Thursday, December 06, 2012

Do you homeschool? Did you know you are a radical?

Kevin Williamson makes some interesting points in The Last Radicals.  His columns starts with:

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There is exactly one authentically radical social movement of any real significance in the United States, and it is not Occupy, the Tea Party, or the Ron Paul faction. It is homeschoolers, who, by the simple act of instructing their children at home, pose an intellectual, moral, and political challenge to the government-monopoly schools, which are one of our most fundamental institutions and one of our most dysfunctional. Like all radical movements, homeschoolers drive the establishment bats.
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One of the points Kevin drives home is that by their very nature homeschoolers don't feel like they need bureaucrats.  We are radicals compared to most of society.

As a group homeschoolers are very strong willed, especially any that have homeschooled for more than a couple years.  We have to be.  The vast majority of society is going one way and we are marching to a different drum.  We are constantly being pushed and pulled in a hundreds of subtle and not so subtle ways.

Whatever our reason(s) we reject the status quo.  We are fighting to go against the stream.  We've pulled our children from public schools and decided to take ownership of the educational process of our children.  I doubt very few of us choose homeschooling with the intent of challenging society, but we are radicals as we ignore government schools.

Maybe I have more in common with John Adams than I realized.



4 comments:

Susan Ryan said...

I agree with him. I think we are authentic radicals and I LIKE it. :)
It took a while to realize it's ok to drive the establishment batty. I'm not trying to do that, it just happens.

Unknown said...

Great post. So interesting. I know that 'outsiders' look at us as radicals, but I like the way you put it. We are swimming against the stream. We are choosing to do things differently. But that's a good thing. It's not an intentional rebellion, but a choice to do what is best for our family. So yes, I kind of like being called a radical, not conforming.

As I read through the blog and the reviews for the movie Courageous and before that the book, I was reminded of this site that you might find interesting. homeschoolliterature.com It's a website of literature about and for homeschoolers. The stories also have study guides.

Gina Erle said...

Great Post! It's always good to do something different and home schooling has been working so long that clearly your doing something right!

There is a great article From Empirical Magazine about homeschooling: Check it out!

http://empiricalmag.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-excerpt-homeschooling.html

Anonymous said...

Interesting... Great post!
We have been a homeschooling family since 2003, when my oldest turned 3 years old. I have always known I wanted to homeschool and have never considered not. However, two years ago we went from a homeschooling to a Roadschooling family. This may seem even more Radical! ~>What ever people may think has never bothered me because I live and make choices more myself not others ;)

If anyone is considering Homeschooling check out these sites for more info :

http://www.hslda.org/
http://www.time4learning.com/homeschool/welcome.htm
http://www.familiesontheroad.com/

Hope this helps someone.
Happy Holidays,
Keri