But little by little as I started to actually learn about education, and home schooling, and all the options out there, I was becoming fond of the idea. Public schools are of poor quality. Each child has a different learning style and should not learn in a one-size-fits-all manner. The simplistic life I desired would not be attainable if I had my children in a school, to be run by someone else's schedule and lists of things to buy.
As my son got into his toddler years (18 months) I saw his capability to learn. Naturally, I had always talked to him without baby talk, I sung him the ABC's and read him books. He was taking all of this in. When I saw how he responded, I took advantage and found fun ways to get him to read and count. He could sign the alphabet and count to 100 by the time he was two and a half. By the time he was three years old, he was reading whole pages in picture story books. That is when I decided that I would definitely home school him. He thrived in the home school environment. At that time, on our family blog I wrote the following exposition:
Why We Choose to Home School
Sometimes I have questioned my ability to adequately teach my children. Recently Rob said something to me that reaffirmed what I’ve been thinking all along: I am the best choice to teach and rear my son for many reasons. He helped me realize that I am already home schooling my son by teaching him letters and numbers and colors and shapes. I see that I’m successful because W has learned some of them. It’s a work in progress. As time goes on and W becomes older he will learn more and I, too, will improve as a teacher. Line upon line, precept upon precept (much like the gospel).
I don’t know for certain but I think it’s safe to say, that only a few people read my blog on a regular basis. I appreciate that people want to read it. I love reading all of my friends’ blogs and keeping caught up on them is really fun for me. Some of my blog posts may be controversial, but I try to be sensitive because I really make a focused effort not to judge another person’s situation. With that said, I have regard for my opinions and proudly express them. This includes posting them on my blog. What does all this have to do with home schooling? In the past I have expressed my desire to home school my children to friends, family, and even random people and I have received some negative feedback about it. I know that I have told some of these people about my blog and know that they probably read it.
The last two years as a new mom, while seeing the increasing problems in our society and government, home schooling has been a frequent topic of conversation between my husband and me. I hate to think that a friend or family member will criticize me behind my back. This is why I am posting this and will refer to it in the future.
Before I begin, I highly recommend reading Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Ghatto if you are considering home schooling your children. It’s excellent!
I think most people who criticize parents who choose to home school are not fully informed on the subject. Forgive me if I offend anyone, it’s not my intention. Read on for some information you may not have considered. Before I became pregnant with my son, I too was against home schooling – very much so. I was argumentative toward my husband’s intense desire to do home schooling and refused to see his point. At that time I had only known maybe one or two families that have home schooled in my entire life, and one of them had some children who weren’t adjusted well socially (which I attributed to the lack of mainstreaming in the public school system). By the way, I later found out this family had many other issues which contributed to the children’s socialization problems. The other family actually did just fine and was well adjusted and very smart. I knew nothing about the faulty public school system, indoctrination, "dumbing down", or other issues that I understand now that I have educated myself. At the time, I refused to hear it.
Once I became a mom, I started thinking about my children’s education and what I want them to learn, and how I want them to learn. I also thought about what I DON’T want them to be taught. I reflected back on my very own public school education and how much I had to learn on my own. The public school system really didn’t help me. I was never motivated or encouraged. The only time I really learned something valuable and had something stick with me was when my own mother took the time to teach it to me and help me get a better grade. Please do not conclude that I am discrediting public school teachers. I am not trying to be disrespectful of them. I actually feel sorry for most public school teachers, because they have so much restriction put on them by the government and administration, and too many kids to teach. For the public school teachers that succeed in doing something so tremendous, they are truly angels.
Let’s address the main objection to home schooling and get it out of the way. That is socialization through interaction with other children in public schools. Let me tell you. I am seriously sick of this argument. I can’t even begin to describe how annoyed I am by this. It should not even be an issue. Do we seriously send our kids to school to be "socialized", or do we send them there to learn? When we drop them off at school, do we imagine them talking to other students and playing with toys, or listening attentively to their teacher? The only socializing a student should get at school is at recess, which is maybe an hour and a half total out of the day, plus lunch time. And when they hit middle school and then high school, there is no recess there. In my opinion a home schooled child will ultimately get more opportunities to socialize than a public schooled child. If a home schooling parent does an efficient job, the work is done in half the time, leaving plenty of time for activities and "socialization". A home schooled child of mine will have siblings, and church, and neighborhood friends, and other activities such as sports or arts which they will have more opportunity to do not being public schooled. There are home school groups in which families will get together to do field trips or other activities. This should be the end of this issue and I hope it is no longer an argument for those who once used it.
The real benefits of Home Schooling I would like to address are:
- Parental choice of values being taught.
- Focusing teaching techniques to each child’s individual learning styles, needs, and levels.
- Keeping the liberal agenda out of my home
- Having control over schedule.
Point number 1: Parental choice of values being taught. I realize that we can still teach our children values while they are attending private or public school. It is important to remember that the school system has influence over them as well as the parent. When opposing values are taught, the child is confused, and the parent often has to "un-teach" their children. Exposing my children to the values of other children in a public school system puts my child into a position of running into other children who I have never met, (or have met their parents), who may say or do something a child inappropriately learned in their home. I don’t know about you, but I personally do not want my child to even consider that some things taught in public schools are okay. I will teach my child things, do not assume that I will keep him in a bubble and have him never know about the world, this is not my intention.
- Making learning for my children FUN!
Point number 2: Focusing teaching techniques to each child’s individual learning styles, needs, and levels. As time goes on the children in our schools are not being taught at the appropriate aptitude level. The curriculum for the main group of children is aimed at the lowest common denominator (least smart child) so as to not leave any child behind in school. What this does is cause those children who have so much more potential to either get very bored, thus end up not learning much, or never learning to their potential. Every child learns in different ways and at different levels. You can not accomplish the most ideal, acceptable, and proper outcome with this "one size fits all" teaching style. The United States ranks fifteenth among other nations around the world for test scores among high school graduating students. How sad is that, when we are supposed to be the leader of the world? Additionally, some children learn through music, some through stories, some through art, hands on, and other types of learning activities. A home schooling environment allows for a tailored teaching experience resulting in a higher academic performance.
Point 3: Keeping the liberal agenda out of my home. The liberal agenda is increasingly saturating the public and private school system. I am not in favor of that. Children are being taught things without the permission of the parents, and they go on to say that we don’t have the right to be notified or sign off on curriculum. For example, one is evolution. Personally I believe this is a theory, but the schools are teaching it to our children as FACT. This theory completely takes out the reality of a God and supreme creator as taught through the Bible. The liberals took prayer and God out of school and are teaching children their own theories as fact. In my opinion, this is not right, because you can’t claim to be tolerant and teach one theory and not the other (creationism). I don’t want to have my child believing we came from monkeys. I will have him believe that Heavenly Father created him and everyone else. The newest controversy being taught to our children in public schools (not yet here in Utah, though), is gay marriage. While it isn’t even LEGAL in 47 states, on the east coast, it is being taught in classrooms as an acceptable and normal way of life, completely disregarding traditional family and confusing a child’s ability to recognize their own identity and the identity roles of their own parents. Please keep in mind I have mentioned only TWO things, when there is so much more damaging indoctrination in public schools across the country, like being required to read books that discuss premarital sex and immorality across the board as being acceptable, and so much more.
Point 4: Having control over schedule. This is more than just a perk. Having a discipline with your child of study and play is critical. Not just a perk – family order and organization. I believe there are so many more opportunities to strengthen a family when you can easily formulate your schedule and not have to deal with calling teachers and getting homework or waiting until summer to go on a vacation. On those occasions when a family emergency were to arrive, like the death of a loved one, or a medical situation, flexibility is part of family organization too and that includes home schooling.
Point 5: Making learning FUN! There is a reason that most children "hate school". Because it’s too hard to make school fun, when you’ve got 25 or more students in one room and they don’t really have a say in how they learn the best. A mom and dad know their kids the best and what they love to do and what they like, so they are the best choice for making learning fun. When learning is fun, it’s easier to learn, and easier to remember. When doing a science project, who is a better partner than Mom, or Sister, or Brother or even DAD? I hated when I was in school and "assigned" to someone I barely knew to work with on a project, or being forced to pick someone when no one wanted to be my partner. I truly HATED that and didn’t learn anything. I hated school until I was in high school, because it was boring and people were mean to me. This unavoidable way of doing things in public school can be traumatizing to a child, and very hard to get over.
I have done some research – talked to people who have been home schooled as children and told me they loved it! They are normal and well adjusted people and have great lives and are good citizens. I have also come to know children in my neighborhood that are home schooled and there is nothing wrong with them and they come from a very good family. I have taught these children in primary at church and they are generally better educated. (Notice that I do not use the word "smarter" because I think all these children are capable of being very smart, they just don’t know as much because they just aren’t taught). Home Schooling is becoming a popular trend. I hope someday that public school will be done away with completely. I doubt that will happen, and I also hate to see a whole industry of work go away, but I just think it would be so awesome if every one home schooled.
Public school has only been around for about 100 years. Why should the government be the ones teaching our children? Does that make ANY sense to you? In the old days children were always home schooled, taught by their own parents. For example, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson… you know, back when people were truly SMART, and spoke like it. Even when people were thought to be dumb, they were still smarter than the average student today. Since education has become publicly mandated and administered, quality education has become increasingly difficult to find. As a mother who takes her role in society seriously, I want my children to think like a founding father. I believe the only way to truly accomplish that is by home schooling.
Please do not think that I believe parents who send their kids to public school are making an awful choice. I do not think that. I realize that every family has a different and unique situation. I know plenty of public schooled children who have their education supplemented. And I do not think these parents care less about their children. It may even be that someday I will have to send one of my children to public school, I can not predict the future and every child is different. I just wanted my side to be heard before I hear more about making a bad decision to home school by people who do not know all the facts or consider all circumstances. If you are not convinced please do some research of your own on the internet. It is difficult to cover all the benefits and all the statistics regarding home schooling and home schooled children in one blog entry.
We are taking the leap into the brave world and American sub-culture of homeschoolers this month. W is not officially Kindergarten age until next school year, and Utah law does not require an affidavit to opt out of public school from us at this time. But we feel we would be wasting his abilities if we waited. I have begun to read The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer (we have chosen the Classical style of education), and the curriculum has been ordered, awaiting arrival.
Another tidbit of honesty: I feel I have no idea what I am doing. I'm sure all the homeschooling haters love hearing a homeschooler say such a thing, and I'm sure they would retort, "Then put your kids in a real school!" Well I will say this; I have never embarked on anything in my life having known what I was doing in the beginning. Marriage, raising my children, being a homemaker (quitting my job), cloth diapering, making my own baby food, etc. I consider myself a good learner. Though not quite an expert at those things, I do think I do a pretty darn good job. So I give myself credit. I give my husband credit. When anything in life is ventured on, the start of it is always an experiment. That is why I am happy we get a couple of years extra head-start with W. We can do it, and even though I am scared and a bit shaken over it, we will not fail because I don't give up on much.
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