Homeschool Versus Public School: A Few Thoughts

This is a great article in my opinion. I have been in all 3 situations, and I am convinced more than ever that each parent needs to look at their children, take a hard look at what they have around them, the opportunities, their skillsets and such, and make the best decision possible. At the end of the day, no matter how much everyone makes about one or the other, each situation has it’s pro’s and con’s and the key is that the parents are strongly involved in their children’s education. There is no greater predictor of success than the parent’s involvement. For me personally, my greatest happiness, my greatest Christian growth and the most excitement I had out of school was when I was in public school. But that was just my situation, and I have found in my children’s lives that I have had to take different approaches for each one of them. I am glad I live in a country where we have such great opportunities and such great freedom.

I agree that the adversarial vibe between public schoolers, private Christian schoolers, and homeschoolers, is detrimental to all. Every family has different needs and resources, and must make choices that meet those needs.

What I would point out is that in many, if not most cases, public school is the default. Some parents don’t consider other options at all. That is when public schooling is a bad choice, because it wasn’t chosen. And if a parent decides to homeschool because they are under pressure from friends, church, or family (which, in 20 years, I have only seen happen one time) this is also the wrong reason to homeschool.

It may be that homeschooling your kid would be so difficult, stressful, or such an impediment for a good relationship with your child that it’s not worth it.

If indeed this is how a parent feels, then I think they need to seek counseling. Teaching your child should not be an impediment to a good relationship. This makes me wonder how they teach their child good character and life skills if they think that teaching a child to read is going to somehow destroy their relationship.

All too often I hear parents say they don’t consider homeschooling because they couldn’t stand to be with their kids all day (which is actually a homeschool myth), and my heart breaks for those kids. That relationship is already in trouble.

[Susan R]

All too often I hear parents say they don’t consider homeschooling because they couldn’t stand to be with their kids all day (which is actually a homeschool myth), and my heart breaks for those kids. That relationship is already in trouble.

But I do think that people need to look at their own personal skills. If you don’t feel you would be a good school teacher, that may play into the thought process as well. We each have various gifts and skills. I have known some people who can home school 17+ kids and they do a fantastic job at it and they could probably take on more. While others lack the organizational skill and drive to teach their 3 to 4 kids. It is better to recognize your limitations and focus on the things that you do well. I can tell you personally that my wife would have trouble homeschooling, yet we have a great relationship with our kids. We are very good at teaching our kids to do things like cleaning or taking responsibility, but to be honest my wife and I would struggle with homeschooling. So we look at it, as to whether we want to spend the energy trying to fix our weaknesses in doing structured teaching, or do we focus on some of our other strengths with our kids. My hats off to those people that can do it. I admire the homeschoolers big time. It is just at the end of the day not something I feel is a burning desire for our family, and definitely not to the point in trying to become better school teachers.

I agree to an extent- if parents had to actually do all the teaching, as in presenting and explaining everything, then I’d agree more. But with online programs, DVDs and other methods of self-direction for students, I don’t have to be a good teacher necessarily. I just have to be a good facilitator. A learning coach.

But that isn’t really what I was talking about anyway. I’m talking about people who prefer to have their children physically removed from their home every day so that they can get on with their lives, or because they do not enjoy being with their children. I know too many parents who go nuts all summer and then breathe a sigh of relief when the yellow bus pulls up in the fall. This is not the heart of nurturing that I believe God requires of us as parents.