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RE: Unschooling: Why I Chose to Homeschool
It's an interesting perspective for sure! Especially for me, who works in the public school system. I was raised by a public educator father and a private school educator mother. The thing I have always wondered is: did you feel at a disadvantage socially at all or were you all involved in activities along the way that allowed you to grow in that way as well?
Great question @thesimplelife! The socializing me and siblings had revolved around the sports we played, activities at our church, and organizations we chose to join.
Sports and church are pretty basic for public, private or homeschool. The opportunities for socializing I enjoyed were annual bank meetings that me and my dad invested in - their meetings were during the school day - and helping out at my grandparents business during business hours. Again, it is the flexibility of schedule that allowed us to socialize with quality people.
My parents raised us to be around influencers in our community that were typically older than us. That fosters a different type of child than those only interacting with their peers. I enjoyed time with my peers to a degree but I also found myself wanting to hang around the customers at my grandparents' business.
Again thanks for the additional insight! I occasionally get a homeschooled student coming into test. I was curious because of some of my experiences with them. I suppose it depends on the level of involvement and expectations that the parents themselves have as well. It sounds like your parents had great expectations of you all and were very involved with your eduction versus sitting the student in front of a computer on their own (which is what happened with the one student in particular I was thinking about when I asked the question!) thanks for entertaining my curiosity!
And thank you for reading my book of a reply! Glad we could have a civil conversation about it. Happy to entertain your curiosity.
I wouldn't say I'm in one camp or another. Not every kid needs the same path as others. Education shouldn't be a one size fits all since it is filled with unique individual learners! I just like to learn more about others' experiences in education!
That is a healthy way to look at the educational landscape. It ought to be crafted to the child.
I know my mom worked with my brother Hayden to include him in a local mechanic shop. He was a hands on learner and needed that time out of the books to balance his time in the books.
That's awesome she could figure out an experience like that for him and that there were people in the community who worked with her! Great that she recognized that need. Our district has recently recognized that need and started a Career and Technical Education program. I'm hoping it's the key to keeping some of my students who end up dropping out in school instead.
A Career and Technical Education program is a great idea! I know some of my male cousins enjoyed their time there versus sitting at a desk - it was a hands on approach.
It's just getting off and running, which means there's lots of bugs. They are also building it program by program up to 21 different programs. So it's going to take awhile! This year we will have 5 total. I have so many students who might stay in school if they get to do the hands on learning and leave high school with a leg up on technical training. It's exciting and I thinks it's amazing you all had hat same opportunity thanks to your hardworking parents.