Fresno Family Homeschooling Pages:
"Why
I Believe in Homeschooling"
By
Tina Smith, Fresno Family webmama
This
is entirely my opinion. And I do believe everyone has
the right to make their own decisions for their own
children. And I also do NOT believe that ALL children
should be homeschooled, nor do I believe every family is
capable of doing it, or should. There are children that
thrive in public or private schools, and there are
parents that are homeschooling that shouldn't be. That
said, here's some of the many reasons why I personally
believe in homeschooling, with all my heart and soul.
I am so excited about homeschooling! I get to continue
to be with my children all day, every day, and will
continue to truly know who they are and be the most
influential person in their lives! Of course there will
be times when we all need a break from each other, and I
will plan our schedules to include things for the kids
away from mom and things for mom away from kids, to help
keep us all sane and appreciating each other. But the
thought of being the one who gets to see the light in my
children's eyes when they "get" a concept or see
something new for the first time...oh, that's just so
exciting! I am staying home with my 4 year old daughter
now because I want to be the person who raises her...I
want to be the biggest influence in her life...I want to
be a part of every aspect of her growth...and that won't
change simply because she grows to be "school age." If
anything, that's when even MORE exciting things will
start to happen!
I am really looking forward to all the things I will get
to learn with my children! There are so many subjects
that I either never got a chance to learn in school
myself or didn't get adequate time on. I just LOVE
learning new things...and I am looking forward to
learning things right along with my kids! I am really
jazzed about sharing this love of learning with my kids.
The world is just full of wonderful things to learn! And
they say the best way to learn about something is to
teach it! I have always found that to be true!
I have always loved teaching...I love children and
sharing the excitement and love of learning with them
and showing them and teaching them new things...I LOVE
THIS! If I sent my children to a school, someone else
would be their teacher...I want it to be ME! And there
are so many things that I can do with my kids to enhance
their learning experiences that cannot be done in
schools. I have so many ideas! I already have curriculum
books and will continue to acquire more and I am forever
reading all the wonderful homeschooling websites out
there and learning new ideas...I can't wait to get
started!
Then there's the whole issue of what I DON'T want them
to learn...I have so many reasons why I want to
homeschool, and of equal importance is the reasons I
DON'T want them in school...
I was not homeschooled...I know how public and private
schools work. I grew up in the military and went to way
more schools than could have possibly been healthy
(civilian and military schools). We moved ever year or
two. In second grade I had 3 schools and 4 teachers!
(That was an unusual year.) What I remember from school,
the things I DON'T want for my kids, (and I think this
is typical of many schools, though admittedly NOT
all)...I remember not getting the personal attention I
so wanted because the teachers could not possibly give
it with so many students to care for. I remember having
to learn subjects that didn't interest me in the least
and not getting to spend enough time, if any, on the
subjects that did interest me. I remember being at the
mercy of a bell and the clock. I remember having to fill
in worksheets and take tests...and homework, oh god the
homework. I remember taking home stacks of heavy books
daily and after spending hours of burning my brain on
stuff that mostly didn't stay put in my memory during
the day, then having to spend MORE hours at home at
night doing more mindless exercises in cramming as many
facts and concepts into my brain as possible, hoping
that it would then make me have better grades and higher
test scores... Oh sure, there were things that actually
stuck, and I can't say that I didn't learn a thing in
school. Of course I did. You can't spend 13 years at
something and not get something out of it! But the
percentage of what I learned compared to what I could've
learned is so low! It seems to me that there's a reason
they try to cram so much at students. So much of it
doesn't stay.
And I remember dreading having to go to school. That
can't be conducive to learning. I remember so often
hating school. Not always, not every day. But so much of
the time. Oh I know there are a lot of kids who LOVE
school. That's great! I wasn't one of them...neither was
my husband, or my brother or father or mother...I
couldn't tell you off the top of my head of any adult in
my life that loved school...though I just told you of
several off the top of my head that disliked or hated
school.
And then there's the social issues. I wasn't unpopular
as I recall...so I really can't say I had it that bad
for most of my school experience...god help all the
"different" kids that got picked on daily. I didn't
really experience that much until I hit junior
high...then I REALLY got a taste of it. People say this
kind of stuff toughens you up and prepares you for the
real world. HOW? I'd like to know how being tormented
and teased and made to feel worthless daily is supposed
to make you a better, stronger person. Did it work on
all those kids that have lost it and shot up their
classmates? How about all the people who are still
dealing with self esteem issues that stem back, at least
partially, to the bullying that they endured as a child
in school? Why is depression such a common ailment in
our country? Certainly it can't all be blamed on the
schools, but how could bullying and teasing possibly
help? And here's another thought...why in the world
would it be a good thing to learn to be tough? I don't
want tough kids, I want caring, loving, sensitive and
happy-with-themselves-and-the-world kids. Honestly, I
don't think you learn this at all in schools. I think
there are remarkable teachers out there who do many
positive things with kids, but if you're looking at a
child's entire school career...I really feel there's WAY
more negative for my children in going to school than
there is positive.
There's just so many reasons why I want to homeschool...of
course I will also throw in that I don't want my kids
exposed to things that are commonplace in schools like:
foul language, sexual harassment (even in elementary
schools!), physical violence, bullying, substance abuse,
racism, sexism, classism, materialism, kids that come
from dysfunctional homes that have SO many issues to
expose my children to, and disrespect for authority. And
not all teachers should be teachers. Yes, there are some
WONDERFUL teachers out there, and I have great respect
for them! They have one of the toughest jobs in the
world, second only to mothering! But there's some pretty
horrendous teachers out there as well...and they can be
SO damaging to developing little people. How many of us
can tell horror stories, of our own or someone else's,
of some nasty horrible thing a teacher did that we
remember vividly. I had a 7th grade social studies
teacher that used to tell us that if "they" had just
left Hitler alone that he would have "gotten rid of" all
the bad people in the world! When I was in 3rd grade I
got in trouble for talking to a friend during class and
got sent to the corner where I was forgotten for well
over an hour! I was humiliated and heartbroken. Not
conducive to learning nor feeling good about yourself.
When I was substituting in a local public school a few
years ago I witnessed a teacher SCREAMING in a student's
face (maybe 7 or 8 year old). I don't care if that child
is the devil incarnate, there's NO excuse for doing
something so degrading and nasty to a child. Teachers
have a hard job, no doubt...but these sorts of things
are not at all uncommon and parents of children who
attend school are not around to witness this nor are
they always to hear about it. Kids don't always tell
their parents all that happens in school.
I won't go any further into the reasons I don't want my
kids in school...I'm not trying to badmouth schools
here. I'm just sharing my thoughts, and what makes me
feel so strongly about homeschooling. I want the people
in my life who question my reasons to homeschool to know
my feelings...and hopefully understand that I'm not
going into this lightly. This isn't some whim of mine.
I've been researching and reading and learning and
talking and exploring these possibilities for years
before I even got married. When someone asks me why I
would want to homeschool, I want them to know that this
is VERY important to me and why. I've even started to
surround myself with homeschooling families. Thank
heavens we live in a city that has a fairly large
homeschooling population! My kids will be surrounded by
other homeschoolers (and non) and will always have
people in their lives of all ages. And I want others to
be part of their homeschooling...I want their Daddy and
grandparents to also teach them things. I want them to
learn the value of learning from so many different
people. I want so much!
I am not against kids learning in groups...I don't think
its as positive as people say it is...but I also don't
think its bad, per se. I do believe in mixed ages
though. I don't think having kids grouped by age is
necessarily a good thing. Life doesn't work that way.
School is the only time in anyone's life that they are
in a large group the same age! There is so much to learn
from other ages, though. There are so many studies out
there showing how positive mixing ages is...I've seen
it! I used to work at a private school that had very
small classes and the ages were mixed with up to 3
different grades. Children learned at their own level
and were very much involved in their education. And they
helped each other! This is how I plan to homeschool.
I believe in a mix of "unschooling" and waldorf
education and reggio emilia and montessori and enki and
so many different techniques and ideas that I will
discover along the way and come up with myself...I'm
very eclectic. I will personalize for each of my
children.
I will teach them to love learning and we will take it
day by day and revel in the wonder of life. And some
days we'll stay in our PJs!!! I want my children to not
have the stress of waking to a buzzer every day and
rushing to get dressed, eat and get out the door at a
specific time...and running from thing to thing all
day...I want them to be able to be children, and learn
things in a relaxed setting. In an environment that is
set up in a way to be enriching and beautiful! I think
things like color and shape and texture and sound are so
vital to healthy living. I want my children to learn
appreciation of nature and natural things and visit the
wild on a regular basis. I want music to be a crucial
part of their daily living, including learning
instruments when they are ready. And I want to learn to
play some instruments with them and for them. I want to
learn guitar to sing with my children and to beat tribal
rhythms on conga and bongo drums... I want art to be an
ever constant thing in their lives...I want my kids to
paint daily and sculpt and create things with stuff
lying around the house. I want them to grow up learning
how to sew and knit and crochet (boys too!) and woodwork
(girls too!) and any other craft their heart desires. I
want them be exposed to other cultures through books and
music and art and food and people. I want my children to
explore their spirituality right along with me and learn
that god is everywhere and in all of us and can be
physically felt in natural things. I want our home to be
a place that just feels so good...to be, to do, to live,
to laugh, to love...I want it to be warm and uncluttered
and beautiful to look at and have a feeling of comfort
to all who enter, and especially for those of us living
there...I want my children to grow up with "smell
memories" of baking bread and cookies and homemade soups
and stews and holiday treats that will forever take them
back to happy childhood memories and a feeling of love
that surrounds them forever. I want all of this and
more. This is homeschooling to me...this is life.
Because homeschooling is more than just learning your
abcs or how to do long division or the elements present
in water. Homeschooling is instilling a lifelong love of
learning and learning how to LIVE. Something that so
many of us are still trying to learn as adults.
