Recently people I haven't seen for a while keep bumping into me in the street and, very randomly, ask the same question, "Are you still home educating?" and when I respond with a simple yes they always seem to reply with the same "I think you're so brave!" I've been reading blogs and posts on forums and I'm astounded how anyone can say that, when you have to be stupidly brave to put your child through school.
Reasons people are brave to put their children into a school:
- You're trusting your child with adults that are strangers!
- Your child will be made to aim for standards that the government have set for your child
- They believe that teaching young children about sex is going to stop teenage pregnancy. They are simply thieves of childhood in my opinion and from where I'm sitting it looks as though the younger the children are taught the more teenage pregnancies there seems to be. Maybe if they taught each other to respect each other and themselves they'd have more luck.
- 30 children can not possibly benefit from being taught by one single method
- A teacher doesn't care too much when kids call each other names and from my experience they may even join in with the bullies.
- Even when bullying is being tackled the child still needs to go back for more and more bullying until the situation is resolved and that 's if it even does get resolved.
- Children aren't allowed to develop at their own pace.
- Children aren't allowed their own minds!
Oh the list is endless! I'm sure I could go on forever. To be institutionalised like that is not good for the human soul, nor the brain! It is not normal for someone to feel forced to enter a situation nearly everyday of their lives being attacked, bullied and/or labelled. Well I say normal, for a lot of kids it probably is 'normal' seeing as they are in that situation. But to me the only other humans apart from school children who experience something similar is a prisoner.
I think that no school could improve on a one to one education, I think that no teacher would care about a student as much as a mother and father care for their own child. So when people make comments about home educated children who have a day where they misbehave make me mad. I read recently that 23 (I think it was 23) kids a day are excluded from schools in this country. Surely bad behaviour is everywhere? At least if a child has it's parents around the problem can be solved with love?
As I read somewhere recently and completely agree, if us as parents acted like bullies to our children, in the way that some of these bullies treat other kids in school, our children would be taken away from us to protect them. So why are children allowed to subject other children to such abuse in school? It really makes no sense!
Oh and another thing, why is it that some people think teachers are the only people in the whole world that can teach children? Not true!
If people think that they can say what they like to home schoolers maybe they'd like to hear what home schoolers have to say about them. Just because you're frightened of the unknown, don't make out that you know what's best for our kids!
Wouldn't it be nice if when people made that comment they meant "aren't you brave to stand up for your children and do what's best for them even if it means being so different". Unfortunately I think most of the time they mean "aren't you weird!"
ReplyDeleteGreat post Lisa! I get fed up with that too. Brave!
ReplyDeleteThanks KP x It just all got too much, had to let it all out :)
ReplyDelete@notatschool I think your right there sadly x
ReplyDeleteWe started 2 years ago after our eldest twins had completed 3 years infant schooling. It wasn't a really bad experience but glad it stopped when it did. I feel very glad and privileged to be able to make the choice to home-ed and it has given us the insight so we won't be sending our youngest twins (now aged 4) to school. I do not feel brave. Tired yes, brave no!
ReplyDelete2 sets of twins! How blessed you are! I agree with you, it is a privilege to be able to educate our own children and help them enjoy their childhood. x
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa, great post. I get those comments too. They ask if you are still home educating thinking the answer cannot possibly be yes, they think we are brave because sadly, they dread school holidays and would like their children off their hands as often as possible. I think they turn a blind eye to how bad school really is because they are scared of the committment. Little do they know what a wonderfully rewarding and emotionally fulfulling life it is for the whole family.
ReplyDelete'Little do they know what a wonderfully rewarding and emotionally fulfulling life it is for the whole family.'
ReplyDeleteIndeed they don't. x
I've lost count of the number of times people have said 'oh you're brave' (often followed by 'I couldn't be around my kids all day').
ReplyDeleteI try to bite my tongue, remembering a time when I worked full-time and my eldest was in full-time daycare and the thought of spending, say, a week with him filled me with angst and dread! Funny isn't it, how the more time you spend with your kids the less difficult it becomes to spend time with your kids.
Brave no. Exhausted often. Insane occasionally. But that's the way we like it :)