Part 2 of 3: Are Parents Qualified to Home School?

by Joanna Steven

Part II. Are parents qualified to home school? And what about socialization?

As parents, we can only do what we think is best, follow our heart, and hope everything works out. As a child, my mom had to attend a Christian school run by nuns. She swore that when she would have kids, she would send them to a secular school only, and she did.  She didn’t enjoy her school, and wanted us to have a better experience. Unfortunately, I don’t think my experience was better than hers, and my younger sister even opted later on to attend the same school my mother went to because she could not stand the one we used to attend. How are we supposed to guess what’s best? We can’t. We can only do what we think is best, and sending my children to the same schools which made me sick with anxiety and worry does not really sound like the best thing to do.

One issue which often comes up with homeschooling is the lack of socialization of home schooled kids. But really, how much socialization does one do while being chastised by a professor, or having to sit still without talking for 6 hours? Is socialization really something we do while eating low quality food in a noisy, unruly cafeteria? And what would be the quality of such interactions? I am fully aware that socializing my children will take a big effort on my part, being quite the introvert, but I am fully prepared for it.

I know that the time wasted in classrooms will be better spent sending my children to martial art classes, music classes, art classes, meeting like minded friends for outdoor adventures and more. Since they will not be buried under repetitive and redundant homework assignments, will not waste time studying something over and over again just so that a few other students can catch up, and will not see their energy levels go down after eating corn dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast (these are common school lunches at the local middle school, I kid you not!), they will have a lot more free time to enjoy such activities with their peers, and I see nothing wrong with it. Yes, a child can be properly socialized without school.

School is not the requirement for socialization, other children are. It’s as simple as that. Of course, keeping a child at home and not letting him see anyone would not allow him to develop healthy relationships, but what people have to understand is that home schooling is not necessarily “nothing but home” schooling. Still, despite my education and my steady attempts at becoming more acquainted with the magical world around me to share my knowledge with my children, many people are worried that they will become “weird” (a word I have heard a lot more than once!). To me, the issue is not having kids interact with each others. They will receive quite a lot of socialization through various activities, and my husband and I do intend on making similar-minded friends so that our children can grow up to be friends.

Another issue brought up by homeschooling detractors is the fact that parents cannot teach their children everything. I agree that after a certain point, it might become a bit difficult, for me at least. The first few years however do not scare me the least bit. I went through a lot of schooling in my life, mostly because school had broken my spirit and,  while I excelled at studying, I could do very little else. By age 18, when I started Law school, I had stopped drawing, painting, playing the guitar etc., and had nothing but poetry left to express myself. On the other hand, I had plenty of time to study. I amassed quite a lot of knowledge in both French, British and American literature, I became quite good at mathematics and chemistry, I can speak French and English fluently (and it would take very little effort for me to be fluent in Spanish as well), I have a Law degree, a Psychology degree  (I am currently working on the second half of my Masters degree), and plan to get a degree in Holistic Nutrition as well. I am also trying hard to get better acquainted with wild foods, and delight in gathering nettles and mulberries in the spring and summer. And for subjects like physics and electronics, I am thankful to have a husband who can take the role of teacher when I feel a little overwhelmed (unlike math, I never found in me a hidden talent for physics!). Does that mean that all hope is lost for less-educated parents?

Of course not! People put too much weight on regular education. Osho once wrote “You can write books, you can have degrees, you can have PhDs and LittDs, and still you remain the same ignorant person you have always been. Those degrees don’t change you; they can’t change you. In fact, your stupidity becomes stronger; it has degrees now!” While these words are a bit on the strong side, I think we have to agree that degrees don’t mean a person is smart. Yes, we can send our kids to a school to be taught by well-educated people, but what do we really know about them? Do we put so much faith in a simple degree that we are willing to let these people spend more time with our children that we do? Isn’t it even a little bit scary? Yes, some parents may be incapable to teach their children everything they need to know, but I don’t think school teachers are any more qualified just because of a piece of paper.

We have to understand one important, vital thing, life is about more than academics, and children who spend all their time in classrooms are missing out on a lot. What would be better than to take my child and his/her friends to the forest for a hands-on biology class? What would be more amazing than giving them the opportunity to try out various chemistry experiments, both in the real world and at home, instead of being restricted by time to just a few experiments (we all remember mixing vinegar with baking soda to make volcanoes. Clearly life is about more than that!). And what’s the use of taking art classes in stuffy classrooms? Wouldn’t going out and painting nature as it really is a much better use of our time? And let’s not even talk about athletics. I am certain that running on the grass, going to the pool when most of the kids are indoors, climbing trees and cross country skiing is a lot better than jumping on tired gym mattresses while all the kids are judging each other.

This concludes the second article in the series. The next article will be about the food served at regular schools, and what alternatives exist for parents who do not wish their kids to attend a regular school but cannot home school.

Joanna Steven is the co-author with Tonya Kay of the first ever Raw Nutritional Analysis eBooks, detailing Tonya Kay’s diet for an entire month. She is also the co-owner of the online raw food store, http://www.sirova.com, and writes about raw food related topics on her blog, http://joannasteven.blogspot.com. Her next book on raw food pregnancies will be available on the Raw Mom website this winter 2010.