I recently read a post from another blogger about several misconceptions that she has heard through the years concerning homeschool. It set my wheels in motion as to the things I had thought myself, as well as those I had heard and seen since starting this journey. I have compiled a list for your reading enjoyment ;)
1. All homeschoolers sleep in.
Um... no. My children have a pre-set internal clock that gets them up. Sleeping in is not really an option, and why would I want to train them to do that anyway? Life starts early each morning, and the sooner they realize that, the better.
I know many homeschool families that hit the floor early. I know a few that sleep late. I have a friend that gets up and gets all her errands and chores done in the morning (with her children) and they sit down after lunch to school from 1-6. I have another friend who's son just graduated from high school. He would get up around 5 and do his work early so that he had the rest of the day to pursue other interests. Art museums, history museums, volunteer work, music... all those things that public school students just don't get to do. I have yet another that has a public schooled teen and two smaller homeschool children. She takes the older to school and the younger start school around 8:30 to 9, when they get back home from older delivery.
2. All homeschool moms wear jean skirts and birkenstocks.
I own a jean skirt and a pair of birkies that I have had for YEARS, and I refuse to wear them anymore for just this reason. I find this stereotype to be the most ridiculous of them all. Compund that with my long hair and I would just be ASKING for trouble!
3. You must have at least 4 children to homeschool.
Economically, I can see the appeal to larger families to homeschool. It IS cheaper. I mean, let's face it. Public school turns your child into an Amway salesman. Candy bars, t-shirts, tickets, walk-a-thon pledges, cookie dough, candles..... need I go on? Five dollars this week, seven the next, and when you get to high school, you need a second mortgage!
However, it is perfectly acceptable to homeschool just one child. I know many women who homeschool their only child, and they seem to be holding their own.
A word to the wise, though. Large families are well aware of what goes on to make them large, and they really do get tired of people asking them if they "know what causes it". Use caution in the future. Moms have been known to snap and a diaper bag to the temple will leave a mark.
4. Homeschool families grow their own food and bake their own bread.
In a word - no. I must say that we have more time to work on projects, create new culinary masterpieces and foster new hobbies. However, if you check my yard this summer, you will not see a garden. You might see garden items, but no garden. I believe it is important for children to understand where food comes from, and we have tomato plants and things of that nature, but I got my fill of gardens as a child and tilling 2 acres of my yard does not sound like a happy-happy thought.
Same goes for the bread machine.
5. You homeschool for religious reasons.
Well.... let's see. If my religious beliefs aren't enough to homeschool, then I probably need to re-evaluate my beliefs. But that certainly isn't the only reason I homeschool. Although I feel that the Lord told me to do this (or rather screamed at me to do this), there are many factors that aided in our decision. Financially (see #3), socially (that one is coming up - trust me!), and educationally. Everyone makes that decision on their own, and it's their own decision to make.
6. Homeschool kids wear their pajamas every day.
I don't know! We don't!
7. If my child doesn't take standardized tests, they won't be ready for college.
Well THAT is the biggest pile of donkey doo-doo I've heard in a long time. Sometimes I think people flush their brain down the toilet. What in the world does a multiple-choice test taken every year have to do with a college education, and for that matter, life? It's true that they do have to take the ACT and/or the SAT for college admission and that is something that we will work on, but here's a news flash for you; Colleges don't really put much stock in those yearly tests - they realize how worthless those scores are, too. They are just as interested in if that graduate can write, spell and read. They also want to know about extra-curricular activities other than sports.
8. Homeschooled children aren't as smart as public schooled children.
Yeah. It takes a lot of guts to look at a mother and say that to her face. Yet, it happens. I know of a story of someone that looked at a 4th grade boy and asked him what 2+2 was. One of my same friends mentioned above would have her high schooler quizzed on the church van by the kids AND adults. They tried to give him math problems that would stump him to 'prove' that homeschoolers weren't as smart. That is insulting and degrading on a level that I have never reached. I have no doubt that there are homeschooled children that are as dumb as a box of rocks. That's cruel, but there are 'parents' (and I use that term loosely) who don't encourage their kids to succeed. I also know of quite a few public schoolers that can't pull their pants up to their natural waist and couldn't win a 2nd grade spelling bee. Either you raise your child, or the village will. And for those of you that follow my facebook posts, I'm just curious... how many of you knew that Ruth was David's great-grandmother like my daughter did?? I rest my case.
9. Homeschool children are geniuses.
The flip-side to #8 - People put homeschool children on this unrealistic scale and expect them to know the answer to every question ever asked. That's not possible. You're older than my children, and I guarantee that you don't know it all. My children will never know everything. I want to teach them the things that MATTER and those things that they will actually need in life, like common sense. You know about common sense, right? Right???
10. Homeschoolers grow up to be weird.
I don't think I can expound on this, but I'll try. That's bull. I'm done.
11. Children are homeschooled to hide abuse.
This one offends me. To be honest, it never occured to me before homeschooling my own children and it never occured once we started until a friend mentioned that she had been accused by a stranger. It's a repulsive thought because I know it happens, but it's not common. It's unfair to group everyone into a catagory because of a few offenders.
12. Homeschool children are being sheltered.
Sheltered is different from unsocialized, which I'll address in a minute. Children can be very social and have no idea how the world works. The common misconception is that parents jerk their children out of school to keep them away from worldly influences. Yep. Guilty as charged. Here, however, is my difference. I am called by God to shape my children, not shelter them. I plan to tell my children many "worldly" things, like cuss words, but only when they're old enough to understand what they mean and why we don't say them. This may shock and disturb some, but when (not if, but when) someone calls Shelby "that word" I want her to know what they mean so that she'll know how to deal with it. People use slang words for body parts - my kids need to know that. In short, they have to live in this world and the excuse "I was homeschooled" is just that - an excuse. There are things we don't say, do or watch. Those decisions have nothing to do with their education. It has everything to do with our beliefs, morals and values. I teach so much more than math and spelling.
13. Homeschool moms think they're so superior.
Oh.... right!!! Dream on! I have days I would LOVE to send them somewhere for 8 hours! I have moments that I just walk out of the room because I don't have the time, patience or professional training to deal with whatever is happening. Superior? Hardly. Talk - really talk - to any homeschool mom and she will tell you all about her fears and reservations.
A homeschool mom worth her weight in salt has realized a very important fact: It's all on her. If my children don't receive the education they need, I have no one to blame but me. The responsibility of my children's future rests completely on my shoulders, and I feel that burden every day. I am not superior. I am weighted.
14. All homeschoolers are anti-public school.
I don't hate public school. I just don't like the system. The village is an idiot. Public teachers are awesome. They simply aren't given the time and permission to teach in the way they see fit and necessary. State core standards are set in Nashville by a group of men and women that haven't seen the inside of a classroom in a L-O-N-G time. I have used many public school tricks-of-the-trade here at home, and they work. I am not anti-public school. I am just pro-homeschool.
15. Homeschool children aren't socialized.
I saved the best for last, because this is the one I hear the most. It sets my teeth on edge.
Let me ask you something. It doesn't matter how old you are - in your mind, name the class nerds from your freshman year. That wasn't so hard, was it? They stand out. Were THEY socialized? No, they were not. Did anyone get shoved in a locker? Do you think they felt like they were socially accepted? I'm gonna go with.... um.... no.
At what point are we going to stop listening to evil people in 3-piece suits that tell us what's acceptable?
My children have more fun, more friends and more social settings now than they ever did in public school.
Don't believe me? Let me break this down for you, since most of you probably don't know what REALLY goes on there.
These precious angels arrive at school as early as 7 a.m., where they eat breakfast in the cafeteria and they have to stay seated and be relatively quiet. They then go down to the gym, where they sit on bleachers for 30 minutes or longer and can't move. They can only talk to the person to their right or left because they can't turn around. If a really grumpy teacher happens to be the one on bus duty, then they very well could have no talking in the gym at all. Their class day hasn't even started and they're already in "sit down and shut up" mode. They then go to class, where they ... wait for it... wait for it... sit down and shut up. All day. They don't talk in class. They're there to learn. They go to lunch, where they sit on a round frizbee and eat. They can talk if they're lucky and sit at a good table. If it's too loud - then no talking at all. They go to special classes like gym, guidance, music or the library, where they aren't allowed to talk. They go outside if it's pretty, and they run like wild jack-a-lopes because they've been cooped up all day - not talking. There is TOPS 45 minutes a day that public school children 'socialize'.
In addition - let's think about this. Do I really want other 14 year old boys telling my 14 year old boy how to act? Isn't that my job, and my husband's? What makes one child smart enough to tell other children how to act?
We attend several homeschool outings on any given month. One is a Living History class that meets once a month. During the break, all the boys can usually be found playing football. I mean ALL the boys. From 2nd grade through High School. Those high school boys may not love having the smaller ones in the game, but they accept them and let them play.
Homeschool children have one big advantage. They grow up understanding how to deal with all kinds of people of all kinds of ages. When they go to work at their first job, they are able to work with anyone. How many times have you gone in to McDonald's on a Saturday night and witnessed 7 teenagers grouped together, talking, while everyone else of a different age worked? Yeah - they are public schooled. They don't know how to deal with anyone that isn't their own age. With this one area, I have great criticism with the system. They turn out robots that spend the next 10 years getting their head on straight.
Homeschool students are socialized without the socialism.
16. (edited from earlier posting) - Homeschool families are all gun-carrying, Bible-thumping, flag-waving psychos that are building duplicates of Waco, Texas and teaching our kids to hate the government.
No.
Some of us own weapons, many of us read the Bible, a few of us even try to live what it says. I have no interest in a recap of Ruby Ridge - thank you very much. I have not met anyone that has a shelter in their backyard or stockpiles of ammo and toilet paper. If they did, I don't know that I would want to hang around them.
I was a public school failure. I can admit it. And for this next generation, failure simply isn't an option. There are over 1.5 million children in America that are homeschooled today. We're either all nuts, or we have caught on to the secret. We are not trying to turn our back on America. We are trying to re-affirm it.
Ok - it's time to fess up. How many of these have YOU thought??!!
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