Today is Monday,Today is Monday,Monday bread and butter,All you hungry soldiers,I wish the same to you~
reminds me of public school, and being ~ on the conveyor belt~ of public education, seeing my kids struggle on that conveyor belt, and feeling helpless to do anything about it.
What are some of the reasons people don't just get so disgusted they walk, & start homeschooling? I know there are many homeschooling families out there that have never dealt with the public system, & so don't understand why so many stay so long in such a broken system. Let me enlighten you & hopefully help other families teetering on the brink of indecision regarding homeschooling.
Because the public education system would have you believe that:
#1) You aren't capable of doing what they do, unless you have certificate stating that you are a professional (who gave all those mothers a certificate of motherhood, I'd like to know! Oh...God did....)
#2) You have no rights as a parent, the school & the government have all the rights, so just get over it and conform already! (anyone in the public school system can attest to this)
#3) Your child will not be ~properly socialized~ if they don't attend public school ( who ever said a Godless lot of 150 13 yr olds is the best place for a 13 yr old to learn how to act morally & become an upstanding citizen anyway?)
#4) Your child will academically suffer from learning at home, in fact, you could never offer your child the diversity that they will recieve with a public school education (in fact, time & again, even by the state standardized testing standards, homeschooled children score at least 95% better than public-schooled children, in ALL areas of testing)
#5) (the biggest lie of all) The public education system is ~EDUCATING~ your child, when they get out of it, they will be able to go on to college, &/or life; happily, with ease, able to make a living & join their fellow ranks of Americans, earning plenty & living the good life, knowing WHAT to think( but not how, don't be thinking for yourselves, there, America!). (This is so sad, because people automatically ASSUME that the only way to educate is to have a professional proclaim you ~Educated~, when in fact, all anyone can actually do is teach, each person must EDUCATE themselves. It is an ongoing, life-long pursuit, and does NOT in fact require any certificates, titles, or proclamations of ~Education~. And what exactly DOES public school prepare you for? Life on the conveyor belt, complete with debt up to your ears, hardly any real-life application {when's the last time you had to take a closed book test of life, were not allowed to get any help, and had to go home and write up 10 pages of completely non-instructive filler, just because you were ahead or behind everyone else?}, and a permanent job at the Walmart or McDonald's.)
If I could offer up just one book to families who are still trying to make the leap, and yet are unsure ~ please, if you can, read this book: " A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver DeMille.
I realize that most of this is not new to those already homeschooling, however, for someone just falling off the public school conveyor belt, and ~de-toxifying~ so to speak, it can be a major revelation!
I just want to add that This is NOT an open attack on public school teachers!! I have a mother and I think all of my 4 sisters who are either teachers or professors in the public system, and they are fantastic individuals, as are so many of the teachers my children have had through-out the yrs. I firmly believe, however, that it is difficult to succeed within the framework that the government & states have built.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Homeschool vs Public school ~& the debate is on~
See?? I SAID I would post again, really really really soon, and I DID!! hahaHAH!
So here is the dealio ~
My kids have been public-schooled now since they were in Kindergarten. But last year, (2006-2007) I tried something new. My oldest child was in 9th grade and hating life. Released time ( for seminary) was her only repreve in long day filled with endless homework, memorized diatribe and media-stained filth & expectations. The only saving grace was that her sister was just under her in 8th grade, and so they might see each other in the hallway or at lunch once in a while.
These two girls had braved the realities of the current status quo "Jr High experience" for 2 & 3 years. They had friends in the same boat ~ just pushing through the filthy rush, hoping to make it through as unscathed as possible. In the midst of all this, my husband and I were constantly there, trying to unteach what the world teaches, giving what insight and hope we could to what looked like a very bleak picture of the future. (All along, I have always tried to supplement my children's education, not only with fun vacations, museum trips, cultural introductions, fact-finding quests, and trying out new and different things, but also as a teacher's aide, a substitute, room mother, PTO member, and finally, PTO president... I have been VERY involved, in all 5 of my kids' educational progress.)
Then, mid-year, I heard about a different type of charter jr. high - highschool, based on a Thomas Jefferson Education. I had never heard of it prior, and when they gave me a book to read called "A Thomas Jefferson Education", by Oliver DeMille, I about flipped! It was EXACTLY what I was after! AND, it neatly refuted all of my former concerns about homeschooling. I HIGHLY recommend this book to ANYone. After reading this book, I knew something had to change. I researched the Jefferson charter school, & switched my oldest two to it. Then I started looking into homeschooling very seriously, in fact, I even considered taking my younger three kids out of school that very year. Of course, I didn't. I let them finish the school year out. I planned and planned some more, made a lot of new contacts within the homeschooling community, found out about federal funding, (figured out how to use it to MY advantage), prepared a place within my home to hold school properly, & THEN made the leap.
My two oldest kids ( ages 15 & 14) have the option of attending either my homeschool or the Jefferson-based chartered highschool, ( they chose the charter, which is great, they love it, and so do I), while my three younger kids (ages 12, 10, & 9) will get to homeschool, & wait for that once they hit 8th or 9th grade.
And so, we've done it, I'ved applied for and recieved the federal funding, I've put together an AWESOME curriculum, my husband has finished off the basement to make a NICE school room, with plenty of lighting & storage for school supplies & curricula materials, my kids have adjusted to the idea that they will actually get to have FUN with learning, and voila! ~ another homeschooling family is born!
And I have to say, I NEVER thought I would be a homeschooler. See my previous post for concurrence on this; I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I honestly thought that most homeschoolers were a little "sstraannnge". ( And great and mighty is the fall there-of......;-D)
So, without further ado, I'll be the first to admit my snasty hypocrisy, and proclaim my repentance! For I , too, have joined the homeschooling ranks!
So here is the dealio ~
My kids have been public-schooled now since they were in Kindergarten. But last year, (2006-2007) I tried something new. My oldest child was in 9th grade and hating life. Released time ( for seminary) was her only repreve in long day filled with endless homework, memorized diatribe and media-stained filth & expectations. The only saving grace was that her sister was just under her in 8th grade, and so they might see each other in the hallway or at lunch once in a while.
These two girls had braved the realities of the current status quo "Jr High experience" for 2 & 3 years. They had friends in the same boat ~ just pushing through the filthy rush, hoping to make it through as unscathed as possible. In the midst of all this, my husband and I were constantly there, trying to unteach what the world teaches, giving what insight and hope we could to what looked like a very bleak picture of the future. (All along, I have always tried to supplement my children's education, not only with fun vacations, museum trips, cultural introductions, fact-finding quests, and trying out new and different things, but also as a teacher's aide, a substitute, room mother, PTO member, and finally, PTO president... I have been VERY involved, in all 5 of my kids' educational progress.)
Then, mid-year, I heard about a different type of charter jr. high - highschool, based on a Thomas Jefferson Education. I had never heard of it prior, and when they gave me a book to read called "A Thomas Jefferson Education", by Oliver DeMille, I about flipped! It was EXACTLY what I was after! AND, it neatly refuted all of my former concerns about homeschooling. I HIGHLY recommend this book to ANYone. After reading this book, I knew something had to change. I researched the Jefferson charter school, & switched my oldest two to it. Then I started looking into homeschooling very seriously, in fact, I even considered taking my younger three kids out of school that very year. Of course, I didn't. I let them finish the school year out. I planned and planned some more, made a lot of new contacts within the homeschooling community, found out about federal funding, (figured out how to use it to MY advantage), prepared a place within my home to hold school properly, & THEN made the leap.
My two oldest kids ( ages 15 & 14) have the option of attending either my homeschool or the Jefferson-based chartered highschool, ( they chose the charter, which is great, they love it, and so do I), while my three younger kids (ages 12, 10, & 9) will get to homeschool, & wait for that once they hit 8th or 9th grade.
And so, we've done it, I'ved applied for and recieved the federal funding, I've put together an AWESOME curriculum, my husband has finished off the basement to make a NICE school room, with plenty of lighting & storage for school supplies & curricula materials, my kids have adjusted to the idea that they will actually get to have FUN with learning, and voila! ~ another homeschooling family is born!
And I have to say, I NEVER thought I would be a homeschooler. See my previous post for concurrence on this; I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I honestly thought that most homeschoolers were a little "sstraannnge". ( And great and mighty is the fall there-of......;-D)
So, without further ado, I'll be the first to admit my snasty hypocrisy, and proclaim my repentance! For I , too, have joined the homeschooling ranks!
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