Home School Online

I heard a women say the other day that there was no difference at the preschool level between homeschoolers and the rest of the population.  It was a passing remark which I overheard so I don’t know really what she meant.  But I’ve been thinking about it.

Do we all take responsibility and have a high level of involvement with our children in a common way prior to kindergarten?  I know lots of homeschoolers and non-homeschoolers who participate in the same activities with their preschool kids.  And I know plenty of preschool coops and mommie-and-me and other preschool programs in which there is a common approach.

Most parents have a mix of totally informal and somewhat structured activities that they do with their preschool students. For instance, there are books, story times, playground groups, gym activities, nature walks, and online preschool homeschool activities which are used by everyone.

 What do think?

While some families know from the start that they want to homeschool, others arrive somewhat “accidentally”. These are families who had initially put their children in traditional schools. Then, “something” happens. Perhaps this “something”  happens over and over or different “things” happen. Sometimes there are a few classroom or school changes but it still is not working. The problems can be with other students, the school culture, the academics, or the faculty and staff. But over time, the parents realize that traditional schools are not working and they become convinced that the available schools are unacceptable.

I Never Thought I Would Homeschool…

Although many are people of strong faith, these families start to homeschool not for religious or philosophical reasons, but as problem solvers trying to do the best for their children.

“I never thought I would homeschool, but after trying my son in several different schools, we were at our wit’s end. Our son was miserable in school and doing badly.

“After one particularly bad day when he came home in tears and humiliated, we agreed to try homeschooling for the rest of third grade. That was two years ago and it has really worked out for us”.

One Particularly Conflicted Mother Got me to Thinking….

There was one particular conversation that got me thinking about these families and the process of suddenly jumping into homeschooling. One mother who had called to find out about our curriculum, felt it important to explain to me that:

“I don’t really believe in homeschooling and I don’t want to do it, but I have to because of my children and the way schools worked. I only want to do the best thing for my child…”

I was somewhat speechless trying to think how that made her different from other homeschooling parents, or any parents for that matter.

Many Families Start on the Homeschooling Path in a Bumpy Conflicted Manner

I noticed that she is far from being the only one who followed a bumpy conflicted path into homeschooling. I coined the “Accidental Homeschooler” term to describe those starting to homeschool motivated by a process of elimination, not because homeschooling is their primary choice.

Are Most Homeschoolers “Accidental”?

While we believe that homeschooling stastistics are poor given the size and signficance of the movement (Is 5% of the K12 population believable?), I believe that about half of today’s homeschoolers started in traditional schools. So, with some fear of over-generalizing, here are some characteristics of accidental homeschoolers that I have observed:

• Accidental homeschoolers often have the impression that they are unusual in that they are only homeschooling because it’s the best option. Many seem to feel that this sets them apart from other homeschoolers.
• Accidental homeschoolers’ decision to homeschool often resolves a crisis, or series of crises, with the children, the school, and sometimes within the family.
• Many accidental homeschoolers have been preoccupied trying to make traditional education work for their children so that when they finally “give-up” on schools and decide to homeschool, they find themselves with no preparation and no real idea what homeschooling means.
• Accidental homeschoolers start with real trepidation and often with little to no enthusiasm for their endeavor.
• The number of people starting as “accidental homeschoolers” is increasing now that the public has broad awareness and acceptance of homeschooling.

Since we get a lot of these calls from these families in transition, we have created a free guide with ten key ideas to help them through the transition into homeschooling. The advice includes how to avoid mistakes in an initial buying spree, how to layer in an overall homeschool program, how to connect with other homeschoolers locally and online, and how to build an appropriate mix of activities for each day.

The Homeschool Melting Pot

We’ve noticed that the accidental homeschooler label only applies for a limited period to these homeschoolers. After a deschooling transition period, parents become immersed in their new approach to education and lifestyle. Their initial anger with the education system which they feel failed them melts away as they adapt to their new life. They seem to forget that their decision to homeschool was one of necessity, not a deliberate choice.

“I had starting homeschooling when I found that the schools just did not work for my children. My initial attitude was bitterness with the schools and the blunders and accidents that had forced me to take on the education ourselves.

Over the years, a funny thing happened. I began to notice that there was nothing regrettable about the fork in the road that I took and the homeschooling path that I was on. I shifted from being a critic of the schools to being a homeschool advocate. I noticed that many of the friends I made that first year experienced a similar metamorphosis….

This Accidental Homeschooler became an Enthusiastic Homeschooler

Article by John Edelson of Time4Learning.com, a leading online curriculum for homeschoolers. To discuss accidental homeschooling with other parents, join this thread on the parenting forum.

I’ve learned alot about John Adams and American history this past month.  I didn’t learn it directly from the John Adams biography written by David McCollough that sits mostly unread next to my bed. I’ve learned it from watching the HBO Series on John Adams.  John Adams, I’ve learned, was not someone that I would have liked. I would have admired him and respected him. But I wouldn’t have been likely to be someone that would join him and his wife for the evening.  Ben Franklin on the other hand, seems like alot more fun.  Both, in their ways, were committed American patriots. But their ways were very very different. 

Now, moving from my education to the broader question of education, John Adams said: ”Education should teach people how to live or how to make a living”. I think he is right.

Recently, some critics, one of whom (Roger Schank) I’ll quote, have observed: ”Our schools do neither. They teach how to pass tests about meaningless knowledge that never comes up in real life.” I think he too, is right.

I think that today’s curriculum and our understanding of what education is, and how to go about it, are way overdue for a major rethinking. Of course, the current national debate on education has only to do with how testing is helping or hurting. Sigh.

Although the focus of the national debate is depressing, the most uplifting trend that I’ve seen in education is the homeschool movement. These people are not debating, they’re doing.  They’re making an end run on the whole stiltified education system and experimenting and innovating and customing education to fit the needs of their children.  It’s amazing. Let a thousand flowers bloom. I’ll bet that the 2-4% of our population that is being homeschooled will be the leaders of tomorrow.

Many are unapologetically unschooling.  Lets follow the kids’ interest as our lead. They like to read and show an interest in biography? Great, lets serve up biographies of politicians and scientists and artists and mathematicians and see how much they can absorb.  My kids likes computer games? Great, lets find a way to visit a game development studio and use that trigger a need to learn math and engineering and develop art and technical skills.

Many are using unit studies. This month is bees. Great, lets study bees in every which way.  Any great bee literature? Who can draw a bee? What about the types of bees and how they fit into the animal kingdom?  Can we dissect a bee?  What about the math of a new bee colony? The economics of honey making?  Lets go visit some bee farms. Lets see how they fit into our agricultural system? What makes people allergic to bees and what is an allergy?  What makes honey taste sweet?  What bees are native to what place? Can different types of bees interbreed? What’s going on with the African killer bees? Lets go observe some bees and see what we can see?   And we’ll have the 5year old, the 10 year old, and the 15 year old all immersed in bees for a month studying it every which way.  And they’ll learn things that will stay with them for life. For life. They’ll learn to research, to have curiosity, and to generalize.

The Internet?  In elementary and middle schools today, the teachers are getting comfortable using the mouse and there are often several computers in every class of 30 kids.  After the students finish their work, they can play educational games on the computer. But in homeschooling, it’s like the real world. There is one computer per person and it’s an intrinsic part of most studies. From fun homeschooling curriculum  to great spelling games to writing courses  to the endless research possibilities of the net, the computers are integrated as a tool in many homeschooling families. Just like in the real world and the future and  not at all like the expensive timewarp reality of public education. Who can afford computers when they have to buy all those $75 textbooks for each student and have all those curriculum specialists guiding the teachers along the straight and increasingly narrow definition of education.

Schools today rely increasingly on high stake tests to motivate and evaluate. High stakes tests and grades lead to cramming. Most crammed info remains in memory just long enough to get thru the test.  The entire curriculum of high school science ignores the reality of the lives that most people will lead and does not equip them to make their own medical decisions or to evalute other life choices. Instead, it provides preprofessional training for the very few who might make those subjects their career. One reason that few students today care much about science could be the endless time spent in highschool chemistry on the valences and the periodic table with no broader discussion of anything relevant like the miracle of new materials developed over the last fifty years. The incredible story of synthetic rubber, of plastic, of nylon and rayon, of silicon and silicone is not taught in high school chemistry. Instead, the mind numbing trivia of classical chemistry is studied which is only of value to the fraction of a percent that pursues a career as a chemical engineer.  Where’s the national debate on that? 

 Am I ranting? The public school system, ironically, is not evolving. The homeschoolers are.  I love that the homeschoolers are taking fresh approaches to education. I hate that the federal government is increasing the pressure for a single approach to curriculum without asking any questions of whether our education “teaches people how to live or how to make a living”.

 Anybody have a view to share?