To homeschool do we have to be against all public school education and educators?
My personal opinion is that we will always need schools.
Read this post: http://www.susanwisebauer.com/blog/the-raving-writer/thats-it-as-a-society-were-probably-doomed/
Most teachers are dedicated people who are doing their best with very little support.
They deal with a system which has many limitations. They teach children who come from many different backgrounds, with different learning levels and home lives. In many instances the individual classrooms have few resources.
Here in Beaufort County we have great schools and schools in impoverished areas that need help. Our county does have resources and none of our schools lack for heat or air conditioning or basic resources.
But elsewhere in South Carolina poverty also plays a large factor in a child’s education. The families are poor, but the county is also poor.
Our tax dollars are obviously not enough. Not because the per capita per child ratio isn’t enough, but because it doesn’t translate well to each child through these schools that are in poor districts.
Teach for America is a wonderful program that puts great teachers in classrooms. It is tough to get into the program, because you must be excellent. But even after an excellent teacher is placed in a troubled school, they still have to deal with physical and financial limitations. So how can we help?
I don’t think the answer is to throw up our hands and say, “Well, I homeschool my kids.”
Homeschooling is as much a calling as an educational choice. What about the kids whose parents cannot or don’t care to educate their own children? Let’s also be a part of reaching those children too.
What if each of us was a part of a movement to see all children educated?
What a lot of influence our love for these little ones would have. Could these be the children Christ wants us to reach too?
What do you think? char
Filed under: Sensible Thoughts | Tagged: Susan Bauer, teaching impoverished kids, The Story of the World, The Well Trained Mind
Thank you for this post, Charlotte. I have to say, though, this surprises me. What prompted you, a homeschooler, to write this?
I do know that for many of the kids I teach, I am the brightest spot in their day, and I am NOT the easiest teacher to like. What I *do* give them is stability in my classroom, and they know if I care. Overall, it is a thankless profession where we often get blamed for God being out of the schools. I was all of 2 or 3 when that happened, but I am often lumped with the bureaucrats. Again, thanks.
Hey Ginger. Just because I think that homeschooling is the best option for kids.. doesn’t mean that every kid has a family situation that allows for homeschooling.
For some families a parent may want to, but the spouse doesn’t. Other families do not feel like this is something God is calling them to do.
Others children are being raised in households where poverty, broken families, or just a secular humanist perspective does not even make homeschooling a viable option.
In a single family home the parent is often the sole support of the family. Many of these parents have mortgages and must also feed their children.
So to answer your question… protecting the rights of homeschoolers doesn’t mean abolishing public school as far as I am concerned.
Now I do believe that alternatives to the public school system are probably the solution. I don’t honestly know that public schools can be fixed.
I like charter schools and think we should have private non-profit Christian schools that are dedicated to helping single moms.
Anyone?
Well, thank you for making your position clear. I have always felt that others thought of homeschooling as THE only way and those of us who don’t are scum.
Definitely not scum:)
Just walking through life with Jesus the best each of us can right?
Love you Ginger… and thanks for the job you do each day in the trenches with the kids that you love for Him. char
Ginger,
As another homeschooler, I echo what Charlotte said. I respect dedicated teachers and think it is best for everyone if we support each other. I have a few teachers and administrators in my family and I have learned much from them . They also support our choice to homeschool. It is the teachers that think we should not have that choice we so strongly disagree with.
Having three children with such different needs has shown me that teaching is not easy. I admire those who do it with skill and devotion! God be with you!
O.k., and here I was thinking and praying about an inner-city ministry that would provide FREE christian education through churches. A sort-of blend between a private christian school and public education… How exactly that would happen I don’t know. Yet.
Maria – I almost think it has to be a grass root person by person thing. I start a school in Port Royal, someone else starts a school in Beaufort… etc. etc. because it has to have people who are totally sold on the idea and dedicated to their own community and the children that community represents. Also because of the amount of money each school would need to raise yearly in order to be non-profit.
It would help to just have ONE school…one at a time started anyway. Still mulling things over….
Sure – A school would be a start. There are schools out there that do this. I got the idea originally from a World article about a school that was started in an inner-city neighborhood that was a non-profit.
I am just not sure about a blend between public and private schools because they will not allow a truly “Christian” education. Education yes .. but not Christian.
Now charter schools are already working to meet education needs by combining private school innovation with public school funding. And it is working in many ways. And the education is free.