Open letter to the imaginary parents I know considering home
school,
You know I
teach at a public school right? How
could you even consider taking important funds away from society’s schools and
taking your child out of an environment that makes presidents and patriots? Hahahahahaha.
The truth is
that now that I’ve seen the system on the inside I can say without reservation
the following: All parents should
strongly consider doing some home schooling.
All parents who have faith in God or conservative values aren’t being
served in public education. There are
very few good Godly examples of how to live life in schools. There aren’t many other students who children
can look up to or will look up to even if they are some. There are very few teachers that I think are
so laudable that I would request their morals and honor as my students teacher. The vapid nature of student talk and student
behavior in secondary schools is worse than any foul mouthed movie you’ve ever
seen. Sailors talk much nicer than 7th
graders.
I once remarked that I heard the
‘N-word’ more in one week at Connally High School than I had in my entire life
previously. I was including all the
gangster movies I had ever seen. Mind,
this wasn’t said by students to inflame each other. The word, from each race to all others, was
without power. The only people it
humiliated and disgusted were the adults.
The language is ubiquitous. There
are no sensitivities in your child’s ears.
It isn’t clever or martial; it is word vomit. It is mania.
The disrespect and behavior are
terrible as well. All students lie and
cheat. I caught two dozen cheaters this
year. I may have caught more but some
don’t have anyone to copy off of because my assessments are so easy; dumbed
down, weak tea. I may have caught more,
but some do not care enough to cheat.
There is fighting. There is
gossip. There is a level of depravity
that I assure you is worse than anything I saw while I was in my school and it
is NOT seeing with rose-colored glasses.
And the values you share, they do
not. It is just nigh-impossible to
out-number all their negative influences by being good parents and taking them
to church. And their teachers very
rarely, share your values either. I was
surprised. I mean this is a state so Red
with republicanism that we voted against the Barbie doll for Governor and voted
for Trump for President. I thought teachers would have
some conservatism here. Wouldn’t
teachers be a good cross-section of our state’s make up? No. 75%
claim Christianity in the state, is it that high in the school? No. They
do not share your faith or your values.
Some might. More do not.
So do I, a teacher who makes my
living teaching in public schools, think anyone close to me ought to seriously
consider other options like co-ops or private schools or home school with
curriculum online? Yes. Do I think you have to do it a while for it
to make sense? Yes. Does it have to be K-8, or 6-8, or K-5? No.
But…
Reasons you might not want to do
this: If your child is being
bullied. Look, I know it hurts to see
your baby get bullied, but if you take your kid out of school it is telling
them that if they aren’t enjoying something then they can change it. That isn’t always true. That can be one of the worst lessons to teach
subconsciously to our children. If they
don’t like a teacher or a class or a club or a sport it might be the best
opportunity to teach that, ‘those who endure get a crown’ rather than, ‘if we
don’t like it we can always quit.’
Maybe you shouldn’t quit because a
public school can offer you something you can’t otherwise achieve like sports,
fine arts, or clubs. I know some
homeschools have sports and band and orchestra and whatever else but clubs in a
school are a special thing that aren’t well reproduced all the time. I’ve been a part of a homeschool co-op drama
and it didn’t make the transition well.
I’ve also been a part of playoff football team and a nationally
recognized men’s choir.
Maybe your kid is wild about God and
needs to be challenged to see the school as his/her mission field. Look, I didn’t. There is a level of maturity that I don’t
think God demands from 15 and 16 year olds.
But now, I pray every day to let me be a good man and let students get a
little God out of me. I need to do better
at it, but there’s always next year. If
you can take a student who is special in a way, I admit, I was not and make
them focus their zeal for Christ Jesus into their public education then God be
praised. If this can be their
Catechesis, then the Gates of Hell shall not prevail.
But…
If you decide to take the
plunge: Don’t go halfway. Don’t say
this is a measure that only needs to last a year until a growth spurt comes in
or until his peers grow out of bullying.
Don’t pay it lip service. Look up
project-based-learning. Have the student
design the curriculum. Always be
expecting more than the school did, and more than you did last week. Homeschool should be an opportunity to
trounce the public education system.
Homeschool should look the public school in the face and laugh at its
edifices. Education costs a library card;
they’ve got computers, and books on tape, Audible.com, Youtube.com, projectGuttenberg.com,
Think through Math, IXL, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the DBQ project,
Project Based Learning, blogs, heck Netlfix and Amazon Prime (documentaries,
brain games, How Things are Made, Dirty Jobs, and Mythbusters) encyclopedias,
Wikipedia (watch Jeopardy, get the clue, pause it, look it up online and answer
it before unpausing, then afterwards watch it at full speed and see how many
they remember), History.com, the Biography Channel, History.gov the list could
go on for days. A person who is incentivized to
become an autodidact hasn’t even needed a teacher for the last 20 years. Scratch that, probably didn’t need one before
the internet when we had libraries.
If you decide to take the
plunge: Get weird. Do a ton of field
trips to actual educational places. Have
them write in different styles and Genres.
Have them read and write book reports in different styles and
genres. Have them take some instrument
lessons in several different instruments and then have them practice like an
hour a day if you ears can stand it.
Have them learn to whistle, to juggle, to skateboard, to dance, fence,
sing, speak some vocab in like ten languages.
Have them learn the Korean alphabet.
Have them learn to identify art but only up to the Impressionists. Have them listen to symphonies and operas and
arias and Hank Williams and Elvis and Bach and Brahms and New Kids on the Block
and Fats Domino and Motown and Italian Rap and Russian Folk. Have them sow and macramé and wash dishes and
write poetry and learn first aid.
If you decide to take the
plunge: Do not let them do it without you.
There is a cheap way to do it and that is to give them a book and ask
them to read it and write a report.
Total time for you 10 minutes.
Total time for them 15 hours.
No. Have them read something to
you. Discuss it afterwards. You know Cliff’s Notes? Those actually have challenge questions at
the end of each chapter summary to help spur discussion. Look up a lecturer on Youtube who can talk
about the themes. After they write the
report don’t just mark it for spelling and grammar. You should really teach them about
introducing an essay. If I get another
essay starting, “Let me tell you about…”
Really challenge them that 5-7 paragraphs, 5-7 sentences is only barely
good enough. Beg friends to read it and
offer notes. Have the student represent
the book in multimedia: A picture, a
poster, a board game, a 3-D element, outfits for a play, etc. Have the student blog about it. Have the student read their essay and share
it with former students. Engage with
everything they do. You must invest in
this yourself. It is no small task to be
a good teacher. (Side Note: I’m not saying that a parent can’t leave
their kid home alone and work Tuesday and Thursday if the parent needs to work
part time. Though the state might have a
problem with this. Kids just need
guidance all the time even when they don’t, in my opinion need supervision.
So long story short: Do it, or not if you can’t or don’t want to,
all the way in or all the way out, make it worth it, be weird, go with your student,
and bring God with you. It isn’t a
question with a right answer just a right for you answer.
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