This time of year seems to bring the question of home education out into the hallways. Yesterday between the aquarium and the parent bench at gym I must of answered 3 dozen homeschooling questions.
Most of the questions are pretty standard, people wanting to know how and/or why we home school. I would say 85% of the conversation are polite and positive- minus that pesky socialization question.
I had a teacher at the aquarium after praising (patronizing) my "bravery" tell me that she agreed the one-on-one learning is wonderful but that home school children don't learn social skills like the schooled kids because school kids learn from each other through peer pressure.
"True. By the way your kids are spitting in the fish tanks...."
I believe she was trying to politely point out that home school kids tend to be strange. That's fine but let's call that strangeness what it really is: creativity, self-expression, curiosity, freedom to fail, exemption from bureaucracy oversight, exploration, ability to see adults as facilitators, lack of social peer pressure to conform, reflection of the child's family verses the schoolyard, and the big one CHILDHOOD.
I know that the majority of people asking are just curious but their questions always serve to remind me of the time I was searching for the answers myself.
Everyone has their own reasons and questions. I know what I was looking for was the feeling- what does it feel like to home school? vs. what does being schooled look and feel like.
In the beginning I spent hours in the library looking at books and other materials on education & home schooling. More recently I have turned to on-line documentaries that examine school culture and other educations topics.
Here are a few:
BOOKS
DOCUMENTARIES
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