Boom! This post is volatile. That means that you the reader may disagree with it. In its entirety or in part. You might find yourself really, really upset at me, my wife, my former-dog and most-likely George Bush [pick one]. Please read it with this in mind because otherwise you might not knowingly get upset and then find yourself upset in the middle without being warned that you’d be upset. At least if I warn you I still come across as a somewhat nice guy that you’re still ticked at. Enjoy:
Recently Jessica got some ‘positive’ feedback about our homeschooling Abby. And by positive I mean silence is golden. Or maybe I mean that someone couldn’t say anything nice so they said nothing at all. While this is proper social etiquette and I can appreciate that, I am not a fan of the position that home schooling is wrong for several incredibly logical reasons. I will attempt to outline them here and you can agree or disagree (and please feel free to do so in the comments, I love a good bit of reading on my blog that isn’t from me). Before I dig in I want to clearly state my position: I don’t think everyone should home school there child. I also don’t begrudge my parents for not home schooling me my whole life. I think that each parent is responsible for the upbringing of their child and this may or may not involve a combination of many things. Some boys are in boy scouts, some are in awanas, some are in detention centers and some are in front of televisions. Your choices as parents affect your children whether its taking them to Sunday School, beating them, sexually abusing them, or just not having enough time with them. Don’t pass this decision off on the government, work, or any other possible entity. The choice for you to educate your child inside and outside of the home is yours. There. I think that’s my position.
Reason Number One That Home Schooling is OK
First let me state that you don’t know everything. You probably knew that. You also know that I don’t know everything. Therefore, when we get into the topic of learning and education its important to realize that mistakes have been made, and unless humans get suddenly more like God, will continue to be made. Owning up to those mistakes is critical. My own parents’ ability to do so really helped me learn about becoming an adult. The first reason that home schooling is OK is that each child is going to learn a different way and sitting in a class for hours at a time was not my preferred way of learning. Hands on training and education worked a lot better than hours in a hard seat listening to someone talk about the theoretical. Jessica on the other hand has a tendency to learn from reading and then doing. She can listen to people, but her mind is sharp (yes, that’s part of why I married her, I admit that her mind and body were both attractive to me) and she can read and do quickly. I prefer apprenticeship in some ways because of the relationship that is involved.
Since your child may need the apprenticeship model of learning, homeschooling affords you that opportunity. You can spend the time with your child as is needed. However, if your child is a reader and learns from reading they can do that as well. In a public school it is very difficult for a teacher to be able to handle those (and other) situations when multiplied by thirty or more.
Reason Number Two
You are still responsible for your childrens education. My parents spent a lot of time teaching me things that my teachers did not. My dad taught me about gambling and compulsion and greed by helping me set up a lottery in my fourth grade class. The teacher ended up shutting my lottery down because she suddenly found that I had all of the ‘points’ [money] and my co-students were eager to give it to me because they had a chance of winning half of the money in one pot. There is no way my teacher could have provided that life experience (though she did provide the forum for the lottery). My mom taught me about spelling (though it is probably hard to believe when reading this blog) and about some more artistic things. Sure, those are things I could have learned at school, but they were things that were not gone over in the classes that I took. My mom required me to look up words when I could not spell them instead of just asking her and having her dictate the letters to me. Mom also taught me about Scrabble, which to this day has been a problem for me in relating with my father-in-law – he still thinks he’s better at it than me 😉 Scrabble taught me about problem solving… something that I never learned much about at school.
In short, no matter what your child learns at school, they still have things to learn from you. If the class is at a public facility funded by your tax dollars, great! If your child learns it at home, funded by your family income, great! Learning is critical and you need to be teaching your child.
Third Reason
I hate to be political but Mr. President [George W. Bush] signed into law the “No Child Left Behind” act. Which should be known as the “Your child will be left on his/her behind” act. This act basically says that each child should know the exact same thing. Sure, that sounds nice, but is completely impractical. In my own life I was behind in mathematics for years. I had a hard time grasping some of the concepts. Other students should not have to pay for my slowness. No child left behind means that I am purposefully sending my intelligent daughter into a public school where every subject is led by the slowest student in the class. Abby is guaranteed to be frustrated because she’s got kids who have ADD sitting next to her holding her back. I don’t hate the ADD kid, but I also recognize that my child, who probably has her own form of ADD or some other learning disability doesn’t need special attention in area X. However, I don’t want her holding back the ADD kid at some other subject that really piques his/her interest!
If you send your children to a public school then you probably have already started to see these things in action. If not, get ready, it will be visible at some point in time.
Reason Four
Logical Proposition: Person X had poor social skills, they were home schooled, therefore all home schooled children will tuck their shirt into their pee stained underpants and look like a moron. False! Social opportunities are around your child every day of the week. Whether you as a parent let your child participate is your choice. Abigail, for example, is involved in Sunday School and ‘Switched Up Sports’ as well as ballet. Three social activities along side getting together with other people throughout the week. Her being social is part of her character and personality. Some people object to home schooling because they say that someone they know was home schooled and socially awkward. That is a broad and unfair generalization. If you used that logic in other areas of your life you’d see it is flawed. If you know one co-worker who likes 80’s music who was not born in the 80’s does that mean that all co-workers not born in the 80’s like 80’s rock? Heck, no!
Conclusion
In conclusing I have no condemnation for parents who send their children to public school. You will get the benefit of the teachers there teaching your children what they are able to teach them. Don’t home school your child if you don’t feel comfortable with it. However, don’t look down on myself and my bride for choosing this for our children. It could be that we enroll Abby in public school later on because it is obvious that is what is best for her based on various indicators. We’re not school nazi’s, we’re just parents attempting to do the best we can with what we have. And at this point in time, that involves video podcasts, reading lessons, ballet, sports, Sunday School and a steady diet of intellectually challenging things.
See? Wasn’t that [typo for my mom]infurioriating[/typo for my mom]?
