Sad, But Glad

This past week many parents have been posting on Facebook that they are sad to see their five year olds start public school, but they are glad to have more free time now that their children are out of the home for seven or more hours a day. These posts prompted Kara and I to discuss how sad we are to not have more free time, but how glad we are that the children are not in public school.

The vast majority of parents send their children to public school because they went to public school and their parents went to public school. It's a no brainer: Children belong in public school. Most parents never seriously consider any other option. I was just like those parents when Kara was young. It never occurred to me to educate her at home. I sent her off to kindergarten. I sent her to first grade. I sent her to second grade. I sent her to third grade. I never once thought there was a better choice available to us. 

In third grade Kara's teacher told me that the optional school I sent her to was not a good fit for a bright child because of its basic tenets--no individualized learning plans. For Kara's fourth grade year I found a new school with a program of individualized learning plans. At the end of the year when I evaluated how the program worked, I was not impressed. It's very difficult (impossible?) for a teacher to make individualize learning plans for twenty-five or more students.

For Kara's fifth grade year I got the hare-brained idea to homeschool her. I knew nothing about teaching math, science, English, history, geography, and art to a young student, but I was positive I could do a better job than a busy public school teacher splitting her attention amongst twenty-five students. Fifth grade is not a pivotal year in the public school system so I figured if things didn't work out, I'd just slip Kara back into sixth grade with no academic harm done to her education. Kara never went back to public school full-time. (In high school she took a few A.P. classes at two different high schools.)

The six years that followed my decision flew by. There were a few times when I wanted to put her back into public school, but never for academic or social reasons. As time passed I opened my mind to new ideas about education. I started pondering the concept of public schooling. Why do parents send their children to public school? Is it good preparation for the life they will lead after they graduate? Does public school help socialize children to fit into our adult society better? Is public school the best model to learn academics? What are the strengths of the public school model? What are its weaknesses?

It doesn't take a lot of study or thought before one starts questioning the benefits of public school. Why do we force children to spend their day stuck in a classroom with their age-mates? How does that prepare them for adult life? Grouping children by age is absurd. It doesn't work well for learning academic material either. Some students are ready to read or do division at four, others at eight. Forcing the eager four year old to wait a year or more can kill his love of learning. Forcing the eight year to learn before he's ready can kill his love of learning. Without a love of learning academics are drudgery.

Before learning about other schooling models, I'd always been proud of my public school record. I would have told you that I flourished under the public school model. Now I ask myself, what would my schooling have been like if I had had other options?  More freedom to pursue my interests? More time with my friends and family? More adult mentors from the community to help me explore career options? 

For most parents public school is a convenience, but like most conveniences it is not the highest quality product available. Do I believe that all parents should homeschool their children? No, I don't. Many parents are not able to make the necessary sacrifices. 

What I would really like to see is a better public school model that uses its resources (funding, books, supplies, buildings, people) to engage the entire community (regardless of age) in the pursuit of lifelong learning and sharing of one's passions. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could walk down to the neighborhood school any hour of the day and find groups of mixed ages (children and adults) learning together, teaching each other every subject from chemistry to watercolor, African history to karate, and cooking to Shakespeare. Life would be so much richer for everyone. That's my vision for public education.

Since public education isn't like that in our community I'm glad that I made the choice to homeschool twenty years ago. I'm five times glad that Kara is choosing to homeschool Bentley, Jake, Viva, Lincoln, and Evan. We all benefit from this magnificent endeavor. 

Yes, I'm sad that I don't have more free time this fall (I want to quilt on my new longarm!), but I'm glad that my grandchildren are not attending public school.