Spiritual Wasteland, I was very excited, to say the least. I'd been anxiously anticipating the documentary's release, as I thought I knew a lot of people that I considered potential homeschool dropouts, and homeschoolers who had already dropped out, from people who were violently opposed to the choices their parents had made for their upbringing to people who were simply apathetic to their rearing in general. I was anxious to pass it along to others, people I thought needed to see it.

You see, I didn't need to watch it for myself. I was excited about it for other people. Because I'm the zealous homeschool graduate who can't wait to homeschool her nine sons either in a hut in some uncharted rainforest among an unreached people group or among the rolling hills of Northern Ireland after Johnny and I have sparked a homeschool movement there. =) When my family first started our homeschooling journey (was that ten years ago already?), I was as stubborn as... well, as I'm often known to be. ;-) But you couldn't pay me to go to a public school or a secular college now, and you couldn't make me put my own children in government school if you hauled me off to the county jail (I asked my mom -she said that while she's raising bail money, she'll homeschool Junior and Suzie until I get out... ;-).

On a more serious note, I was expecting to be able to recommend the film to less passionate homeschoolers than I.

Little did I know, I was exactly the girl who needed to see it.

As the Botkin siblings laid out the six sins that homeschooled children are likely to fall into, I realized that even I—educational zealot that I am—was someone who needed to hear this message. In thinking that this film had a message that needed to be heard, but a message that wasn't necessarily for me, I fell into sin number three: pride (not surprising... I'm Jasmine Baucham... and I am a prideful person. It's been five minutes since my last prideful moment...). I squirmed a little in my chair and hit pause. They were talking to me, not those slacking homeschoolers out there, but someone who so often needs to be reminded of the gift and the responsibility that her parents have given her in the form of her educational legacy.

I can definitely recommend this film for homeschoolers from all walks of life, even those of us who think we've got the multigenerational faithfulness thing down pat. It will awaken us to some blind spots we have in our own lives (pride, as I've said, false piety, complacency, etc.), it will give us even more resolve as we look towards the future, and carrying the torch that our parents have passed to us, and it will give us the courage to exhort apathetic fellow homeschoolers, to pull them up to fight alongside us.

Some other lessons we'll learn or be reminded of along the way:

• If we love the Lord, we will keep his commandments.
• Homeschoolers often fall into the trap of being "good" kids rather than righteous kids; we measure ourselves according to the world's standards instead of the Lord's.
• Our focus is sometimes on superiority instead of righteousness.
• We must learn how to let the Lord define our success, not the world.
• Pride is the silent killer of the homeschool movement.
• We have a tendency to either run away from the world or fall into the world.
• We need to be good stewards of the sacrifices our parents have made for us.
• If we're going to carry the torch our parents have passed on to us, we need to understand the gospel.

And there's so much more. This film is an hour well-spent, full of interviews with homeschool graduates, leaders of the homeschool movement, and a short lesson on the history of homeschooling. Most importantly, it is a film saturated with God's Word and teaming with his principles laid out in an unapologetic manner.

I heartily recommend Homeschool Dropouts: Why the Second Generation is Now Headed for a Spiritual Wasteland—whatever your walk of life, it is a convicting, though-provoking, inspiring, and well-made documentary. Click here to learn more about it (here for production notes, and here to read about the score).

Jasmine's kind review was originally published on her blog, Joyfully at Home. Republished with permission.