Since I made a flippant, but disparaging remark about homeschoolers the other day, I thought I should set the record straight about where I stand on that issue -- I love homeschooling.
A year-and-a-half ago, my son convinced me to let him be homeschooled. He had always hated school and although he had done well, I had noticed that his enthusiasm for virtually everything had waned to nothing.
Once we moved to NS, things got worse. From a social perspective, he entered middle school and had difficulty making friends, spending most of his time alone. The kids didn't understand his humour, his vocabulary or his political commentary, although he kept the teachers in stitches. From an educational perspective, we found the school system to be uneven at best and the curriculum to be behind most other places in Canada.
I realize that I may be opening myself for a lot of criticism regarding that last remark, but the facts are the facts. I've spoken with adults who had been honour students at highschool who, when they attended university outside NS, needed remedial help in maths and sciences to keep afloat. I've spoken with a university admissions director who told me that the grades of NS students applying to universities outside the province are considered to be a full grade lower than their transcripts indicate. And then there are the national tests that rate NS students at the bottom of the provincial pack.
My son hated school so much that he'd create his own study plan then beg me to let him stay home for the week. He'd always be ahead of his class when he'd return to school. I finally gave in to the idea of homeschooling, although I had no idea what that meant and was terrified that I'd now be responsible for ensuring his future failure to get into university.
Have I ever learned a lot in the past eighteen months!
Now, I can't even figure out why we stick kids in highschool. I remember very little of what I learned there and hated the authoritarian approach. (You will take these classes. They will for XXX minutes. You will go here; you will go there.) I began thinking about how I have ever learned anything and, without exception, it has been either because I was interested in it or because I had to learn it to advance. I learned by reading and by talking with others. I remember embarrassingly little that was taught me by having me sit at a desk for 70 minutes bored out of my mind.
Despite what we are led to believe, you don't need a high school diploma to get into university; there are other ways of proving you belong there including providing a portfolio and writing an entrance exam. Students can also apply as non-degree students, get a few marks under their belts, then apply for full-time learning.
Taking out the rigid notion of high school really opens the possibilities for learning, doesn't it?
We have settled on a mix of school-at-home and unschooling in our methodology. My son is going into film studies and since the arts are so accessible in NS, he has many, many opportunities to learn. As one example, he's heading off to a two-week, film academy at the end of the month, he volunteers with the Filmmakers Co-op and the Film Festival, and has opportunities to volunteer on various productions. He will also be taking Intro to Psychology, Ethics II, Weather and American Cinema through a video-on-demand, teaching website -- all subjects he chose because he thinks they look interesting.
One year ago, he wouldn't choose subjects to study. That's right, by staying home and not dealing with the artificial environment at school, he's regaining his lost enthusiasm for learning. He has told me that when he began homeschooling, he didn't understand how to identify his learning options. "Teachers always told us what we'd learn." Now he participates quite willingly in selecting what he wants to focus on. That is a totally win-win situation to my way of thinking.
These are some of the things I love about homeschooling:
1) There is no peer pressure among the teens -- none.
2) The homeschooling kids I've met are open to various forms of dress, points-of-view and interests.
3) Kids have no fear of learning. This is so important. When asked: what if you need XXX to write an SAT? They shrug nonchalantly and say: That's okay. I'll learn it. And they do/will.
4) They have confidence in themselves. While studies show that girls loose their sense of self during four years of high school, this doesn't seem to be the case among homeschoolers.
5) My son is de-stressing (it took a whole year for this to happen) and learning to enjoy learning again.
So, flippancy aside, I'm glad we're a homeschooling family. I wish I had agreed to it earlier.
Colleen
Blame this on Richard!
