Have you ever considered home schooling your children?
Parents who have home schooled say there are many positive aspects to it. For a start you don't have your family's life compartmentalised into school and home. The day is not as structured and there aren't as many deadlines to meet. Children learn to better relate with adults and are often more articulate. Their enquiring spirit hasn't been squashed as there is plenty of time to pursue an interest beyond the scope of a normal school curriculum.
The effort involved in managing a large group of children in a classroom takes up much of the teacher's time. Home schooling advocates say this time is better spent in learning and are amazed at how much they can cover in a few hours of the day leaving more time for excursions, tending community vegetable gardens and investigative activities etc.
Some home schooling parents introduce project-based learning where maths, science and creative writing can be incorporated into a topic and you take all day, all week or all month to finish it. Home schooling parents often join forces and conduct excursions together and parents use their gifts to teach small groups of home schooled kids about a subject in which they have particular expertise.
In the USA many Christian groups encourage home schooling, and home schooling is a hotly debated topic in many of the ministries that are in the vanguard of the New Calvinism. Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky has said:
"I am convinced that the time has come for Christians to develop an exit strategy from the public schools. Some parents made this decision long ago. The Christian school and home school movements are among the most significant cultural developments of the last thirty years. Other parents are not there yet. In any event, an exit strategy should be in place".
And in an aside on a sermon on birth control last year, Mark Driscoll said:
"I’m not against homeschooling, but I’ll tell you that sometimes home school networks are Petri dishes for legalism, self-righteousness, judgmentalism, sectarianism, and all kinds of other isms… right? It's religion at its worst."
In Australia there are broad range of Christian home schoolers. We encountered one Christian community living in the Blue Mountains who, according to their literature, aim to withdraw from the world so that they will not be corrupted by it. For some home schoolers the main aim seems to be to keep their children separate from the world, ensure they learn the values of their parents and limit the impact of the world on their lives at a young age.
While I believe the community we met in the Blue Mountains goes too far, I felt challenged to consider just how separate we are meant to keep our children from the world. By being exposed to the world, don't children learn to participate and to deal with people's differences? On the other hand by schooling our children in a conventional school setting do we run the risk of exposing our children to corrupt values and influences? I am sure it depends on the school, the value base they hold to and their effectiveness in inculcating these values with the children they teach. Of course children learn their values mainly from their parents and where the school supports the parents' Christian values, a child is doubly blessed.
From a personal point of view I never had any desire to home school my kids and my kids seemed to love their school experiences. The schooling movement has a great history in Christian tradition as a means of bringing education to the masses. Christians have done a great service to the nation in this area but for some children home schooling may be the best option. Where children have particular gifts or are better suited to individual learning programs, or where they have experienced bullying or have been disruptive themselves because of boredom at school, home schooling may be an option you might want to consider.
There are home schooling learning programs available from the Board of Studies in NSW who also provide a Home Education Information Package. There are also many Christian (and secular) home schooling networks here in Australia and overseas.
I would love to hear from some home schoolers about their experiences- both good and not so good. Why did you choose to home school? Or if you didn’t, what held you back?
