The "Why" of Homeschooling

When the idea of homeschooling first came up, my daughter was still a baby. My husband seemed to think it would be a good idea, but I shot it down. When he asked why I wouldn't want to homeschool, I said with vim and verve, "Because when she's five, I want my life back!"

I've told this story before, and also the part about how my mom tried to tell me, "This is your life now," but it took a long time for that truth to sink in. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy being a mother. It was simply that I was 35 years old and used to a certain freedom, and this radical new path of motherhood took some getting used to.

By the time Beezy was three, my husband and I were definitely leaning toward homeschooling. I can't for the life of me remember what caused this change of heart, but surely it was a God thing. And books by John Holt and John Taylor Gatto were influential. Despite the belief that we were following the Divine Will, I was not Catholic at the time that my child's home education began in earnest, and religion wasn't at the top of the list of reasons for this choice.

Since then I have become profoundly aware of the Church's assurance that parents have received the responsibility and solemn authority to be the primary educators of their children. Parenthood is truly a divinely decreed vocation. That does not mean that Christian parents must homeschool. But the Church says that a true education must be a Christian one, with the purpose of all study being directed toward the supreme end of getting one's children to heaven. A Catholic school could certainly be a valid choice, if it faithfully adheres to the teachings of the Church on education. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. But even if one's parish school is excellent in the realms of both religion and academics, some of the same concerns that parents have about government schools also apply here.

The secular humanism that indoctrinates children in public schools has also crept into parochial ones. The Common Core standards of the federal government that have recently been adopted by most states in the U.S. bring with them a mediocre and morally questionable curriculum that requires increased hours spent in testing and preparation for the tests. Funding is withheld from schools that do not adopt Common Core. And while it is only the subjects of math and English that are currently being hijacked, the long-term plan is to infiltrate all subjects and to establish an invasive tracking program that follows people from the cradle to the grave. I fear that Catholic schools which have adopted Common Core put their traditional aims, purpose, and freedom at risk.

There are also those intangible but crucial considerations of the well-being of the family that come into play in the question of education. Sarah MacKenzie, in her book Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace, explains this perspective so eloquently:

"Our children are not projects. If, by the grace of God, we can manage to remember that our children are all made in his image--and more importantly, if we can treat them as such despite the mess and the chaos--then we will really be able to teach from rest. Therein lies the reason we've taken on this arduous task of home education at all--because a government school would not see our children as the image bearers that they are. After reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, there would be no Morning Offering, no Nicene Creed. They would miss countless opportunities to love on their siblings and form deep, meaningful encounters with each other, with us, and with material chosen specifically to nurture their souls. We want all else to pale in comparison to our quest toward honor, virtue, and wisdom."

Though I have not completely ruled out the possibility of a Catholic parochial school for my child, I have serious reservations. The school day and year have grown increasingly longer over the course of American history. In addition to the standard school day plus transportation time, homework and extracurricular activities leave little space for families to spend time--of either quantity or quality--together.

Since its advent, government schooling has sought to weaken the authority of parents. Teachers and the peer group exert undue influence. One benefit of the Catholic schools is that there may be lesser issues with negative socialization, and the prevalence of a religious atmosphere is surely preferable to the obliteration of anything to do with God in the public system. 

At a Catholic school there will, or at least should be, the due support given to parents as the primary educators of their children. Yet at any school, siblings are separated from one another for long hours every day, and family bonds in general may be strained (not to mention the pocketbook in the case of private schooling!). Cacophonous bells interrupt a child's concentration and short-circuit his ability to go deeply into any course of study. Children are shuffled from one room to another, and conformity is mandatory. Problems of bullying persist, and the personality of the child is encroached upon. I am not convinced, even in the best of circumstances, that giving so much of the care and education of one's children over to others is the wisest course or is in the best interest of families. Homeschooling may not be the best option for every family, but it is worthy of prayerful discernment and consideration.

In our fast-paced, busyness idolizing world, a homeschooling atmosphere can be a haven for the family. The fulfillment of God's design for the domestic church has a better chance for successfully coming to fruition. There is a control over one's time and a freedom that I would be hard-pressed to give up. If my daughter went to school, she would miss out on the benefits of a Charlotte Mason lifestyle of learning. Because of her unique learning style, she thrives best in a one-on-one teaching situation. We need not fear being "behind", though I know that such worries do intimidate many home educating parents. If we keep our eyes and hearts tuned to pleasing the Savior, faithfully and consistently tending to the work we have been given, then we will enjoy the true measure of our success.

Natural Learning Updates

Over on The Sparkling Martins blog today, Dayna has written about how her oldest two children learned to read naturally, without phonics training, direct teaching, or tests. It's food for thought, the idea that people will want to learn this wonderful and useful skill, and therefore internal motivation will lead to the acquiring of it, when a child is interested and ready.

At my house we do "natural" reading lessons, using a Montessori inspired approach you can read about in the Aug. 31 post. Reading is not so far an activity that takes priority in Beezy's life, though occasionally I find her reading of her own accord, not only because it is part of "school". Still, she likes to read, and it isn't being forced upon her. Reading is also a part of other activities, such as the Pictureka! board game we played today. Being read to is still one of Beezy's greatest joys, and her comprehension skills are strong. Some days I feel content with her reading progress, while other days I find myself feeling a little frustrated. Then I know that I have to step back and refocus.

Keeping track of daily activities in my small leather notebook helps me to see that learning happens all day long, in a variety of ways. Learning is simply life. And for children, play is the primary and most effective method of education. Just now, Beezy brought a bug in that she found in our birdbath and said, "I'm studying it." I noticed it had wings and so was likely to die in the cup of water she had put it in, so she took it out and set it in the shade. So much can be learned simply through observation and conversation.

I do still need to have some formal learning time and a basic system to follow in order to feel comfortable with our homeschooling life. My foray into unschooling, however, has taught me that having a rhythm to our days, rather than a set schedule, provides for a relaxed flow and an openness to spontaneous choices. I do feel more joyful with a natural learning mindset. I think it is the unschooling attitude that sets it apart from other methods more so than the actual things done throughout the course of the day. Reading, math, writing, science, history, religion and other "subjects" happen in every homeschooling situation, and many of the same resources are being used. The difference is in why a topic or skill is being pursued, in what context, and in what form.

A common concern I come across in my reading are the so called "gaps" that may occur with homeschooling, and especially in the case of unschooling. This seems like a lapse in common sense. Regardless of how one is educated, no person will have learned everything there possibly is to learn, even if he lives to be 100. I know nothing about statistics, robotics, calculus, or accounting. Nor, at this time, do I care to. Even in my strongest areas, such as literature, there is still much to be learned. I was recently turned on to the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, an English Jesuit priest from the Victorian era, who I somehow missed in college. I suppose Hopkins has come into my life at the time that we were meant to be introduced. What a happy surprise! I'm grateful for the gap in my education.

There is much deconditioning to do in our understanding of what it means to be educated. The U.S. is possibly on the verge of military action in Syria. Are we to embark on yet another war in the Middle East? All of the knowledge in the world will not help our leaders make the best decisions if they lack wisdom. Sadly, our youth is growing up in a culture in which wisdom is rarely considered, and even knowledge has taken a back seat to "information." The Common Core Curriculum being implemented this school year seeks to replace much of classic literature with "informational textbooks." The written word will be dissected until anything alive and inspiring has been gutted from it like a fish.

Education as information must be cognitively understood and memorized, within a limited context, whereas an emphasis on culture--symbol, story, nuance, philosophy, art, history, religion, language, ethics, and experience--results in greater understanding, in a relational context. Culture is not easily measured by multiple choice and true and false tests. Test taking skills are measured by tests. Only a small fraction of the learning styles and intelligences natural to humanity fit into the public schooling model of education. The "smart" people are the ones who best fit into that limited fraction and who are the most obedient and compliant to outside authority.

Despite my sometimes negative impressions of radical unschooling, I am continuing to open my mind, little by little, to its potential goodness. Yes, I believe that it sometimes goes too far in the name of "freedom" and veers into the perils of unparenting and neglect. But within the peaceful borders of what I believe to be the truth of the Catholic faith, I see the promise of a beautiful, thriving garden of limitless possibility for a better future for humanity. A sea change, one mindful family at a time.

When Unschooling Fails

I found a despairing comment yesterday on the internet from a woman who deeply regretted unschooling her two children; the reason being that she had an unexpected circumstance that required putting her son and daughter into the public school system. The girl was eight years old and was far behind her peers in every subject. This mother felt betrayed by her unschooling community, who had assured her that her children would learn everything they needed to know on their own. She implied that this is magical thinking.

The son eventually did okay catching up with his school peers, but the daughter was so traumatized that her mother had to pull her back out. The mom felt like she had failed her children. Her heartache was palpable. So is this a cautionary tale against unschooling?

The first thing to consider is that the intention behind unschooling is not to make sure that children are working at grade level or to prepare them to one day enter a public school. At eight years old, I think it's too early to judge the success or failure of unschooling, or any homeschooling method. However, if a child has not even begun to learn to read, write, and learn basic math skills by the age of eight, I think that is a red flag. Barring a learning disability, the readiness should be there. But what if the interest is not? Radical unschoolers would say to leave the child alone until he shows an interest. Is this wise?

It's important to set goals for your homeschooling. The Catholic perspective is that the primary goal of education is faith formation and getting one's children to Heaven. That is the desired, end result. Academics are secondary, but they are important. The Church has a centuries long tradition of classical learning, what today we call a "liberal arts" education. By this process a person developes a well-formed mind, capable of logical thought, discernment, and the keen ability to think for oneself. Knowing how to learn is set above acquiring knowledge, because the ability to learn will result in the possibility of deeply attaining a body of knowledge. The mind will be thirsty for information and naturally curious about the world. Mastery of a few subjects is prized over a cursory knowledge about many things.  Unlike today's college instruction in the humanities, however, true classical education has as its foundation the study of classical languages such as Latin and Greek. America's founding fathers were classically educated. Classical education forms the mind so that a person can express himself eloquently both in speech and writing. This is not the education received in today's public schools.

We can't foresee all that life will bring us. If our children did have to go to school at some point, it is hopeful that homeschooling will have prepared them well enough academically that the transition would not be too rough. But consider that children struggle in the public schools, academically, spiritually, and socially. Our nation performs at a mediocre level in every key academic area, on the low end for a developed country. The common core curriculum that will be implemented in the coming school year in at least 47 states is eliminating most classic literature in favor of "informational textbooks". This will not result in greater literacy. This will not result in well-trained minds that can think for themselves, that understand what it means to be human. This will not feed the hungry soul.

Parents have a tremendous responsibility to teach their children. Unschooling can provide some good tools for accomplishing your educational goals, but you must define those goals and determine how best to reach them. I am not suggesting a rat race mentality of cramming your child's mind with heaps of information in order to cover everything exactly at "grade level", in the event that she might have to go to a public school. I don't believe in forcing children to learn any more than I believe in forcing potty training. True learning does not happen by force. What I do believe is that teaching is an art. It requires diligence, practice, creativity, commitment, energy, focus, patience and love. Learning from another requires the habits of attention, willingness, and obedience (but perhaps respect is a better word) on the part of the child. In this way, parents and children are partners in education, but the authority belongs to the parents. How might a mother entice her children to wish fervently to learn?

German Homeschooling Family Seeks U.S. Asylum (and the new U.S. school curriculum disaster)

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/15/obama-admin-trying-to-deport-german-evangelical-family-seeking-assylum-over-homeschooling/

I was made aware of this case a couple of days ago. It goes to trial April 23. The Obama administration wants to deport an evangelical Christian German family, the Romeikes, that fled their country because homeschooling is not legal there. If they return to Germany, they face the possibility of steep fines, jail time, and their children being taken from them. They have been living in Tennessee since 2006 and were granted political asylum in 2010, which has since been overturned. This is a threat to all homeschoolers in the U.S. This is yet another attack on religious liberty by this administration. Readers, please share any additional information you may have on this critical issue.

This headline is also disturbing (http://rt.com/usa/school-curriculum-new-works-937/):

"A new curriculum for public schools across the United States will soon make it mandatory for at least 70 percent of all assigned books to be works of non-fiction, eliminating classic works that have influenced great thinkers for centuries"

That's it--our public schools are doomed. And how long before the administration tries to force this on homeschoolers and private schools as well? How do more dry, "informational" textbooks and the elimination of classic literature prepare children for college and for life? How much more boring can school get? Parents need to mutiny!! Take to the streets and protest! This crazy plan, called the Common Core Curriculum, is hopefully going to crash and burn fast, because the results will be even more illiteracy and a higher drop out rate. That's the only hope.  47 states have already signed onto this. God help the USA.

And this!  (http://rt.com/usa/texas-microchips-school-district-262/)

What on God's green earth?????? This is America? No wonder they don't want students reading books like Orwell's 1984...

"Students in Texas to be monitored with microchips"