As a parent, I mean.
Seriously, I'm waiting for someone -- individual, government agency, teachers' union, other -- to tell me EXACTLY what I'm supposed to be doing with my children.
Everyone seems to agree that parents are supposed to feed their kids, clothe them, give them a safe place to live. But after that it gets sort of, well, relative. No pun intended.
Some folks, especially those involved in teachers' unions and some aspects of the judiciary, just won't come 'round to the notion that parents could, really could, also be their children's teachers.
Why? When you pin down these critics of home education they mumble something about credentials, certification, professional training and the like.
But wait a minute! If that's the case, then don't I need "credentials" to teach my three-year-old the alphabet, colors, shapes, numbers, and the difference between hot and cold?
No? Well, why not?
Ah, the critic says, this is not really teaching. It's not Real Education.
Real Education is what professional teachers are qualified to offer up.
Oh.
Well, then, what about the time I taught my child the Pledge of Allegiance? No? Still not Real Education? Or the Ten Commandments in order and using the more difficult King James Version? Right, not Real Education, because that never involves anything of a religious nature.
Okay then, what about the time I taught my oldest the difference between vowels and consonants and then went on to present phonics instruction at both first and second grade levels in the same year so that she could go on and learn to read? Or the time I used a lit candle and a tennis ball to demonstrate how we get seasons? Or what about our discussion and demonstration of nuclear fusion using dried garbanzo beans and sticky tape? Or our tackling of geometry -- no, no proofs, not yet anyway -- at the tender age of seven?
Still not Real Education?
Hell, I give up. What IS Real Education and why is it so exclusive, so elusive, that it can only be conveyed via years and years in university? Furthermore, if this is the case -- and many homeschool critics like to say it is -- doesn't it signal some fundamental flaw in the notion of a democratic society, that common knowledge should be so incredibly uncommonly available?
The argument that parents aren't credentialed to teach children is extremely thin, even though it sounds very officious and important on the face of it.
Exactly the sort of argument that really steams me: Illogical but powerful nonetheless.
The worst part is how many parents BELIEVE IT THEMSELVES. Why, people, why do you give over the character training of your children to other people? No, you say, it's not character training we want others to do, we just want them to teach our kids the Three R's. Oh, and we also want our children to learn about the Real World.
Uh, here's the problem, folks. Children in today's public schools aren't getting the Three R's. Yes, yes, they're getting basic academics (maybe, but then there are those annoying stats that keep resurfacing about how many high schoool grads have to take remedial reading as college freshmen) but it comes along with a boatload of social engineering, personal opinions about things you may or may not want your kids to learn at the ages they're learning it. It's character training by default and there's no getting around it.
One person's opinion of what the Real World is is as arbitrary as the opinion of what Real Education is.
Real is relative and each family should take it upon itself to determine which reality it's going to adopt.
Look, I'm sitting here with a 1200+ page book of resources for homeschooling families, a catalog the size of a city phone book, and all of it very affordable. Some of it may be more useful than others. Some of it looks downright boring and gimmicky.
But the bottom line is this -- and ALL parents reading this post should take what I'm about to say to heart:
If you can read and talk about what you have read, if you can perform basic math and use a calculator, if you can pick up a phone and dial a phone number, you CAN summon whatever resources or information you need to teach your child.
It's not magic. It's not a mystery. And the teachers' unions don't want you to know this.
Nothing against teachers. I want them to do a good job and I don't sit around hoping they will fail.
But by the same token, I want them to understand in as plain a language as I can speak that my children are MY children, not theirs and unless they're going to take them on to raise in every way, they need to quit telling me what I am or am not capable of doing.
Don't like the way I teach?
Precious critics, the feeling is mutual.
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