I acim school, the more I do my research, the more I realize home schooling my girls may be best for them in the long run. I have been a part of the public education community in several capacities over the last fourteen years, and I can honestly say that the public school system continues to leave me looking for alternatives, and quickly.
There are a myriad reasons why parents choose to home school their children, and many public school educators themselves are distancing their children away from the public system to an extremely private one: Home Schooling. If you are looking for reasons to home school your children, please due your homework-yes, pun intended-and make sure this is something you can handle. An education is nothing to mess with.
There are several factors to consider when choosing to delve into unchartered territory. The first and foremost being can you handle being with your children literally twenty-four seven? If you have doubts for any reason, don’t home school. At least your child would get an education, albeit not a very good one if they continue within the public school system.
Here is a list of my top five reasons why Home schooling may be our next move.
Bullying in schools has become more common place than in years gone by. With the advent of social networking sites and texting/cell phones, cyber bullying has displaced face-to-face confrontations and this in turn has caused more unlikely bullies to rear their ugly heads upon society. And since old fashioned bullying still takes place, some kids in school are not safe whether they are in the school building or at home. While many schools claim they are taking a hard stance on bullying, our senate leaders think the bullying stand is too tough for the bullies. According to a recent amendment to SB 3004, school officials will no longer be allowed to use suspension or expulsion as a form of punishment until physical harm takes place, and; then, the bully can only receive three days out and cannot suffer academically because of his or her bullying. I’m starting to think this should be my number one reason.
Socialization is often a strong arguments by idiots against home schooling your child. However, with all of the work schools are cramming into a school day, socialization is severely frowned upon in schools. It is so bad that many schools do not let the students fraternize or talk during lunch. The school claims the kids won’t eat if they talk, but, hey, isn’t that their decision? A couple of missed meals and then struggling through the day may be just what a kid needs to learn how to mix eating and socialization. And what socialization skills do schools really teach beyond kindergarten? Students cannot talk in class. In fact, every time my middle school aged daughter got in trouble at school it was for talking and/or socializing. There, are certain socialization lessons that need to be taught that didn’t exist twenty years ago. Like teaching students how to hold a conversation without having a cell phone glued to their fingertips. Oh wait, I forgot cell phones are banned in most schools.
Curriculum in America’s schools is being overhauled at alarming rates and in a way I believe will hurt far more than it will help. Many schools across the nation, for whatever reason, are buying into Common Core. Yes, common core will help schools meet or exceed their numbers on standardized tests, maybe. But more importantly it is taking creativity away from good teachers and creating little drones who do not, cannot, and will not think or do for themselves. I was recently in a seventh grade classroom in which the students actually expected me to read the story to them so they could answer the study guide questions. Humina what? I’m a former English teacher who loves the classics. However, we do not students of this advanced technological age who can read or understand Shakespeare, Dickens and all the other old authors still being taught in school. Yes, there are valuable lessons in their works. Yes, teachers should use examples of these works when teaching concepts or writing. But to force a kid to read Romeo and Juliet just because the two main characters are about the same age is ridiculous. There is great stuff out there that can teach the same lessons and be more relatable to today’s youth.