Home Schooling

There was a pretty large homeschooling contingent at my undergrad.  One of the features of going to a Christian institution.  It wasn't necessarily a good or bad thing but...you could definitely tell who the homeschool kids were.  Voice just a little too loud? Clothes just a little...off? There's a reason.  Now, I should say, a chunk of my own family homeschools, with great success, and I also know some other people personally who came out of homeschooling well-adjusted, happy, super smart and generally lovely people.  But someone just recently posted this link on my facebook, which lays out the top 12 reasons to homeschool.  I think almost all of them are more good guidelines for how public schools need to adapt than anything else.  And some are just wrong.  So now, given my love of lists and public education, I am going to go through them.

1. Learning is customized not standardized

My goodness why is this not true everywhere?  As Rick Hess has pointed out, the utopian worldview of edu-folks has led to "a 'differentiated instruction' community which offers a strategy of reform predicated on the notion that, if every teacher is exquisitely trained and does everything just right, it's possible to effectively teach children of highly variable achievement levels together in a single classroom." As he (I think) rightly points out, this is a pipe dream.  BUT that doesn't mean that every child should not be receiving an education that is tailored to their levels of ability.  It just means we need to stop thinking about it in a single-teacher-30-student model.

2. Associate with those you enjoy rather than those who share your birth year

Again, there is no reason why we structure schools the way we do, based on birth year alone.  Social promotion has done no favours for urban schools, and actually leads to some of the problems in item (1).  However, this is also a point where I fundamentally disagree with the list.  One of the things the author states as an advantage for home school is that, "At home children can choose to be with those whose company they enjoy."

This is great for them.  Until they leave their bubble and oh wow most of us have to spend large chunks of every day with people whose company we do not in the least enjoy.  Or even just people we could take or leave.  Dealing with these people is a skill one should absolutely develop, and however homeschool parents may think they are replicating it with their own children (church, play groups, homeschool groups, etc) there is just nothing to replace being stuck in a room with someone you don't care for for 6-8 straight hours.  Welcome to life.

3. Freedom to learn with their tools

Again, I wish this were true in public schools.  But fortunately, I think this one is slowly changing.  As we learn more about mobile technology, more districts are incorporating laptops, cell phones and tablets into their curricula.  Also, an advantage of learning about these tools in a school setting is that you encounter a variety of views about the use of them - some teachers will want them in every class, others will want them put away immediately.  Hey, it's almost like how in the real world, you will have some bosses who will check their blackberries 18 times per meeting and find it unprofessional of you not to answer emails at 8 PM, and other bosses who will demand everyone shut phones down as soon as a meeting starts.  It's almost like school is a training ground for life or something, and dealing with many different kinds of people, who may or may not align with your own style, is part of the training.

4. Socialize with those who share your passions not just your zip code

See item (2).  Almost exactly the same, except instead of "end social promotion", my point is "utilize the internet".

5. Real life measures are better than bubble tests

Okay, I can't respond to this one without just directly quoting the reasons the author gives for homeschooling being superior on this point:  

"In school we measure students success with bubble tests and response to prompts.  At home we measure success by what children accomplish that matters to them. Some teens like Leah Miller have developed their own personal success plan. She sets her goals and then assesses her success in meeting them."

First of all, excellent point on the bubbling.  That is absolutely not how we should measure students, and we absolutely should have measures that are important to them and relevant to their future.  But I'm not sure that a "personal success plan" is right either.  Again, let's imagine, if we could, that school is some kind of training ground for real life.  While if you work for Google, you might be allowed to imagine your own success and judge yourself on it, this is not the norm.  In pretty much every other job, there are external goals and deadlines you have to meet, regardless of whether or not they match your "personal success plan".  But I think probably homeschoolers do a better job of balancing the relevant/irrelevant goals than public schools do.  We should fix that.

6. Don’t just read about doing stuff. Do stuff!

Maybe if certain people (homeschoolers love Republicans, by the by) stopped cutting off funding for public schools or demanding all funding go to increasing reading and math scores, public schools could do this, too.

7. Travel when you want

See item (6).  Also, one of the points that the author makes is that often public school schedules don't make sense for family travel plans.  There is no reason why public schools need to maintain an outdated schedule designed to aid the agricultural cycle.

8. You are more than a number

Here is the quote from the list: "In school the only things students have to show for their work are numbers and graphs known as report cards, transcripts, or data reports."  Given that this list was written by a public school administrator, I have to ask...what on earth is she telling her teachers?  That should absolutely not be all children have to show for their work.  And I don't think it is, in the vast majority of schools, where the vast majority of teachers are competent and hard-working.  If this administrator is seeing her students going home with only "report cards, transcripts or data reports", she should do something about that.

9. Do work you value

The vast majority of teachers work really hard to ensure that the work their students are doing is meaningful and valuable to them.  Unfortunately, "accountability" for teachers has gotten translated to "test scores" and teachers are forced to do a whole lot of meaningless test prep.  On this one, both parties are to blame.  We have not figured out a really good way to hold teachers accountable.  But fortunately, I think this one is coming along, as well.  Denver is doing neat things, NYC schools have recently adopted a more equitable evaluation system that will allow teachers to do more than "teach to the test"...we're slowly figuring out how to do it.  

I should note, the author of the list opens it up by saying, "Education reform is happening today, but it’s slow and often ineffective. Parents need to do what is in the best interest of their children, right now."  So she sort of speaks to this point.  However, getting actively involved in your child's education (finding out who the best teachers at your school are, checking their homework, contacting teachers if you feel your child needs enrichment, etc) can tap into great resources that are available at almost every school.  It should also be noted that most homeschool parents are not pulling their kids out of inner-city schools.  They are more likely to be whiter, higher-educated, higher-income and religious.  Ie not Title I school material.

10. Independence is valued over dependence

This is starting to get a little repetitive, so I'll just say...same basic point.  Public schools do need to work on having more independent, student-driven learning experiences.  At the same time, getting used to accommodating the learning/working needs of others is part of life, and working toward other people's goals and deadlines is just a reality.

11. You don’t have to waste learning time with standardized tests

Overall, of course, I agree with this.  See item (9).  But the author says, "In school students and their teachers are spending a large percentage of their time preparing for tests and testing even though test have little to no role in real life. My last test was more than a decade ago. How about you?". Uh...sorry lady, my last "test" was yesterday.  And no, not because I'm in school.  Because "test" doesn't mean just standardized tests.  It means performing in high pressure situations.  I had to write a memo to send out to a whole department at work in less than an hour.  I had to sit through a meeting and take notes and use those notes to sound like I knew what I was talking about with my boss.  Standardized tests in their current form, unfortunately, don't have a whole lot to do with real life.  But the process of performing on command is absolutely part of real life...unless maybe you're an administrator?

12. No more meaningless worksheets and reports

Amen amen.  I think 90% of public school teachers would agree with you.  Now, Ms. Administrator, if you could just take care of all the discipline issues in every classroom so that every teacher could concentrate on meaningful, engaging activities with his or her students, that would be great.  Thanks.