We have been deeply pondering the topic of raising and educating our children for a number of years. One regular topic of conversation has been the idea of homeschooling our children, at least through their elementary school years. We’ve engaged in this conversation with certain friends, but in general it’s felt… unsafe… to discuss. Opinions and feelings vary widely. But, with trembling, we feel like we should start talking more openly about what we are learning — to gain insights from our friends, and to share the insights we have gained. Though what we write below may sound dogmatic, understand that it is written in a spirit of humility and friendship. Ultimately, this decision comes down to each family’s personal conviction. — Scott & Caryn
We’ve often had discussions with friends about another question in the dilemma – is it right to abandon the government (public) schools? If the “good” people leave, will they just degrade more? Is it our place to stay involved? These are also hard questions to answer and I hear many people questioning this when they look at alternatives to public school.
In Schooling Dilemma, Part 1, we took a quick look at the question of homeschooling. Now let’s dig in a bit deeper together…
First, we consider the conversations with several neighbors and friends in different parts of the country questioning whether their children are even learning in school. Even teacher friends attest that students acquire knowledge for standardized testing and waste a large chunk of their day in travel to school, administrative tasks (attendance, class changes) and dealing with misbehaving classmates. Literacy rates are falling and schools are failing. This is not to knock teachers by the way. They are not always the problem.
It seems an interesting option to teach and train at home, have children more effectively learn and efficiently use their time; and then use the extra time to engage together in the community. Choosing alternative school options does not withdraw students or parents from society at large. We can engage in extracurricular activities which do overlap with the government school realm (or local city/county leagues), at public venues such as libraries and rec centers, at playgrounds and Chick-fil-a. A book Caryn read recently even suggested that as tax paying citizens, you are able to enroll your children in certain classes/activities with the public school even if they are officially home schooled. And then of course later there are opportunities with community colleges, etc. We have many interesting options available today.
