When people find out we Home School our children, invariably, the question of why we chose to do such a thing dominates the conversation. I do know that people usually feel quite passionate about the topic.
Those who are against it will usually justify their stance by reasoning that Public School was good enough for them and will therefore be good enough for their children. They’ll bring up the issue of “Socialization” and question how your kids can make it in the “Cruel World” if you don’t expose them to it.
Some people are “On the Line” and genuinely interested. They’ll pepper me with questions regarding the logistics of how to educate your children at home. I usually get the sense that it’s something they would really like to do but are intimidated and unsure of their own ability to teach their children.
Now, with that said; I’m not going to sit here and proclaim that Home Schooling is the way to go. It’s definitely not for everyone. It requires a huge sacrifice of time, energy & money. I can only give you some of my thoughts as to why we choose to keep our children home.
The United States of America spends more money on “Education” than any other nation in the world. One would think with that resource behind us, we would see some wonderful results. On the contrary, our student’s scores are mediocre at best compared to the rest of the “civilized world” and falling with each passing year. Every Politician or Teachers Union Representative I’ve ever listened to sounds like a broken record espousing the solution to be more money… fund the schools better. If money is the problem, why are countries all over the world outperforming our students? No, I wish the solution were as simple as money.
I’m certainly no Professor of Education as evidenced by my grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. I have however, been to Public Elementary School recently, and I’ve sat through several days observing classroom teaching. What I saw was a couple of fundamental changes in the classroom environment from my own school days.
First, and most importantly, I saw way too many children who lacked respect for the authority figure, i.e. the “Teacher”. I blame this on the parents mostly. When I was sent to school, the Teacher was “Almighty” and I had a genuine fear of stepping out of line. I knew if my parents found out I was in a world of hurt. Children need to go to school with the proper moral foundation. This is the parent’s responsibility.
Second, I saw no real discipline being enforced. There was certainly a lot of admonishing and threatening being done by the “Authority” figure, but most of the kids knew it was all talk and paid little attention. I blame this on our Nation as a whole. We’ve tied the hands of our educators behind their backs and allow them to enforce no real discipline. When I was sent to school, stepping too far out of line would result in the Teacher yanking me up by the small hairs on my neck and marching me to the Principals office where I’d get a sound paddling. Then, my Mom would be telephoned and that’s when the real punishment would go into effect. In today’s world, when the School calls home to inform the parents of their Child’s poor behavior, many parents will go into “Defense” mode and start questioning what the School did wrong to cause their Child to behave in such a way. If the parents and educators are not on the same page, it’s a recipe for disaster (IMHO).
Lastly, and perhaps the “trigger” that swayed me into the direction of Home Schooling was this new “Feel Good” psycho nonsense teaching method schools are adopting. There are no Winners or Losers, no pass or fail. It’s more important that the children have “self esteem” and feel good about their learning experience. All the children on the team get the Trophy… Not the best of the best. How does this help them to strive to be better? How does this prepare them for the “Real World”?
This issue is just way too complex. I could write a book on all my opinions regarding it. Instead, I’ll just leave you with a short vid that disgusts me on so many levels.
Click Here
I’ve collected some more pix to share, allow me to apologize in advance to anyone about to be grossed out! Please don’t hold these against me, I’m just compelled to post them. Blame it on the “Shock Value” if you will!
Ok… time for a tattoo! But what to get? Maybe a traditional navy style anchor on the forearm… nahh!! How about one of those very kewl tribal tattoos all the guys are getting…? Nope!!
This is simply outstanding! Somebody needs to hand this fella an award. I’d pay good money for this plate! If you’re confused as to the meaning of this, it’s an extremely popular chat-room acronym which translates to…
Have you ever heard of the term “Shaming”? Apparently, there are entire Internet sites dedicated to this art. This practice is especially popular in our nations colleges. The idea is that at a party, if someone drinks too much and passes out… Shame on them! Everyone grabs a sharpie and starts doodling on the persons face, arms, chest, you name it. Imagination is the only limiting factor as to what embarrassment this poor soul will have to endure when they come to. I’ve seen photos of people Duct-Taped to the wall, pyramids of empty beer cans built on top of them, Saran-Wrapped to a chair… you name it.
