Old and in the way

[After I wrote this post, I realized it became tetchier and tetchier. You've been warned. I also feel the need to point out that this is dealing entirely with homeschooling and is not a jibe at traditional school. I hope I don't need to say that. Homeschooling and traditional school are very different from each other and what works for one would not work well for the other. Apples and oranges and all that. Think of this little rant as an internal homeschooling issue.] 

I've been homeschooling a long time, 26-1/2 years to be exact. There have been a lot of changes over those 26 years. When I first began, it had just been a few years since homeschooling had become legal in all 50 states. This was also pre-internet. Yes, it is possible to homeschool successfully without the internet or online classes or schools or curricula; an entire generation of children attest to that. Homeschooling was not a market. Nothing was aimed at us. We were only a vaguely known fringe group and the books we used we not designed for homeschooling. (There were a few publishers who published for private schools who also sold texts to homeschoolers, but we were very much an after thought.) If we wanted curriculum, we found other homeschoolers who had created some or we created our own. There really wasn't any other choice unless you went with the few complete package schools who mainly targeted the children of overseas missionaries. It was a completely different world. 

Homeschooling is now mainstream and I don't know how I feel about that. It's great that it is more accepted and most people see it as a viable educational option. I do a lot less educating of well-meaning but misinformed adults these days. But I'm also afraid that by becoming mainstream it has lost all of the things that make (made?) it valuable. What are those things?

1. The idea that parents really can teach their children effectively. This is the absolute heart of homeschooling. Helping your children learn is not difficult. In fact, there are many reasons why parents are the best teachers for their children. Parents know their children better than anyone. Parents understand what schedule suits their family. Parents are totally invested. And one on one education is extremely effective. It doesn't matter if the parent understands something beforehand. I have learned plenty of things alongside my children and we figure it out together. Not only am I helping my children learn, but I am modeling life long learning as well as how to figure things out. 

2. Homeschooling does not need to mirror traditional school. Now some homeschooling families have always tried to replicate what happens in a traditional classroom, but those families also seem to be the ones who burn out fairly quickly as well as having the most difficulties with compliance and behavior. Twenty plus years ago, since we didn't have access to the great mounds of curricula we do now, there was an understanding that homeschooling would have to look different. And some homeschools did look very different. (Actually, if you were to sit in my house for a month watching us homeschool, you would quickly realize that there is very little we do that looks like traditional school.) I've known a lot of homeschoolers over those twenty-six years and have had the opportunity to watch a great many children grow into adults. You know what? To look at the adults you would have zero idea what each individual's homeschooling looked like. 

3. You can homeschool with a library card. One thing that absolutely makes me want to scream is watching parents shell out hundreds (maybe thousands if there is more than one child) of dollars on expensive curriculum. The reasoning is that the parents are new to homeschooling, don't know what they are doing, and don't want to do it wrong. Um, usually this is involving early elementary grades. Learning to do arithmetic, learning to read, and gaining an understanding of how the world works pretty much sums up the curriculum for grades K through 4. This is not organic chemistry or multi-variable calculus. I am exceedingly concerned that a functioning adult can go through the public school system and feel as though they have no idea how to teach these basic subjects. They are subjects which truly can be taught (and taught well) solely with a library card. Yes, even learning to read. Maybe especially learning to read. I know I've said it approximately a million times on this blog, but there is absolutely nothing magical about curriculum. It's so not magical that you really don't need it.

4. Learning happens best away from a screen. Cue anguished screaming from the thousands of parents who do not know what it is like to parent without the aid of the internet. No Wi-Fi, no apps, no online classes, no reading programs, no math programs, no mindless entertainment. (Okay, now I'm getting crotchety.) When someone asks online how to begin homeschooling, the answers inevitably are to get a good online program. When someone says they don't feel as though they can teach their children, the answers are always to get a good online program. When someone says they want to homeschool but don't have time, they want the magical online program (and usually free or inexpensive is also part of the need.) My child is having trouble doing math... get a good online program; my child is having trouble reading... good online program; make a transcript... good online program. This is not homeschooling. This is outsourcing your child's education to others. It is no different from your public school except that you pay through the nose for it and have the illusion that you have control about content. Yet if you look at the research, the most effective education is one that involves live, in-person people with actual print books and involves a heck of a lot conversation with very little drills and worksheets. 

I have four and a half more years to my homeschooling journey. I'll continue to stick around the online groups during that time and continue to offer my experience and opinions. I don't imagine I am terribly popular. People don't seem to appreciate it when someone tells them they actually can figure it out themselves, that they don't need expensive curricula, that there are far more options than just plunking your child down in front of a screen. They don't seem to appreciate being told that homeschooling actually takes time and effort on the part of the parent even when I use my most connected and understanding tone. (This would be different from my occasional ranting posts here on the blog. Such as this one.) I am not the only voice saying these things, but we are definitely in the minority and many of us have been doing this a long time. I am actually sad for the newest generation of homeschoolers who may miss out on the best the homeschooling can offer because they have such a narrow and simplistic view of what it is.