I can’t stop watching the video below, tears in my eyes.
THIS is why we homeschool. In fact, it was reading about Marva Collins 15 years ago (in Anthony Robbins book, Awaken the Giant Within) that convinced me that I wanted to do something different for my child. When I was in high school, it was so bad, I almost dropped out (thanks, Mom, for finding a great private school, Walden Prep in Dallas — so excited — my reunion is this month!).
Marva Collins took kids in the south side of Chicago and was literally getting 4-year olds to read Steinbeck. Almost all of these kids probably would have ended up on the street, in gangs, on drugs, and in jail. Because of Marva Collins, just look at them! Teachers, lawyers, bright competent professionals. People who believe in themselves, who love Shakespeare.
Our brand new nanny, Kendra, and I watched this today, as I explained to her why we homeschool.
If you don’t homeschool, or aren’t planning to, watch this video. I think it might just change your mind.
Watch the Video
Classical Education
The Marva Collins method is based on Classical Education, which is the method we are following. You can learn more about Classical Homeschooling in the fabulous book, The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition)
I am also ordering this book: Marva Collins’ Way — can’t wait to read it!
Share Your Comments
Do you homeschool? Yes or no? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
I watched this video as part of my teacher training and it made me want to be a great teacher. I still believe in the power of public schooling.
Ann,
I echo your words….. (Ditto) … As a teacher I too remember watching this video as part of my teacher prep, which motivates me (among other things) to be the best for my students! There are always exceptions to public eduction, unfortunately, as in any professional field.
Yes, we homeschool. I believe in child-led learning; given the freedom to follow their natural curiosities, and a nurturing environment, children develop a passion for learning that is not cultivated in the classroom. However, perhaps the nurturing environment in this case WAS the classroom. I don’t know what these children’s homes were like; were they nurturing? Was the gentle guidance available at home? But to shame a child at 4, 5, 6 years old and label them as “retarded” or ” learning disabled” because they aren’t yet reading is pointless and cruel. I’m a big believer in free play and childhood; we only get one childhood. We’re what I call “life learners,” what some label as “Unschooling” though (as the author in Taproot so eloquently put it) I’m not sure that not doing something is the same as undoing it.
I have many friends, many of them were raised in the educational system and many were home schooled.. There is no difference that I can tell between the now grown up adults that were home schooled or went through the educational system.
I homeschooled kids all the way through high school, had two kids who did not read until their teens and you would NOT know it! One is now 21, works for a director in Hollywood doing web designs for him and his clientele. and she is self-taught. She is a writer, though she never learned to truly write until she was around 12/13 years of age. That is when HER cognitive mind was ready for reading and writing.
Though I LOVE homeschooling, I know it is not for everyone, just as public school is not for everyone, which is why public school should NOT be compulsory! It is all about money and not the kids.
Lori
Hi Anne Marie! I’ve been missing you!!! So excited for you. I am doing a book series on Classical Education if you want to follow along. Here it is . . . well here is today’s: http://www.granolamom4god.com/2012/07/the-core-reading.html Can’t wait to hear more about the Cheeseslave Homeschool!
Jodi,
Your stuff looks great. You are reading some great books…love The Core…we are part of Classical Conversations where we live. I look forward to reading through your blog…thanks!
Me too! I’d love homeschool updates occasionally. I didn’t know you were a homeschooler! We do some Classical, as well as a mixture of other things, but I always enjoy hearing about other people’s journeys and homes!
Yes, we love homeschooling and have chosen this path for the past 11 years. My kids love it. We are part of a Christian Classical program and believer very strongly that all education is religious in nature whether Christian or humanist or whatever. We want to train our children to love learning and be able to learn anything, and more importantly how to think logically, critically, and wholeheartedly. Our main desire is that they will love the Lord with all their hearts and glorify Him in all that they do.
Enjoy this precious time w/your daughter….the years fly by so quickly but you won’t regret all the time you’ve had with her!
Thanks Ann Marie for bring up this topic very near and dear to my heart!
Our family has completed our 6th year of homeschooling. It, by far, is one of the best gifts we could give our children. We love the flexibility, the safety (hey, it’s scary out there) and that I get to REALLY know my kiddos. We get to instill the values we hold dear and invest time in our little charges that a teacher in a classroom of 30 never could.
If you are reading this and thinking of homeschooling, my friend, there is a reason you are. You may be embarking on the most amazing journey for your family if you’d only have the courage to try.
Blessings,
Lynette
http://www.victoryhomemaking.blogspot.com/2012/01/is-homeschooling-right-for-you.html
Thank you for posting this video! I had never heard of Marva, but her story and inspiration is encouraging me as I prepare for our 6th year of homeschooling! Thank you again!!!
Thanks for sharing this. I have just requested her book through our library system and am looking forward to reading it. We’re about to enter our 12th year of homeschooling and I’m guessing we will continue for at least another 12 years!
I too, believe in public school….for what it was originally intended to be. My children went to our neighborhood schools; both are successful adults with the kind of deep commitment to intellect, social justice and human/civil rights that make a hippie mama proud. Our high school is liberal, tolerant, and accepting. At this point in time, however, I think I would seriously consider home schooling if I were a young parent starting out. Our school librarians have all been laid off; assistants will now run the libraries in 45 schools, with one person in administration choosing circulation, instead of each individual librarian. Music and P.E. have been cut to half-time, and Marching Band is gone from all the high schools. Class sizes at middle and high school are expected to be close to 40. This is dooming the next generation of children to an inferior and limiting set of circumstances. Add to that the sometimes horrifying family situations the kids are coming in with, poverty, etc. and you have a recipe for failure. The public school system was not intended to deal with some of things they do. It is a profound social tragedy from all perspectives.
Totally agree with Emily. Public schools are so ill funded and ill equipped, it is scary. I am a public school teacher and it is crazy what we have to deal with. I am very lucky because our school system is very well funded compared to some others (I still have a full-time job, and I’m a music teacher). But I hear stories from other schools… it’s rough out there.
This video is wonderful. Not sure how I feel about the classical education that she teaches, but I think there’s so much that can be learned from the video. That teacher loves each child, makes each child feel special, believes in each child and tells them so. As a consequence, they adore her and want to do their best. That is secret #1 to teaching. If the kids really love and respect you, they will do a lot more “for” you.
However. I have no idea why this video is supposed to make people excited to home school. She wasn’t running a home school. She has a large class full of kids from rough backgrounds, and she’s making it work very well. Sounds more like an inspirational video for public school teachers.
“what school was intended to be”. Please read John Taylor Gatto’s “Underground History of American Education” It is available many places online as a free pdf (It is a long book, just to let you know). Our public schools are doing EXACTLY what they are designed to do, and doing it very well. But giving our children a solid education and teaching them to think for themselves is the opposite of what our schools are intended to accomplish.
Our children have been educated in the Classical Approach for 7 years now. It is the best way to go in my opinion as it actually teach them to THINK and not just regurgitate information.
We don’t homeschool as we fortunately have excellent Classical schools in our area.
Hi Sarah, what is the “Classical Approach” and how does one find schools that teach in that manner? I like what you said about it teaching them to THINK and not just regurgitate info.
Kathy, if your library has the Well-Trained Mind book that Anne Marie mentioned, or A Thomas Jefferson Education, those explain the method well. Well Trained Mind is more practical; TJE is more theory.
I love that kids can be accommodated in that level of literature. I will get that book.
I must say, though, that I am critical of homeschooling, not as an individual decision (everyone’s considerations are unique) but as a movement. Public schools need support now more than ever. As part of the PTA, pure parental apathy has made it easier to influence direction, particularly with the food culture. But when I get anywhere, there’s just not enough support for the efforts called for. Just a handful of like-minded WAPF moms could get sooooo much done. And the benefits to the immediate community are multi-fold.
Sorry, but I’m not about to sacrifice my kids on the altar of “the greater good”. That is the basic philosophy of communism, and I am a rabid individualist and not afraid to admit it
Freedom to Learn by Carl Rogers is a book I highly recommend. It was my textbook for my undergraduate Educational Psychology course. I have never forgotten what I learned in that course and have applied it to my home schooling philosophy for my sons.
We homeschool as we adopted 3 special needs kids. We thought that bullying and uncensored name calling so prevelant esp in small community schools would not be an asset to their education. We also found that they were not really set up to help or handle special needs kids…esp ones who were abused.
We were homeschooling our other 3…so between these issues and knowing it worked gave us the push we needed to be sure.
I’ve been enjoying “Free Range Learning” by Laura Grace Weldon. It’s just full of resources and ideas for engaging a child’s natural learning abilities.
Thank you so much for sharing this. So moving.
We homeschool our bunch. I myself was homeschooled. Childhood is so short, I believe this is the best way for me to spend my time and influence, on my own children. I am grateful to my mom, for the time she gave me. I want to do no less for my own children.
@Becky
I completely agree!
It always seemed so sad to me that we don’t get to be with our kids all day after they become preschoolers. They are kids for such a short time!
The video is great but I’m a little confused. You are praising a public school teacher but then saying this is a reason to pull your children out and keep them separated? Why not encourage your local school district to enspire? Why not worry about all children and not just worry about your own? Also, my number one thing was for my daughter to have diversity and NOT be ostracized by narrow minded people with racist beliefs. I put her in charter schools with an Arts theme. Those schools NEVER had trouble with racism, sexism, or sexual preferences!! Those kids considered all of themselves different and loved each other for it. They learned and would learn the creative way that was easier for them to understand. My daughter didn’t have to put up with the racism that I did! (being mixed in an all white, narrow-minded, small town)
When we would go to Bible camp in the summer we would see children that were from small towns whose parents were afraid of the secular school system and home schooled their children. They would stare at my daughter with her long curly hair and tan skin as if they were looking at something they had NEVER seen before, which I’m sure they hadn’t. THAT is the one thing that scares me about home-schooling. I am afraid that segregation will sneak back in. Just being honest.
@MomofOneStrongDaughter I want to spend as much time with my daughter as possible, so I wouldn’t want her to go to school — public or private. Unless of course she decides that she wants that.
I’m highlighting Marva Collins because she was my inspiration to homeschool.
My daughter is surrounded by all kinds of people. Her nanny is African-American, and our 3 employees who work in our home are African-American, Asian and Hispanic.
We are starting a homeschool group for people of all races and religions.
I love parents that home school, I don’t home school during the school year only during the summer if that makes since. I am working on my teaching degree right know and hope to finish in the next year. I want to be able to teach both my children as much as I can, I feel that when it comes to my son since he is special needs that I have to really stay on top of things so that he learns as much as he can. I will say the only problem I have is getting the right kind of books for both of my children so that I’m teaching the well rounded since of knowledge. What do you use?
There are as many answers to THAT question as there are families that homeschool! What do your kids need to know? For a general idea of what a well-rounded elementary education might include, E.D. Hirsch wrote a good series of books about 20 years ago. They go from kindergarten through 6th grade: “What Your (x) Grader Needs to Know” they’re a bit too old for computer stuff, but much of everything else hasn’t really changed. You’re your kids’ Mom. YOU (and your husband) are the BEST judge of what your kids need to learn. This is a place where all the stuff you are learning in college can even stand in your way.
OklahomaMom,
The book Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt has lists of great books for kids of all ages. You can also go to Amazon and find lists for the Sonlight books (all ages) and Five in a Row (for younger kids). Have fun reading!!
Your comment made me smile bc my struggle as a homeschooler is having way too many books and having to narrow it down to what we can realistically use. With the Library and the internet it is entirely possible to give your children a fantastic education for next to nothing however there are SOOOOOO many fantastic resources out there its nearly impossible for me to not but way too much.
We are eclectic homeschoolers with a wide variety of learning styles, strengths and challenges in our family so its hard to give a comprehensive list of what we use since things vary from child to child. For elementary (k on up through 6th grade) though we use the Classical Conversations Foundations guide as our frame for everyone (we choose not to be part of a CC community for various reasons and bc I like to tailor it more to our kiddos interests and learning styles but we LOVE the curriculum) We use this guide for our memory work (each weeks memory work consists of memory work in math, science, geography, English grammar, Latin (which our family chooses to replace with vocab) and History) and as CC does we memorize a history timeline (180 different world events) and review it each yr then we use additional resources to expand on topics and interests along they way. We love Apologia Science along with whatever living books we can find for science. For history we use mostly living books from the library but have loved the Mystery Of History and Story Of the World books and audios as we spend too much time in the car. Geography is also a wide variety of whatever we can find from keeping a map in the the living room to keep track of where current events are happening to living books and lots of geo drawing. We do some notebooking and journaling along with lots of nature studies, fine arts studies and whatever else our interests lead us to do. We have/are still learning sign language, different kids use different Math programs, we like Teaching Textbooks and Math U See the best. We do a lot of World View and Logic, read alouds of course. We have participated in speech clubs, various co-op classes for extra curricular activities, we are planning a Socratic Lit circle with other homeschooling families this coming yr, We love Institute for Excellence in Writing curriculum for writing. For reading Phonics Pathways or the reading program included in the My Father World complete curriculum’s are great, however if you have a Dyslexic child Barton Reading and Spelling is a must, All About Spelling is great…. there is just too much to list, My favorite homeschool supplier is http://www.timberdoodle.com, they have such a wide variety of unique things to choose from and very thorough reviews of the products they carry. I’m fairly certain my husband has tried to hide the catalog from me a time or two
I don’t worry at all that my kids are getting a well rounded education, they have learned far more by the time they are half finished with elementary school than I ever did in school and better yet they have the skills and abilities to learn anything they want. We try to keep the kids deeply involved in real life and give them as many rich life experiences as possible, those are things that no book can ever teach. Overall (with a few exceptions) we have found most textbooks to be a waste of time and prefer life, hands on experiences and living books to give the kind of lasting real education we want our kiddos to have (we have 6, well 7 really but 7 doesn’t arrive until fall
) .
This next yr my oldest will be in 7th grade so things are going to be changing a bit for him but his education will still be interest driven and centered around many of the same topics the rest of our family is studying, but his education is much more self directed and we will be exploring different avenues to challenge and grow him in other ways, especially in the realm of logic and thinking skills.
I want to watch but there’s just an empty black window, nothing to click on.
It’s working for me
Search for “Marva Collins 1995 Part 1″ on Youtube.
I think it’s inspiring for both homeschoolers and public school teachers and even private school teachers. I taught in public school for 10 years and loved every single year. It’s an awesome responsibility and reward to touch students’ lives and to encourage them to reach their potential regardless of the external circumstances in their lives or their limitations.
Now I’ve been homeschooling for 11 and have also loved every single year! The responsibility and rewards are ten-fold.
Okay, so I’ve been planning to homeschool my kids, and now you’ve convinced me to pursue the classical method. (The Christian Classical method, to be specific, but that’s my personal preference.)
To all of those commenters who are opposed to homeschooling:
I will not allow my children to be the unwilling victims of a lost, broken system whose primary purpose is to indoctrinate and dumb them down. The only person who can teach my values to my children is me. The only people who will love my children as much as I will are me and my husband. The people most invested in the success of my children will be me and my husband, and our family will suffer most if things go wrong.
Charity and love for the less fortunate is one thing, but I refuse to sacrifice my childrren’s futures for any person. My kids come first. You follow your way, and I will follow mine.
Hi Laura,
I understand you feel strongly and want to protect your children. My feeling is just that there are things that scare me about keeping kids sheltered at home. I have gone through dealing with racism when I was in high school but it’s about finding the right fit for children and to generalize (stereotype) by saying all public schools DUMB kids down is ridiculous. You know what stereotyping leads too and that was part of my point to begin with! When my daughter entered school I sought out schools that were good for her, uplifted her and taught her the way she learned best. Her arts schools were amazing and now she is going to college to be a film director and screen writer. She is brave, strong and doesn’t let anyone say hurtful things to her. I didn’t coddle her. I told her about what I went through and let her know not everyone is going to like her but that it doesn’t matter. She is amazing and intellegent and beautiful and she knows it. She never gave in to peer pressure but dealt with it. She told on friends if they did bad things and did it maturely (not taddling) and they respected her for it! It’s not about sheltering your children but going through the things that life brings WITH them and preparing them for when they are on their own. I have attended public and a small Christian (ACE) school and know what happens in both situations. I’m not just talking for arguement sake I have SEEN it! At some point your children will need to leave home, attend college and get a job and they will have to learn what it’s like to be around people NOT like them racially, emotionally, everything. If they stay only at home and only see their siblings or the kids YOU choose them to see, what will happen when they go to college or have to get a job? What if someone speaks differently or looks different? How do you teach them that there are all kinds of people in the world that they will encounter of you don’t SHOW them (and I don’t mean with picture books)?? You may think this is no big deal but coming from a public school where the town was so small that no one knew anyone black so they decided to beat up the first black family in town so they had to move, diversity IS important!
I guess what I’m saying is I have two points: 1) you shouldn’t bash a whole system when there ARE great schools and you haven’t even tried to research it. Open enrollment exists for a reason for us to use it!! Kids that come out of public school systems aren’t all on drugs, criminals and sinful and evil. 2) you can’t only show your children the world YOU want them to see because someday they will see the rest of it and not be prepared! I am merely just posing a question for the homeschooling parents….are you teaching your children in a way that will make them be accepting AND LOVING to others?
In one breath you eschew stereotypes, and in the next breath you stereotype homeschoolers as being unsocialized, closed-minded, bigots.
Actually no, I never said that it happened with all people and didn’t put anyone into one category. I simply said it scares me because I’ve SEEN it happen. I’ve spoken to the parents and found out that even though they said that they go to play groups and on field trips they weren’t involved with larger groups but just friends that they knew. It was more of a warning, not a bash. But it does scare me. That’s how things like that start, when people ‘stick to their kind’. I’m just saying that my daughter and I have seen it first hand and that I am voicing my opinion that if you don’t think about the future, you are doing everything you can for your children. That’s all! I’m not one to come on a forum and try and start something and get people all heated. I just wanted to put some thought into your minds. Just make sure you are going to things in cities you live near. Let you children play with other children they wouldn’t normally see in their own home or down the street. When they get a job they will have to be around other people so it’s just best to keep that in mind. Don’t you think?? No one seems to care about it or even consider it but isn’t that what segregation was all about?
No. Segregation was legally requiring that different people not mix. People tend to like to live near other folks like them. Big cities can be and often at least as segregated as the white-bread small town I grew up in (1 African-American family, 1 family where the mom was Chinese, a couple of Mexican families in a town of 6,000) Most big cities have areas that are predominantly people of one ethnic group–and that are large enough that the kids seldom see anyone else. Think of Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in NY, African-American areas in almost any city, Chinatowns in cities with large Chinese contingents, etc. Native American kids that grow up on reservations may seldom see non-Native Americans. Instead of realizing that this is just human nature and has changed little over millennia, there are those that consider it a problem of small-town America. They are incorrect, and have frequently been listening too much to those who like to see racism everywhere they look, whether real or imagined..
I think there’s a difference between homeschooling-sheltering, and pure homeschooling.
I’m from a small, rich town predominantly white and Mexican. Ive never seen true poverty, and as an adult it IS slightly scary to be away from what I know, which is a more Mexican culture, upper class culture. Know how many African-Americans I graduated with? I can count them on one hand. Know how many Asians? Again, one hand. I clearly remember two Indians (as in from India, I don’t think we had a single native American.)
Oh, and I went to public school. I grew up VERY sheltered, in a public school system. So please learn the difference between being sheltered, and not.
ALL public schools dumb kids down. Even the “great” ones. That is what the public school system was conceived and designed and put in place to do–produce people who know enough to do their jobs but not enough to seriously question their “betters”. But this has been going on for a century or more, being gradually made worse all the time–almost all of us are products of the same system. There are several books available that document exactly how this happened, but the most comprehensive is probably John Taylor Gatto’s “The Underground History of American Education”, widely available as a free download, although you can also buy a dead tree copy from Amazon.
Brianna, I would say I know the exact difference of sheltered and not. I’ve been in both types of environments. I was left to figure out on my own what I was (because I’m adopted by an all white family) and to defend being different and being proud of it. So I WAS in a sheltered environment and NOW I am not. So there is no ignorance on my part. I am just stating what I think is something to consider when raising and teaching your children at home.
Heather, again, I haven’t been listening to anyone. I have come to these feelings all on my own. I am not militant, I am not partial to one race or another (I am too many myself to be partial or racist to any one race) so I am simply trying to speak from a different view. I am not asking anyone to do what they think is putting their children in danger but to see that there is some that are defensive to what I am saying, says to me you might not trust others and want your kids around them (not specifying which ‘others’). It’s just a matter of me bringing it to you and saying hey, please make sure your kids understand that other little kids that look different are just kids too! Then as they get older, they will see that other adults are just adults too. It’s just that simple. I’m just pointing it out.
I don’t know which education is better, maybe both can be good. But both can be bad as well! When my daughter was in her arts middle school there were a couple of home school kids who came and joined in the theater and dance classes. I thought that was great because they were meeting other kids that they wouldn’t be able to meet any other way. One boy was autistic and he LOVED the dance classes and would participate in the talent shows during the year. The only time he would interact with them was when the music played and they started to dance. It was great! But if his parents didn’t want him exposed to public (charter) schools at all and other kids because they might be mean or tease him, they would have never known that he would get up and do that. Also, like I said before, the Art schools that she attended (performing and liberal arts) NEVER had cliques, or teasing or bullying. They were ALL different!
Hi.
I just wanted to chime in and say that I agree with Mom of One Strong Daughter. It seems all she is doing is offering a warning. I haven’t heard her say that she is against homeschooling, just to be careful not to segregate or over-shelter your kids. And her warning is well-founded. I was one of those kids that was sheltered. I was hit with the world all at once when I got a job and started college. And I had to deal with it all on my own.
Am I saying that my parents did things wrong? Of course not. They did what they felt was right. I am stronger for everything that I experienced. My parents and I have a great relationship, and I have all the respect for them. I am happily married with a daughter of my own, and my faith is still intact. But trust me, I came very close to loosing my faith several times over. To all of you Christian moms who want to homeschool in order to teach your kids your values, you are the ones who need to listen to what this woman is saying. If you don’t want your kids to loose their faith as young adults, don’t shelter them during the school years.
There are many methods of parenting, some shelter more than others. But with each style of parenting/schooling, as with anything in life, you have to be aware of possible negatives. I sense that some people on this thread are just dismissing these concerns without taking them seriously – and that is a little scary. This is something that is very real. It isn’t like I never got out or never saw people. But when you are homeschooled, your parents have complete control over who you are influenced by. Especially with Christian parents, the natural tendency is to try to restrict negative influences. I’m certainly not saying that all homeschool parents do this, I’m simply saying, don’t just dismiss this women’s concerns. I haven’t seen one person respond to her and take her seriously. I was one of those kids. It is very real. It is very easy to shelter a homeschooled kid, and when they find out what the world is really like, it is culture shock.
This fear of sheltered homeschoolers makes me laugh, I’m sure it does happen and that there is some child out there who never leaves his home but for our family and the homeschool community around us staying home and keeping the outside activities to a manageable amount so that we are actually home to do school work is a far more challenging than finding enough outlets for socialization. I’m sure there are equally as many (if not more) socially challenged public school kids out there as there are homeschooled kids. I find in general our homeschooled kids to be far better socialized than their public school peers in that they can socialize effectively with all ages, adults included as opposed to the public school kiddos who seem to either dislike or be uncomfortable carrying on conversations with adults (not all public school kids are unable to converse eye to eye with adults but more often than not I have seen this to be the case) . Bc homeschoolers are often around a variety of ages high-school kids can socialize well and even enjoy young children as well as peers their own age. To me this seems like a much more realistic and balanced type of socialization and what they will experience in “the real world” than having having them in a classroom with kids only their same age. As for the comments on segregation, I can’t even being to imagine how one could come to that conclusion about homeschooling. We are around and socialize with people of all walks of life on a daily basis. I’ve found our homeschooled kids to be responsible, respectful and more truly culturally aware than the friends they have that are public schooled. I’ve been blown away by what our (by “our” I just mean collectively with in our community not mine specifically) homeschooled kids can accomplish with in the community when they are not bound by age or peer expectations! They are able to achieve far more than I ever would have given them credit for before I saw what they were really capable of if just given the opportunity. As a product of both public and private schools I know I was never given the opportunities my kids have had to use their gift and talents with in the “real world” (even globally and nationally) not just within their own circle or school. This picture some people have of the sheltered awkward homeschooler is by far the exception and not the rule in every homeschool community we have had the opportunity to be involved with.
@Momofonestrongdaughter
“you shouldn’t bash a whole system when there ARE great schools and you haven’t even tried to research it.”
They’re really tough to find, and here in LA, they cost a fortune. I know kids who are in the VERY BEST schools in all of Los Angeles, and they are staying up till 10 pm every night trying to finish their homework. The competition is ridiculous.
The idea that homeschooled kids are not “socialized” is untrue. Go to any homeschool conference. The teens are AMAZING! So self-confident, so articulate, and they can converse with anyone. We are starting a homeschool network and we’ll be doing park days, museum trips, etc. a few days a week.
We homeschool and have for a very long time. My oldest is 20. She is done with college and runs her own business. My 17yo daughter is a college student. The rest are at home. I also work part-time. You could make the argument that they were sheltered as younger children for sure, but as they grew they matured. They have moved outside their comfort zones. They are involved in various volunteer organizations and in giving back to our community. I would even make the point that in some ways they have had more opportunities to learn and grow than local public school children have had. But the “why do we homeschool” part might be summed up for me in one simple statement. I’m a rebel. And homeschooling is a socially acceptable way of rebelling against an established method of learning. I’m an older rebel now,(I actually remember the 60′s) but I want my kids to be able to learn on their own time and in their own ways and to become productive, honest and hard-working adults. Can the public school do that? Sure, with very involved parents. I think it all comes down to parental involvement. But while the public school kids are studying, we are hiking, biking, camping, hunting and fishing. We are living life to the fullest with an open life-style that allows for the time to spend as a family enjoying each other and the natural world.
This just made me cry. I absolutely love what she says about kids memorizing rap songs. My sisters and I had every rock song of the 60′s memorized and I remember the complicated songs we sang jumping rope!
My youngest sister told me once that she never bothered in school because there was no point, since I got such good grades, no one could compete with me. We were in our thirties and I was stunned. She was actually blaming me for loving school and doing well! I laughed but had no answer for her except “and how did that work out for you?”
After watching this video, I realized my parents teased me for being ‘brainy’ and praised my little sisters for being ‘pretty’. Marva Collins has a message for children that they don’t get from their parents, you are all special and you can all do well. How wrong to see everything as a competition. I always hear people say the problem with homeschooling is no sports. I laugh and think, so no bullying? It seems sports was a natural breeding ground for bullying. My father was a high school quarterback, mother was a head majorette and my sisters were cheerleaders… I was the buck-toothed brain. Braces fixed me but nothing could fix not learning.
I homeschool as well. My son is hearing impaired and he also has behavior problems, the school treated him poorly and essentially wanted nothing to do with him. The fact of the matter is that schools are too full and one kid is just a number. Kids like my son graduate destroyed emotionally and unable to even read. I was afraid at first but we are in our third year and he is learning better than ever. Some days are long and hard but at the end of each day I can hug him and know that he is working hard and best yet he is safe and happy. No more being choked or bullied , no more feeling lost and “broken.”