I home-school my daughter, but not to keep her away from ideas, or to indoctrinate specific ones. I know a lot of Christians do, and it gives home-schooling a bad name. Secular home-schooling is a rapidly growing movement, so our outdated notions of all home-schoolers being sheltered creationists with no social skills needs to be re-evaluated.
The reasons we pulled her out of PS at the beginning of 2nd grade were many, but included:
1) The teacher and schools continuous suggestion that she might be a "high functioning autistic", and for us to test her for this so they can get more money.
2) The enormous class sizes. 30 kids with one teacher and often no helpers is insane.
3) How kids with behavioral issues were dealt with. Essentially, any misbehavior gets kids pulled out of class and put into a room where they can play or read quietly. If their behavior shows improvement, they get candy and cookies at the end of each week. All I saw (and I volunteered 3 days a week) was this school turning normal kids into problem kids by training them to associate bad behavior with rewards.
4) Speaking of awards, did you know that every child is special? One child was suspended in Kindergarten for willfully rubbing another childs face into a rope until they bleed. This bully of a child later won a school award for "Great sense of humor". Because every child needs to win an award at assembly.
5) My child was basically being taught to hate learning. 1 hour doing 2 math problems, bored to literal tears. Music is 30 minutes a week. Gym was cut entirely. When I brought her to public school, she was an eager learner. 2 years of PS later, she HATED school. So I brought her home to learn to love learning again.
I am very glad that public education exists, because every person deserves access to education. But our public schools in America are a disaster, and since I am able, I won't expose my kid to more of that until she's older and has a great basic education under her belt. She can go back to PS in middle school or HS, if she so desires.
The reasons we pulled her out of PS at the beginning of 2nd grade were many, but included:
1) The teacher and schools continuous suggestion that she might be a "high functioning autistic", and for us to test her for this so they can get more money.
2) The enormous class sizes. 30 kids with one teacher and often no helpers is insane.
3) How kids with behavioral issues were dealt with. Essentially, any misbehavior gets kids pulled out of class and put into a room where they can play or read quietly. If their behavior shows improvement, they get candy and cookies at the end of each week. All I saw (and I volunteered 3 days a week) was this school turning normal kids into problem kids by training them to associate bad behavior with rewards.
4) Speaking of awards, did you know that every child is special? One child was suspended in Kindergarten for willfully rubbing another childs face into a rope until they bleed. This bully of a child later won a school award for "Great sense of humor". Because every child needs to win an award at assembly.
5) My child was basically being taught to hate learning. 1 hour doing 2 math problems, bored to literal tears. Music is 30 minutes a week. Gym was cut entirely. When I brought her to public school, she was an eager learner. 2 years of PS later, she HATED school. So I brought her home to learn to love learning again.
I am very glad that public education exists, because every person deserves access to education. But our public schools in America are a disaster, and since I am able, I won't expose my kid to more of that until she's older and has a great basic education under her belt. She can go back to PS in middle school or HS, if she so desires.
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
