post #41 of 41
5/31/05 at 12:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by clairegrace
Why I homeschool?

Mostly for philosophical reasons. I don't see how mass education, restraining young children in non-natural social situations (being surrounded by peers for 8 hours), and teaching the test have anything to do with learning and life.

I personally see school limiting children's potential, by telling them what they need to accomplish by the end of a certain grade. All children are different and develop differently. Some learn to read early, others bloom later after developing other skills.

And I also enjoy being with my kids and learning along with them Instead of studying to be in the real world for 12 years, my children are part of that world ever day through interactions we have at the store, at the park, or during volunteer work.

Does my child have a choice?

She doesn't have a choice whether we homeschool or not - not at this age. As she gets older and develops wisdom and maturity, we will consider that later.

But inside homeschooling, she has a choice on how to do her work, what videos we watch or trips we go on, whether she wants to attend homeschool group or library reading times, etc. She also picks whether to do "seat work" in the morning or afternoon. We are what I consider relaxed homeschoolers - not quite unschooling, but definetly not school-at-home.

I hope that helps some!

Cara
Pretty much exactly what Cara said. I homeschool because it seems natural to me. We have a very family-oriented thing going on here, a nurturing atmosphere started with gentle birth and early breastfeeding, on up to gentle discipline and child-led potty training and weaning from the breast. To us homeschooling is just an extension of that.

At this point they do not have a choice in schooling. She wanted to go to school last fall because she wanted to ride on a schoolbus and have pizza for lunch. :LOL

At this point public school is not an option, period. The public school here has the highest illiteracy rate in the state and this is also a county with a lot of Klan members. I'm not willing to expose my kids to those attitudes, period. If we move to an area with a better school we'll operate on a "we'll see" basis. For now, though, we don't plan on fixing what isn't broken.