The miseducation of Sam Harris

I knew the time would come when the things being taught to my children would either irritate me or flat out offend me, but I didn't expect it so soon.
We put Sam in a Christian preschool for a reason, and right now I'm missing the security of it. I'm trying to keep an eye out and obviously teaching him what WE believe, but I hope I'm catching everything!
I ordered him some books from Usborne, a company I thought was Christian, because we have a beautiful book by them about the Christmas story. This collection was a set of four "Encyclopedias" of things like sea animals, dinosaurs, space, etc. Pretty cool educational stuff that was presented in a fun way for a kid Sam's age. He was especially excited about the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. As I was flipping through it, low and behold, towards the end it clearly states that apes walked the earth and one day stood up on two legs and became people. !!!!! How many times do we need to explain the definition of "theory?" How can you present this as fact when it is merely THEORY and cannot be proven? How dare you try and fill my son's mind with only one idea and refuse any others to be considered. What kind of education is this? And meanwhile, every time we read this book, I will either have to skip that page or explain what WE believe. I'm glad of the opportunity to teach my son critical thinking.
Then last week his school sent home some pages of "Women Making History" that they've been studying and he's supposed to be quizzed on at the end of the year. I'm flipping through the pages and I'm like "huh?" Elizabeth Taylor? Renee Zellweger? Every female politician is a democrat? There is one black woman whom I've never heard of before and lived so long ago her only image is on a wood carving. And one Mexican woman, who happens to be Frida Kahlo and I can't help but think I don't want my son knowing her life story. Where's Rosa Parks? Condoleeza Rice? Where's Sandra Day O'Connor or the woman who invented the bullet proof vest? When did Renee Zellweger make history? Another too thin actress who can't get her life together. Elizabeth Taylor! Did she make history by having the most husbands?!
As I went through them with Sam I was shocked at how much information he had retained from school about these women. He knew all the Elizabeths (which was cute) and what they did. He was learning about these women, but were they really worth the valuable space in his head?
There's an opportunity to serve on the PTO board and I've been really tempted to volunteer, but ultimately I know I can't handle the work load right now. You better believe I will be on my children's school board at some point, though!
I know it will only get worse. I pray I can keep an open conversation going with all my kids so we can discuss what they're seeing out in the world and teach them what the Bible says about it. And even if we paid for Christian education, there's no safe bet they'd be teaching our children what we believe, either. Stay vigilant, parents! If we don't teach our children, someone else will.