Quality Learning For All: A Rebuttal

Today, as I was reading the most recent issue of the Syrinx, I came upon the article titled “Quality Learning for All.” In it, the author made an argument against homeschooling that might be very persuasive for those who are not informed about the true nature of homeschooling. I would like to examine some of this author’s opinions and state why I believe these to be falsely founded. I would like to start with a personal history of education in my family. As you may have guessed, I am a product of a homeschooling family. I am the second of four children and the second to graduate high school and go on to college after being homeschooled my whole life. My older sister is graduating in three weeks from Simpson University with Magna Cum Laude honors and a degree in psychology. I am a President’s Scholar with a current 3.65 GPA here at Fresno Pacific. My younger two sisters are still being taught at home by my mother, who has a college degree.
“A child in home school education innately demands extra attention and assistance from his or her parents.” There are two underlying issues in this sentence that I would like to address. The first is the question of whether it is a problem that a child receives extra attention from his or her parents. I have always felt that parental attention and individual caring for a child can never be detrimental for that child’s emotional and mental stability. In fact, because I spent so much time with my mom, I have a very close relationship with her and we talk about and work through many issues together in a mature way. The second issue is simply stating that a child being homeschooled does, in fact, need more assistance from their parental unit. From about third grade until I graduated, I basically taught myself. My mother chose the textbooks I would use (although once I was in high school, we chose them together) and planned out what I needed to get done weekly, but beyond that, I worked on my own. If I needed help, she was there to instruct or correct me as need be. Learning on my own actually made me more independent and able to work by myself without outside instruction if the situation called for it.
“Therefore, parents must spend more time working on lesson plans and educational resources instead of going to work and providing for their child.” Nothing in the way homeschooling works prohibits fathers from still having a normal, 9-5 job to support their family. The schooling part of homeschooling has traditionally been left up to the mother. A stay-at-home mom can easily work out lesson plans and provide for her children educationally while her husband provides for them financially. I will admit that in this day and age, it is getting harder and harder to be a single-income family, and my family has definitely felt the effects of it, but it is not worth it to my parents to sacrifice what we think we should be doing for something that does not matter in the long run. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20).
“In addition, the parents are forced to find ways to help their child cultivate friendships, an activity that would come naturally in a public or private school environment.” I always thought it was a privilege for my mom to be able to monitor and encourage healthy friendship where she knew that I was being encouraged and built up. Although homeschooling is based in the home, there are still plenty of opportunities to make friends. When I was young, it was days at the park or events at the skating rink with many other families with children my age that were involved in the same homeschooling program. When I got older, my friendships expanded to girls on my volleyball, basketball, and track teams. Our homeschool non-profit sports program(which hosts the fourth largest national homeschool basketball tournament) has provided quite literally hundreds of kids with the opportunities to develop close and lasting relationships with their peers.
“Parents who believe in home schooling their children because they think the world will tear their children apart are unaware of the damage they themselves are doing.” One of the key reasons that my parents decided to home school me and my sisters was to protect us from the negative influences that are in the public education system. Yes, I am sheltered—there is a reason my friends here call me “Mom,” but I believe I was protected with the best intentions. Maybe my parents should have let me be more exposed to a wider variety of things, but they made their decisions prayerfully and as wisely as they humanly could. I believe they based that idea on the concept behind Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” I do not want to be misunderstood in my use of this verse, so I will clarify briefly what I meant by it. First, let me state that I do not think that homeschoolers are spiritually superior to those in public or private school—I was not trying to imply that in any way. Secondly, I do not mean that we should totally withdraw ourselves from the world. We should still be a witness for Christ and spread the Gospel of love and acceptance in all places to all people. However, I believe that efforts should be taken to remain pure—in mind and body—so we can present ourselves to God blameless.
“By keeping children away from kids their own age, parents are not only infringing upon a very important self-developmental process but also keeping them from learning at the level of the peers.” I was never aware of my parents actually hindering me from making friends of my own age. I had friends of my own age from birth (almost) until now. In fact, I believe that homeschooling promotes befriending people of all ages, since homeschooled kids interact with others both in their peer group and those either older or younger. And I guess it is true—I did not learn at the level of my peers. I learned above it. I skipped grades in multiple subjects multiple times. I learned at my own pace and I got ahead. Homeschooling is a great way to be able to let children learn above and beyond what they could have learned in public school where they are restricted to a certain grade level and class.
I will be the first to admit that homeschooling is not for everyone. This was very strongly illustrated to me in the case of a really good friend of mine. To avoid going into needless detail, I will simply say that he would have gotten a much better education had he gone to a public or private school. The point of this rebuttal was not to bash parents who choose to use the public education system to teach their children or adamantly state that everyone who has children should, without question, homeschool their children, rather, I felt that a much broader view of homeschooling should be made known. Yes, there are homeschoolers who are socially awkward. I actually claim to be in that group sometimes when I feel ignorant of what people are talking about. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Homeschooling, when done well by the proper people, reaps astounding benefits.