Editorial: Why Homeschooling Remains An Important Option
January 17, 2014 by Dick Manasseri
There are many socialist and communist countries where it is illegal to homeschool. Despite outside efforts to control home education, it is still legal to homeschool your children in America.
Unfortunately, there is a “toxicity” to the government school experience that is clearly depicted in the education documentary, Indoctrination.
Too many parents choose to look away from the ugly side of government education, so that they can have two income-earning spouses in the same household.
The couple in the picture above, Matt and Glenna Bevin, have somehow found a way to homeschool their nine children, four of whom are adopted from Ethiopia. Matt and Glenna have made the choice that is right for their family and will likely support the right of educational choice – for all – in the event that Matt Bevin actually replaces Mitch McConnell as the next senator from Kentucky.
As homeschool parents, my wife and I can honestly say that we, like Matt and Glenna, have probably gained more than our children. We have had the opportunity to teach them academic subject matter, as well as moral values. We have seen their progress, and their challenges, and been there to make the needed adjustments.
We are even grateful to the supposedly “Blue Ribbon School” that was unresponsive to our children’s needs for a quiet, orderly place to learn.
The experts, there, were too quick to recommend a prescription drug for one of my children when there was no medical need, at all.
That was when said child was in the third grade. Our two youngest children’s education, then, also became our responsibility. (Our four older children attended a Montessori school; another excellent option.)
We bought a full curriculum for grades 3-8 (Calvert) and then for grades 9-12 (American School). We followed the curriculum, sent in tests to be graded, and used our imagination for extra credit. Chess, soccer, musical theater, and fencing with other homeschoolers kept us all busy.
Homeschooling also enabled my son to excel at swimming with two-a-day practices, rest, and a customized study schedule. He earned a swimming scholarship to go along with an academic one and maintained these throughout college. My daughter was able to pursue her special talents in music and theater and obtain similar scholarships.
We made studying for college entrance exams a homeschool class, and we found that university admissions offices were anxious to have homeschoolers apply, because they knew that we had prepared our children to work independently.
Homeschool children typically are not focused only on peer group activities. They are comfortable conversing with adults and with children that are older and younger – just like they should be. Peer pressure and indoctrination by others are not typically a problem with homeschoolers. They are equipped to be free people in a free country.
Editor’s Note: National School Choice Week is coming up! Learn more about it.
And, please, stop by WDW’s education reform tweet-up.
Dick Manasseri, a resident of Rochester Hills, is a big fan of the US Constitution, doing whatever he can to preserve and protect it for his children and grandchildren.
SOURCE WatchdogWire
