Are your children learning things you never expected them to in school? I think most parents answer Yes to this. Many try to ignore these issues or just come to accept them as things that can not be helped. Sadly many parents are not even aware there are other options for some. Now before people start throwing stones at me for being yet another Homeschool parent casting judgement on a system my children are not even in, here me out! I don’t think schools are the breading ground of all evil! (I am a secular homeschool mom, and I do not even believe in hell!) I do though think there is a lot of room for improvement in our schools and until parents speak up, before we allow ourselves to become aware of our options, little will actually change.
I am often asked why we homeschool our 4 children and goodness the list is long. It has many positive things on it but there really is many negative things about schools on that list too. It isn’t easy or popular speaking out about them.
Do you agree with the image above about what children learn in school? I do. I was one of those kids who loved school so very much until of course the reality hit. Every new year, every new class I had hope for all the amazing things we would learn and interesting things we would do. Each time I was let down by the red tape, the testing, the boring book work, the one sided conversations with authority, and the constant push to conform not just in how I dressed or had my hair but also in how I was allowed to think and share what I was learning. I found it annoying that at the sound of a bell I had to drop something I was finally able to get into learning or doing just to go to another class and spend another 20 minutes going through basics of who is there, who has to pee, review of homework and so on. I hated that school felt like it was holding me back and I wanted better for my children.
Of course not every school is the same and there are some real gems in the mound of turds to be found. Homeschooling is also not an option for everyone. Do I think all schools should be closed? Of course not, I am not an extremist. I do however think they need an over hall. I do think there needs to be some universal standards but teaching to test needs to end and the shuffling around of child as if they are prisoners who we can’t dare let have time or resources of their own to learn needs to stop. If there is one thing our country does well though is prisons right? I mean we have more people in prison than any other country. It is any wonder when our school system and prisons seem to mirror one another? Heck the high school I went to is actually the same design as a prison!
We need to break free, our children deserve better. We can’t stick our heads in the sand about this. Our model has failed, look at our economy, infrastructure and prison system. It has failed our children. We must do better!
