Well, another school year behind us. The public classrooms are quiet for a couple months; students are released from the endless drone of ridiculous standards, test preparation and test taking. And the unofficial beginning of the homeschooling season has begun.
You see every summer, parents home school their children, even those parents who work full time. Yet they don’t believe they can do the same for the other 10 months of the year.
Children are spending time on vacations to new and exciting places, or visiting grandparents and learning of their personal history. They are learning life skills around the home, and attending day camps, or just going to the beach. And every experience may become a teachable moment or a field classroom. Sure, most are not following a set curriculum but they are learning just the same, or at least could be if challenged. It doesn’t take much to throw in a history lesson or civics lesson, or even some math and reading. And it’s all done outside a government school system, just as conventional homeschooling families do.
The typical excuse for not homeschooling is parents have to work, or they don’t have the time, or they don’t have the aptitude. If this is the case, what are parents doing over the summer break? How is it that even working parents are able to deal with their children being home during the summer but they cannot fathom keeping their children home the rest of the year?
With certainty, homeschooling is outside the comfort zone of many. But there are support groups and umbrella “schools” that help with the administrative aspects. There are consortiums that assist with selecting courseware and teaching unfamiliar subjects. There are even on-line schools, like Freedom Project Academy (www.fpeusa.org), that take care of the teaching, while parents supplement and reinforce the daily lessons.
So while you’re enjoying that family time this summer, consider having the same flexibility throughout the entire year. If you can make arrangements for 2 months, you can surely make similar arrangements for the other 10. It’s all a matter of putting your most precious creation first. Save them from the cookie cutter factories where they are encouraged to be unexceptional. Make their true education your priority and figure out what you need to do to continue the summer of homeschooling into the remainder of the year. You will never regret the time you focus on your children now so they won’t have to live in your guestroom later. And your children will love you for it!
For further reasons to home school and guidance, check out http://operationjerichoproject.com/.
