Homeschools - Traditional and Alternatives
I receive many inquiries asking where to sign up for homeschools. Many people, as a last hope for their children, try to find a homeschool to send them to. The problem is that homeschooling is done by the parent at home.
Although I believe it is important to protect homeschooling as we know it by keeping homeschools independent of the public school system, there are many home educating options available and each family must consider what is right for their children. There are different types of homeschools - different philosophies, beliefs or practices. Maybe one of these options will meet the needs of your family.
Over the years, I've had my children in coop classes, junior high classes two days a week, and even tried an online virtual school, complete with avatars and whiteboards. All the programs I participated in were privately operated and independent of the public school system. Personally, I liked the low-key coop classes. But the junior high classes two days a week and the online school took away too much from my homeschooling time. I didn't feel that I had the control in the education of my children. I'm more from the traditional homeschooling stance, although I see the benefit the other options can offer. The question is, are these other programs diluting the purity of homeschooling as we've known it? Does it put our homeschooling freedoms at risk?
What's your opinion? Should these alternative methods be considered homeschooling?
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Comments
I believe that we must be careful when using programs to homeschool. While many of them are well intentioned, they are still put together by someone other than the parent and may be laden eith philosophies and beliefs different than we wish to impart. I think they can also be dangerous to our freedoms. We have already seen government schools attempting to lure people into their “satellite schools” using online teaching.
I believe that “homeschooling” is an umbrella term for whatever works for you, your child, and your family. I do not believe that one style dominates or that any style dilutes any other style.
Parents use different methods to help their children learn to brush their teeth or ride a bike; do we feel that one method must be protected and given higher status? No. I believe it is the same way with homeschooling.
I think homeschooling is like home cooking. There are meals that are definitely home cooked and meals that are clearly not.
But there are also a range of in between options that would please some and repel others. Take out? TV dinners? Meal in a box?
The difference, of course, being that there is no legislation defining homecooking and no risk that the neighbors calling a meal from Boston Market or Chinese takeout a meal at home will prevent me from making a meal from scratch for my own family.