Thoughts on homeschooling

My sister, Adrianne, has three beautiful little boys one of whom is getting ready for Kindergarten. She raised a question on her blog about homeschooling. She got a lot of good responses from many people who have obviously given the subject some thought. Rather than take up more of her blog space, I decided that I would write about my thoughts on the matter here.

Michelle and I have six children. Two in High school, two in Jr. High, and two in Elementary school. Needless to say, we have experienced just about all that the school system has to offer. Michelle and I never even considered homeschooling our children. There are several reasons for that. First, both children and parents need a break from each other. Children need to learn to be independant and we as parents need to learn to let them make their own decisions when appropriate. Doing otherwise is contrary to the Lord's plan and sometimes even selfish on our part. My children being in school also gives me an excuse to pry into their lives. It provides us with fodder for conversation. Second, being in school allows children to learn to be social. As I said on Adrianne's blog, the lessons learned on the playground about sharing and problem solving are almost as important as anything that they will learn in the classroom. If any parent thinks they can teach their child to socialize, they are deluding themselves. Children need to learn to socialize with children their own age, not just adults. Thirdly, they will be exposed to different ideas and cultures that will enrich their lives. About half of my two youngest children's classmates are not naturalized US citizens. My children are among the most racially color blind children I have ever met. The lack of exposure to different cultures and ideas in the middle east is what has led to our modern day problem with terrorism. Fourth, our children provide good examples to their friends. Children tend to be better missionaries than adults and are not afraid to ask if their friends want to go to church. My 12 year old just gave a Book of Mormon to his bus driver. An opportunity he would have missed if we homeschooled our children. The last reason I will mention is that it is very difficult for a parent to appropriately teach their children simply because most parents simply don't have the training to do so. I would do a great job teaching my children science but a lousy job teaching economics.

One of the comments on Adrianne's blog said that children coming out of the public school system are poorly educated. I beg to differ. I work with many highly intelligent people, none of whom are products of home schooling. If your child is coming out of the public education system poorly educated, you have no one to blame but yourself. Our children have had horrible teachers and wonderful teachers. They have changed schools several times as we have moved. The one thing that has been stable in their educational careers is us. Michelle and I. We have as much responsibility to educate our children or at least oversee their education as do their teachers at school. The same person on Adrianne's blog said that they didn't want to expose their children to foul language, crude jokes, etc... I completely understand and wish that I didn't have to be exposed to those things either. However, the only way to prevent that is to keep your children in the house. Are you going to tell your child to close his eyes as you walk past the magazine stand in the gas station when the SI swimsuit issue is prominantly displayed? If so, what are you going to do when he is called to serve a mission somewhere in Europe where the laws regulating modesty are somewhat more lax? The key is to teach your children the correct principles and slowly begin to loosen the apron strings as you prepare them to make choices for themselves. They will make mistakes. They will make choices that you know will hurt them. But the joy that comes from knowing your child made a good decision in the face of opposition is exquisite.

To summarize, although I understand some parents desire to home school their children, I am very much against the idea. If you believe that your child is recieving a sub-par education, get involved. Most teachers are only to happy to have parents in the classroom. Join the PTA, get elected to the school board. If you don't have the time to do any of those things, supplement your child's education at home. Just stop complaining. When we take our children out of school, we are essentially hiding their light (and ours) under a bushel. The public school system is certainly not perfect but it does a better job educating our children than the majority of school systems throughout the world.