Homeschooling discernment series: Guest post numero uno- Lauren

I wrote an introduction to Lauren, from Magnify the Lord with Me, in yesterday's blog post. Be sure to read it and get acquainted with the author of today's guest post! 

And now... take it away, LAUREN!!! (The crowd goes wild...) 

Thank you, Lisa, for asking me to share my thoughts on home-schooling!  It is a topic that has been near and dear to my heart over the last few years as the Lord has stretched me (as only He is known to do!) in the area of education.  I taught in Catholic elementary schools for seven years.  We are military, so I experienced three different Catholic schools in two states and various socio-economic backgrounds.  I’ve taught kindergarten, first and third grades, but first grade is my favorite!  We do not have children yet, but are hoping to adopt (very) soon.  Yes- I like to plan ahead! 

In my experience, I found that the longer I taught, the more disillusioned I became with the education system.  I discovered that even within the most Godly and focused school, the child’s experience depended directly upon their teacher and the type of class she had that year.  Previously I found home-schooling to be strange and frightening, but as I began to learn more about the concept, we found that it was the answer to our concerns.

The following are the TOP SEVEN REASONS why home-schooling is for us. 

1. The PURPOSE of Education: As a Christian, the purpose of an education is essentially to get you into Heaven!  Every aspect of our education should be oriented towards helping us to know, love and serve God better.  My first principal understood this and expressed it beautifully to us teachers…ONCE.  I do not think most teachers taught with that in mind.  My second and third schools did not understand this at all. 
   
   In the public school and most private schools, the purpose of an education is to become “successful.”  Schools are performance-driven, not grace-oriented.  They want to train students to do well so that they, too, can enter the rat-race and become consumers with the mentality that  if they work hard enough, they can save themselves.  Ironically, many students reject this form of education because they understand that there is more to life than this.  Public schools and many (most?) private schools do not teach our kids to REBEL against the destructive norms of society.  My husband and I want our kids to be rebels for Jesus! 
   
   One last note on religion in education.  In most private schools, religion has become a subject, not the essence of the school.  In my first school, our principal mandated that religion be the FIRST subject taught, so as to impress upon students (and teachers) the priority and importance of the subject.  When I got married and began teaching at a different Catholic school, I tried to continue in this light.  But when I turned in my schedule to my principal, she informed me that it is the school’s policy to teach MATH first because of its importance.  (I should have walked away right then and there.) 
   
   
2. Education is STATE-CONTROLLED: The majority of private schools receive some sort of funding from the state, often with strings attached.  If strings are not attached when the money is offered initially, it can be later.  A school might think they could stop taking the money if the rules were changed, such as teaching homosexuality is “normal,” yet once a school becomes accustomed to accepting money, it can be very difficult to refuse.  Schools teach the values of modern-day American society rather than the values of the Lord. 
   
   Furthermore, most public and private schools use the same textbooks.  The textbook has become the substitute for a well-trained teacher.  Teachers simply read their directions and lines from the teachers’ manual and the lesson is achieved.  In history, for example, very seldom are outside sources of material introduced.  Special interest groups are well aware of this phenomenon and have high influence into what goes into the books in order to promote their agenda. 
   
   
3. The TYPE of Education: For the past century, progressive thought has dominated our schools.  Based on the philosophy of Rousseau and Kant, progressive educators believe that a child can learn naturally if only the hindrance of society is removed.  Kant actually argued that reason is impotent and objective knowledge can never be truly known.  Books like Dewey’s Democracy and Education and Boyd Bode’s Progressive Education at the Crossroads taught that children are inherently good and will learn if impediments are removed.  They teach information for the sake of information.  Terms such as “child-centered,” “open concept,” and “activity-based” are prevalent in a progressive classroom.  It produces students who are largely ignorant of facts and unable to reason.
   
   We are choosing a Catholic Classical education for our children. Our approach recognizes that children are affected by original sin and should not be allowed to “do as they like.”  Whereas the progressive school focuses on subjects, we will focus on the tools of learning. 
   
   Dorothy Sayers in her essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” writes:

[T]he tools of learning are the same, in any and every subject; and the person who knows how to use them will, at any age, get the mastery of a new subject in half the time and with a quarter of the effort expended by the person who has not the tools at his command. [. . .]

            To close this section, let me end with a quote by the famous Flannery O’Conner:  “My advice to parents is…Anything that William Heard Kilpatrick & John Dewey say to do, don’t do.”

4.     TIME: Essentially, school is a colossal waste of time.  That is not to say that time spent in school is completely wasted, but that the amount of time spent learning and practicing worthwhile skills is dramatically out-of-proportion.  And because of the time spent IN school, there is limited time to learn OUT of school!  This limits time spent with family, friends, religious education, extra-curricular activities, play and so-on.   In addition, students are generally taught to the lowest-common denominator in the classroom.  We will be able to teach our children at whatever level they are at!  We can personally tailor the education to each individual child and help them use their minds to the fullest. 

5.     SOCIALIZATION: Ironically, this is the main reason people are against home-schooling!  But socialization is one of the major reasons why we are choosing to home-school our children!  In schools, students are interacting with twenty to thirty students of the same age for forty hours a week.  With one teacher, kids tend to be the ones settling problems and setting up the social structure.  But kids are not the best teachers of effective communication and problem-solving skills, and so the result is quite often more like Lord of the Flies than Lord of the Rings.  At home, there is not a one-to-thirty ratio of adults to children, but, let’s go crazy and say a two-to-ten ratio.  Children are learning to communicate with those older AND younger than themselves, and are better suited to enter the world with people of all ages. 

6.     SHELTER: Yep!  We WANT to shelter our kids!  We want to introduce topics as each child is developmentally ready according to age, ability, maturity and necessity.  The consumerism and sexuality that are prevalent in schools are not welcome in our home.  So many of my first graders were obsessed (yes, obsessed) with Hannah Montana and would sing her songs and shake their booties on the playground.

7.     Finally, FINANCES: This differs significantly from home to home, but in our home, I was planning to stay home with our children until at least the last one was in college.  Private schools are incredibly expensive, especially for the large family we hope to have.  However, the home-school curriculum we hope to use costs about $1,000 a year PER FAMILY.  Amazing!!

A final thought from my husband: “No-one has more incentive to educate their children well, than their own parents.”  

Thanks again, Lisa, for the opportunity share my thoughts.  I look forward to reading more of your thoughts as well as more from other guest-posts and comments! What a great idea for a series!

Thanks, Lauren! You have great thoughts here, and I especially agree with the issues of sheltering, time, and state-controlled (and tested!) education.