Mary Pride (born ) is an American author and magazine producer on

homeschooling Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

topics. She is best known for her homeschooling works, but has also written on women’s roles, computer technology in education, parental rights, and

new age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

thought from a conservative

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

perspective. For her role in authoring guides for the homeschooling movement, Pride has been described as "the queen of the home school movement" and as a "homeschooling guru". Stemming from her first book, ''The Way Home'', she is also considered an activist in the Christian

Quiverfull Quiverfull is a Christian theological position that sees large families as a blessing from God. It encourages procreation, abstaining from all forms of birth control, as well as natural family planning, and Human sterilization (surgical procedure) ...

movement.

Early life

Pride was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, in 1955. She graduated from high school at age 15, after which she entered

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

where she earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1974, and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in computer systems engineering a year later. She married her husband Bill around this time and both soon converted to

Evangelical Christianity Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

. Pride had formerly considered herself a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. Before the first of Pride’s nine children were born, she had decided to homeschool them. The lack of homeschooling guides she encountered prompted her to begin writing her own.

Influence

According to Kathryn Joyce, Pride's 1985 book ''The Way Home'' "did much to recreate the homeschooling movement along patriarchal and militantly fertile lines."

Books and views

On women's roles and contraception

In Pride's first book, ''The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality'', she chronicled her journey away from what she argued were

and anti-natal ideas of

happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

, within which she had lived as an

before her

conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

to conservative evangelical Christianity in 1977. She described her discovery of happiness surrounding what she felt was the Biblically mandated role of wives and mothers as bearers of children and workers in the home under the

authority In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''The N ...

of a

husband A husband is a male in a marital relationship, who may also be referred to as a spouse. The rights and obligations of a husband regarding his spouse and others, and his status in the community and in law, vary between societies and cultures, ...

. Pride argued that such a lifestyle was Biblically required of married Christian women but that most had been unknowingly duped by feminism. She meanwhile countered in the book various versions of Christian feminism. As the basis for her arguments, Pride selected numerous Bible verses from which to lay out what she felt was the Biblical role of women. These included verses she saw as containing her ideas of the importance of childbearing and forswearing any form of

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

. Pride argued that the mindset that led to use of family planning was a root cause for inadequate influence in the world by the Christian religion. She explained that she believed Christian couples should not attempt to limit the number of children they have or to space them out in any way, writing that God would then take over the family planning:

There ''is'' an alternative to scheming and plotting how many babies to have and when to have them. It can be summed up in three little words: trust and obey. If God is willing to plan my family for me (and we Christians all do believe that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives), then why should I muddle up his plan with my ideas? Only God knows the future. Only he knows how much money we will have next year, or when I will reach menopause, or when his Kingdom will desperately need the unique talents of my yet-to-be-conceived son or daughter. Why not leave the driving up to him?

Pride's rejection of every method of family planning in ''The Way Home'' was soon noticed by prominent members of the

Couple to Couple League The Couple to Couple League is an international non-profit organization based in Cincinnati, Ohio, dedicated to teaching and promoting Natural family planning, Natural Family Planning. Specifically, CCL promotes the sympto-thermal method of fertili ...

, a Catholic

natural family planning Natural family planning (NFP) comprises the family planning methods approved by the Catholic Church and some Protestant denominations for both achieving and postponing or avoiding pregnancy. In accordance with the Church's teachings regarding s ...

(NFP) movement. John and Sheila Kippley in their ''The Art of Natural Family Planning'' describes how representatives of the organization contacted Pride to express concerns over her position. In 1989, Pride in her ''HELP for Growing Families'' periodical published portions of the correspondence between the Kippleys' and herself, during which Pride accepted NFP use only for couples who wished to remain healthy until they were ready to use no fertility control at all. Sheila Kippley credits the correspondence as the reason why Pride accepted NFP in such circumstances in her sequel, ''All the Way Home''.

On child abuse and children's rights

In chapter 7 (called "Who Owns Our Kids?") of ''The Way Home'', Pride wrote that there is never biblical justification for removing a child from the home, even in cases of abuse. She claimed that the true goal of the children's rights movement was actually to undermine parental rights, not to protect children, and she used the example of Sweden to suggest that outlawing spanking might result in high rates of suicide among young people. She also claimed that " y attempt to control a child at all, from spanking to sending him to Christian school to sending him to his room, is grounds for the state screaming 'Abuse!' and stepping in to take him away. In places where the children's rights people are active, parents have been convicted for ridiculous things like forbidding their children to attend movies." Sources were not provided for any of these claims.

Criticism

Mitchell Stevens, a Hamilton College sociologist, has criticized Pride for exhibiting feminist values in her lifestyle much more than in what she espouses. Similarly,

Frank Schaeffer Frank Schaeffer (born August 3, 1952) is an American author, film director, screenwriter, and public speaker. He is the son of theologian and author Francis Schaeffer. He became a Hollywood film director and author, writing several internation ...

, who was the agent for Pride's book ''The Way Home'', wrote in 2015 that " e irony was that Pride preached a dogmatic, stay-at-home, follow-your-man philosophy for other women while turning her lucrative home-schooling empire into a one-woman industry."

Publications

Books

*The Way Home (Crossway Books, 1985) *The Big Book of Home Learning (Crossway Books, 1986) *The Next Book of Home Learning (Crossway Books, 1987) *The New Big Book of Home Learning (Crossway Books, 1988) *All the Way Home (Crossway Books, 1989) *The Child Abuse Industry (Crossway Books, 1986) *Schoolproof (Crossway Books, 1988); (Blackstone Audio Books, 2002) *Unholy Sacrifices of the New Age and Ancient Empires of the New Age (Crossway Books, 1988, 1989 both with Paul deParrie) *The “Old Wise Tales” series (Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1990): Too Many Chickens, The Greenie, The Better Butter Battle, Baby Doe *The Big Book of Home Learning 4 volumes: Getting Started, Preschool & Elementary, Teen & Adult, Afterschooling (Crossway Books, 1991) *Pride’s Guide to Educational Software with husband Bill Pride (Crossway, 1997) *The Big Book of Home Learning 3 volumes: Getting Started, Preschool & Elementary, Junior High Through College ( Alpha Omega Publications, 1999) *Mary Pride’s Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling (Harvest House, 2004)

Periodicals

*HELP For Growing Families *Practical Homeschooling *Big Happy Family *Homeschool PC

References

External links

Homeschool WorldPractical Homeschooling Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pride, Mary 1955 births Living people Writers from New York City American evangelicals Converts to Christianity Anti-contraception activists Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Homeschooling advocates 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Female critics of feminism