If you’re shaking your head thinking that your friends would never do such a thing—think again. Friends and family have tossed some of the cruelest attacks thrown at me. Apparently it’s okay to blaspheme but if you bring up how you plan to parent your child then “en garde!”

Mind you, I wasn’t an immediate “homeschool” convert. In fact, at this point it is only an option which we’re heading more towards because of where we live. I was raised in a public school and my wife came from a private school. Although she learned much from private school I learned much about conflict with world views in public school. For most of my life I was a firm believer of the public school system applauding society’s work in the institution.

That changed. The public school system here in New York City made it even more difficult for honest teachers to become actual teachers. There is little to no discipline, outbreaks of violence and promiscuity. Drugs run rampant, alcohol flows like a river and oral sex is acceptable as “something between friends”. If that’s not enough, education slipped from teaching to passing tests for the “No Child Left Behind Act” to keep those federal watch dogs at bay.

Private school is marginally better. The education is much more focused but if you want to get into a legitimate institution you’ll be paying tuition as high as some colleges. Don’t try to skimp! I personally know people who have opened up private schools without having earned a masters degree.

In spite of all that the naysayers turn to me, foaming at the mouth explaining how I’m encasing my child in a bubble. They’ll raucously explain that the child will be irreparably damaged by home schooling’s “coddling”…an opinion based on no facts, figures or findings.

So let’s look at some facts. The state works with the bottom line (dollars) and if there is a choice between saving money and better education the state will side with costs. Schools are still using very old textbooks promoting things scientifically and historically wrong. As a home schooler’s teacher, the parent purchases the curriculum and teaches all these things to the child himself—making sure that the best materials are offered.

That’s not all. Schools are at a disadvantage when it comes to student to teacher ratio. One teacher, thirty five kids—how do you teach them all something and still follow the documentation assuring passing test grade? He may resort to straight memorization and if a kid can’t memorize figures off a blackboard, then the poor kid fails.

Home schooling is a one to one model where the parent, knowing the child’s learning method can teach things in different ways. To educate in this manner is not experiential coddling but doing what teachers aren’t being equipped to do in the current educational climate. I know a parent who was teaching his kids about aerodynamics and the physics of flight. The guy’s daughter got the information right away just by looking at the page but his son just wasn’t getting it. He bought the kid a plane kit and had the kid build the thing while researching what all the parts would do and how they worked. Not only does the kid know about aerodynamics but he can build a complex model plane.

“Oh, but how are you going to teach your child physics or calculus!” First off, most kids in High School don’t even get as far as physics and calculus. I think Jeremy would call this a false dilemma. Secondly, I know plenty of teachers who don’t even teach the subject they were trained for, actually learning the curriculum a week before the students! That’s purely ridiculous.

Not as a boast but as example, I personally have read many books, if not hundreds. My free time consists of reading any books on philosophy, quantum physics, singularities, theology, languages, and fiction. That’s just me. In fact, most people are capable of much more if they’re willing to put time into it.

That’s the thing; all this requires time and sacrifice. If a person has decided to become a parent, then they better get used to the idea of time and sacrifice since it starts off once they’re born. I am often puzzled, if not wary, of parents who refuse to sacrifice themselves for their children.

“But what about other kids!” is a pretty funny one especially when it comes from people who spent their days going to school, avoided people, then running back to the safety of home. Still the critics will point out how the kids aren’t getting social skills because they’re nervous when they’re going heading out to High School. Which kid isn’t nervous about High School?

Actually, there are home schooler’s associations where you get in touch with other parents and they all have softball leagues, swim meets and that sort of thing. If that weren’t enough there is also karate, gymnastics, and the YMCA!  I won’t bother mentioning the amount of kid’s in my church.

Fact of the matter is that there are more and more home schoolers in the United States and not just within fundamental Christian circles. Many parents are looking to home schooling as a better option than what the states are offering. Recent surveys have shown that most home schooler parents are college grads, very well educated and working under a single income home. Home scholars have been shown to have higher grades and more diversity in their education.

So, get used to it folks. This curse word is here to stay.

-r-

http://www.tulipgirl.com
http://www.cnn.com/US/9908/17/home.schooling/
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/09/19/online.homeschool.idg/
http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ednews/08/03/homeschool.ap/
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/fyi/teachers.ednews/01/23/homeschoolers.activities.ap/
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000311.pdf
http://www.home-school.com/
http://www.hslda.org/
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/08/13/b2s.homeschool/
http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/09/03/sprj.sch.home.schooling.ap/
http://idea.uoregon.edu/~ncite/documents/techrep/tech19.html

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