Response

Response:

We have waited about a week, very intentionally, before posting.  We did so because the Bible says: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…”  We know a lot of people wondered if we dropped off the radar these past few days, and we haven’t.  We have been exercising patience and prayer.  We’ve also been incredibly busy trying to catch up on emails! 

We love the homeschool community so much, and because of our love of homeschool we wanted to elevate it and elevate parents… holding everyone to a higher standard to make sure that we aren’t teaching our children wrong things.  We will all get things wrong—ourselves included—and we wanted to challenge the people that create curricula as a whole, and the parents that teach it in their homes, to make sure our children are learning from accurately sourced material.  It was not our intent to harm anyone with the recent podcast; it was truly our intent to talk about our industry as a whole, challenging parents and encouraging them overall.  We have seen the statements put out by another curriculum, and we disagree with those statements. 

We stand by the purpose and the message of our original podcast, though it may have been interpreted in a way we didn’t intend by some others.  And though we disagree with the statements put out from another curriculum, we have decided not to respond or explain those reasons, except in private communication with them.  We also trust that parents will do their due diligence and continue to check statements that are made to them, while evaluating their sources, as many already do.  To explain our own disagreements would be to continue this situation, which is not our desire.  We have taken the podcast down to represent that we are dedicated to ending all further hurt, on any side, and to prevent any continued strife or drama.  We have attached a small write up that explains our feelings, as well as clarifies a couple comments from others that have been made.  The other company already messaged us, and we have also sent a message to them.  This is intended to be our final stance on the matter, as we wish for the other company who made a statement to move on in peace, allow us to move on in peace, and allow all of our customers and the homeschool community to move on in peace.  We need to all set this down and focus on God and our families —both of which deserve our time much more than strife. 

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

– Romans 12:18

A COUPLE ANSWERS:

1. Some people have perpetuated the narrative that the other curriculum copied Campfire or that Campfire copied the other curriculum (because of similar graphics).  Neither is true.  Both companies have gotten many of their graphics from the same place, and the “styles” are “in.”   It would be like two friends shopping at Hobby Lobby and decorating their homes.  Each will be unique, but may have some similarities.  Please see the images referenced below.

2. The other curriculum who made a statement is not, never has been, and never will be our direct competition.  Anyone who is saying this has likely never used Campfire before.  Anyone who knows anything about our business knows that we intentionally encourage our customers to pair up our curriculum with their other favorites as much as they would like.  In fact, we create our units specifically with the intention of allowing them to do just that. We actually design them with that option in mind.  Yes, we have many who use Campfire as a standalone… but we have just as many (if not more) who use it together with their other curricula that they use for core.  We have units with a lot of history in them, and we love history—and we always have had units with history in them…. but it is an entirely different approach and purpose.  Our approach is all about incorporating job shadowing, skills shadowing, and life experiences.  Campfire will never do a chronological history.  That’s just not Campfire.  On our Facebook group page—since day one—we have always encouraged joining curriculum together, even with the other company.  We have some overlap in holidays and stuff for littles (which is normal for many other curricula out there), but it’s just so different.  Other customers do use our Core Connections and therefore use Campfire as a standalone, as well, but again… just as many or more do it the other way, so we have never viewed any other curriculum as a competitor as it would not make sense.  We have no preference, and have never had a preference, of how you use it.  We continue to hold the same stance as always, and we welcome positive conversation of ANY other curriculum you use along with Campfire on our group page.  This is about homeschoolers and their journey, and how they mix and match to fit their family.  We will not adjust that.

3. We were right to feel upset by any chance of inaccurate American history, as Americans, and as individuals who long for truth.  It’s not a matter of anyone sinning against us.  No one sinned against us.  It’s merely an objective expression of what we are passionate about and want to help parents with.

4. We had some individuals believe we were laughing at another curriculum in the podcast, perhaps because they missed the words that flashed on the screen.  We were laughing with each other at getting words mixed up, and it made us giggle.  We have this in many of our podcasts, as it is a reflection of “us,” and was misinterpreted by some to be that we were laughing at another curriculum, which we were not.  At one other point, one of us sighed/laughed in exasperation because a page we were reading stated the importance of checking sources.  I explained immediately that I was not meaning to laugh, but was trying not to do the alternative of “getting upset,” which I did not want.  We are so sorry if this led to any negative feelings for anyone, as that was not our intent.

5. In response to the podcast, we had someone write into us and ask us a question while pointing out an error in our curriculum.  They said, “As we were looking through the free Military sample, we noticed in the Faith Talk on page 31, that you reference Joshua 6:2 and what is actually quoted is Joshua 6:2-5….” They proceeded to ask how this was different than being concerned about things being taught or sourced incorrectly.

It made us think of a response that I will paraphrase below, in hopes that it will help share our heart:

If you had some friends who were doing a Bible study, but you found out the Bible study book they were using was referencing a faulty translation of the Bible, you would want them to reference the Bible verses from their own Bible, to check it.  You would want to show them the seriousness of using the wrong source (and how errors can happen as a result).  They can keep doing the study… but check the source to make sure they’re not misled. 

The alternative (just calling someone out for not being perfect) would be like griping about the Bible study book because it had a typo or accidentally wrote “Ephesians” and meant “Galatians.”  That’s more like stirring up strife and being judgmental. 

Now obviously, curriculum and history are not the Bible and not even on the same level, in any way.  We were merely asked to provide an answer in the context of a Bible analogy to the customer who emailed in, so we did so and thought it might help any others with similar questions.

People have asked us how we determine exactly what is a good source, especially since every curriculum and textbook does it differently (and some don’t even SEEM to have sources)… and especially because of the potential for bias.  We spent a lot of time in the podcast addressing this very issue.  Since the podcast is now down, we will answer these questions again to help parents in the future, but just not today… [Edited to add: we had so many write in requesting this, so we hurried to get it done.  That can now be found here]

I hope this helps!  We are now going to encourage all to set this down and be gracious with one another.  For this purpose, we will also shut off commenting on Facebook.  We want this to be here for a reference for anyone who is interested, but we do feel that leaving commenting open may only encourage more disagreement among the body of Christ, which we do not want.

Be blessed!