Welcome to Education Alternative's Series on Homeschooling!
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You know how some feminists complain that younger women don’t appreciate everything they have and the struggle it took to get there? That’s what I want for homeschooling.
I want the right and the rightness of homeschooling to be so ingrained in our choices that it is taken for granted. That, every once in a while, some old codger like me says, “You know, it wasn’t always this way.” And the new homeschooler nods and smiles, confident in her rights and her ability to make good choices for her children.
But it regularly surprises me that we’re not there yet.
I’ve been homeschooling for a while now. My kids are grown. Happy, fine young adults. And I still hear the same questions and debates that were around when we started homeschooling.
We started, oh, so cautiously, following state “standards,” going through an annual evaluation, keeping folders full of school work and stacks of art projects, just in case. Until, finally, it dawned on me that most of the school stuff was completely unnecessary. No bureaucrat was interested and worrying about all those school-related questions was just a distraction.
And we moved on. Successfully unschooling our way through years of loving and learning.
Along the way, I started a private school, a free umbrella school for unschoolers and other homeschoolers here in Florida. When I started, there were six students enrolled. Now there are over 1,500. So I talk with a lot of homeschoolers, many of them new to the game. And they often have the same worries and concerns that I had 13 years ago.
And that amazes me. That and that old line: “What’s a good progressive like you doing in a place like this?”
These questions have been asked and beautifully answered by so many homeschoolers over the years it seems like there should be an FAQ for all newbies and doubters.
There was a site that functioned like this a while back -- the National Home Education Network (NHEN). It was taken down after a long brawl between homeschoolers over who was and who wasn’t a “real” homeschooler. It’s back now -- NHEN.org . . . Maybe that site, combined with this series, will finally put these questions to rest.
I know parents sometimes want an actual person to answer their questions. This is about their children and they care. I have an FAQ page on the website for my school. I still get the phone calls asking if this is actually how it works. The caller wants a real person to be reassuring and repeat the information that’s there on the website.
But there are plenty of homeschooling support groups and the internet is here now. The questions have been asked and answered. “Is it really OK if I do this?“ The answer is: “Of course. No matter what your in-laws, your progressive friends or your “concerned” neighbors say. It’s OK and has been for a while. Now put down that burden of doubts and get on with loving and learning with your children.”
How am I going to lecture you about appreciating all that went before you if you haven’t gotten blasé about it yet?