A New Breed of Homeschooler
The Headmistress was addressing some comments from a new homeschooler and I was reminded that I had written this months ago and never posted it. I guess it is time.
We decided to homeschool just after our first child was born, about 17 years ago and I have been involved with our local support group for much of that time. My dear friend and mentor used to invite me on field trips with other homeschooling families when my children were infants and toddlers. I started going to monthly support meetings when my oldest was a pre-schooler. As a result I had a slow, easy introduction to homeschooling and I was very, very blessed.
Some of the wonderful moms that I met early in my homeschooling career were part of the vanguard in my state, some of them homeschooling before it was even legal. They were not afraid to stand against the tide, holding their ground in a world that mostly had never heard of homeschooling, and once they did hear of it, they were usually against it. These moms didn't have much curriculum to choose from, often just workbooks sold at Safeway or curriculum caste offs from schools. Yet these moms did whatever they needed to do to give their children a wonderful education. They were creative and many were strong willed, and they supported each other, because there was very little support from anyone else. I am blessed to know many of these women. The forerunners of my calling.
For years now, the homeschooling community has been changing. With public school sponsored programs, internet learning, co-ops, and a plethora of opportunities, the face of homeschooling has changed. Now before I get too far into this hear me out...I am thankful that so many children are getting out of the public school system. I am thankful that there are choices now that make it so more parents choose homeschooling. And I am thankful that more families are able to find a way to school their children outside of the public school arena. I support the freedom of each family to choose the educational choice that best fits their own values, even if it differs from the one I choose.
I have noticed a surprising trend in the new homeschoolers I come in contact with in person and on the internet. Many are choosing to homeschool the way someone chooses to try a new flavor of coffee. We'll buy a jar, try if for a couple months and see if we like it. This lack of commitment (and lack of conviction) is troubling to me. What often happens is that people try a certain flavor of homeschooling for a short time, think that is what homeschooling is all about, quit when it doesn't work for them, and then go on telling folks, "We tried homeschooling and it didn't work for us." They often carry other negatives with them when they leave. Since they laid out a chunk of change for some curriculum they tell others how expensive homeschooling is. They may meet some families once at a support group or field trip and think they are "weird" or their children are "unsocialized" and draw sweeping conclusions about all homeschooling families.
We had a mother come to our local support group and ask if there was some easy way to get teach her children to read and write...maybe a tutor or something. We misunderstood and thought she needed ideas on how to teach these subjects while still having a busy schedule or maybe she needed encouragement that moms are capable of teaching their own children and don't need outside help. When we pressed her for specifics, she said she didn't want to bother teaching her children boring subjects like reading, writing and math...she just wanted to do the fun stuff with them, like field trips and science experiments. We stared at her in amazement and kind of umed and awed. What do you say to that?
There is a concern that "old fashioned" homeschooling will become a thing of the past. More and more homeschoolers turn to school district programs, tutors, internet academies or others to teach their children for them...they just do it from home instead of at a school building. The homeschool advocacy group in our state is very concerned that the government will look at all these families who call themselves homeschoolers but are actually enrolled in school district programs, and they will wonder about all those non-conformist families who won't enroll and be accountable to the school district. The fear is that legislators will ultimately declare that families in those programs are true homeschoolers and the rest of us are renegades that need to be reformed.
