Life can be ironic in the way it changes us. Our tiny moments become the pathway to our biggest experiences. Experience is a form that takes shape in who we become. I experience love and compassion, I then desire to share that love and compassion. I experience a hardship, I then learn from that hardship a lesson or recieve a scar. Lesson or scar still shape me.
If anyone had asked my opinion on homeschooling a couple years ago I would have said that I did not believe it was a good idea. I would have asked where else would a child get the social experience of learning and problem solving with peers? I would have wondered what makes a parent think they could know better about education than a teacher who is trained and educated for that very purpose. Inwardly I would have thought but never said aloud how homeschooled kids are just plain weird. The notion that homeschooled children are awkward in social situations and have a poorer education because for another underlying reason they couldn't attend regular school is something I grew up thinking. Most of those kids from the generation I am referring were homeschooled for religious reasons, and yet I always thought that idea was odd since I was and have always been a Christian.
The fact is homeschooling has changed. The public school system has changed. I have changed.
We no longer live in the Industrial Age. Our world is now in a technological age full of ideas, creativity, and change. Any information we desire to know is at our fingertips in seconds. We are connected to each other in ways that hardly anyone could have imagined twenty years ago. Our voices and opinions are loud and can easily be heard through social media and other platforms. Sure, there is of course a downside to all this technology especially when we bring schooling into the topic, but rather lets venture into the upside. Our children are computer savvy. Soon we could very well live in a world where hard copies of books are scarce. The ease of having mutilple books on my iPad is obvious as well as the potential for educational advance through online programs or through apps. It is the way our future is taking shape. What does this have to do with the change in public school or the rise and changing opinion of homeschooling? It changes the way we access information. It opens the door for parents to use that information just as a teacher. The notion that homeschooled kids aren't as smart or are behind acdemically as a public educated kid is just no longer true. Parents have a whole new world of school curriculum, information, and options to sort through. In fact there is so much it is overwhelming.
The freedom of education in the traditional school setting has been steadily changing. Common core is the new cure all answer to a national call for higher education. It is our governments way of nationalizing the school system meaning if a child moves across the country that child will be held to same standards in whichever state because common core (in theory) is the way to cut across the board to make sure each child is being educated. It doesn't sound bad and honestly I don't think it is the evil many make the curriculum out to be. I am however opposed to government control and I believe the states should govern their education. I can't support a nationalized education system especially when those standards come with standardized testing that is directly linked to funding. Money is always the noose that holds sway and I hate that our public schools have that hanging over them. Our good teachers are evaluated in absurd ways which put their jobs on the line and add stress the teaching environment. No longer can a teacher be a teacher of free will and advocate for their students on an individual level or for their class as a whole. Now we gear up and stress over a standardized test for weeks and for what? Funding. One might say it is for us to see where our children size up next to other schools or states, and yes the data is used for that, but a good portion goes to funding. It all ends in money. And, I cannot stand the thought of my children being standardized testing projects or a head in the count for funding.
This is one huge thing that yes probably isn't damaging to my kids. Mine don't have any special needs or learning disabilities. I don't have any worries about them succeeding. But I am wondering about what kind of environment I would like them to succeed in.
Thus far in their life my kids are pretty social meaning they display appropriate behavior in a social setting and can speak to adults and kids alike. I think there is a big misunderstanding between the questions of how a homeschooler gets social practice and how a homeschooler socializes among his peers. Both are different topics and both are needed.
When my oldest started kindergarten, he was more shy at the beginning of the school year. My husband and I decided to put him in karate which we believe did more to alleviate the shyness than being in a school setting. I do not contribute that particular growth to public school. In karate he had to raise his voice and communicate with others in respectful way that is expected among those taking karate. It took him out of his comfort zone in a wholly different way. Now, I will not be so stubborn as to say that his kindergarten class didn't help him thrive socially (meaning in behavior and ettiquette). I believe karate served as a major enhancer for a child who was not incapable from the beginning to thrive in that kind of environment. Meaning he would have been fine with or without karate; my point however, is socially there was another outlet that provided a source of growth. Social growth is something I now believe can happen not only at school, but in the real world on a daily basis.
Social interaction or being social among peers is the meat among the potatoes I am currently picking at when I think about homeschool.
My kids enjoy being around their friends, what kid doesn't? Grade school is this unique environment where every year there is a new class of about 20 classmates pulled together. It is random and the enrichment of diversity is a great way for kids to be introduced to others unlike themselves. This is also where life gets tricky. We raise our children with morals and we expect a certain standard to be maintained within our homes so when they go out into the world, they will carry with them a core moral and value system. A system in which we as parents hope they'll use when faced with peer pressure or differences of opinion.
If I thought my middle school peer group were mean or my high school peer group were highly immoral, I am 110% sure that the environment of my kid's middle and high schools have spiraled just as drastically over the past 10 years as it changed from when my parents were in grade school. And here is the irony of my opinion that stands for and against homeschooling in terms of leaning to be social among peers. Some say I want to shelter my kids from the public school peers due to decaying morals and peer pressure that is and has always been ever present. Those who homeschool for this reason have always baffled me. My opinion is that I cannot change the environment of the schools- the world is decaying. But I cannot shelter my kids from that either because it is impossible to escape the world no matter if they are at home or public school, so why try? Yes, I can make my home a shelter from that world, but my kids will go out in that world whether they learn to do so earlier or later. I can understand wanting to protect your kids. I want to protect mine, but I also want them to have experiences. I want them to stand on a firm foundation against the world. Where else can they test their moral and value system about peer pressure, of consequences and of good choices? I was reading an article about this very topic when a thought crossed my mind and it has been ever present since. "Yes, it is important for kids to grow socially among their peers, but what kind of environment are those peers in? What kind of environment would I choose for myself?" I learned lessons the hard way in middle and high school. The hard way with little to no parental guidance by the way of discussing moral matters or peer pressure in detail. I didn't talk much to my parents about those matters or the details of my day- not because I couldn't, but because I wasn't comfortable or it didn't occur to me to include them. I don't want that for my kids. I want our home to be a shelter and I want them to see myself and their Dad as an ever present source for them to talk. Someone asks, "if you could choose the best environment for yours kids, would you?" Of course, I would want to choose the best, but what is the best?
I have learned what I value in life. One of those values is time spent well with my family. Moments pass quickly and they are precious. It is not only those moments but what we experience in those moments. And not only the experiences we gain, but what we take and share from them.
Homeschool is a good decision. Public school is a good decision. What is the best decision for us?
This has been a generalized idea of my personal opinions and thoughts. So, here is a general summary of pros/cons (I plan to splatter and ramble with a less generalized post later) :
•Homeschooling will be expensive, but I will be with my kids for longer than a few hours at the end of each day.
•Social behavior is something I am not worried about as that seems to come naturally for each of kids and can be improved upon in many ways.
•Social interaction can come by maintaining church friendships, cultivating new ones through extra curricular activities, or enrichment groups.
•Our public school day runs late. Homeschool would mean they could experience extra cirricular activities during the day- not only in the evening hours. (Did I mention how homeschool would be more expensive? Here is one reason why, but is that such a bad thing?)
•They can be free to achieve with no grade limits academically. How much further can an individual go if he is not limited by the learning ability of a whole class? Flip the coin the other way and one can say how much more help can I offer a struggling individual who quite possibly gets overlooked among a class?
•Vacations and field trip become an option at any point in the year. No more attendance issues is always a plus.
* My main concern is in my ability and my resolve to be able to give my kids everything they would need. I will leave those juicy details for another post.
•Public schooling relieves the stress or building concerns that I can find in my abilities as a home educator.
•Public school gives my kids a dangerous yet continual social interaction leaning environment. They will find themselves tested spitirtualy probably more than at any other place of learning. This can be both good and both- both constructive and frightfully deconstructive.
•Less expensive
•We can still fit in extra curricular activities except we need to be aware of our time and spend it correctly throughout the week. There is family time, home work, dinner, chores, and extra curricular? I suppose that is what Saturday is for?
The only thing I know for sure is that I am not against public school and I'm not not against homeschool. I wish the Lord would cut a clear path, but each time I pray- I find myself thinking that both are good options. Find the one best for our family.
If there is anyone who has read this far, I can only say stay tuned for more rambling posts because I have many more thoughts and I don't have an answer yet.
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