A good introduction to homeschooling by Michael Strong

Michael Strong, CEO of FLOW, has an excellent introduction to homeschooling over at edspresso - How to Give Your Child an Expensive Private Education – For Less Than $3,000 per Year.

I like his paragraph on socialization:

"That said, most of the socialization that goes on at most schools is not positive. School children are often more cruel than adults ever are. In traditional cultures young people were far more closely integrated into the adult community than are our children in schools, and as a consequence such traditional cultures did not have the rampant breeding grounds for immature cruelty that is characteristic of most of our schools, public and private. A homeschooled child who spends several hours each week in peer group activities (group lessons in music, dance, martial arts, art, academics, etc.) is likely to develop healthy, positive peer relationships without experiencing the unnatural cruelty that routinely takes place in schools."

In the next paragraph Michael addresses some of the concerns many parents have who are considering homeschooling:

"The term 'homeschooling' frightens many parents because they have been taught to believe that there is some special expertise required to 'teach' children, and that it is wiser to relinquish control of their children to the 'experts.' While it is true that under some circumstances, especially regarding learning disabilities, in which specific expertise is helpful, in those circumstances a parent may hire an appropriate tutor or coach with expertise in, say, dyslexia. Much of the remaining 'expertise' represents a set of overrated strategies for managing large groups of students who are, in essence, prison inmates and forcing them to 'learn' meaningless terms that they will forget as soon as the test has been taken. If your child has been raised well in a loving environment, which has included the consistent setting of firm boundaries, then much of the most challenging task of educating your child has already been achieved."

Homeschooling is snowballing. As more parents try it, more parents think to themselves, "Hey if John or Ann can do this, I can do it." It becomes less scary as they recognize that average parents can be great homeschoolers.


----------
Technorati tags: homeschooling, homeschool, home school, home education, parenting, children, education