When we home schooled my oldest, Jasper, in eighth grade, I saw how empowering it is for a child to learn in their own way. That rebooted my thinking about education.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
That's the beauty of education, kids taking lessons out of the classroom and back into their own world where they can positively affect their family, their friends, and their greater community.
As a former board member for Teach For America, I understand that every child has the ability to learn and that, no matter their circumstances at home, we have a duty and a responsibility to educate them and to do it well.
Home schooled children frequently combine for many purposes - and they interact well. The growth of the home schooling movement means that more and more children are learning together, just not in a traditional classroom.
I look back and see the kids who made it through school - it made a huge difference in their lives, which made me believe in the power of public education and what it can do for individuals and communities and the state.
The best schools tend to have the best teachers, not to mention parents who supervise homework, so there is less need for self-organised learning. But where a child comes from a less supportive home environment, where there are family tensions perhaps, their schoolwork can suffer. They need to be taught to think and study for themselves.
Everything that we used to think got taught at home now seemingly has to be taught in the public school system, and something is going to get lost in the process.
Education is not a tool for development - individual, community and the nation. It is the foundation for our future. It is empowerment to make choices and emboldens the youth to chase their dreams.
As long as my sixth graders showed an average improvement of five years, the principal and district pretty much left me alone to create my own curriculum and teach whatever I wanted.
Homeschooling has given us some wonderful flexibility and some great life experiences, especially with our son.
Good home-school educational plans have the kids in groups with other children often and consistently. Because common sense dictates that isolating people is never good and home-schooled children really benefit from being in those type of programs.