Responsibility for Educating Kids

Education is something that you get on your own, without the interference of others. If that’s possible, it doesn’t matter public schools or about home schooling.

As a former homeschool parent whose children are currently thriving in public charter schools, I’ve been on all sides of this issue. Here are my thoughts:

The primary focus on educational decisions should be the well-being of the child as an adult, not on whether the children “belong” to their parents or the state. Getting a well-educated adult is the goal. That goal can be reached through homeschooling, public or private schooling, or a combination.

Parents do have the primary responsibility to make sure children get educated, but most parents are not up to it for a variety of reasons. Homeschooling done well takes a lot of effort on the part of the parent. It requires desire to teach, lots and lots of time to dedicate to the child, usually income from another parent, some intelligence, lots of discipline to make sure the work gets done, and a relationship with the children that doesn’t suffer when the mom is both mom and teacher. In my case, my relationship with my children improved tremendously when I was only mother and not also teacher-taskmaster. In my current case I’m confident my kids are getting a better education than I alone could provide, which is difficult for me to admit. They regularly come home from school having been taught things I don’t know (Latin and physics).

Unfortunately I’ve seen many parents who are homeschooling who have no business doing so. My former neighbor filled out the homeschooling paperwork because she wouldn’t get rid of her children’s lice and she wanted to get the public school officials off her back. Other bad homeschool situations can result when cultish religious leaders decree homeschooling, or when the teacher-parent has a mental illness. These kinds of situations are not true “homeschools,” but they are legal homeschools by the laws of many states. These situations can hide abused children from other adults that might see that they need help. Many of the first generation of adult homeschoolers are from these kinds of situations, and they share their stories at homeschoolersanonymous.wordpress.com. I feel homeschool parents, most of whom were not homeschooled themselves, should seek out the experiences of homeschooled adults so they can be aware of their perspective.

Homeschooling is here to stay, and it should stay. Different children and parents have different educational needs and wants, and more choices make it more likely that each child will be served in their best interest. But public school should be the default choice for the lazy parent. The law shouldn’t make it easier to “homeschool” than it is to put a child on the school bus. The government can serve the interest of homeschooled children by doing the bare minimum to make sure education is happening. Simple common sense regulation, like annual basic skills standardized testing or portfolio evaluation, can help make sure those who claim to homeschool actually do.

I agree that many things can be self-taught. Kids need great parenting though.

Thanks for the comment Sara. Totally agree. My post was not to argue for one particular style of schooling, but more to say that parent’s should recognize that they own the responsibility for educating their children. I think it’s there innately, but it’s good to point it out more consciously too.