RE: Thoughts on homeschooling?
September 4, 2012 at 3:45 pm
(This post was last modified: September 4, 2012 at 3:46 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
My wife and I considered homeschooling for a bit, but eventually decided that we wouldn't be going that route. Nothing prevents us from giving our children the extracurricular lovin (as it were) if we feel that our children aren't getting enough of the good stuff at the brick building.
In the end, both of us were products of the public education system to some extent or another (amusingly I attended a faith based private school for a time and my wife was public school start to finish). Neither of us could really make the case honestly that we would be able to personally devote more attention and resources (time is a big one) to our kids than the school system does.
There is something to be said for social interaction, and that was something we felt would be slightly sub-par comparatively. We did find some groups that arranged little play-dates for everyone, but the thing that troubled us was the general party line of home-schoolers around here. Ask them why they didn't send their kids to public (or private schools) and you would invariably get a barrage of "evolution this, godless that".
Now, there are two professional educators in my immediate family, one of whom is a dependent, so I guess I could squeeze the lemon and demand services in kind.....but again, I would be getting the same services from the educators in my family that I would be getting from the school system - which I already pay for, whether I use it or not, and which can produce at least moderately intelligent human beings with my wife and myself as (tentative) examples. I'm also a huge fan of public education even in principle, and so that also gets weighed in.
In the end, both of us were products of the public education system to some extent or another (amusingly I attended a faith based private school for a time and my wife was public school start to finish). Neither of us could really make the case honestly that we would be able to personally devote more attention and resources (time is a big one) to our kids than the school system does.
There is something to be said for social interaction, and that was something we felt would be slightly sub-par comparatively. We did find some groups that arranged little play-dates for everyone, but the thing that troubled us was the general party line of home-schoolers around here. Ask them why they didn't send their kids to public (or private schools) and you would invariably get a barrage of "evolution this, godless that".
Now, there are two professional educators in my immediate family, one of whom is a dependent, so I guess I could squeeze the lemon and demand services in kind.....but again, I would be getting the same services from the educators in my family that I would be getting from the school system - which I already pay for, whether I use it or not, and which can produce at least moderately intelligent human beings with my wife and myself as (tentative) examples. I'm also a huge fan of public education even in principle, and so that also gets weighed in.
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