Home Schooling

In order for my son to get his science education at the level that the public schools thought he should be at, I home schooled my son part-time for one year. It worked and it has made a huge difference on his life. During the process, I met with the county curriculum specialists multiple times a year. This was to make sure my instruction was synchronized with the county instruction to my son would be aligned properly when he entered the public school system again as a full-time student. The curriculum specialist who reviewed my science instruction gave me accolades; and in fact, told me that I thought more proficiently than most of the science teacher actually out the schools. She asked if I would be interested in teaching home schooled students as their science instruction was usually extremely poor to non-existent. I said "N0." and the main reason is that I think home schooling is wrong.

The wrong people typically do the home schooling and for the wrong reasons. If home schooling i done then it should be by parents who at least have college degrees, and never by anyone who does not even have high school degree or a GED. the thought that they could instruct a child past elementary school is ludicrous.

The primary reason as expressed by home schooling blogs is parents want complete control over their children, and the reasons why they want such extremely levels of control is due to problems they had in their childhood. This is a self-centered (nothing to do with the actual child but instead the irrational fears of the parent) and control-freak approach to raising children and to life in general. Children are individuals separate from their parents. They may make some of the same choices in life but chances are they will make different ones. Parents should guide, not control. I even read where one parent's attitude was so immature as to blame the public school system and her school peers for getting into trouble! My guess is that she is raising her children to view the decision they make in the same manner; that if their decisions end up being incorrect it has to be due to someone other than themselves. Her children will never fully mature just like the mother has been unable to do.

Nothing in life is perfect and the public school system falls into this category just like everything else. But it exposing children to multiple teaching styles. As the children are away from the parents, it allows children to find out better who they are not just who the parents want them to be. Different clubs and after-school activities facilitate this. It allows the children to develop appropriate social skills; and yes, this is sometimes through failure and difficult situations, but they learn and grow and mature. They make their own decisions and must learn to accept these as their decisions no matter what the consequences are. Home schooled children tend to have all of their decisions made for them by their parents as they are constantly sheltered from life, and all that comes with it. A protecting parent is always in their lives. No risk, always safe, and totally unreal. Home schooling is wrong.