Homeschooling Wins Hands Down

I cannot entirely agree with the ideas I've read about recent in regard to ideas of play-and-learn teaching. In my own experience and seeing children in public, private, and home school settings, I have to say that homeschooling wins out hands down.

For traditional public schools, there is little to no individual attention from the educator. Children and their individual problems slip through the cracks at public schools. There isn't enough time in the day for a teacher to sit down and really work with the students one-on-one and find out what the individual needs are. Further, we have hurt our own education system by devaluing our teachers. They should be evaluated annually and paid according to their actual worth and input towards their classroom. Tenure is a lackadaisical way of keeping a school staffed, and it invites complacency. If teachers were evaluated and their income and continued employment based on these evaluations, I believe it would give a whole new outlook to how hard they work towards meeting the individual needs of all of the students in their class.

As for private schools, while the class size is smaller, they too fall short when looking at the individual needs of each student in the class. One such example is a preschool teacher at a local Christian school. After eight years of faithful employment where she is required to send her children to the same school by which she is employed, she was told that she would be passed over for a promotion to a full time Kindergarten teaching position because the principal knew she had just had a new baby and was worried she'd miss too much work, or that she would find herself too busy at home to give proper attention to her job.

This is unfair labor practice to begin with, and it caused her to become so unhappy with the school and its administrators her attitude this year is "I'm going to work and doing only what I have to do and no more, and then I'm going home." That is certainly NOT the kind of attitude we want for the teachers of our children.

None of this even takes into consideration the fact that this same teacher currently is teaching 3 year-olds , 4 year-olds, and young 5's. She gets no specials (gym, music, art, etc) and no teacher's aid. She also gets no planning time and she is still expected to prepare lesson plans for 3 separate class groups. A regular grade (teacher K - 12) gets specials, teaches only one age group and usually maxes out at 22 - 30 children. This teacher has 3 classes of 20+ students - that is triple the amount of children for whom she is responsible. And then the community wonders how kids can slip through the cracks.

Even our day care laws are more strict than what is happening in this situation. Day care laws in the state where this is happening require 1 adult provider for every 6 children and in a 6 child group, only 2 of the 6 are allowed to be under 3. with such strict laws on day care and such lax policies on teaching is it any wonder kids just don't get the proper education even in private schools where parents pay a great percentage of their annual income to enroll their child(ren)?

At a local Montessori school where my child attended for 1/2 of the school year (2nd grade), she was sent out side to play in inclimate weather because the teachers just "wanted a break." My daughter ended up with pneumonia and subsequently missed 2 weeks of school. Their laziness cost me the fees for multiple doctor appointments and medicines as well as stress and worry with a sick child. When I called the school to pick up daily work to keep her up to date, I was told that she wouldn't miss and work, and not to worry about it. I was astounded. She was going to be out at least a week, per doctor's orders, and she wouldn't miss any work? What did they do all day? The second week she was out, I also called and was told the same thing. Two weeks of school missed and no work missed? Impossible! That right there finalized my decision to pull her at the end of the 2nd semester and start homeschooling.

Additionally, at this same Montessori school, there were no desks or chairs in the class room. When I questioned this, I was told that the children were to sit cross-legged on the floor and do their writing. I wondered how they could do handwriting properly then, so I asked. I was told that they were to stand up at the counter or lay on the floor. This was mind boggling, and also, not what I considered a good education. And here so many people just raved about how good a Montessori education was for children. Sorry, but I disagree with them also.

Finally, home school is best. It allows for sick days without absent from school. Children can still attend school at the dining room table or work at their given work space and not infect anyone in the public. It allows for doctor an dentist appointments and still gives the child one-on-one time with the educator because the educator is also the driver who takes them to and from these appointments.

The big argument with home school is that children who are home schooled do not get socialization skills. Have you seen the behavior of some of the children in school? Taking guns, knives, and drugs to school? I have never heard of a school shooting at a home school. Even the Amish community, as secluded as they are, had an incident in recent months and it was a complete stranger who just had one off day and wrecked the lives of others forever. None of this happens in home schools.

Also in home schools, there is no chance of a child slipping through the cracks . With daily one-on-one attention from the educator, all the child's needs are being reviewed on nearly a daily basis.

Another big complaint towards homeschooling is that parents don't have the time. If done properly, homeschooling takes 2-4 hours each day. It is a shame if parents cant spend 2-4 hours with their kids each day. Also keeping this in mind, if parents can't spend 2-4 hours daily with their child(ren ) it is no wonder those kids grow up to be in gangs and participate in school shootings.

Finally, for those who say they don't have the patience, if they have the patience to sit down and read a story to the kids, then they have the patience for home schooling.

The value of classical education is less, far less, in this writer's opinion, than what children deserve.

''Sierra St. James
You can read more of my writing at either of the links below.

http://sierra-stjames.blogspot.com/

http://www.amishlesbians.com/