Combining Public or Private School with Homeschooling: My Thoughts

The average school day lasts approximately seven hours from the time the students leave the buses for the classroom to when they leave the classroom for the buses at the end of the day. During the time between, there is lunch, recess, breaks, and study hall. On top of it all, nearly every month contains at least one if not more student holiday/teacher workday in addition to the average holidays. Often teachers must deal with unruly students or those who need more one-on-one assistance yet there is no funding for teaching assistants in many schools so everything dumps into the lap of one teacher. Roll call takes time each morning as does the daily announcements that come over the loud speaker that generally has something to do with the ball team versus education in general. These interruptions occur whether one is in public school or private school. The sad part is that all of these things take away time from the learning process.

If it were up to me, I would personally remove all ball teams and cheerleaders from the school system. In its place, I would add art, music, and a health class where students can learn proper diet, nutrition, and exercise at as young of an age as possible. Art and music compliment education. Statistics show that students who study music and/or art have a higher academic learning scale than those who do not. High school ball players generally do as little as possible academically yet they will work their behinds off during practice to improve the game in case ball scouts are watching. This is time better spent exercising the brain, not the ball-game strategy. If a child wants to play on a ball team or join a cheerleading group, let them do so over the summer months when school is not in session; however, do not stop the learning routine over the summer months. Take the children to the library on days when there are special events for children. This way, the children will better retain the information from the previous school year without falling behind when school starts again.

Those who play ball or join the cheerleading squads are often the ones who need the most assistance in school work because they are too busy learning to throw a ball or shake their booties than listen to a teacher in a classroom. As parents, we have a duty to ensure our children receive the best possible education available. Ball teams and ball booster clubs as well as the counterpart cheerleading squads are not nearly as important as spelling classes yet the school systems across the country are removing spelling class from the curriculum. It is important for students to remain physically fit but this is just as possible by starting a health and physical education program for students as young as kindergarten.

Concerning spelling, many educators such as the school board members and superintendents seem to forget that spelling is a vital part of the learning process. If a child can spell a word, define it, and use the word in a sentence correctly this proves the child can comprehend the concept of the word when used in any book the child picks up to read. Even here in Mayberry Incarnate, NC where I reside, the school system removed spelling as a class. About three years later, the idiotic superintendent sat in his desk chair scratching that marble head of his wondering why the test scores sitting before him were so low. Learning one's alphabet helps the child learn to spell. Learning definitions to spelling words teaches more about the word itself. Reading the word in sentences completes the key to comprehending any book ever placed before the student!

In 2003, UNICEF conducted a study that averaged students from five international educational studies. Students in the United States tested eighteenth out of twenty-four nations in the terms of relative effectiveness of the educational system! This is NOT improvement. How can these children become leaders of tomorrow without the necessary educational skills required to make the best conscious choices possible?

By far, the worst mistake ever made when it comes to the school systems here in the United States is the standardized testing, which ties with the Bush agenda's "No Child Left Behind" idiocy. It is no wonder the implementation of these two idiotic plans came into being thanks to a man that hails from the worst state in the country when it comes to education. As governor, Bush left Texas students far behind in the world of education. Now, he has taken his own idiocy and put it to work nationally as president-SELECT.

With standardized testing, teachers are now teaching the actual test instead of the information children actually need and will be able to use when they make their way out into the real world. Why would they not want to take the test? Bush encourages them to teach the test by dangling the carrot of dollar signs before their faces if the children pass these standardized tests. Sadly, these tests actually hurt many students, including those who average straight A's. The tests do nothing to prepare them for the rigors that go along with life on a university campus. Many students find they are in way over their heads academically when attending universities. Most drop out of college yet a limited few return to local community colleges where they earn lower-paying jobs by taking classes they can comprehend. This government is grooming a generation of ill-educated children. Standardized testing has to be one of the most detrimental additions to the school system to date.

Several years ago, a group of parents hired an attorney to fight against these standardized tests. Many of the educators that came forth to testify, including those who were responsible for creating the tests, explained while under oath that the design of the test was NOT a pass/fail measure for students. The purpose of the test was to benchmark the teacher's progress, not the students. This information came directly from a professor from UNC of Chapel Hill that held a doctorate in Education. It did not matter to the school district or the state's education board that students who carried a straight A average were failing their grades all because of one test. The only change made following the trial was to give teachers a chance to fight for a waiver on behalf of the student and the students' parents when said students passed all the yearly work with excellent grades yet did not do well on the standardized tests. With the waiver in place, many students did move forward to the next grade; however, hundreds upon thousands of students failed their grades long before this process went into effect all because these students did not test well, not because they did not understand the material.

Of all the presidents that have come through the White House over the last two centuries, Bush has to be the worst role model yet when it comes to being a parent or caring about the education or future of children. His two daughters openly went to bars while underage where they received drinks, became intoxicated, and even got behind the wheel to go to another party all under the watchful eyes of the Secret Service detail assigned to watch them. I cannot understand why the secret service officers did not arrest these two girls on the spot for underage drinking and driving and then arrested the bartenders that served them without checking for proper identification. These were the two daughters of the president-SELECT. It is not as if nobody recognized them yet the abuse continued!

Until major intelligent changes are in place within the school systems, it is up to parents to ensure their children receive the best possible education available. Far too many parents cannot afford private schools; however, there is more than one way to handle this situation. Parents must take the education of their children into their own hands. Celebrity actor Will Smith mentioned on the Regis and Cathy Lee Show that he and his wife home-school their children. They are in the process of building a private school for their children and a group of home-schooling parents they work with to make certain their children have access to the best education possible since it is not an option in public schools and is becoming equally as bad in private schools.

Working parents can set aside a few hours every evening to teach their own children more than is available in the school system. The internet is a gold mine of educational opportunities. Most of these opportunities are free. A few come in the manner of websites that teach the basic skills that can grow with the child's academic progress much like the website Primary Games. Websites offering crossword puzzles, find-a-word, math sheets, and other similar items are there for the taking. It is extremely possible to supplement our children's educations with internet information available for little to no cost. Until those who are in charge of our schools learn the current method is broken, it is up to us as parents to bring our children's grades higher by finding more work that can better prepare them for the future. Those without internet access at home can easily go to the local library where computers are available for use at no charge; however, it is important to remember that computer prices are at an all-time low. Some ISP's allow so many hours a month free or at low-cost. Additionally, there are hundreds of thousands of wifi hot spots available where one can access the internet at no charge. Books in the library are free. Choose a variety of books that can entertain and educate your children based on their academic levels in school. Take time to contact your child's teacher(s) to figure out where the child's weaknesses and strong points are and then work from there. Join your children in homework lessons especially extra work. Save a little extra money each month to use to take a trip to a farm or Wildlife Reserve especially if these places offer tours, as many do.

It is important to note many obstetricians and pediatricians believe education can begin while in vitro. Read to your child before it is born. Place a set of headphones at low volume across your pregnant abdominal area to play classically music, educational problems, and read books to your child. Once the baby is born, do not stop there. As a blind mother of two children, I did this with both my children although I had more time with my youngest since I was legally blind by the time the younger of my two were born. We listened to a variety of music, books of audio cassette, and that did not stop once she was born. Today, this child is an AIG student (academically and intellectually gifted student) with a tremendous vocabulary. She learned her numbers and letters before her second birthday and was reading children's books a short time later. It is not impossible. In fact, it is practical and worthy of trying. It cannot hurt. The important things are to start as young as possible and remain vigilant with a set schedule.

If possible, bring family and friends into the equation to assist. Make list on paper or create a wish list at various online (and retail if possible) stores for creative educational toys to send out to friends and families so they can pick and choose among the educational gift items such as Magnadoodle, building sets, books, microscopes, telescopes, ant farms, organic growing apparatus so child can study how plants grow. The organic growing apparatus units are see through so the child can watch the seedlings grow from beginning to end. Purchase caterpillars kits so your children can watch the process of how a caterpillar grows from its worm-like state, transforms into a cocoon, and then comes out a beautiful butterfly that you and your children can release into the wild. Edmund Scientific is the name of one educational store but there are plenty of others. Leapfrog is an excellent brand of teaching toy available too. Many of the Leapfrog products grow with your child so it is not something that will last a year and then not be of any use. My own child played with Leapfrog learning games, particularly the reading and math consoles packs that fit into a board that read from a special book with cartridge that fit into the device.

Take trips to observatories, science museums, art museums, history museums, and other famous places near where you live. Purchase books on the subjects so you can learn more. Have your child write stories about their adventures to bring out the creative writing within. The possibilities are endless just as the rewards.

Many of these suggestions do not really sound like homework but you will be amazed at how the child's grades increase over time. They games and toys are fun in nature but pack one heck of a punch to the brain when it comes to recall of information and learning abilities. Ask your child's teacher if it is possible for the child to bring some of these items to school to show other students for show and tell. This works out especially well when the subject matter your child is learning from you coincides with the lessons the teachers are teaching the class. The key to increasing education is to make it seem more like fun and less like work. Do you remember Mary Poppin's idea of A Spoonful of Sugar? Fun while learning is in the same bracket. It is education coated in sugar and sugar is the part that makes learning fun.