Some pretty good reasons to homeschool!
Reasons to homeschool
There are many good reasons to homeschool as this article points out. I found myself thinking of the men that our old system produced and how high the literacy rate is. I can see a time coming soon where the majority of Americans do not read and can not sign their own name on documents. That is a telling result of the current education system.
Since we have gone to the mass educational system do we no longer have people on the intellectual par of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, or even Thomas Edison? There could be a case made that those intellectuals still exist, but we do not highlight or treasure them as we have in the past. You have to spend a lot of time in the pursuit to match Mr. Jefferson.
This was a man that was a voracious reader and constantly read numerous books all at the same time. His donation from his personal library was the foundation of the Library of Congress. They were a great example and Thomas Jefferson like so many of his day spent a lot of time in self study and had a teacher with a small child to pupil ratio. Now we force children into a classroom and force memorization techniques on them and call it education.
There are some solid reasons to homeschool and I think this article brings out some good points. I also believe that we need to focus on returning to children being more responsible for their education. What are your reasons to homeschool? Feel free to way in with a comment below.
I can see a time coming soon where the majority of Americans do not read and can not sign their own name on documents.” Really? Give me a break. And I’m fairly certain that plenty of the 300 million of so US Citizens are of the intellectual equivalent of any of those you named above, with the main difference being that people don’t have to sit and read in the candlelight at home to learn. Go walk the halls of MIT or the University of Chicago and you’ll surely find plenty of incredibly intelligent folks who weren’t homeschooled, nor would they advocate for such for their children. If you think you can create an atmosphere in your own home to replace a public (or private) school’s availability of science & computer labs, music halls & art studios, or even the atmosphere of interacting with people who come from all walks of life who both agree AND disagree with your point of view (which, believe it or not, helps people understand each other!), then you’re doing your children a great disservice.
Jack,
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. We appreciate that! We are all entitled to our own opinions and currently we are still allowed to voice them for now. That said I respectfully disagree. I must say that I have never walked the halls of MIT or heck even heard of the University of Chicago, but I am fairly certain there is not one on the level of Mr. Jefferson.
Obviously your schools are in much better shape than the majority that I have seen. I am reminded of this everyday when I encounter the recent graduates struggle to make change from the cash register if the machine does not tell them how much to return. Those are pretty fundamental issues that are being neglected in today’s environment, If the public education monstrosity is so good at what it does why is the literacy rate declining?
We all have our own choices to make and I can assure you that home schooled children can certainly enjoy all of those things you mention. The difference is that they are taught by the ones closest too them. I guarantee you that I know my children better than anyone else. We can tailor the material how it needs to be done for them. This is still a free country as of now and it is my choice on how to educate my children not yours and certainly not any politician.
Respectfully,
Aaron Thomas