Aug

20

Views on Homeschooling — Conversations with my College Students

Posted by Homeschool_Dad

August 20, 2008 |

Greetings!

My name is Wade.  I am the lucky father of two terrific children.  I am the husband of the world’s most wonderful wife.  And I am the new guy here at ContentQuake’s Homeschool page.

My wife and I have been homeschooling our kids since 2002.  Like many homeschool families, we dealt with worried grandparents and neighbors who sometimes looked at us and stracthed their heads out of curiosity.

Sometimes our friends wonder why on Earth we would want to have our children around us all day long instead of letting them go to public school for six to eight hours a day.

Well, you probably already know the reason.  And I guess there’s more than just one reason, but for us it comes down to this profound, loving feeling that has told us that Homeschooling is the right thing to do.  It’s the right choice for us.

When we decided to homeschool, I expected resistance from my peers and older family members.  However, I must say the grandparents and other relatives have happily embraced our choice.  But you know what’s weird?  There’s a group of people that are “freaked” out by homeschooling, and I didn’t expect them to be.

Who is this group?  College students.  I teach at a local community college, so every semester I meet new batches of students fresh from the trenches of High School.  I teach Freshman Composition, so we spend a lot of time brainstorming and discussing argument issues.  One of my favorite topics to bring up is (no surprise) EDUCATION.

When we talk about America’s education system, the students invariably discuss the agony of getting up early in the morning, the obnoxious teachers, the dullness of some of their classes, the busy work, the bullies, the ex-boyfriends, the list goes on.  It’s not all bad stuff… but it’s mostly negative.

Then, when I bring up the topic of homeschooling (always without revealing my bias), about 90% of the college students shake their heads lamentably.  Most of the students claim that kids need to go to a public high school so that “they will turn out normal.”  When I hint at the many positive statistics and accomplishments related to homeschooling, most of the students still don’t see any benefits.  “Homeschool students are too sheltered,” they will say.  “They don’t know how to relate to normal kids.  They don’t know how to live in the real world.”

Then, after I listen to their ideas, there is a little speech that I give them, a little story I tell them that hopefully broadens their minds a bit more.  I’ll share the speech in another blog entry.  But for now, I was hoping you can answer this question:

What would you tell those college students?


Comments

5 Comments so far

  1. preciouschild on August 20, 2008 7:24 am

    I would smile and inform them that when they have children of their own, something amazing will happen, they will want to give their children the best and protect them from what could harm them and want them to be happy more than life itself, and at that point, they just may consider homeschooling because the “being like everybody else” mantra doesn’t necessarily produce happy or even successful individuals.
    Or say this:
    Some people are born hardwired to become Rhodes scholars, and , regardless of their environment - whether they were born into affluence or poverty, whether they are raised by two parents or one, they will overcome all obstacles to overachieve. We’ve all known these people, but the vast majority of folks must be nurtured. The level of nurturing and coaxing each individual needs is dependent on so many factors, but homeschooling, without a doubt, is the avenue which affords the most personalized attention to the individual’s needs.
    p.s. I think what they consider “normal” is actually another name for “mediocre”.

  2. Joe on August 20, 2008 7:30 am

    Welcome Wade!

  3. singlemom on August 20, 2008 4:41 pm

    I may not tell them anything. I would likely put them into a situation where they are regularly around homeschooled peers, without them knowing it. Then ask them questions about those students before I introduced them as their homeschooled peers.

    My daughter joined the Upward Bound Program this summer. I think she is the only homeschooled student in the program in our area. Other students are not aware that she is homeschooled unless she tells them, and they seem fine with her.

  4. Alasandra on August 21, 2008 8:21 pm

    My eldest son started college at 16, not only did his fellow classmates not know he was formerly homeschooled they didn’t realize he was only 16 he fit in so well.

    He saw the same negativity expressed against homeschoolers in his college Freshman Comp class.

    My youngest son is now enrolled in a College Class for dual credit (this is his senior year of homeschooling).

  5. sarah on October 13, 2008 1:31 pm

    I homeschooled my two until 6th & 8th grades. We have friends who homeschooled all through high school.

    They are weird socially. They deal well with adults, but not other kids their ages. Just FYI. My kids hated some things about public school, but they refused to come back out.

    I’ve talked to numerous kids on both sides of the aisle - yes they can become successful adults, and yes, they miss something from not interacting daily with their peers. The consensus was starting school between 6th and 9th grade helped balance out the “homeschool” effect.

    Plus, my husband and I have enjoyed all the stories they bring home from school.

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