Home School Thoughts
thoughts
I watch a video today about “Do schools kill creativity”. I wonder… A lot of what he says is true, I guess if you do not go with the flow, you are a problem child. My boys are in french immersion and they understand French and read and speak it. I as a non-French speaker cannot offer that to them at home. I think the public school system is there to teach a mass audience, hopefully without a hitch. Unfortunately for the teachers, there are a wide range of children in these schools. So if a child is smarter or slower than his/her peers, they have a “problem”.
If you feel school kills creativity, creativity can be learnt at home. My kids love to draw and make things with paper and Lego. They love creating things. On a daily basis, they have limited time on the computer or in front of the TV so they are forced to use their minds to entertain themselves with the resources that they have.
Others argue that you need school to socialize. I think lots of the social skills can be learnt at home too. They also learn from the parents, how they interact with each other and other people. Home school kids also have resource to go on outings with other kids and not in the confines of the class room. I don’t think they are allowed to talk too much during class time anyway!!
Another point is having mummy time. What is that? When they are at school, you are going crazy cleaning and doing grocery shopping. If you home school, take them shopping, it could be their outing and socializing and learning time. If they are school age, they can help clean the house too. So I guess I don’t get mummy time. I guess when they are all asleep, or dad can take them for a few hours… Actually, the kids play well together at home and that is when I get my mummy time, the entertain each other.
My opinion about schools in the US and Canada, is catered to parents who both work. This will cut down on time in the day care. While the kids are so young, they want to play and it seems that being in school for so many hours during the day, there is very limited time to play at home. Plus with extra activities, they are always on the go. With home school, perhaps the extra activities could be incorperated into the “school” day.
In my situation, if we are traveling and experiencing different things, home school is might be the best situation so as the kids are not limited having to stay home while the rest of the family is travelling.
Accomplishments
1. Got to Church on time to spare
2. Had a great lunch at Ah Koos
3. Read books to the kids
4. Made fruit salad for dinner
5. Watched Beauty and the Beast with the kids
To do
1. find 40 more articles for increase fertility
2. read scott’s book
3. Finish weeks 3 recordings
4. cancel hostica
5. clean the bedroom
6. call roger about MHP
Events for tomorrow
1.complete the mummy thoughts blog and be up to date
2. Kids and us having fun afternoon at nicola’s place
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Facebook comments:
Dear Amelia,
There’s so much I’d like to share; unfortunately, time is limited but if I postpone for later, I won’t do it (life gets in the way). Have you ever heard of Mr. John Taylor Gatto? – in case you haven’t, listen to this 5-part series in YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKci3_cmlqI – there’s a lot more elsewhere but this series *sorta* summarizes my views on the school system and the opportunity us as parents have to guide our kids.
My wife just completed the Landmark Forum over the weekend and she was so blown away by it; I am too by the sheer change I’ve noticed in her. One of the things she said they talk about is this: “our responsibility as parents is to keep our children alive”. This statement can be misinterpreted – I’d encourage you to not disregard it too quick – question it and open your mind to its answers (to be frank, I am still coming to terms with it) – here’s one perspective on how I see it: it’s not irresponsible to NOT oblige to the school system’s expectations. Kids come with all they need to succeed in this world – I think a lot of it is beaten out of them in the school system and by society (including their parents of course) – like Sir Robinson stated: kids grow out of creativity NOT into it. We must understand that we should have no domain over them other than our responsibility to keep them alive. They are fully equipped to live in this world otherwise.
Obviously, I don’t expect you to take this information on face value, I look forward to your views and any other findings that can enlighten both of us and our families.
I agree with you that the kids are born with what they need to survive in this world. The example of the two girls in Mr. John Taylor Gatto’s experiment. Many of them lose it as they enter school and learn to sit down and be quiet and listen to the teacher(who is always right!) I spoke to my friend who is a teacher and she believes that her kids will have a better education if she thought them. Unfortunately she feels that they need the socialization, to experience different situation and deal with classmates, teachers and eventually their boss. She also said that they need to be exposed to peer pressure and maybe be even bullying. I was in shock. Why would I put my child through that. I would prefer to teach my children confidence and independence and respect for others. Fear doesn’t help. The child will not reach their full potential with fear. Us as parents have to overcome social objections as we decide to home school as it is not common place. As we decide to not follow the norm, we are showing the children that there are more than one way to get an education. More ways to do things, we are not limited thus they will use their creativity to achieve more. I found another audio interview given by Diane Rehms, speaking to Gretchen Roe, a Calvert home school parent. Some interesting information. http://www.calvertschool.org/engine/content.do?BT_CODE=CES1512&gclid=CIiBsobBz5kCFSQeDQodJDWQvA
Amelia, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Socialization of kids is SO important however, that’s where we must come up with ways to address any shortcomings and achieve the bigger goal which is to facilitate our kids to be the best they can be. I believe seggregation of kids so they socialize with their own age groups for a good chunk of their time is not healthy. They must be exposed to other social and age classes in our communities – this is natural and healthy. Understand I don’t necessarily question the delivered content in school (although I have issues with it also); my primary concern is the underlying premise of the school system as described by John T. Gatto and based on what I’ve learnt recently, it’s a structure designed to create an individual looking for security in society, accepts complacency and less inclined to innovate and question authority. By the way, the interview was great! I liked how her 19 year-old began her own business, sold it and has moved on to other things. To me, that’s a result of the situational learning in the community and understanding (by doing) how her society works and how to leverage it directly.