Home School: Straight Talk About Tackling the Necessary pt 1
Nothing is more emotional to parents than the subject of their children. It’s hard to be moderate in discussions when it comes to children and what’s the right decision. Obviously, most decisions are extremely personal. Major decisions and issues are filled with complexity and it’s difficult, if not impossible, to speak from a calm center. This said, we can agree there are very good schools available to most all US citizens, places wherein children can get a quality education. And it goes without saying there is the opposite and this may be why so many parents have chosen to home school.
Home school parents have already made the toughest choice, to educate their children personally. This 2 part series is intended to help the home school parent, to share some observations and to offer some ideas, tips and resources. Unlike so many passively written articles or spoken thoughts, this is a straight forward, no holds barred, matter of fact approach. This is not intended to be negative or an indictment of home schooling. It’s the author’s belief home school parents are bright, articulate people who already know the hill ahead is steep and will appreciate someone’s voice that respects such: matter of fact, simple, non-labeling or blaming, a voice of aid.
Each person has an area or areas of strength and each has areas of weakness. If the parent/educator can be honest with his or herself and recognize the weaknesses, there are some great opportunities to augment the home school child’s education.
In observing home school children, the most common deficiency in their home school experience is the socialization aspect. This is socialization on a global scale. Learning from experience, experientially, takes place daily just by being in and about the world at hand. Slam a hand in a door, learn not to close door while hand is in there. Our world is filled with rules, structure, it’s how we are able to function without stepping on one another, both figuratively and literally.
Our lives are governed by rules, nothing we do if free from guidelines. From the mundane to the spectacular there are expectations of how we’re to comport ourselves: in a library, better be quiet. As a home school parent/educator, one must be hyper-cognizant of getting the home school child into the world, out of the house. For kids that go to school, thi is one of the main benefits, they’re learning rules of life. Home school children can get this experience, school’s don’t hold exclusivity rights but parent/educators must make concerted efforts make it so.
If learning to be in groups and work in and around people out in the world is global-socialization, then the more specific and much needed socialization is peer-socialization. There are many benefits to home schooling, especially when comparing the ability to drill down and really focus on core subjects; however, the biggest gap in home school child development is peer-to-peer socialization. Parent/educators are recognizing this more and more and groups of home school children go on field trips together etc. In a school setting though, kids are receiving hours of peer socialization day in and day out, 9 months of the year. Therefore, this is an area the parent/educator must be especially sensitive and aware.
Whatever the cost in socialization, home school kids more than excel in text book subjects. It doesn’t take but a moment to notice the education and the manner in which he/she was educated is different than what is familiar to most: in the positive. Often these kids can speak at a level well beyond their years on a variety of subjects. This is why so many turn to home school eduction.
So, what can parent/educators do to improve the schooling provided their kids? Take time to augment the learning with subjects and experiences outside of the core education courses. In many ways the advantage to provide incredible learning experiences is in the home school parent/educator’s favor. School can take place on the parent’s terms, in a place of the parent’s choosing. This allows for tremendous diversity: zoos, live theater, construction sites, bakeries, galleries, news papers, local businesses etc., all offer incredible learning experiences. Being the home school parent, party of very few, one can impose on these areas, ask questions and use the place to teach about life and how school ties into life after school. Create opportunities to get the child exposed to the world. take advantage of the incredibly brave decision made to home school.
As we conclude the first part of this mini-series on how to get most from the home school decision, one tip to achieving all three points above. Parents can look to getting a group of home schoolers together and enroll the lot of them into an experiential education based program. Outdoor education centers will provide this. It’s good to get the kids into these types of programs once or twice a year for concentrated periods of time. Camps are excellent for this.
Specifically we recommend a camp that mentions experiential education or speaks of adventure excursions. These camps engage the child in a mind/body manner. The child must engage their bodies in the adventures and their minds in the social settings. You should email or call the camp you’re interested in, or the couple you’re interested in, and interview them, deciding which you’re most comfortable. We strongly encourage a residential camp. These camps address all aspects we’ve mentioned here as well as the others we’ll address in part 2.