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 "Homeschooling Isn't About Education" by Chris Dav (currently 1,255 views) |
| Twinville2 |
| Posted on: July 27th, 2006, 9:58pm |
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About 20 years ago, a group of parents began to feel a deep desire to have their children grow up at home rather than in an institutional setting. Thus began what is now referred to as the Homeschooling Movement. These early "homeschoolers" my friend refers to as Pioneers: parents who knew God wanted them to take total responsibility for raising (including educating) their own children. These Pioneers were determined to have their children home during the day in spite of the difficulties (and sometimes the dangers) this decision created.
During this Pioneer stage, there was another group of parents who heard about the benefits of homeschooling, but who decided to wait to see if the Pioneers would be successful before becoming homeschoolers themselves. These my friend called Settlers. Once the Settlers were convinced of the benefits of homeschooling, they joined in. However, unlike the Pioneers, many Settlers weren't sure they would homeschool for the long term so they simply copied the public schools' curricula and sequencing methods just in case it turned out that homeschooling didn't work for them. And, if it didn't, their children could be mainstreamed back into "school."
By the late 1990's public schools were receiving such negative publicity, and homeschooling such positive publicity, many more parents began to consider homeschooling as a viable alternative. They knew little about homeschooling except that it had to be better than the public school. These families my friend called Refugees: parents who were escaping a negative situation, but with no real understanding of what they were doing or why; nor did many of them want to know. They simply wanted their children to be educated as if the children were "in school" but without the negative context they perceived existed in the public school setting.
As I have described the three kinds of homeschoolers above, you may have noticed a very subtle, yet most important, difference between the Pioneers' main desire (to have their children grow up at home) and the main desire of the other two groups (to provide a better education, or a less negative context for their children).
The reason I entitled this article, Homeschooling Is Not About Education is because I think we have a tendency to lose sight of or, perhaps, we have never really understood why we were led to homeschool. I draw this conclusion because what I hear as most homeschooling parents' primary concerns are issues such as, "Will this be the best curriculum for my child?" or "How do I know I'm going to cover it all?"
Let's take another look at this thing called "Homeschooling." We all know one or more families whose children would greatly benefit if their children were not in a public school setting. Yet, these families don't bring their children home. We feel truly blessed to believe in homeschooling and we don't understand why everyone doesn't see the obvious benefits. Why do friends and relatives keep sending their children to "school", anyway? Why do we seem to be among so few who are willing to do this?
I would like to offer my opinion as to why we have become "homeschoolers" and so many others have not: I have a conviction that a historical time is approaching for which a certain "kind" of person will be needed in this nation; indeed, in the world. When this time will come, I don't know, but my sense is that it will come soon. What I do believe is that God has needed a very specific context within which He can grow up this particular kind of person. And, since a lot of these "persons" are needed, God has asked a lot of us to become homeschoolers. What is this context? It is simply a place where the hearts of the fathers have been turned toward their children and the hearts of the children have been turned toward their fathers. It is a place where children are raised to become proficient at the specific giftings, talents, and callings God has placed within them since their creation.
This is the context which every homeschooling family has the opportunity to create. Yet, what disturbs me is that homes-SCHOOLING has become the primary focus of so many of these families. Homeschooling parents are prioritizing something quite different than what was in the heart of God as expressed in the hearts of those early Pioneers when they brought (or kept) their children home during the day.
For those of you who have "brought the school home," let me suggest that you rethink what you are really doing with your children. Do you ever consider what kind of person this little boy or girl is to become by the time he or she leaves your home? Have you ever wondered if God Himself, has placed some very specific talents, giftings and callings in this youngster that He expects you to discover and promote during the child's stay with you? Do such things determine your family's priorities, weekly schedule or the curricula you purchase?
Or as you look toward the "finish line" of your child's time at home, do you simply buy a graded curricula and spend your days plowing through it, because you think the highest purpose of your parenting is to see that your child receives the best education you can provide so you can one day say, "My son has a good job."
If the answers to these questions are something like, "I don't know", or, "I don't want to think about it," then you may be a "homeschooler", but I think you've missed the point.
Even Pioneers can slowly become Refugees. The very word "homeschooling" can cause us all to forget that what we are doing is not about home-SCHOOLING but about creating that context in which we assist God in raising the little ones in our homes to become His men and women who are truly prepared for what is going to happen in their own generation. To be like King David whom God did not identify as a man "with a good job;" but as a man who "served his generation well."
Used by permission.
E-mail Chris Davis
Visit The Elijah Company
FYI from Steve ~ Brenda, Caleb, and I have been homeschooling since 2000.
http://www.blessed2bless.us/by-others/homeschool-not-about-education-by-chris-davis.html |
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| Crystal_Miller |
| Posted on: July 27th, 2006, 10:10pm |
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Neat article. I love "thinking stuff". I liked this part...
"The reason I entitled this article, Homeschooling Is Not About Education is because I think we have a tendency to lose sight of or, perhaps, we have never really understood why we were led to homeschool. I draw this conclusion because what I hear as most homeschooling parents' primary concerns are issues such as, "Will this be the best curriculum for my child?" or "How do I know I'm going to cover it all?"
The reason why is because when I first decided to homeschool (I was not an unschooler at that time) a gal who had been homeschooling for over 20 years told me to write down "RIGHT NOW" she said, "THE REASONS WHY I WAS CHOOSING TO HOMESCHOOL". Whenever I feel "off track" I go to that list and it reminds me exactly why I do what I do and why I don't do certain things. Yes, as homeschoolers, we can get caught up and forget the power of our original decisions.
Whenever I talk to NEW homeschoolers I always send along that advise.
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| Twinville2 |
| Posted on: July 27th, 2006, 11:21pm |
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So true, Crystal.
What never ceases to fascinate me, is how
homeschooling has been a journey for
our family. We are constantly discovering
different aspects of homeschooling that we
like and others that we want to change or
toss.
Our education is not just 'set in stone' as
we are all constantly learning and growing.
We don't have to stick with something that
isn't working or that is boring.
We find different styles and avenues to learn
what we want to know.
These are the some of the main reasons we
all love learning in our home environment.  |
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| inginouity |
| Posted on: July 29th, 2006, 5:49am |
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I think people can homeschool for a plethora of reasons. The reason I homeschool is for example not included in the article. It is purely practical. My son's natural father lives in Spain and I want them to be able to spend time together and with a school agenda this is almost impossible. So, for the moment, I homeschool.
My son was in public school for a year and he got a great education while there. He liked school, he loved his teacher. He also loves homeschooling. It is not always and either or situation. Both can work for a child.
We should be very careful not to become lecturing and patronizing and force our way of life as the right way of life on other people. It is not up to us to evaluate other people's lives and weather or not they "should" really be homeschool. Another thing to consider is that eventhough some people would probably be better off homeschooling and would like to, they are not in the (financial) position to be able to do that. I think of a single parent, for example. I think it is unfair to place a guilt hype on them, insinuating that they are not doing the best for their child when they are just trying to do the best they can.
As much as I hate to be judged by those who do not homeschool, we should be verrrry careful not to become judgmental towards those who choose to not homeschool. Live and let live.
Ginou |
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| Admin |
| Posted on: July 29th, 2006, 4:21pm |
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Posts: 1,794
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| Nicely put, Ginou. |
Elizabeth
Mom to Eric (8 ) and Ruby (4.5) |
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Reply: 4 - 11 |
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| Twinville2 |
| Posted on: July 30th, 2006, 10:55am |
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Quoted from inginouity, posted July 29th, 2006, 5:49am at here
We should be very careful not to become lecturing and patronizing and force our way of life as the right way of life on other people. It is not up to us to evaluate other people's lives and weather or not they "should" really be homeschool.
As much as I hate to be judged by those who do not homeschool, we should be verrrry careful not to become judgmental towards those who choose to not homeschool. Live and let live.
Ginou
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Great lecture, Ginou.
Could you give it to my Stepmom and all her critical friends, too?
I've been dealing with barrels of negativity from them (and an old 'friend' of mine) about our choice to homeschool. My stepmom truly believed that the first year of homeschooling for our family was just a 'whim'. Not something we'd do long term.
But we are going into our 3rd year now, and for us homeschooling is not something we take lightly. For us it is a way of life and involves everything we do physically, morally, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually.
It truly would be nice if everyone could 'live and let live'. What a beautiful world it would be!
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| inginouity |
| Posted on: August 20th, 2006, 5:16pm |
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I'm sorry, the reply to my soap box speech never reached me, so I only now see it. Yes, I am very well aware that there are two sides to the coin and we get stereotyped too. Either we are religious nutcases or we are tree huggers that make our own cheese out of mothers milk, right? Oh, and let's not forget those of us who spend the day spread out on the sofa with a Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos watching Argentinian soaps. Take you pick, ladies, which category are you all in? 
Right after Easter, we had just come back from Europe, my son and I were on the bus back from the Explora, after his workshop there. We were sitting there, minding our own business when this man leans over and says "Shouldn't the little guy be in school?"
I really did not think that was any of his business, because for all the man knew, we could be on the way back from his grandmothers funeral or from some sort of scary medical treatment, but I try to be nice to people, so I replied "He is. I am his teacher".
"Aw, homeschool, huh? And there we got the whole list of generalizations and ignorant questions. He should be around other little boys. No sir, I don't want to run the risk of him turning out like you did. Why do you think you can teach him better than teachers? Well, I am his mother and a sub teacher and àt the risk of sounding arrogant, I don't think I can do much worse than the New Mexico public school system, last time I checked their position on the list of non functioning educational systems.
This went on for a while and I was really loosing my patience, so when the man said something like I was depriving him of a future I told him "Listen. My son speaks 4 languages fluently. A week ago he was visiting a state park close to Barcelona, Spain, with his father. Three days ago he was at a world famous flower exhibition in the Netherlands, with his maternal grandparents. Right now, we just came back from a workshop on chromaticity. You know what chromaticity is or do you need for my son to explain it to you? Really, I don't think you need to worry about his intellectual development.
He was quiet for a while and said "Wow. He REALLY speaks FOUR languages?" "Yeah, would you like to test him, be my guest. What languages do you speak that you can test him in?" No, that was okay. He was quiet after that.
Then a pregnant woman stuck her face in. "Well, my husband offered for me to stay home after our first one was born, but I told him NEVER! I'd go crazy being home with my kids all day". I told her I was glad I was not her kid as I would be really sad feeling unwanted and a burdon. Amazing why she felt she had to justify herself to me, you know "Not that I could not stay home if I WANTED to...."
Blech. So I was nasty for a change. Howmuch are you supposed to accept from total strangers? I live by the Golden Rule. I respect other peoples opinion, even if it is lightyears away from mine. But when they start attacking me personally and critisizing my way of life from a totally biased and ignorant point of view, I feel I have the right to become verbal.
Ginou |
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| Crystal_Miller |
| Posted on: August 20th, 2006, 5:30pm |
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I'm getting lucky with that one now. Especially because Sorscha answers questions like that for herself. She will typically blurt out "I unschool". Then someone will say something like, "oh, homeschool". She'll say, "No I unschool. I have no rules and decide what I want to do". The funny thing is that because she is older now and answers people for herself...I find that they just give me a strange look but shut up and stop the questioning. Life is much easier now that I am not involved in conversations like that...Sorscha shuts them down with a confidence about her life that I love.
I used to think that I should print up a question / answer form and that I could just hand it to people when they began asking, asking, asking. haha
Hey, Ginou. I would love to speak with you. Sorscha and I are going to Italy...hmmm, maybe France, Spain, and Portugal. Might scrap the Egypt and Greece idea...but anyhow..would love to talk to you and get some recommendations. |
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| inginouity |
| Posted on: August 22nd, 2006, 5:03am |
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I'd be delighted. We are in Europe right now, till the 6th of September, but let's get in touch when we get back, okay?
If I run into you on an event and you get a blank look or the other way around, if we have been to events together and I told you the story of my life and now don't remember who you are, please don't take it personal. I have a void in my brain where the names and faces lobe should be. I HATE it, but there seems to be little one can do to train this.
Ginou
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| Crystal_Miller |
| Posted on: August 22nd, 2006, 4:04pm |
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GREAT!!! Email me when you get back in town.
Also...how funny I was just telling my girlfriend in CA about your "bus" experience and your son's 4 languages. She was laughing so hard!!!
OH MY GOSH!!!! I am going to just take the last paragraph for myself. I am the horrible, non-remember your name, blank stare girl!!!! heehee
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| inginouity |
| Posted on: August 22nd, 2006, 6:12pm |
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Will do. You know what also happens to me? I can have a long and nice talk with a person who say works in a shop. Then, when I meet this person outside of the shop, I will know I know this person, just have no idea from where. Like when they are outside of their spot, I get a neuron meltdown and I can't make the connection. Very embarrassing, that can be.
Ginou |
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| Crystal_Miller |
| Posted on: August 22nd, 2006, 7:50pm |
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