Hanson's Ridge
In Part One, Story of a Public School Teacher, I talked about my background as an educator. I loved teaching, and overwhelmingly thought the teachers I knew were fantastic people who truly cared about their students. They were doing the absolute best they could within this flawed system, and worked harder than anyone else I knew. Many felt frustrated and stress levels were extremely high. But overall, they loved their job. I loved it too. I loved connecting with students and trying to make a difference within the system.
But. When my students started a tangent about a completely fascinating and intellectual stimulating conversation, we had to move on. We had to stop to get back to the lesson, or go to lunch, or go to specials. When they didn't get a topic, I could remediate a little bit, but the class had to move on. We had to follow the pacing guide. I want something different, both for myself as a teacher and for my children as students. Here is what I want: 1. I want to inspire a lifelong love of learning. This was something we talked about a lot in graduate school, but it's something that's really challenging to do in a public school classroom when you are trying to get them to love learning about something that they don't find interesting at all, and don't have time to teach them about the things they are really curious about. 2. Read-aloud is one of my favorite activities to do with kids, and it's extremely important for their development. Read-aloud was a regular activity in all my classes, but my favorite days were the ones where I ignored the schedule because we were so into a book that we couldn't help going on. My first batch of sixth graders were antsy during every read-aloud, but on the second to last day of school, they begged me to at least start Bridge to Terabithia, and we ended up reading the entire book, all day long. It was a magical moment. I want that love of reading and story to permeate my kids lives. If they are caught up in a good book, I want to be flexible around that, whether it's a read-aloud or independent reading. The more they read, the better they will be at reading. Plus, we get to read so many more books. 3. I love field trips. I know a lot of teachers hate them because the change in routine makes the kids go a little haywire, it's stressful to keep track of everyone, and it interrupts the flow of lessons. But there's also magic in field trips. Sometimes the change in scenery creates a new kind of camaraderie, and I saw wonder on the faces of my students when we went on field trips, even on the jaded ones. Even if it was just horses in fields on the side of the road. I want to be able to take my "students" on more than two field trips per year, and not have to be tied to schoolbus schedules. I want to be able to truly explore when we go places, rather than just checking stops off on a list. 4. I believe in child-led learning. Don't get me wrong, I believe that basics are extremely important. My kids will receive math and reading instruction, and in between their own interests, they will get the basic overview of science, social studies, etc. But there's something magical when you let a kid go deep into something they find fascinating. AW has gone through a dinosaur phase, a human body phase, and an oceans phase. I don't try to distract her from oceans in order to teach her about electricity. She's learning, and that's the important part. We'll talk about the basics of electricity at some point. 5. Many homeschoolers out there chose homeschooling because they feel that the public school system does not reflect their religious or political values. I feel the same way, but probably on the opposite end of the spectrum. I want to provide broader historical context in Social Studies. The 4th grade Social Studies textbook in use when I student taught included a tidbit about how enslaved blacks enlisted in the Confederate Army by choice in great numbers. That was not ok with me. I'm not ok with kids dressing up as "Indians" for Thanksgiving or celebrating Columbus Day. As a historian, I know that Squanto was enslaved by Europeans long before the first Thanksgiving and that Columbus committed terrible atrocities on the people of the Caribbean. I don't need to teach all of those things to my kids now (ages 4 and 2), but I'm not going to promote romantic mythology for them to unlearn later either. Also, when I was in public school, in my upper level Biology class, my teacher was required to present Creationism (not just Intelligent Design) alongside other theories of Evolution. That does not align with my family's scientific values. 6. AW is extremely verbally advanced, and that's not just me, as her mom, talking. We've heard it from DC's speech therapist, the pediatrician, and other professionals who have interacted with her. It makes it easy to forget how young she actually is. I have to remind myself that she is just four (technically not for a couple of weeks). She has great empathy and a high emotional IQ. And she's intelligent across the board. But she's not equally talented in all areas. And that's ok. It might be that down the road, she's reading at a ninth grade reading level and doing math at a sixth grade reading level, regardless of her actual age. And the beauty of homeschooling is that we can make that work. 7. I want my kid to be well-socialized. You might be wondering what I mean. After all, the number one question for homeschool families is "what about socialization?" I know how much socialization takes place in a public school classroom. It's not much. 30 minutes for lunch, including standing in line, cleaning up, and standing in line again, and 10 minutes of recess. Yes, there are collaborative projects, but not necessarily every day. And it's with a fairly homogenous peer group, which is not a real-life scenario after graduating college, or sometimes even after graduating high school (I went to college with a fair number of students significantly older than myself). I want my kids to learn to interact with all kinds of people: older kids, peers, small children, adults, and so on. My kids actually have a pretty busy social life already. And I think their social skills are pretty good. 8. Academics can wait. The kindergarten assessments made me so frustrated. If kids didn't come to school already knowing basic letter sounds, they were going to fall behind quickly because the pace moved so fast. But little kids need a lot of time to play. They need time to be active and explore and feel wonder and curiosity. I was an early reader, reading fluently before I entered kindergarten. No one taught me, I just learned from listening to my dad read. Maybe my kids will be early readers, maybe they won't. Maybe they'll need explicit instruction. But AW is still not quite fully ready for reading instruction, even though we're starting Pre-K this year. She knows some letters and sounds, but syllables are still tricky for her. She can rhyme a bit, but not consistently. So we won't start a reading program yet. And that's ok. We can move fast when the kids are ready and slow down when they are not. 9. Kids need to get outside. My kids only had 10 minutes of recess per day, Tuesday through Friday. That was not nearly enough time to get out all their energy, not to mention gain the benefits of nature exploration. They were not allowed to run on the playground or play tag or climb the slide. They weren't allowed to play with snow. I want my kids to play outside and get messy. I want it to be ok for them to fall. And I want them to know that I'm there keeping an eye on them but not policing their play choices. 10. We value flexibility. This could be a long reason, but it gave us one bit of freedom right off the bat. We were able to choose a home based on a location that we loved rather than worrying about a school system. We didn't even look at school systems when we were home shopping. We are able to choose what we want to teach our children and when. We can travel in the off season and take field trips when most public schoolers are in classrooms starting the school year or taking end of year tests. We can choose between testing and evaluation based on the needs of each of our children. We can visit family whenever we need or want to. We can easily schedule doctor's appointments. We can have breaks when we want, or start and end school when we want. If it's a beautiful day we can get outside and do our work in nature. 11. We love being together as a family. Himself works from home, and we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together almost every day (sometimes we miss lunch). We are all connected and in touch. I know what AW is interested in and what skills DC has mastered. Even though being together all the time has its own set of challenges, I like how it feels to be a family. We're a team. I know that they will grow more independent as they get older, which is right and as it should be. But their roots will hold them fast as their wings set them free. 12. I love the chance to promote our Unitarian Universalist values. In the public school system, I was not allowed to answer the question "what does it mean to be homosexual/gay." But I believe that all people have inherent worth and dignity, and that they have the right to the truth. I believe in service, and homeschooling will allow me opportunities to have my children serve others. We sing together and talk about our values. I could do that even if they went to school, but it's nice to be able to incorporate it throughout the day, even if it's a simple "Be kind in all you do." 13. I get to teach school's shrinking or missing subjects. My kids can do art every day if they want to. They can get physical activity every day. We sing every day. They aren't limited to twice a week music, twice a week physical education, and once a week/every other week art. We can do guided activities in these areas or just work from a place of joy. 14. It's like I get all of the things I initially loved about teaching, without all the parts I grew to despise. I get to connect with my students, build relationships, watch them grow, do fun activities, explore the world, and just have a good time. 15. Sometime the real world is the best classroom. I never struggled with fractions, and I'm convinced it's because I'd already learned about fraction relationships learning to bake with my dad every Christmas. They never intimidated me because I knew from hands-on experience that a 1/4 cup was smaller than a 1/2 cup. They nested inside each other in the cluttered drawer in the kitchen. 16. We can take advantage of immediate opportunities for further learning. If we read a book about whales, we can pull up recordings of whale sounds or watch videos of whales breeching. We can get in the car and head to the library for story books or nonfiction books about whales. The opportunities are endless. 17. Homeschoolers are weird. Sometimes people list this as a con to homeschooling, but for me, it's a complete positive. I was a victim of bullying until I found my tribe in the form of high school theatre. I don't think I ever minded being bullied after I found my theatre friends. But it was a long journey to find them. There's a lot of peer pressure to fit in, even in elementary school. Sure, we need our kids to build character to stand up for themselves later in life, but we don't have to throw them into the deep end. I think homeschoolers are sometimes "weird" because they are free to be themselves. It's ok to be nerdy (read: passionate) about something when you are a homeschool kid. It's almost an expectation. I have always felt a lot of pressure to conform by being something I'm not, and I would like to postpone that pressure for my kids while I help them build up the strength to withstand it when the time comes. I'm actually going to wrap this list up here. There are so many more reasons, and I find more all the time. I started this journey because I couldn't stand testing culture, but the more I read and the more I learn and spend time with my own children, the more rewards I find. But I do have one more thing to say on this topic. I feel fortunate to have the privilege to homeschool my children. Not only are we in a financial position to do so, but I have a very supportive partner, co-teacher, and co-parent. We live in a state where it is fairly easy to homeschool. I am white and middle class, so I do not worry about neglect or truancy accusations. My race, gender, marital status, and sexual orientation are broadly represented and easily accepted within the homeschool community. I face less judgment than some because people see my teaching degree as a sign that I know what I'm doing when Those Other Homeschoolers have no idea. I live in an area where homeschooling is pretty common so it's easy to connect with other people. Homeschooling won't always be easy, but the choice was easier for me than for many. I'm very thankful to live in a country where we have a public school system for all who need an education. Not everyone wants to or is able to homeschool, and that's ok. Let's keep talking about what needs to be fixed in the public school system. Alright, one more thing. It's my favorite quotation to describe what it's like being a public school teacher versus a homeschool parent: Fezzik: Well, I haven't fought just one person for so long. I've been specializing in groups. Battling gangs for local charities, that kind of thing. Dread Pirate Roberts: Why should that make such a difference? Fezzik: Well, you see, you use different moves when you're fighting half a dozen people than when you only have to be worried about ... one. [Fezzik drops unconscious to the ground] (From The Princess Bride)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHi! I'm Stephanie Hanson. I live with my husband, Himself, on Hanson's Ridge in Virginia. Archives
September 2017
Categories |