To Be- Or Not To Be...

Ten Reasons We Would Want To Choose the Best Education for Our Children

1. The government feels our children need to be raised by the community as a whole and that they have the right to teach the children what they feel is right
2. While we pay our taxes, we have a right to provide the education our children deserve.
3. As parents of a loving Father in Heaven, he has provided the freedom to choose the best education for our children.
4. Our children have been blessed to live in an ethnically diverse neighborhood which will help prepare them for life later on
5. Our children are learning to be future missionaries
6. If public school offers an “okay” education, is “okay” good enough
7. We are at a point in our lives where homeschooling is an option
8. Our children are our lives, their education is essential to their salvation
9. Teaching our children is what I love to do.
10. Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old and he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

Shakespeare is very likely the world’s most well known author, even though very little is known about him. The best known theatre, movie, musical line I would venture is “To Be or Not To Be” from Hamlet. The question this line is referring deals with the decision between life or death. However, for this purpose the same question, the decision that has been weighing on my mind deals schooling my children next year.

While for Shakespeare, death is considered an undiscovered journey, homeschooling for us is far from an unventured journey. We have homeschooled successfully before and I know I could easily homeschool again.

My writings here are mostly a compilation of my studies, thoughts, examining what may or may not be best. Basically we are potentially jumping into the frying pan. As we started considering homeschooling for the older kids, we told them homeschooling would be their choice. What I am exploring right now is, is letting them choose for themselves truly best?

I need to decide whether or not all the children need to be homeschooled, or not. We already know our youngest will be homeschooled next year due to medical issues. She has simply missed too much school due to illnesses. While she is still doing ok academically, the school has recommended that she repeat the 1^st grade anyway. The school knows that we plan on homeschooling her already, yet, they want her to return and repeat the 1^st grade.

We know the best place for her is at home and hopefully she will have far fewer hospitalizations next year. This year she has been very sick and hospitalized multiple times. Will keeping her home reduce illnesses and reduce the number of her admits?

Children gain many skills throughout their educational journey. This is a known fact. Children will learn whether taught at home or in school. The key is consistent access to education they enjoy, thrive from, and are eager to keep learning from. The following covers the advantages of both home based and public education. This was necessary to organize my thoughts to help determine the needed educational route for my kids.

* Class Size

The size of the classroom can either be a help or a hindrance throughout the educational journey. For the child who is not easily distracted, thrives off the attention of others, and aims to please classmates and the teacher the public school classroom may offer the ideal educational location. However, for the child that is easily distracted, bored with the pace, topics, lack of preferred subject, or are more interested in socializing with friends; the classroom may become an impossible learning environment.

Keeping my children home I will have the opportunity to work with the 5 younger ones when they are awake, alert, and excited to learn. They will not leave the house excited but rushed in the mornings. Once school work is completed they will be done, and have the opportunity to complete chores and practice instruments still.

* Traditions

Families, schools, communities, and businesses all have traditions. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, traditions are customary patterns of thought whether inherited or established through actions, religious practice, or social custom norms. When traditions are passed down, each tradition comes with significance, meaning, and roots to the past.

How does this relate to education?  Decades ago, during the depression most families needed the children home to help harvest the crops. However, today there are few farming families harvesting during the summer. Far fewer are the families where the children harvest side by side with their parents from dusk to dawn.

After three months off in the summer and very few students reviewing classroom topics throughout the summer, the beginning weeks of school are spent reviewing forgotten lessons.

Additionally, with each state having entrance dates varying between September through October, some children are ready for school, while others are not. Delayed maturity can wreck havoc for a classroom.

* Authoritarian Rules

A few years ago in a local library there was a plaque sitting on a desk that read, “We spend the first twelve months of our children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve years telling them to sit down and shut up.” The librarian there said she did not believe that all children needed to simply be seen and not heard. She was one that loved to hear the little voices in the library. Hearing their voices as she said meant they were reading, asking questions, discovering, and most important, they were learning.

If children are forced to learn the same way as everyone in the classroom there will be problems. Not all children learn the same way. Some need to see and hear what is going on, others need to see and use their hands to understand, while others need to see, hear, and use their hands to comprehend the lesson.

Using the homeschool methods when a child or children become restless and need to burn energy, they will have the opportunity to take the dog on a leash and run around the block a couple times. Once they are back with their energy burned they will be able to focus better. If the children need movement activities to memorize spelling or math facts they will have the freedom to move while learning.

* Priorities

Priorities are a driving factor to determining the best education for any child. Does the child desire band, orchestra, sports, dance, scouts, debate, theatre, robotics, or any other extracurricular activity? What are the state rules for public education combined with homeschooling? What priority level does the school place on academics and extracurricular activities?  As a family, with homeschooling how will homeschooling, extracurricular activities, and other normal activities be handled?

Other advantages include help teaching the children rules. Whether in the classroom or through the homeschooled environment there are others around to help enforce rules. In the public school classroom, the teachers assign homework and the parents help (sometimes fight) ensure the homework is done. When homeschooling once the school work is completed or during outside activities to reinforce the lesson, the children see similar rules are posted and must be obeyed in public places.

The homeschooling journey is filled with many of the same teaching moments as are found throughout the public education journey. The children face insecurities, discover they can achieve, learn they lead, work through the steps of following (when another is learning to lead), and adapt to their new and changing expectations.

* Standardized Testing

Standardized testing if used properly could be a wonderful for the public school system. Especially for families that move often. These families need to know that regardless the school their children attend these children will get a good education.

While the children will not like math, spelling, essays, or book reports, these are essential evaluations to determine how much the children are learning and retaining.

* Common Core Curriculum

The current education system is floundering and struggling to find a way to meet the needs of all the students. Children are struggling in school leaving their parents baffled. These same children start the year with good grades then somehow in the middle or near the end of the year they lose focus, logical reasoning, organizational skills, the ability to finish work, or even simply turn their work in. When asked they look blankly and have no idea what has happened… Where did the work go, why is there no explanation for the missing work, did they complete it? If they did where is it? These are all issues the education system is “hoping” to help correct. However, is creating a new common core going to be enough to reengage these students who have lost touch with their educational journey and desire to learn?

According to the new Common Core Standards, the goal is to provide a high quality education to all students. Additionally, the standards of success “should” be clear to all students, teachers, and parents, in all schools.

With this “new and improved” curriculum plan will the schools remove the cookie cutter style teaching and allow the children to learn logical reasoning and critical thinking? Logical reason teaches the child to think and develop arguments that have solid reasons behind the thought process.

Logical reasoning is essential for developing strong thought processes for budding scientists and engineers. Critical thinking requires one to sit and ponder before making a decision. Reflecting on a decision allows for one to move to a higher level of thought and decision making. Complex math problems require critical thinking.  Through the development of logical reasoning and critical thinking, the motivation returns to participate and learn. This motivation and excitement also build confidence.

If we homeschool the older 5 children they will also be held accountable to the math common core standards as of this year, and as more common standards come available those standards too will need to followed to ensure the children are prepared for their college entrance, ACT, and SAT exams.

* Inconsistencies

Like any job, there will be inconsistencies throughout a child’s educational journey. One year the student may love school, love the teachers, subjects, and do very well. Likewise, the teacher may also have a wonderful with many wonderful to outweigh the other students.

Then later in the educational journey this same child has a teacher that he or she has unfortunately does not get along with. By the end of year the child has endured not only the other children at the school, but at least one teacher he or she feels is a horrible teacher.

Even with homeschooling there will still be some inconsistencies, but the goal is to close the gap and eventually phase them out.

* Educational Quality

The quality of education required to graduate varies by state. One major frustration is that many schools feel sports are more important academics. What really is more important? The distance of the free throw, football toss, cheerleader skills, volleyball pass, lacrosse skills, swim laps, or track and field skills; or the math, science, foreign language, and overall GPA?

Helping the students be prepared for college, learn a trade or apprenticeship should be more important for our children, then setting a lower academic expectation.

* Social Advantages

Throughout a child’s educational journey, he or she has an amazing opportunity to learn about cultural diversity.  Some children grow up in very culturally diverse neighborhoods, while others need the experience of the classroom setting to better understand how cultural diversity relates to real world and eventual working environment.

Regardless of the educational background, children meet and socialize with many amazing people.

* Expenses

Education comes with a cost. Our tax dollars cover public education. Homeschooling is a valid option for educating our children. Public education still is covered through our taxes. These tax funds allow for other children to receive an education. Additional public school expenses covered through taxes include transportation, special education services, gifted programs, and other programs as funded through federal, state, private, foundation grants, or individual school PTA, PTSA, or PTO organizations.