Homeschooling's Advantages Over Public Schools
Every Child Deserves to Be Taught the Way She/He Learns Best
When my son was about four years old, he and I used to play games of counting. He understood the concept of numbers and could add and subtract small groups in his head. I didn't call what we were doing home school, but that's what it was.
He would say a number then say "Now I'll take some," and I would have to guess how many he took by how many he said was left. Not bad for a four year old.
When he was five, I put him in kindergarten, just like any good mother, and cried a little on his first day. He loved going to school and enjoyed playing with the other kids. He was proud of the fact that he already knew how to write his name and count to ten. It made me a little uneasy at that time because I knew that he knew much more about numbers than how to count to ten, but I thought it would all come out in the wash.
When he started first grade, he had a teacher that all the kids loved. She brought home made cookies for treats and loved each one of them. He learned to count to ten, again, and began memorizing the alphabet, bringing home papers with three out of five ducklings colored yellow and apples colored red with a big "A" under them.
As time went on, he began to dislike school - a little at first, then more and more. When I sat him down and asked what was wrong with it, one of the things he said was "I'm not as smart as you said I was."
Well, that broke my heart. He was struggling to learn things that he already knew but the teacher didn't know that he knew. She was teaching him a different, roundabout way to add and subtract numbers. He couldn't grasp the idea she was trying to teach him.
I have nothing against the teacher, (I think that's where a lot of anti-home school propaganda comes from - teachers who feel threatened by it) she was simply following instructions to teach certain things to the kids before the end of the year.
Unfortunately, my little boy had to unlearn a lot of important things to bow to government standards. He no longer remembered how to play the games we played and the tension in his face when he learned to write his name again made me want to cry.
That was years ago, but if I had known or understood about home schooling then I could have saved us both a lot of misery. More than misery. We finally pulled him out of school when he was in 6th grade, not because of academics, but because it was too dangerous for him to go to school - as it is for many kids.
Our school society (and it is different from regular society) is stressful in ways that educators don't understand. You can't know if you're not a kid.
I'm just one mom, and that's just one of my kids, but I regret not taking him out of government operated schools a long time ago. He's doing well right now, making good money and owns his own home, but I can't help but wonder what kind of ingenuity and creativity was forever destroyed in those years that round peg spent in a square hole.
There is no government, no plan, no trained teacher, no one who can understand and respond to a child as well as his own parent. We teach them how to eat with a fork, tie their shoes, the importance of feeding the turtle and hugging Auntie when they don't want to... what kind of nonsense is it that we can't teach them how to balance a checkbook, write a report and memorize chemical compounds?
Published by Pat Veretto
I grew up the oldest of eight kids on a ranch in Wyoming. The highlight of those years was a blue ribbon at the county fair on a book of poetry and I've been writing ever since. I'm the mother of three grown... View profile
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14 Comments
Post a CommentNot only is Andy a moron, he cannot properly put together a reasonable statement in English. Must be he was educated in a government school?
My kids, age 9 & 7 have always been home-educated and are academically ahead of their same-age peers.
Cheers and best of luck to all home-educated kids and their parents.
I am very proud to be able to homeschool my three boys who are ages 12, 15, and 17. THE schools in our country are so dangerous with all the shooting and such going on.I am telling parents out there who are considering homeschooling go right ahead you have nothing to lose in fact later on down the road i bet your kids will thank you for it. IT WAS THE BEST CHOICE I EVER MADE FOR MY FAMILY. becky
Oops... I hit the "post" button too fast. I wanted to thank all of you for your comments. Homeschooling is not for everyone, but all kids deserve a chance.
Looking back through the commments, I should have stated that he bought his own home when he was 24 years old. I don't think that's bad at all. :)
Great article! I agree with everyone from Sarah on up. All the negative social skills my kids learned came from public school. All the positive socialization they learned came from home schooling. I had one kid who was way ahead in everything and another that was behind in math and way ahead in everything else. Public school couldn't (and wouldn't) do anything for them. Private school charged outrageous fees. Charter schools still wouldn't have been challenging enough. Appropriate social skills were not implemented at any of those choices. I could g on. I think schooling methods are different for each individual person and family. While public school can work for some, it just doesn't cut it for others. The same can be said for any schooling method. It's all about the individual situation and what's needed. :-)
Andy is stupid, not you. I fully agree with your article. In my opinion, I think that homeschooling is way way better than public school. I am fourteen years old, a senior in highschool, and a sophomore in college. How many kids in public school can say that about themselves? Before homeschooling, I went to a public school for kindergarten and first grade, a private school for second grade, and a charter school for third grade. I started homeschooling in the fifth grade at age eight. I skipped fourth grade. I think that homeschooling is a negative influence on kids. How many kids, below the age of twelve, are doing drugs in public schools? It is a proven fact that homeschooled children have tested better on tests, and have grown up to be respectable adult, and reliable employees. Homeschooling is way better then public school.
Socializing...It's funny how people find that that is the greatest concern with homeschoolers. I've been homeschooled for about five years now and am 17 and I've probably been more social than I have ever been. I would definitely NOT want to be the social type I was when I left sixth grade: rude, mouthy, and completely with the wrong crowd (I'd never join them, but my "best friends" would put down a girl publicly for being ugly, and they were considered the better kids in school). About the real world, too. What about it? People ask about that, too. That we're shunned away and hidden from the world. Bull-oney! I wonder where they get these ideas. It's like me automatically guessing that every public schooler has a gun in his pocket...it's just ridiculous.
Probably really random, but I thought I would say that this was a nice post to read, especially since I'm writing a 5 page composition on advantages of homeschooling. :-D No worries, though...I don't plagiarize :-p
Great article! It is a narrowminded attitude that only allows an individual to believe the best way for children to socialize is within the confines of government-run institutions. I agree with Sarah-being confined to a classroom with peers who are your same age- is not ideal. Also, for the poster who thinks private school is the only acceptable alternative to public school, what about private schools that are extremely small. Most homeschoolers get the chance to interact with a wide variety of individuals of varying ages on a regular basis. The socialiazation argument is not even valid.
Wow these comments were so rude. I thought this peice was wonderful. It's only stupid to believe that kids can ONLY learn to interact by being in school 8 hours a day in a classroom with other kids, where they don't even talk to each other during the lessons most of the time, etc. Most homeschooled kids grow up to do better than the majority of public schooled kids, to become leaders, etc. The misconceptions out there about homeschooling are so ignorant and foolish.
"Socialization" seems to be the one thing that many who oppose homeschooling don't understand. Homeschooled children get a chance to interact in the real world instead of being locked away in school all day with only their peers to socialize with. How can they learn to interact with all sorts of people (of which the world is made) when they're limited to only those of their own age group?