My uphill battle to educate the world about homeschooling has just become steeper this week due to our lovely media. In case you missed the Good Morning America piece on Monday, April 19th, and then their follow up piece on Tuesday, April 20th, here's a story from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that includes video footage from both days on one page: http://blogs.ajc.com/momania/2010/04/23/should-we-be-unschooling-our-kids/. The firestorm of articles and blog posts has continued all week to the point where I am now being labeled a "child abuser" because I homeschool my kids! Thank you to The Huffington Post for again providing another perspective on a mainstream media topic with Lee Stranahan's article "Unschooling: How Good Morning America Got It All Wrong" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/unschooling-how-igood-mor_b_543880.html. Things are going to get even worse for homeschoolers with the new E! show Pretty Wild which features the antics of three "homeschooled" girls and their many problems. I feel I must watch to see what our "poster children" are up to! I recently saw a list of 10 celebrities that homeschool their children: http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/04/10-celebs-who-homeschool-their-kids/, and I'm not sure how I feel about my company!
So where does that leave our family? Like most homeschoolers, we attempt to resist any labels about how we homeschool since we take from a variety of different philosophies (as I've mentioned in previous blog posts.) However, I really feel the need to defend the unschooling movement right now because it seems so wrongly portrayed. In 2008, I had the good fortune to hear Sandra Dodd speak at a conference. Here is a link to her website: http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling. For me, she was really the first one to put into words the many thoughts I already had about education. I really recommend her book, Sandra Dodd's Big Book of Unschooling. She has great ideas about homeschooling, but equally great ideas about how to be a loving parent.
From Sandra Dodd, I moved onto learning about John Holt (1923-1985), a former teacher who is often referred to as the "father of the unschooling movement." He wrote many books on the subject over the years, including publishing a homeschooling newsletter for 24 years, Growing Without Schooling. His book, Teach Your Own, is pretty much the homeschooling bible. These are just a few references about unschooling, and I personally feel that if you have kids, you are "teaching" them
so you may be interested in these books regardless of whether or not you're a homeschooling family. HOWEVER, if you are commenting about unschooling (and I'm talking to you George Stephanopoulos) then PLEASE do your research and find out what the basic principles are first. Really, who can argue with this concept: "We learn from everyday life experiences, and we learn what we learn when we need to learn it." It's really that simple. Think of times in your own life when this has proved true. There are endless examples. My friend homeschooled her son his entire life -- no formal schooling at all -- he is now 15 and at a public high school earning an A in his algebra class -- no prior formal math instruction -- and he's being recommended by his algebra teacher to go to math competitions representing his school. There's even talk of his wanting to become a math teacher in the future. So yes, it is true that homeschoolers can move in and out of the school system without difficulty. If you have ever voiced some sort of doubt about whether a homeschooled kid can go to college later on or hold down a job as an adult, I urge you to look at the evidence supporting these kids and open your minds to homeschooling.
Showing posts with label prejudice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prejudice. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Scarlet Letter "H"
I still find it very difficult to tell people that I homeschool my kids, and I've been doing it for three years. I've been told that it gets easier, but I haven't noticed that yet. You'd think that with estimates being close to two million homeschooled kids in the United States, people would have a better acceptance with the idea of homeschooling, but I think homeschoolers are still hotly prejudged.
One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we can do "school" whenever we want, and we are able to make use of the less-crazy hours of the day to schedule dentist and doctor appointments, go shopping, and have fun. Unfortunately, it's during these "school hours" that we encounter the most ridiculous questions. They usually start with, "Is school out early today?" and end with, "But how do you know if they're learning anything?" when we attempt to explain our lives.
I've thought of different ways of handling these questions such as: handing the questioner a pre-printed fact sheet, answering my new response: "See my blog," or just deflecting altogether: "We're happily living the lives of morons." Better yet, maybe we should just go out in public with the big scarlet letter "H" for "homeschooling" around our necks so everyone knows our crime.
My dental hygienist is a personal favorite "questioner." I've gone to the same hygienist for over ten years. Being the dental snob that I am, I actually request her when I make appointments, and she keeps notes on what equipment to use on me. If she ever moved or retired, my teeth would probably fall out of my head. Plus, I like her. However, I think it's because I only see her every six months, and where I always remember every conversation I've had with someone, she can never remember that I homeschool my kids. We usually get started slowly. It usually goes a little something like this:
"How's work?" (She knows this because it says I'm a nurse on my chart.)
"Busy, everybody decided to get drunk and go to the ER over the weekend."
"Oh, do you only work weekends?"
"And Mondays, some Tuesdays."
"Oh, so what do you do the rest of the week?"
"I homeschool my children."
(She backs away from the teeth scraping with a puzzled look.)
"But how do they get their socialization?"
(This is fun to give a one-liner to when your mouth is full of sharp objects.)
"Well, they've done scouts, ballet, Irish dance, hula dance, tap dance, church, choir, youth group, chess club, soccer, baseball, basketball, golf, karate, archery, science classes, art classes, drama classes, music lessons, play in a band, gone away to camp numerous times, and go to a homeschool enrichment program that is essentially a 'school' 2 days per week."
"But aren't they missing something?"
(Here's where I give the puzzled look. Seriously? Am I really being asked this?)
"Like what?"
"Like tests, how do you know how they're doing?"
(Wait a second, I guess she gave up on socialization.)
"I let my kids take the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) test every year, and they always pass despite the fact that I have not taught from the test the whole year as the schools do."
"But how will they get into college?"
"Colleges love homeschoolers because they are self-starters. There are also community colleges, online universities, ACT tests, and SAT tests that can get them where they want to go."
"I just can't imagine doing that."
I can't tell you how many conversations I've had that have gone just like this!!! And then I'll have the same conversation with the same people again! Homeschooling is still an idea that people just consider "weird" despite whatever evidence there is to the contrary. Compounding the problem is that many homeschoolers remain quiet about their practices for fear of losing their right to homeschool. If you're interested in seeing how this right has been threatened, there are many cases documented on http://www.hslda.org.
One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we can do "school" whenever we want, and we are able to make use of the less-crazy hours of the day to schedule dentist and doctor appointments, go shopping, and have fun. Unfortunately, it's during these "school hours" that we encounter the most ridiculous questions. They usually start with, "Is school out early today?" and end with, "But how do you know if they're learning anything?" when we attempt to explain our lives.
I've thought of different ways of handling these questions such as: handing the questioner a pre-printed fact sheet, answering my new response: "See my blog," or just deflecting altogether: "We're happily living the lives of morons." Better yet, maybe we should just go out in public with the big scarlet letter "H" for "homeschooling" around our necks so everyone knows our crime.
My dental hygienist is a personal favorite "questioner." I've gone to the same hygienist for over ten years. Being the dental snob that I am, I actually request her when I make appointments, and she keeps notes on what equipment to use on me. If she ever moved or retired, my teeth would probably fall out of my head. Plus, I like her. However, I think it's because I only see her every six months, and where I always remember every conversation I've had with someone, she can never remember that I homeschool my kids. We usually get started slowly. It usually goes a little something like this:
"How's work?" (She knows this because it says I'm a nurse on my chart.)
"Busy, everybody decided to get drunk and go to the ER over the weekend."
"Oh, do you only work weekends?"
"And Mondays, some Tuesdays."
"Oh, so what do you do the rest of the week?"
"I homeschool my children."
(She backs away from the teeth scraping with a puzzled look.)
"But how do they get their socialization?"
(This is fun to give a one-liner to when your mouth is full of sharp objects.)
"Well, they've done scouts, ballet, Irish dance, hula dance, tap dance, church, choir, youth group, chess club, soccer, baseball, basketball, golf, karate, archery, science classes, art classes, drama classes, music lessons, play in a band, gone away to camp numerous times, and go to a homeschool enrichment program that is essentially a 'school' 2 days per week."
"But aren't they missing something?"
(Here's where I give the puzzled look. Seriously? Am I really being asked this?)
"Like what?"
"Like tests, how do you know how they're doing?"
(Wait a second, I guess she gave up on socialization.)
"I let my kids take the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) test every year, and they always pass despite the fact that I have not taught from the test the whole year as the schools do."
"But how will they get into college?"
"Colleges love homeschoolers because they are self-starters. There are also community colleges, online universities, ACT tests, and SAT tests that can get them where they want to go."
"I just can't imagine doing that."
I can't tell you how many conversations I've had that have gone just like this!!! And then I'll have the same conversation with the same people again! Homeschooling is still an idea that people just consider "weird" despite whatever evidence there is to the contrary. Compounding the problem is that many homeschoolers remain quiet about their practices for fear of losing their right to homeschool. If you're interested in seeing how this right has been threatened, there are many cases documented on http://www.hslda.org.
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