Friday, April 12, 2013

I Am Homeschooling My Children

That's it! I've made up my mind, homeschool is in my children's best interest.

It's healthier:
I choose the meals, they can get as much sleep as they need, their exposure to pathogens is not as extensive, AND THEY CAN RUN OUTSIDE AND PLAY WHENEVER THEY NEED IT!!!!!

image lifted from a blog on wordpress
It's Academically Better:
As their instructor (and mom) I can ascertain their individual strengths and weaknesses and tailor the lesson plans to fit. They will not be held back by a one-size-fits-all approach. If they are strong and interested in math, I can give them more math and broaden their horizons by introducing related subjects. If one of them needs extra practice on grammar, we can slow down the pace on that subject.

It's Better For Social Skills:
It's seems counter intuitive that homeschoolers would have better social skills, but the freedom from desks and schedules give us a greater opportunity to meet other people and hold real conversations. My children will be required to use good manners, become skilled in speaking with adults and other age groups, learn to listen when others speak, and disagree respectfully when hearing an opposing viewpoint.

Supirior Academic Skills:
I do not actually have all day to stand and lecture, so they will need to become skilled researchers and students. After the basics in Reading, Writing, and Math, they will be primarily responsible to use the textbooks and do the learning for themselves. I'm there to check the work, offer guidance, and make sure their education is balanced; but ultimately success is their own doing (hmm, just like it was when their grandparents were in school).

Classics! Classics! Classics!
It is impossible to live with me and not be familiar with the King James Bible. They will be reading classic literature: Shakespeare, Dickens, Poe, Doyle, Hemingway, etc (I got stuck in an American Literature class for losers once in high school, and we never read anything above sixth grade level. I thought my brain would die and rot. There will be no such punishment for my children).

History. Real American History:
We will cover both the bad and (most especially) the good of the American experience, not just the "History of the Evil White Man".

Real Science:
I called a teacher out once for this is high school (he was cool about it and even gave me extra credit). Teaching and test questions that confuse the difference between theories and facts drove me crazy then, and it bothers me to this day. I have no problem with teaching a child about the Theory of Evolution, theory of the Alaskan Land Bridge, or the theory of manmade climate change (ha ha). As long as my children understand that these are theories and not established facts, and that there are other scientific explanations for life on Earth, how indigenous people and species arrived on the American continent, and what causes major climate changes and weather patterns.

Religion:
I full well intend to indoctrinate my children. It is my right and responsibility to transmit the values I love and live by to my children. No school can teach them faith, love, or honor; much less the Ten Commandments.

May my children become their best selves. May they grow to contribute to society in a positive way. May they love freedom and responsibility. May I stand before God at the last day, confident that I executed my duty to my children.

3 comments:

  1. Hello! I found your blog through a comment you posted on Glenn Beck's "Blaze."

    I want to commend you for your desire to home school. I spend many hours every year scoring state mandated exit essays written by high school students. Through this experience, I've come to the conclusion that the majority of today's public high school students are marginally literate, incapable of organizing their thoughts, ignorant of history, and focused to a startling extent on romantic relationships. The girls in particular are depressingly vapid and undereducated despite--or perhaps because of--a decade spent in public school.

    The exception is students who have been privately schooled and home schooled. Invariably they demonstrate superior vocabularies, a solid grasp of grammar, and the ability to construct a well organized persuasive essay which their public school and peers by and large lack.

    As a credentialed English teacher, I also substitute teach in my local district's public middle and high schools. What I see in those schools only serves to confirm my opinion of the "education" the students are receiving.

    That any of them manage to actually learn anything of substance is thanks to the rare teachers who are actually attempting to impart knowledge, and despite the system these students are being put through, not because of it.

    You will never regret home schooling your children. And I dare say that your children will one day thank you for the genuine education they're going to get.

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  2. Thanks. I know I didn't know much of anything coming out of high school. At least at the time I had a good idea I was being lied to when they told me how fantastic it was that I was graduating. It took almost ten years to figure out the extend of the brain damage I had to recover from (even today I'm still not sure I've fully recovered).

    I cannot in good conscious make my kids go through the kind of school experience I went through, much less what is being pressed children today.

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  3. I'll add that my kids don't need to conform to the fashion police' standard, Just mine.

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