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MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 10:13:33 AM
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Jenny-Fair
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(Mods, you can move this to parenting, but due to the bolded part of the quote below, I thought it belonged in here--since the question is specifically to HS parents)
quote:
From Maverickmom:
I have many many concerns about home schooling in general. I have home schooled for short periodsof time with three of my four children, but mostly due to their health resons. Keep in mind that I followed the curriculae of each school district I lived in at the time, and also keep in mind I was at least a licensed teacher when I undertook this endeavor. I am interested in the basic fundamental reason why people feel inclined to home school their children. I welcome these responses. I also am willing to act as an advisor or resource if anyone needs there services.
Taken from the Butting Heads thread, this question really needed a thread of its own.
_____________________________
Tony: Ziva, did you kill Houdini?
Ziva: It is possible. I do not remember all their names.
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 10:23:53 AM
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Jenny-Fair
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From: WA
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Maverickmom, welcome to our forums.
quote:
I have home schooled for short periodsof time with three of my four children, but mostly due to their health resons. Keep in mind that I followed the curriculae of each school district I lived in at the time,
One reason I homeschool is so that the children are NOT forced to follow the school district's curricula. One curriculum is not good for every child, and each child needs to be directed in a way that matches their talents and difficulties. Homeschooling provides this freedom, and my children and I have thrived on it.
quote:
and also keep in mind I was at least a licensed teacher when I undertook this endeavor
Teacher licensing is for teachers who will be teaching large groups of children that are not their own. It is unnecessary for a mother who already knows her children far better than anyone else, who has been teaching them since the day they were born, and who has a vested interest in the outcome. In addition, it encourages a public-school-model, which most homeschoolers do not try to emulate.
quote:
I am interested in the basic fundamental reason why people feel inclined to home school their children.
There are a million reasons, or more. For us, it has to do with freedom, individuality, the failure of the school system to properly educate either myself or my ex-husband, what I saw my five younger brothers and sisters go through during their school years, family life, the fact that I don't think life should revolve around an institution for 13 years, and the fact that I don't think an institution is actually a good place for children. Homeschooling is very natural, IMO--the way things ought to be. Children learning from their older family members, gradually branching out into the world with guidance from them, keeping the innate love for learning that young children have before they are forced into a classroom environment, etc.
_____________________________
Tony: Ziva, did you kill Houdini?
Ziva: It is possible. I do not remember all their names.
My Blog
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 10:27:58 AM
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PrincessDonna
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I don't currently homeschool (unless you count my 3 year old), but some of my reasons and motivations when we did were...
-medical...I have a medically "interesting" kid and we were able to keep him more well at home
-financial...my husband and I did not want him in public school due to our own experiences there and those we have seen close-up, but Christian school is expensive (he is now in Christian school...we make it work, but it is not easy)
Those were the reasons we started homeschooling. Some things that we noticed that we loved once we had started...
-flexibility time-wise. Time to be together as a family, without having to worry about homework or fundraisers or other "school" stuff.
-flexibility with curriculum. If something wasn't working, we could try something else. In the CS, if something isn't working for one kid (Abeka phonics, in this example), they can't just scrap it for the whole class...so he just did poorly and never really got it.
-teaching to mastery. I didn't grade him, though we only went to the middle of 2nd grade and that may have changed later on. Focus was on mastery and skill attainment, not on keeping moving for the sake of the class.
-I know my child. No one else will know my child in the ways I can. God gave him to me.
-being with my kid. In the end, yes, we put him in CS, but there is always the option of bringing him home again. I miss him when he is gone. His younger siblings miss him too. It is good for the family unit to be together as much as possible and healthy for all, IMO. I do think he will be home again some day, though not this next year.
The bottom-line, fundamental answer I think you will get here is this...God gave children to PARENTS to raise and teach. It is up to parents to decide how that is best done, and it is not always homeschooling for every kid in every circumstance. But Biblically, it does seem that homeschooling would be the default setting for schooling, with exceptions made as God leads individually.
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 11:08:57 AM
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Consecrated2God
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For me, homeschooling is pretty much all I've ever known. My parents homeschooled me from the time I was very young all the way through high school. I did very well, and felt I had a well-rounded education. My husband was also homeschooled, and both of us believe that we received a good education through homeschooling. We decided to follow our parents' examples and homeschool our own children.
There have been times when I've wondered what it would be like to send them to public school, but I can't do that. I want to be able to teach them from a Biblical worldview, and I don't want them going to a school day after day that teaches them that the world evolved from nothing. I want to able to shape their minds myself and not have to undo the teaching they would receive under someone else's teaching.
I don't find homeschooling difficult. It's a big job and it takes a big time committment, but with my background I understand how homeschooling works and how to get the most out of it. I don't have the same fears that many others do about how they will survive in the real world. I know from first hand experience that it's a non-issue.
Homeschooling is the only option for our family. I have never seriously considered doing anything else.
< Message edited by Consecrated2God -- 7/18/2008 11:37:06 AM >
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 11:30:50 AM
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bzirk
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I homeschool because first and foremost the Lord prompted my husband and I to do it. But the practical situation that brought it about was my son's struggle with reading due to dyslexia. The school was and is not equipped to deal with students like him. It was better to bring him home and teach him one on one. The year following his homeschooling year, we brought our daughters home to be schooled. I can't say enough good about the freedom to learn that has accompanied that. I understand that classroom learning is an appropriate decision for some, so I'm not knocking that, but for us it's been a boon for my kids to be free of the classroom structure. I believe they have been able to learn much more at home than they would have learned in the classroom setting. Again, that's been good for my kids, but I realize not everyone is the same.
As to curricula that is used in classroom situations, some of it is fine, and some of it is not a good fit for homeschooling. What I don't want to do and soon got away from when my kids came home to school was trying to duplicate public school or classroom learning at home, which includes embracing the idea of grade levels. I ditched that by the beginning of the second year and have focused on mastery of skills instead.
_____________________________
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Great quote: I just ain't God and don't know it all. -- SonInMe1
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 12:28:42 PM
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Homegrownkids
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We homeschool because we feel this is what God has called us to do. I can choose curriculum and books that bring up God's plan for our lives. Today, we had sex education/health, Bible Reading and History. All 3 books brought up God, it didn't just "touch" on it, but we could do a whole devotion from each one. I really like that.
We also homeschool for family togetherness. My older children get to live and help care for a baby. All day long we are striving to get along and use the fruits of the spirit in our attitudes. If we weren't together, I highly doubt someone else would be getting on my kids' cases to remind them of how Christ wants them to react and respond to others. They also learn the day in and day out of family life. Not just a few hours each evening.
Also, we like the flexibility. We might be tied down to doing school, but school doesn't tie us down. Does that make sense? I don't have to worry about getting the kids up and leaving the house at a certain time, nor do I have to make sure they are getting home safely. They are here.
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 12:38:12 PM
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Jenny-Fair
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I love that flexibility, too, homegrown. The boys only see their dad a few times a year, when he has to be here on business. No matter when it is, they can take the time off to see him.
I know a family with three daughters. The eldest is married and living in Europe. The family wanted to take a month's vacation and go stay with her, taking their youngest daughter with them. What could be MORE educational than a trip to Europe in the 4th grade? Nope, not good enough for the public schools...they told the family they couldn't go, and if they did, there might not be room for their daughter when they came back! They have homeschooled ever since.
Another family I know is seriously considering homeschooling after finding out that the grade school has been locking their second grade son in a room by himself for an hour every day. One good reason to homeschool is so that you actually know how your child is being treated!
_____________________________
Tony: Ziva, did you kill Houdini?
Ziva: It is possible. I do not remember all their names.
My Blog
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 12:47:29 PM
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cynthia
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I have been homeschooling for nine years. In that time, I have learned a ton about education. I do not have a degree, nor am I a certified teacher. That doesn't mean a thing. What matters is that I know what I need to know to teach my children. The tutoring method of teaching is usually the best method, as it is individual instruction for each child. Homeschooling is the tutor method of instruction.
As we have progressed in academics, my education has also progressed. I am now helping other parents and mentoring them in homeschooling their children. I've even had a public school teacher come to me for advice regarding the education of her own children and how to meet their academic needs and to overcome the struggles they were having. She knows I have educated myself in instructing children and as a homeschooler I have many resources available to meet the educational needs of my children.
It doesn't take a degree or a certification to be a good teacher. There are many teachers with degrees and certifications that are terrible at their jobs. There are also many that are great at their jobs. Frankly I don't think it's the training that makes the difference. It's their attitude and commitment to teaching children and helping them to excel. Any teacher, homeschool or institutional, that has a good attitude and the commitment for teaching the children under her care can be successful, because that teacher will seek out the information, training and help they need so they in turn can meet the needs of the children they are instructing. However, student/teacher ratio does matter. When a mother is in the home environment teaching her own children as part of her parenting and daily life, it is a much easier task to help the students excel than if she had a roomful of children. Add to that the fact that a mother can much more easily teach her own children who she knows intimately and can relate to rather than a teacher with a roomful of strangers who all have different backgrounds and ideas. That does take special training for most people, but is irrelevant to the mother at home with her own children, especially when she is intimately connected to the living God who gives her knowledge, understanding, wisdom, power, love and sound judgment.
I homeschool my children because I don’t see the point in having someone else do it. I have complete control over all the materials and curriculum used for each of my children. I don’t have to use the same thing for each of them, but can tailor the instruction to each individual need. They are being taught from a biblical perspective in all of their learning. We are building the foundation for their adult lives, so that when they leave our home they will have the personal maturity and base of knowledge and understanding that they will be able to walk in wisdom. This is much easier for me to do when everything we use to instruct them is specifically chosen to fulfill this purpose.
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The devil isn't winning, but he wants you to think he is so you will give up and let him win. Often the battle is hardest before the victory. You may get bloody, but that doesn't mean you are losing, it only means you are fighting.
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 12:51:47 PM
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Jenny-Fair
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I keep thinking of reasons! LOL
Time saved. It takes much less time to homeschool than it does to go to PS. In addition to that, much of what they do 'recreationally' is counted toward their school time--swimming, karate, volunteer work, spinning guilde, etc. This means my children are able to do extracurricular activities without being exhausted, as I frenquently see PS kids, including my youngest sister, who always seems to be tired.
_____________________________
Tony: Ziva, did you kill Houdini?
Ziva: It is possible. I do not remember all their names.
My Blog
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 12:58:52 PM
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narnia
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Why do I homeschool?
1) God told me to
2) Dh also wanted us to
3) I want my blessing (my child) to be able to read, write and do 'rithmetic
4) I don't want her innate charm to be teased out of her
5) She will have a lot less comments about her hair, her looks, her skin color since she will be home with me
6) We won't have to put up with comments about how I'm not her mother since we are not the same skin color
7) We can have Bible as part of our day without her being told that she can't talk about God, can't bring this or that subject up if it involves Him, etc..
8) No hassles about taking off for the Feast Days
9) No hassles about taking off for our winter vacation
10) She won't be indoctrinated with the nonsense that there's nothing wrong with having sex as long as it's "safe sex"-since there is no safe sex until you are married and having sex with your spouse (hat tip to Cynthia)
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 1:40:35 PM
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misaham
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Well put, Narnia! (And everyone else!)
Sometimes the answers are too many to put into words!
In our case, the school district even admitted that they have nothing to offer my son. He is emotionally behind, but academically should have been working at a 7th-8th grade level, even though he was only in the 5th grade (last year). He is not a textbook learner. He is much more hands-on and needs time and attention to be challenged. He was also bullied for not being an "average" kid.
Our daughter experienced bullying as well, mainly for her faith and strength of her convictions. She still has school nightmares and is so happy to not have to face the constant criticism and ridicule.
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Lake Erie, here we come!!
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 1:46:07 PM
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shadowspring
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WARNING: EXTREMELY OPINIONATED POST TO FOLLOW
If we look at the big picture of human history, institutionalized mandatory "education" is a nothing more than a modern experiment. And I submit, a failing experiment at that.
In both states in which we have lived during my children's school years, the public schools have been and still are failing. Only two-thirds of high school students will make it to graduation. Of those who graduate, how many will become successful adults (successful meaning able to earn a living wage and have stable personal and professional relationships)?
The idea that children will become better socialized by being age-segregated and locked away from interaction with the greater society is ludicrous. Public education was designed for children who were being groomed for factory work. That would be the only people group I can see benefiting form America's public educational model.
And let's be honest, it would be the factory foreman who would really benefit. It just made it easier for the children, once grown, to be satisfied with being locked away for eight hours in a building doing monotonous work with your peers nearby.
That will not work in the economy our children face. World competition will favor the innovative and the entrepreneur. There are cheaper factory workers in India and China.
What do children get out of being age-segregated with disinterested adults deciding what they will study and when? Bored, disinterested children who come to despise what passes for "education".
Children who were forced to be socially peer-dependent from an early age will follow the crowd when they're teenagers, or choose to be counter-culture because they figured out a long time ago that their parents were poor and they could never achieve acceptance in the "successful" group no matter how hard they tried.
Yes, in our public schools there is great emphasis among the children on having the best clothes, latest electronic gadget, coolest jewelry, etc. Even in schools that go with uniforms there are all those little add-ons like shoes and watches that differentiate between rich and poor.
Busing, far from helping poor kids achieve more by putting them in wealthier districts, emphasizes the differences in family income. In neighborhood schools of yesteryear, where everyone was poor or rich together, kids were not nearly so aware of income disparity. (My mom would say, "We were poor, but we didn't know it because so was everyone else we knew. We never felt poor.") They were free to achieve without the shame of having ill-fitting hand-me-downs, because there was no one around in designer clothes to shame them.
Every year our FL support group helps parents and children who have been failed by the public school experiment rediscover joy in learning and in being themselves, loving their families at whatever their income level or social background. At the beginning of the home school movement, there were very few of these public school refugees. Now I would say half of the people who join our FL group have already tried public school and out of love for their children said "I can not in good conscience put them through that for another year."
This is not to say it fails everyone. If your parents are on staff at the school, your teachers will have a vested social interest in you as a student. If your family has the money to keep you in the latest styles and gadgets, you will be accepted socially in the right groups. If your parents are willing to teach you all over again when you get home (i.e. help you with your homework), you will probably do well in public school. (A friend who has some in public and some at home refers to her children as being day-home-school and night-home-school). If you are especially attractive and athletic you are likely to succeed in public school.
Public school is to me the pop-tart of education. It is fortified with vitamins (the academics) and has icing and sprinkles (all the accoutrements that bring kudos to the wealthy, attractive and athletic students from supportive homes). Pop-tarts are superior to starving to death, and so public education is superior to illiteracy and ignorance.
By my family gets a home-cooked breakfast every day. Eggs and toast one day, berries and cream on another. We get book work done by noon, leaving plenty of time for pursuing their own interests in computers, Tae Kwan Do, sports leagues, drawing, Sudoku, writing poetry, learning foreign languages, and reading. Learning is an adventure for my children. They do not equate learning with drudgery like so many of their public schooled friends do.
My children learned their social skills from the greater society around them: group lessons and activities, park days, tutors along with the way mom and dad treat each other and the good people in our world. They learned about race relations by playing football in the inner-city community leagues and hanging out in our church's youth group, plus the friends they have in their own neighborhood. (Not to mention that my unit on the Civil Rights Movement is far more detailed and in-depth than anything I was ever exposed to in public school!)
They have visited four foreign countries, and we have had foreign exchange students from three different countries live with us. Plus our neighbors through the years have included Palestinian Muslims, Lebanese Catholics, devout Hindu Indians, devout Jewish New Yorkers, and people who are not into religion from China, Russia, and Mexico City. Since my children don't limit themselves to friends of the same age, they have gotten to know the adults and little children in these families as well as their age peers.
If I had to send my children to public school, they would do as well as anyone could expect to do. We have the income to dress them in clothes that will gain them acceptance by their peers. They are both reasonably attractive people of decent physical fitness. They score above average to amazing on all their standardized tests, so they should be able to easily handle the academics. And I would be super-supportive, helping with home work and volunteering to help the school where I could.
But I love the days we have spent together, and don't regret a single one. If I had to do it all over again, I would choose home schooling again. It's just an awesome way to enjoy your family and raise successful adults.
_____________________________
 "All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost..." -J. R. R. Tolkien
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 2:04:22 PM
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bzirk
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Okay, another opinionated post to follow. 
One of the biggest perks to homeschooling is how it has made our family closer, and we were already pretty close. What's really cool is how our kids are very close to each other. Yes, they have other friends as well, but they're close friends with each other. What I mean by that is that they actually like to be together and talk to each other, hangin' out as it were. A couple of weeks ago one of my kids commented on how she knows siblings who barely interact with each other much less like to spend time with each other. She commented on how she was glad she actually liked her siblings, and then my other kids chimed in and said they really believe it has to do with the time they get to spend together -- that they're not segregated as they would have been at school. One of them made a crack about the parents they hear say, "My kids have got to go back to school soon because they are about to kill each other," or other statements to the effect that their kids need to go to school so they can get a break from each other. Sad.
What's really sad is that there are people who think siblings being together a lot is unhealthy. That is how much sick indoctrination intitutional schooling has done to our pscyhes - - that it's actually a bad thing to spend a lot of time with your family, that being segregated from the family for 30+hours a week is the healthy choice.
_____________________________
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Great quote: I just ain't God and don't know it all. -- SonInMe1
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 2:06:31 PM
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Jenny-Fair
Posts: 6635
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: WA
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quote:
What's really sad is that there are people who think siblings being together a lot is unhealthy. That is how much sick indoctrination intitutional schooling has done to our pscyhes - - that it's actually a bad thing to spend a lot of time with your family, that being segregated from the family for 30+hours a week is the healthy choice.
Absolutely spot-on.
_____________________________
Tony: Ziva, did you kill Houdini?
Ziva: It is possible. I do not remember all their names.
My Blog
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 3:32:34 PM
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PatricksPeaches
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From: Michigan
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I chose to home school for many of the reasons already posted. The main reason for me was the peer pressure my daughter was facing already in kindergarten. She was being made fun of for not having brand name clothes and shoes. And also being teased for being fat. (she is not fat) I know we can not shield our children from this all the time but KINDERGARTEN, come on! I also didn't like the fact that the public school seems to demand so much money from parents. Money for field trips, fundraisers, book sales, etc. Field trips are good but if you don't have the money, your child gets left out. Doesn't seem fare to me.
Not that long ago school and church went hand in hand. I believe it should still be that way. Our children are not allowed to talk about God or creation in public school. I personally don't want someone else's doctrine forced on my child. I want to instill morals and values that I think are Godly/correct , not someone elses opinion of Godly/correct.
My dd is used to being around different age groups and I believe it helps her to have compassion for others. She knows how to treat a baby and an elderly person. She is not stuck in the bubble that she can only relate to her own age group. She is learning valuable life skills, as well as basic knowledge. She still gets peer interaction at church, AWANA, VBS, Community Bible Study, and softball. I think home school is the way it was meant to be!!
_____________________________
*Robin*
I am not claiming to have all the answers but I'm holding on to the one who does!
-quoted from a song by 33Miles called Come With Me
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 6:28:05 PM
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cynthia
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From: Beautiful Puget Sound Region
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There are a lot of advantages to homeschooling, but I guess I no longer care about the advantages over other options, because we wouldn't consider them anyway. I just feel like there is no need to do anything else. My eldest is about to enter the high school years and I still don't see any point in sending her to the local school for her education. When she's had two or three years of high school, we'll start working on college by sending her to the community college, probably Liberty University (on-line) and having her take CLEP tests. I thought when we got to the high school years I'd be a lot more nervous, but actually the last few months I've been more calm and satisfied with where we are than I have in all the years we have homeschooled. I can see the fruit of my labor and am enjoying it now more than ever.
< Message edited by cynthia -- 7/18/2008 6:43:31 PM >
_____________________________
The devil isn't winning, but he wants you to think he is so you will give up and let him win. Often the battle is hardest before the victory. You may get bloody, but that doesn't mean you are losing, it only means you are fighting.
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 8:20:37 PM
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cindybode
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From: Northwest PA
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I would be interested in knowing what MaverickMom's "many, many concerns" are. I'm certain they're nothing we haven't heard before, but it would be nice to know that we have, in fact, addressed her concerns in our replies.
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If you lock in any creature, from rats to chickens to pigs to people, 10 to 30 or more in a box and force feed them you'll create little monsters. Confinement Education School Operations (CESOs) just don't compare to naturally pastured free-ranged kids.
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 8:20:59 PM
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VisitorinWaiting
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You know, I almost didn't post a reply here. I thought you other ladies were doing a mighty fine job of explaining why we choose to homeschool our children...and informing others that it's usually NOT for the reasons that they think it is.
We choose to homeschool our children because...God told us to. I was teaching in the public school. I was unhappy about how other teachers told me how wrong I was to share Christ with my students. I was told that if the principal found out, I'd be in trouble. Teacher's aides would come into my room to "help," see that I was talking about the "real" meaning of whatever holiday, and they would turn around and leave to go find an authority figure to tell. I never got fired, but I probably would have, had this continued. I COULD NOT be around all of those children all day and not share Christ. It was just impossible for me. Seeing those little lives...some that had never heard about Jesus, and what they had heard was in vain...just made me so hungry for showing them the way. I didn't neglect my job...they knew how to read, how to write, and how to add when they left my Kindergarten class...but I thought they needed more than that, because they did. So, when I met my husband, he said that he would like for his wife to homeschool. I was like, "Uh, no, that's not me. See ya later!" He didn't push, only asked me to pray about it. When I did, God led me in a whole new direction. If you'd asked me 8 years ago if I'd ever consider homeschooling, the answer would have been NO, wholeheartedly. The ONLY way I was changed was by God's leading.
We also choose to homeschool because I don't want my children to see/hear what I saw/heard. As a student, a five year old student, in KINDERGARTEN, I came home from my first day at school saying a very bad "phrase" along with a hand signal that went with it. I had never heard those words or saw that hand signal before...so, I didn't know it was bad. I said it to my mother, and she asked me where I had heard it. I told her the name of a classmate. I never said it again, but just goes to show what one day with the wrong children can do for a child's mind. Also, as a teacher of KINDERGARTEN, a little boy used God's name in vain aloud in my class one day when he lost a game of alphabet bingo. 20 other children heard it... I am glad that mine will not be one of the 20 that will hear something like that in a Kindergarten classroom.
There are many reasons, but these two are the forefront in my mind. My children are dear to me, and if I err with them, I'd rather err on the side of too much protection rather than too little.
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Hebrews 11:13,16 "...They said they were like visitors and strangers on earth...they were waiting for a better country, a heavenly country." (NCV)
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 9:01:03 PM
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Jenny-Fair
Posts: 6635
Joined: 4/11/2005
From: WA
Status: online
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I actually love these threads. I think it's good for us to remind ourselves of why we do this, and also to see the many, sometimes very diverse, reasons that everyone else does!
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Tony: Ziva, did you kill Houdini?
Ziva: It is possible. I do not remember all their names.
My Blog
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RE: MaverickMom's answers (why we HS) - 7/18/2008 9:14:10 PM
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sen10tious
Posts: 379
Joined: 4/11/2005
Status: offline
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quote:
I am interested in the basic fundamental reason why people feel inclined to home school their children.
I have about two dozen ways I could answer that question. All of them wind their way back to God's call. But as to the "basic fundamental," I have a fairly clear memory of the triggering event: My kindergarten teacher lied to me. And she insulted my mother. Oh, not intentionally really; she was just behaving like a programmed licensed and certified teacher.
When I was three, I wanted to learn to read. My mom taught me the alphabet. She made some flashcards out of old shirt-cardboard. I know my mom got a kick out of teaching me. I loved feeling smart! We were out shopping one day and came across a book bin of discounted publisher over-runs. There were some early readers in it! My mom snatched them up. I had some 'real text books!' Wow! Better than a doll baby!
A year later, I was so excited to go to half-day kindergarten! We had a picture-matching Think and Do book. The book was all pictures, no words; except down at the edge in tiny print were instructions to the teacher. I liked trying to figure those out. I knew many of the words, and my mom had taught me some 'phonetics' the way she had been taught (back in the 1930's) so I could figure out most of it.
One day about a month after school had begun, and in bubbling exuberance, I told my teacher I could read, that I had already read the next books. We had those at home and my mom had taught me!
Nice saintly kindergarten teacher turns into the wicked witch of the west and tells me my mother should not have done that. I remember part of what she said verbatim, "She might have done it wrong!" As a five year-old kid, I had no idea how you could read wrong. It seemed to me that you could either read, or if you had 'done it wrong,' then you would not be able to read.
Over the years I came to realize that the "certified" teacher wanted us to learn the "look-say" approach. Too late. I was reading everything I could get my hands on and Phooey on her!
But there was an emotional component to the story as well. The teacher had said my mom did something wrong. I had been taught to respect teachers. My five year-old self could not put these two things together and make sense of them. Why would my mother do something wrong like that? I was totally bewildered and for the first time in conscious memory, I didn't have anyone I could talk to about this. I felt like I had to sort it out all on my own, except to tell God. Eventually I concluded it was the kindergarten teacher who was wrong and I did not like school so much anymore.
I guess you could say that I am inclined to project that first traumatic encounter with a certified teacher into a basic fundamental reason to homeschool.
quote:
…also keep in mind I was at least a licensed teacher when I undertook this endeavor
Yes, I did that. But God started showing me stuff about the value of a license when I was very young and had child-like faith.
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