A Schooling Dilemma
I have been thinking a lot lately about home schooling my children. It seems that there are a lot of different thoughts and theories about this that exist in the world. The general population of people thinks that home schooling is a bizarre way of keeping your kids out of the world. I don’t think of it that way. I do worry though that it will keep my children too sheltered, and this is something that I really want to avoid. I want my kids to be able to deal with and be involved in the real world and be able to make changes, but I also feel that a large part of the public school experience is keeping control of the kids as opposed to teaching them anything. These days you are constantly hearing about very young kids bringing weapons to school and doing all kinds of bizarre things that I am just not sure makes for the best learning environment for children.
I have recently become aware of the fact that with lunches, recess, specials and other activities, the time that a teacher actually spends teaching your kids is about 2 hours out of a 6 hour school day. I think that is ridiculous. I have met several people who have home schooled or are home schooling their children and they say that they spend about 2 hours a day teaching to their children and working with them. Their kids do seem well adjusted and happy. They have special home schooling groups that take field trips and do recreation activities together so that the kids are getting the social interactions with their peers. I think that this adds a good balance to the lives of these children. Most of the kids and families that I have met through these organizations have been well adjusted families. It seems like I have not met a kid who has an ADD diagnosis and is home schooled. I know that I could home school my kids at the younger ages, but worry a little bit about teaching them when they get older. I also think that it is important to introduce them to the public school system prior to them attending college, so that they can get a feeling about what it is like, perhaps at the High School level, but I am not quite sure on this.
I want to provide my children with the best education possible, but am just not sure whether public school, private school, or home schooling is the best. I did meet one woman who told me that she was home schooled up through high school and when she hit college she went totally wild with the freedom of it all. She said that she felt that home schooling had caused her to be too sheltered and once tossed into the real world, she was completely overwhelmed. I would be very careful not to shelter my kids. If I am to home school them, I will be sure to give them a good balance of activities and interactions not only with other home schooled children, but all children, so that they can live a balanced life.
