Last Saturday I had a very important conversation with Sarah. We have decided that when we start our family, we will homeschool our children. Sarah was homeschooled and is extremely well-read and intelligent. I am a product of an excellent public school district in Texas and a son of a public school teacher in that district.
The decision was not without some compromises, and I emphasized that I want to leave the door open for any or all of our children to enter the public school system at certain points, particularly when they enter high school.
Unlike many Christian homeschooling families, we aren't choosing homeschooling for religious reasons. From my point of view, it is more about quality of education. Yes, Hurst-Euless-Bedford provides a wonderful education for free. However, we will also be providing a wonderful education. I happen to be the best math teacher I know, actually. (I'm slowly bringing Sarah around to my viewpoint that it's important for the kids to get more math than she did.) This choice will allow our children to maintain closer contact with their parents, something we both prize highly.
I'd like to solicit opinions. I hear a lot of geeks discount formal education at the college level, and I often hear them complain about the feeling that public school pressed them into a mold, stifled individuality, interfered with true learning, and many of the other arguments I've heard (numerous times now) from the various homeschooling websites. Anyone out there wish they were homeschooled? Anyone out there actually homeschooled?
Coming from a public school background, I'd like to hear if anyone has a word to say in support of school. The school system gets routinely trashed in public discourse, and I've been sick of it for years. While I'm sure there's plenty of problems, my parents raised me in an excellent district that provides a top-notch education. One of the things that has hampered our discussion on this issue has been the fact that while all the homeschoolers tend to have lots of rationale and justification out on the internet, there is no similar information available on the public school side to convince a family not to homeschool. It seems people just don't feel the need to justify a compulsory government monopoly. ;)
Here's an article some of you might be interested in about America before and after compulsory education. Something you might not be aware of is that America had staggeringly high literacy rates before compulsory education. Yes, homeschooling appeals to my libertarian nature. ;)
While I advocated public school for our children, I also believe homeschooling is an excellent choice (shoot, being an involved parent is the main excellent choice, no matter what kind of formal education the kids get), and I am happy with our choice. I'm looking forward to the things I believe I can teach more uniquely and personally for our children than the impersonal school system: reading, mathematics (Sarah cringes when I talk about teaching them Calculus ;) ), programming, music. If Sarah is any indication, homeschooling works, and it works well.
Homeschooling one's children is a risky business at best. It's a very popular option here in Oregon and I know quite a few people who are homeschooled. One of them was giving a speech in college about how wonderful homeschooling was and how the stereotype that homeschoolers are not well socialized is rubbish. He pointed to himself as proof. In the question and answer period after the speech, no one touched on this topic because this individual was so inept socially that we were embarrassed for him. I am convinced that anyone in that class who was considering homeschooling abandoned the notion after that.
Another individual who was homeschooled was a babysitter for one of my girlfriends. I actually got to know her quite well. She was 17, followed me around like a puppy and tried very hard to impress me. She told me about the fights she would get into and how she had a knife to cut off the ***** of any guy who tried to get fresh with her. She wore camouflage pants everywhere and basically exemplified the macho stereotype with the obvious exception of some anatomical issues.
And then there's Greg's nephew. Greg is brilliant. Greg's sister knows he's brilliant. She called him one day and announced "I'm going to homeschool my son and want you to teach him math."
Greg was aghast at the idea of his sister trying to teach anyone anything and tried to talk her out of it. His arguments fell on deaf ears, so he pulled out the big guns. "You can't homeschool my nephew. For God's sake, you think France is a city!"
Greg's sister: "But France is a city."
Every person that I know who is homeschooled is socially inept, or worse, poorly educated. Of course, given that many if not most hard-core computer people tend to be socially awkward, that's possibly not a bad thing, but children's lives are hard enough. Why add extra burdens?
When (if?), I am faced with this choice for children, I will likely try to find a good private school as a reasonable compromise.
Case in point: In the US in the 50s and 60s, civics was a basic part of high school education. Being civic minded was important, as was a basic understanding of how government works. Today, civic mindedness is no longer part of the standard curriculum, and many if not most high school graduates don't know how the US Government (or their state / local government) operates.
The biggest argument against homeschooling is the ability of parents to teach their kids. Part of it is that some parents who want to homeschool are the product of a mediocre public school system, and part of it is that many parents aren't good teachers.
If I had kids, it would be a very difficult decision for me to make. My mother was a public school teacher for something like 30 years, and the state of education has only gotten worse. (I still remember stories about how much better it was when she was in school in the 50s / 60s.) But at the same time, I remember how beneficial extra curricular activities were in high school -- especially with journalism, forensics and science competitions.
Re:Homeschooling
pudge on 2003-07-16T16:51:03
We are homeschooling. Primary reason: we can offer better educational opportunities for our children that way. Second reason: most schools, public and private, are filled with undisciplined children and an overall unsafe, emotionally and psychologically, and sometimes physically, environment. Tertiary reason: I don't trust people I don't know with what they will try to tell my children (and even some people I *do* know).
The primary reason might need some explanation: it is not so much that there are not schools out there that can offer a good education and good opportunities, but I can't see how an education specifically tailored to an individual child, planned and administered by people who know her best, could not be better than a system whereby the child is forced to spend many hours a day doing what is best for everyone on average.
As to qualifications, I am unconcerned. In all humility, I know I am imperfect, but I know I and my wife are eminently capable and qualified for this work. I know France is not a city, that it is a floating spaceship. Currently, my income provides for the entire family, so my wife can spend all day with our daughter, and I work from home and have a somewhat flexible schedule so I can participate on occasion as well. If that changes, we will reevaluate our situation.
As to socialization, I have always believed -- and it has time and again been proven by experience -- that homeschool children are socialized well if their parents are. In my experience, it really is that simple. That's not to say the parents don't need to engage the child in social situations just because they are well-socialized themselves, but parents who are well-socialized WILL engage their child in social situations.
Plus, realize that today's homeschoolers are not yesterday's. Homeschooling used to be done primarily for religious reasons, in the U.S. So you got people who were already separating themselves from society, and taking their kids with them. Gosh, and that sometimes led to poor socialization! Who woulda thunk it? But that is not how it is done today. People from all walks of life, religions, and cultures are homeschooling, and they regularly meet together in groups, in part for the purposes of socialization.
Yes, as the children get older, socialization -- journalism, forensics, sports, etc. -- become more of an issue. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Many school districts are already allowing participation of homeschoolers in extracurricular activities, and I see that only increasing. No situation is perfect. Noting that there are some problems with homeschooling just means that it is a human institution.:-)
Not one of Ovid's examples applies to my situation, or the situation of most of the homeschoolers that I know, and I would bet some amount of money that his statement "every person that I know who is homeschooled is socially inept, or worse, poorly educated" just means that the people he knows who are homeschooled who are none of those are so well-adjusted that he doesn't know they are homeschooled.
As to his extra burdens: to me and my wife, school was a huge burden. I was constantly bored and a perpetual object of ridicule, and my wife, while far better adjusted (then and now:-), couldn't handle the structure. Our daughter has the qualities of both of us such that I am convinced she will be highly bored and unable to deal with the structure. Homeschooling is the best option for us right now, and I don't see that changing.
My daughter is only 15 months old, so we have not decided much about how to proceed, but I was telling my sister-in-law -- also doing homeschooling, independently of our decision to do it -- about my thoughts on education, and she was in almost complete agreement with me, and told me I am a "hard core unschooler." I didn't look it up until just now. Sounds good to me. I love this quote:
Schools were designed by Horace Mann. ..and others to be instruments of the scientific management of a mass population.
-- New York City Teacher of the Year John Gatto
Heh. This does look like a great way to learn. And obvious, too. Don't have a physics lesson, watch a baseball game, then talk about how someone hits a home run or throws a curve ball. That is how I have done most of my learning. Most of the time I spent in class was a waste.
Our daughter is already learning this way. We let her hold objects and she plays with them and figures out how they work, and we show her things they can do. This sort of thing doesn't need to stop when the state says it is time for them to begin sitting in a chair and learning how to memorizing "important" things or how to get socialized in a manner befitting a "good citizen."
It is true that homeschooling requires dedication and patience and time and, ideally, a bit of intelligence. But when those things do exist, why not go for it?
I'm from a different country (VERY different), and different culture.. but have you considered that the piece of paper/papers/high school diploma/what have you counts a bit in the real world ?
See, its the difference between knowing the stuff and knowing that you know it, and having a piece of paper that says you know it. Yes, knowledge is important, but sometimes you get your foot in the door because of the piece of paper..
Personally, I hated school. I still wouldnt swap any time, not a single minute of my life now for going back to school days. (although things got a lot better in university). But as a counterexample, my parents never bothered to get postgrad later on in life, although they knew all the material. As a result, my mother topped out at less than department head in her university, although (biased opinion, of course), she probably deserved the position.
One more thing about bad influences.. Your kids, IMNSHO, are going to meet bad influences sometime or the other.. Wouldn't you prefer they learn to deal with it, and with all sorts that they will meet up sooner rather than later ?
I can't believe I am arguing for someone to actually SEND a kid to school, if their experiences were half of what mine were, they'd be bored, not understand what most of the rules are intended to do, and continually in trouble. But having said that, I'd still need to convince myself NOT to consider school as the only option.
my 0.02 USD
Re:another perspective..
jdavidb on 2003-07-18T12:27:23
Thanks for the perspective. I do consider the piece of paper important. One concern I addressed with Sarah is that I consider grades more important than homeschoolers -- fortunately, she does, too. I think I'd like my kids to get GEDs [high school equivalency degrees] if they homeschool all the way through high school, just so they'd get that piece of paper. (Thanks for the reminder that I need to mention that to her.)
One more thing about bad influences.. Your kids, IMNSHO, are going to meet bad influences sometime or the other.. Wouldn't you prefer they learn to deal with it, and with all sorts that they will meet up sooner rather than later ?
Yes, I agree with you on this. Sarah doesn't, though; she'd like to keep them back a few more years, at least. Have them face the big bad world at 7 instead of 5, or 10 instead of 6. I'm going to be particularly concerned with making sure they do learn to deal with it; I don't think that's completely impossible with a homeschool environment.
This may sound silly, but I've been thinking of homeschooling a little bit like vegetarianism: it can be a great idea, but you have to be wary that you might miss a few important things. In order to handle that, you identify the things you are at risk to miss, take vitamin supplements, and try to get a wide variety of foods to cover things. I'm identifying things I'm worried about the kids missing (none of which seems to be a killer argument against homeschool) and thinking about ways to mitigate those possible problems.
I can't believe I am arguing for someone to actually SEND a kid to school
Heh; I said something similar at one point. I was a huge iconoclast and anti-education in high school; all I was interested in was the piece of paper. Today I wouldn't trade the education I got, though, for the world.
