I’ve Got Beef With Homeschooling
Why would you want to limit your kid to being only like you?
I’ve got beef with homeschooling.
Let me start by saying that the American school system definitely has its flaws. Inequality along racial, socioeconomic, and even geographical lines leads to unequal access to education. Standardized testing promotes a narrow curriculum that focuses more on “how to pass a test” than other options (like creativity, critical thinking, or maybe just kids with test anxiety?) Funding disparities in school districts means that the kids with the better funded schools simply get better education. Teachers are underpaid, turnovers are high which disrupts stability in their schools. Outdated curriculum, histories, disciplines and even religion are pushed on our kids. And then we’re left with laughable college affordability at the end of K-12.
There is a lot of room for improvement in our current school systems, but I don’t think that homeschooling your neuro-normative and able bodied kids is the answer.
[A quick note, I will always be understanding of situations where a child with special needs would flourish in a home school setting and these beautiful children are excluded from my upcoming rant against homeschooling! Take care of your baby however they need to be taken care of, parents. You know what’s best for them most intimately.]
As for the majority of the population, my biggest beef with homeschooling is the indoctrination vibe. I can understand wanting to protect your kids from ideals that go against everything you believe in, but the truth is you can’t and shouldn’t try to control what your kids think. Your kids need to develop critical thinking skills to decode the difference between right and wrong, and never allowing them to be exposed to what you believe is “wrong” will hinder their ability to do this. Set your examples, sure, and if you do a good enough job at this they may follow in your lead. But given that the different ideas are age appropriate for your kid and not harming anyone, blinding them to opposing views is wrong. And I believe it will result in them opposing you in the future!
Homeschooling your child for the purpose of instilling your own beliefs and ideologies by hiding diverse perspectives is gross, and I don’t feel bad for saying it. Traditionally, in school settings there are measures taken to ensure that the curriculum is balanced, ideas are diverse, and skills are taught to question and explore them. Homeschooling environments simply can’t allow for this unless the parent is hiring other parents that they don’t get along with to come and teach their kid on a rotating schedule (which would be a ton of work and super awkward, you might as well just enroll them at the middle school down the street).
My biggest concerns with homeschooling might be able to be addressed if a parent can provide this well-rounded curriculum. If the environment is one where children are encouraged to ask questions, and basically argue with their parents, to explore differing viewpoints. One compliment I have for homeschooling is the resources used. I love the idea that my kids would get to go to the public library one day and learn about nature in the park the next. But they’d still only be learning from their parents–who teach them everything else for the rest of the day already.
Parents, you can teach your child how to convert ounces to tablespoons while making pancakes on Sundays. They see you all the time, they love you, but you can cause psychological damage by not allowing them to live out their social life in public settings. Especially when the American work culture is designed as a continuation of our school system. Social isolation is another huge problem with homeschooling. Home schooled kids have limited opportunities for social interaction with peers, which can lead to feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, and difficulty forming relationships. Let that baby go, they don’t need to be attached to your hip.
The pressure and expectations that home schooled children may experience is unmatched. The blurring of lines between who is teacher and who is parent means that lines are blurred between academic performance and familial love. This is another reason the very idea of homeschooling just pisses me off. Your kid should never feel like they need to perform academically to win your affections–let them come home from school and be with their family. Home schooled kids never get that separation and may suffer from feelings of inadequacy at minimum.
Identity development would be so challenging in a setting where the teacher is the mother, the peer is the brother, (but the dog is just happy that everyone is home all the time, that is a plus.) A limited peer group will only develop a limited identity.
Just look at the independence and autonomy of these kids whose parents have to be instructing them and guiding them at every step of their day. Isn’t it exhausting from both perspectives? Imagine how hard it would be for a home schooled kid to transition into a college or even a training module at a job. Any system that differs from their parents’ teaching methods, social dynamics, and expectations would be difficult for them to navigate after having one teacher for twelve years.
Kids that are home schooled also have fewer opportunities to learn and practice emotional regulation skills in social settings. This directly impacts their ability to work in the future, this is also a huge reason why I had three kids! I wanted to give them someone to fight with before they have coworkers, haha.
I could go on and on. Homeschooling causes educational gaps, limited extracurricular activities (like a ceramics class with a kiln. Do you have a kiln at your house? A football field?)legal and regulatory challenges for parents depending on jurisdiction which just means more work for parents, dependency on parental knowledge, social stigma, and for God’s sake parents that are stuck in the house all day!
We need to fix our school system, yes, but keeping your kids out of it is not exactly the right answer. Anyone have any better ideas?
-LaChelle
