NO! We are not ready to put them back in public school. We have nothing against teachers in general. We are very good friends with both current teachers and retired teachers. We ask them for advice. Some of the very curriculum that we use - and love - were recommended by teachers (some of it they wish the public schools had stuck with, like Saxon math).
Some of the negativity, though, goes beyond those who know us. So much of it comes from people who have no clue. They may know us from way back when, but know nothing about our children or our lives. Mere acquaintances, yet judge us so harshly.
Now to be fair to many of our critics, there are some families out there claiming to be homeschooling their children when reality they are not making any attempts to educate their children in the subjects deemed necessary even by the State of Illinois, which is one of the less strict states regarding homeschooling. We do use an eclectic approach - we feel this gives us the "best" of all the choices of curriculum out there. We ARE choosey about our children's education. We want our children to have the best education available to them, just like every other parent out there. The biggest difference that I can see is that we are willing to put in the extra time, money, and effort to make our homeschooling experience a success. Not so that we look good as parents, but so that our child will have a solid start as they venture out into the world when they are older. It takes some major sacrifices to homeschool your children. We have just chosen to dedicate ourselves to willingly making those sacrifices to accomplish our goal.
So, this post is to better clarify any misconceptions about how we, at Sisney H.O.U.S.E., are traveling along our homeschooling journey. These may be kind of randomly ordered statements, but I hope it will EDUCATE some of those anti-homeschool people who seem so smug in their opinions of how all of us homeschooling families are "screwing up" our children's lives. Those folks are so far off, at least in our case...
1) We don't really care if our views on homeschooling (or any other subject) are politically correct. We are registered voters (as a matter of fact, Alan and I are registered as opposing political sides) but we vote for the man best suited, in our opinion, for the position regardless of his political affiliations. Seems like in the U.S. today, politics has gotten so far out of hand, that I wonder sometimes if it wouldn't be better to do away with political parties and just make the candidates stand on their own to vie for office. No lobbyist. No "you owe me" contributors. Just each candidate standing there telling us his views and offering his solutions. What we base our homeschooling views on is Biblically correct. We strive to base our whole lives on God's Standards, not man's.
2) Which leads to a frequently asked question of, "Are you homeschooling for religious reasons?" First of all, I hate the word "religion". Anything can be a person's religion. I take my FAITH and my personal relationship with JESUS CHRIST very seriously. But we are NOT solely homeschooling strictly due to "religious beliefs". Many, many factors played into our decision to homeschool. Those reasons, though, are ours and ours alone. Not everyone chooses to homeschool for the same reasons. And we don't have to please anyone except for the State of Illinois Board of Education - which by the way, we are well within the legal requirements. We go above and beyond the requirements of Illinois homeschool statues. For our children, and for them alone.
3) Going 13 years through public school does not make a child brilliant. It's the time and effort put into teaching a child that defines whether or not they will be a smart, productive citizen. Like in every profession and in every aspect of life, there are the "good" teachers and there are some really "bad" ones. Teachers come in all forms. Holding a piece of paper that states a person holds a degree does not guarantee that person will be a "good, qualified" teacher. Some of the smartest people out there have absolutely no common sense. It is our belief that anyone who learns to read and develops of love of not just reading, but of learning, will succeed at whatever they set their minds to. Yes, some subjects are harder to learn than others, but if the willingness to work at it, the eagerness to learn about it, and the mind is open to it, we believe that anyone can learn about anything. There are so many ways to learn, and the key is to finding how your child learns best. What works for one child may not be the best approach for another...even with the same family.
4) We don't blame the teachers for the many problems we see facing the public schools. A teacher can only do what a school allows him/her to do. A teacher can only teach using the curriculum and techniques available to them through the school. No public teacher should ever have to spend the very paycheck they are earning from a school district to turn around and purchase needed supplies for the classroom. And the problem isn't falling totally on the schools, even though it is the school board who decides what programs are cut. It's the government telling the school districts what they can and cannot teach, that they must "teach to the test", etc. If public teachers could get back to the job of teaching and not have to jump through so many hoops of red-tape, serving as baby-sitters, etc., the public schools would return to their former days of being institutions of higher, quality education.
4) Our children are not ignorant. You see, while your public teachers are being over-worked having to deal with "problem children", dealing with parents to don't care about their children's education, and are having to deal with an over-crowded classroom with a wide range of abilities, we are sitting at home (or sometimes outside or sometimes out on a field trip/outside class) putting our focus on our subjects at hand. It doesn't take us up to 20 minutes to get our class calmed down and ready to begin a lesson. We don't have to spread 1 teacher thinly across a room of 20+ students, some of whom need a lot extra help - from both their teacher AND their parents at home. We are concentrating on one thing: learning.
5) We begin our school year the day after Labor Day, take Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday off, take from Dec. 24th - Jan. 2nd off, take a week off for Easter Break. We still get the required 178 days of school in. Depending on the year, sometimes our school years have ran 187 days. We don't take off for teacher institutes or for the little holidays, or even for snow days. I put in long hours, before and after school preparing our lesson plans. We learn about those holidays instead of spending the day doing nothing. And when the roads are icy? We have the choice as to whether we stay in where it's nice and warm or whether we'll bundle up and explore the beauty an ice storm leaves behind. Our school year always ends, required attendance complete or beyond, by Memorial Day.
6) In response to "if I homeschooled my kids, they'd be experts on...", there is nothing wrong with sharing your interests with your children. If you don't believe you are capable of homeschooling your child, then you never will be. If you are dedicated to the process of learning, ANY parent can homeschool their children and do it successfully. The difference in our homeschooling family and those who choose not to, sometimes is as simple as parents who don't want to spend that much time with their children. Remember when kindergarten was non-existent? It was created to help those children who did not get the educational boost they needed from home. Then kindergarten went to a full day because parents had the dilemma of needing a baby-sitter for the rest of the day. Then Preschool was developed to help those children "at risk", but again parents decided they needed free childcare. Our children already face 12 years of school and then college years. Why anyone would want to stick their young children in Pre-K at age 3 and be content with the fact that they are "out of my hair" until they graduate out of high school amazes me. What happened to bonding with your children? We enjoy spending time with our kids. We enjoy being able to eat 3 meals together at the dining room table. We enjoy teaching them new things...there is nothing better than to see that look of "I did it!" on your child's face when they master something new. Why would a parent ever want to miss out on that?
7) To those who think parents should have a degree to homeschool their children. First of all, since God created man and then made woman from that man's flesh and told them to "be fruitful and multiply", parents have filled the role of "teacher". Who knows your child better (or at least should)? I am not asking to teach a room full of students. I don't want to teach a classroom full of children. I am only concerned with my children, and giving them what my husband and I consider the best education.
A better question might be, "Do you have a big college degree or credentials or a fancy framed license that specifically qualifies you to raise your children?" The only difference between those of us who homeschool and those who do not may be the simple fact that we homeschoolers are more attentive to what we want our children taught, want to be more involved in their school curriculum choices, and care more about whether our children are actually learning or just going through the motions. I am amazed at the number of parents who happily drop their kids off at school, have someone else pick them up, and maybe - if the child is lucky, the parent may glance through all the papers in their backpacks over the weekend. I can hear the heads "boiling" right now, but I am telling you that as a reading club leader and a parent who attentively watches everything my kids do during Tae Kwon Do, that I have had conversations with parents that leave me feeling sorry for the child who is the topic of the conversation and makes me so thankful that we do homeschool. Parents need to be involved in their children's education! Personal involved, not leaving it up to the teachers or the baby-sitters.
8) To the person who stated that an education is more than just the three "Rs" - well, duh! Homeschooling lets us broaden our schooling experience to cover so much more than the just basic public school requirements. How many foreign languages can you speak? My newly-turned-7-year-old is learning Spanish as part of our regular school lessons, American Sign Language through a music group which performs their songs in sign language, and is learning Korean through her Tae Kwon Do lessons? Will she be able to speak proficiently in 4 languages by the time she has graduated from high school (and I mean graduated with as many, probably more credit hours, than the public schools require)? Probably not. But right now, at age 7, she knows more of those additional languages than most adults do.
This same person seemed proud of the fact that school teaches kids to hate an alarm clock going off each morning. What an odd statement to make! Our children get up and do at least one chore before school begins and they still like getting up and facing the day. Teaching children to be good stewards of their time and to have good ethics is something every PARENT should be doing. It's a shame to blame the public schools for making people hate their morning alarms go off.
And this same person gave all the credit for learning to read to the public school. I believe that a parent should be reading to their children from the beginning of their young life. Yes, school - of any form - reinforces the lessons of learning to read. But any parent who has not spent time teaching their preschoolers the alphabet, the sounds a letter makes, started them writing, and recognizing simple words have done a huge injustice to their children. Not because I knew we were going to be homeschooling, but because I am a PARENT, all of my kids knew most, if not all, of everything they would be taught in kindergarten before ever beginning that first school year. As a homeschool educator, our reading curriculum not only has the kids reading long before the 100th day of school, but helps them continue to develop a love of reading, which leads to a love of learning.
9) To the socialization of homeschooled children, I offer these definitions to start the topic off:
According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, socialization is defined as" the process by which a human being beginning at infancy acquires the habits, beliefs, and accumulated knowledge of society through education and training for adult status."
This same dictionary defines the word "socialize" as "to talk to and do things with other people in a friendly way."
I must tell you that my children have plenty of time to socialize...not only with kids their own age but we also make it a point to offer them lots of opportunities to interact, or socialize, with mixed aged groups, too. Family, friends, Sunday School & church, library reading club, missions groups, Power of Praise (where they are learning to perform songs using American Sign Language), Tae Kwon Do, community service projects, 4-H, attending programs and festivals in the community. We go on at last 12 field trips each year. We host fall hayrides and play dates year round. All these things provide a well-rounded socialization. Once again, it is not the public school's job to socialize your children...kids need time to play and "be a kid" at home and in fun social settings. Just because we pick and choose what type of settings and/or what children we want our children to socialize with, doesn't make us wrong or bad parents. It means we are teaching our children to be particular about whom they call a true friend and not to always "follow the crowd". We ALWAYS know where our children are and whom they are with...can most parents honestly say that? Or are there many out there thinking, "Well, they are SUPPOSED to be..."?
Just because our children are not at a public school each day, does not mean they are "missing out" on socializing with kids their age. And think about it...students are supposed to be sitting at their desks, NOT talking for most of the school day. Their recesses and lunch break time have all been cut back. How much socializing do public school kids really get? Sitting at their desks being quiet is NOT socializing.
Please do not assume that just because we are a homeschooling family, that we are keeping our kids quarantined at home so that world doesn't contaminate them. Do not assume that we are "religious fanatics". Do not assume that during our homeschooling experience that we never touch a book or sit down to learn a subject. Do not assume my children are stupid or that I am not qualified to teach my own children. Do not assume we do not keep school records or do not use a grading system. Do not assume anything about our family. Do not judge our methods until you have come and spent some time with us during our homeschooling experience.
We may not be doing school the way you think it should be done, but our children ARE receiving instruction in
the branches of education taught in the public schools and in the English
language. All instruction is in compliance with the requirements of
Chapter 105, Section 26-1 of the Illinois School Code, commonly known as the Compulsory
Attendance Law.
I wonder sometimes, just how many parents of children in the public schools even bother to check into what the laws regarding Illinois schools really say. I, for one, check them each summer so that we can keep up to date on any changes that may have been passed.
I know these "Bashing Homeschooling" posts have been long. If you have patiently following along from start to finish, I thank you. Thank for for sticking around. Thank you for allowing me to vent a little. I'll leave you with one last thought that maybe would have sufficed all along:
It all comes down to the fact, I guess, that we here at Sisney H.O.U.S.E. aren't too concerned about the methods other homeschooling families are using. We aren't in a contest to out-do someone elses's schooling experience. We shouldn't even care what anyone else thinks about our eclectic approach to homeschooling. See, we don't care if we are doing it "socially" correct or "politically" correct in the eyes of the world. We only care that we are putting forth our best efforts and striving to give our children a homeschooling experience that is done correctly in God's eyes. Which means we don't worry about being a worldly school but a Biblically based school. And not just our schooling experience, but we feel this way about every aspect of our lives. If you think that makes us "religious fanatics" or "Jesus freaks", well, then maybe we are. Because...
" If serving the Lord
seems undesirable to you,
then choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve...
But as for me and my household,
we will serve the Lord.”
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