Public school.
Shudder.
My gang has never, ever set foot in a public school. We are “from the cradle” home schoolers. The closest Susan came to attending with the masses was when our Awana club met at an elementary school for a few months due to church repairs. Today we were on a mission of mercy. A friend – without wheels – needed someone to pick up her girl from school, just a minor emergency. Since we are just down the road, the task fell to us.
So, we marched into the front office, where all the women can gawk at us. I said something about not being able to leave the kids home alone. I played it cool, sending up a prayer the kids will behave, wondering if I’m going to be asked The Question, and will I have to defend home schooling to these teacher’s union members.
And what of my children? Long-time readers of this blog know how they can be. My wonderful, obedient children that make me weep with frustration because of their ill manners and monkey shines in public.
They behaved. Yeah, baby. It was a good day to home school.
So I got my visitor badge (no. 18) to walk two doors down the hall to the nurse’s office. We watched a bunch of kids herded down the hall for recess, a bunch more coming in from recess. The sound of drum beats came from a music room. We peeked into the mysterious faculty lounge. Very educational. And not one of my four asked to stay.
Like I said: it was a good day to home school.
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Honestly, while home-schooling may work relatively well, it stunts growth in other areas. One major problem is the teachers. No offense to you, but it’s literally impossible to have the kind of detailed knowledge about all subjects that should be taught that schoolteachers have in their specific field.
Speaking from the perspective of someone who was homeschooled up until the 9th grade, I know that this is true. It also stunts the childrens’ social lives. While groups of homeschooled children may exist, many homeschooled children are being homeschooled because of abnrmalities, whether they be behavioral, educational, or developmental. Not to be cruel to them, because they can’t help what they are, but since many ‘normal’ homeschooled children never have access to a wide variety of other children their age, they come to imitate some of these traits which may stunt their careers or their experience in high school/college later in life.
It’s a great opportunity, especially if local public schools aren’t exactly the best, but if you want my honest opinion, the best thing to do would be to move to Britain, where their school systems could actually be considered efficient (gasp) and effective (double gasp). If international travel isn’t exactly an option, go for private schools. They usually have a much higher quality of education to that in public schools, and while the costs may seem high, take a moment to remind yourself that the costs of you homeschooling your children may be just as expensive, and it just doesn’t seem that way because you pay for it in smaller installments.
Interesting comments. It’s been a while since I’ve written about home schooling. I think it’s time I did. Be looking for a response from me soon, Reader.