John came home from his week at the Darden School of Business (Univ. of Virginia) on Friday. Sounded like the classes were good, but the thing that struck me was one of his colleagues. This guy travels as much or more than John does. And he has 10 kids. Ages 17 to 10 months, if I remember correctly. And yes, he had pictures of all of them, and knew names and birthdays of all of them. And they home school.
They home school. 10 kids.
Is there something wrong with me that I have zero desire to home school my kids? It's not that I'm not qualified, I probably have a better background than most people - not only the science/math side, but arts and literature as well. Grammer and writing is probably my weakest area, but even that I could probably handle up until high school. But I have no interest in having them home all the time. Part of it is laziness - our children currently require a lot of, well, pushing to do anything that they don't consider "fun". They're good about homework, but tend to do it in the fastest possible way - we're working on this.
But as much as I love my children, and even enjoy their company, I really don't want them home all the time. I need time by myself, and they go to bed late enough these days that there isn't enough downtime after they go to bed. And I much prefer grocery shopping and other errands without them.
So despite the failings of public schools, I think there is little likelihood that I will ever home school my kids. Even though I feel vaguely guilty about it.
2 comments:
I agree that I have no desire to homeschool. I realize there are programs out there, but I have yet to meet a homeschooled child who did not have gaps in his or her knowledge. I don't care if you can conjugate Latin if you can't make a complete sentence in English! I also realize that you can't always argue about public school providing more socialization these days because some teachers (and schools) have things so structured that there is no time for socialization, but there still is the fact that it is good for kids to learn how to work for other people with a deadline...I hate to say it but that is how the real world works. Ok, so you hit a hot button topic for me.
I have considered home schooling my kids but that lasted about 30 sec before I decided that my children and I are happier that I'm NOT home schooling them. Like Ann, I'm likely more prepared than most people to teach my own children, but that doesn't mean I have the interest.
I'm sure some people who to choose to home school have a good reason, but I have to think a good number of them are just wacko.
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