My Father’s Coattails

Written by Zan Tyler

I was in my early 20s, and had just given birth to my second son, when Ronald Reagan was first elected president. I vividly remember the commentators’ never-ending discussions about the vast number of Republicans who rode into office on Reagan’s coattails.

I know the feeling — I’ve always ridden on my father’s coattails. The spiritual lessons I’ve learned in the process have been life-changing.

A Daughter’s Dilemma

When I began homeschooling, I was a 28-year-old, stay-at-home mother with two sons, ages six and three. I had done nothing substantial in the world’s eyes since graduating from Furman University with honors when I was 21. I certainly had no clout, political or otherwise.

In 1984 most people were not open to homeschooling (a huge understatement). When Joe and I decided to homeschool our son, we found ourselves being tossed around by attorneys and angry educational bureaucrats like a football. Our local school board turned down our application to homeschool and we had to hire an attorney to appeal our case to the State Board of Education.

In the process, I decided to visit the State Superintendent of Education in South Carolina and explain our quandary to him. (I felt comfortable doing this, because I had known him since I was a child. He had chosen to observe my mother’s public school classroom for a period of months while working on his Ph.D. in education.) With our state board hearing just a week away, the superintendent threatened to put me in jail for truancy.

One minor point to note here is that I had failed to “mention” to my parents that I was planning to homeschool, because homeschooling was rather outrageous in 1984. My dad was Chairman of the Board of the Baptist Hospital, a successful businessman, and very respected in the community, as was my mother. This little bit of news that I might be going to jail was the nudge I needed to inform my wonderful, unsuspecting parents of my plans.

Even though it was twenty years ago, I vividly remember the drive to my parents’ home and hysterically informing them that I planned to homeschool Ty and, by the way, I was probably going to jail next week.

A Father’s Response

My father didn’t know a thing about homeschooling, but he was furious with the way I had been treated. He sprang into action. The next day he was speaking at a hospital trustee’s convention with Nancy Thurmond, Senator Strom Thurmond’s wife. He informed Nancy of my dilemma and told her that I had contacted the Senator’s office, to no avail. (I had worked for Senator Thurmond for a short stint when I was in high school.) Dad wanted to know then what the Senator planned to do to help me. Nancy called the Senator in Washington, D.C., and two days later he flew to Columbia, met personally with the State Superintendent of Education, and “asked” him to approve my homeschooling program. Needless to say, my program was approved, and I never went to jail.

My father had clout, and his coattails had never looked so good.

A Father’s Legacy

From 1984 to 1992, Joe, our children, and I spent a significant amount of our time in court and in the legislature, trying to effect positive changes in South Carolina’s homeschooling laws. As we planned public hearings and worked on legislative hearings, my father was always there — righting the injustices we constantly encountered.

The culmination of all of our court and legislative battles occurred in 1992, when we lobbied the South Carolina General Assembly to pass a bill recognizing the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (SCAIHS) as a legal option for homeschooling parents. A South Carolina Supreme Court victory by Mike Farris had cleared the way, and the legislation looked like a possibility. But the inevitable roadblocks were there.

My father again sprang into action. I gave him what I had (my two fish and five loaves of bread) — carefully compiled, well-documented information about the success of homeschooled students, as well as information on our homeschooling association.

I will never forget watching my father, at his kitchen table, dissect and devour the SC legislative handbook. He read the bios on every senator. And he began calling powerful constituents (his friends) in each of the districts, asking them (expecting, really) to contact their respective state senator to support our homeschooling legislation.

During the 1992 legislative session, I watched a miracle unfold as the SC General Assembly enacted landmark legislation naming SCAIHS as a legally viable approval association for homeschooling families.

After the senate education committee met passing the SCAIHS legislation, two powerful senators called me aside and said, “Little lady, you had some of the most powerful lobbyists in the state working for you on a homeschooling issue. We want to know how you did it.”

It was my dad. Plain and simple. Once again, I clung to his coattails.

The Spiritual Lesson

Fighting homeschooling battles and watching my father advocate for me has changed my prayer life. Now, when I am facing more in life than I can possibly handle (which is most days), this is how I pray:

Heavenly Father, I have a situation facing me that I just don’t have the resources to handle. I don’t have the clout, I don’t have the contacts, I don’t have the money, I don’t have the ability to do what needs to be done. Just like my (earthly) father has always done for me, will you please go before me and prepare the way? Will you please “speak” to the people you know and ask them to help me? Will you please provide me with the resources I need, the insight I need, the power I need to meet this challenge or solve this problem? Lord, I will give you what I have (just like I have done with my father), but it’s not very much. I need You to be my lobbyist, my advocate, to do what I am unable to do.

And just like I have always done, I ride my Father’s coattails.

Zan Tyler is the Homeschool Resource Consultant and Homeschool Editor for LifeWay Christian Resources, on the Web at www.lifeway.com/homeschool. She and her husband Joe homeschooled for 21 years, teaching all of their children from kindergarten through high school. Zan is the author of Seven Tools for Cultivating Your Child's Potential.

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