by Steven David Horwich
What does every sane parent want for their child? While we might disagree on many particulars, there are certain things we can probably just about all agree to.
- We want our children to be safe. This is job # 1 for any parent – keep your children safe. We want them to grow up to become healthy, strong adults, unafraid and effective.
- We want our children to live lives that are rewarding to them, rather than some form of soul-killing drudgery. We want them to find happiness in their efforts, their work, their personal lives.
- We want them to be able to learn about and do things when needed. That means that we'd like them to be able to enjoy learning, to learn willingly and well. We'd like them to be “smart,” and to be able to accomplish whatever they must, whatever their hearts decide upon.
Let's say for the sake of discussion that these minimal goals are agreed upon. We know that a great deal of a child's time, energy and attention is going to be committed to their education. It is, in fact, the job of a child to become educated. It should also be a joy. So, mom and dad, how do we get there? How do we provide all of this to our kids?
You may or may not approve of my answers, but I hope you will consider them, given the stakes.
It starts with homeschooling your children. If you want to have a shot at the three goals described above, homeschool is easily the best answer.
A child should be safe in your home. You've been keeping your children safe since the day they were born, if you've done your job as a parent. I'm not talking about coddling and babying children, that can have detrimental results, as we all are aware. I am talking about the essential. It's not a very complicated idea. No child can learn well while feeling that they are in danger. Could you? Can any of us? A child requires a safe environment in which to exist, to grow, and to learn. Schools miserably fail this very first test. The school cannot (and will not) protect your child from bullying, as can be clearly seen in the millions of reported cases per year. What's more, it is all too often the teacher, an administrator, a staff member at the school, who is doing the abusing. This highly disturbing reality is far more common than you might imagine.
We can't expect a child to be able to focus on studies of any kind when he's busy looking over his shoulder and ducking. Can't be done. But a homeschooling child should know that home is a safe place. (And it's up to you, mom and dad, to make it safe and keep it safe!) That allows a child to do the things he cannot do in school – focus and learn.
To the second goal. We want each child to discover those things about the world that they can love to be a part of. What does your child want to do with his life? (It will doubtless change, perhaps many times, as he grows.) But schools can only offer one road, one route, one approach. They cannot tailor curriculum, or even the methods used to teach, from child to child. If your child doesn't easily, readily “fit in” to the school and it's regimented “one-size-fits-all” approach, well, your child is going to be seen as a problem.
Your child is NOT a problem – he's a child. And he's a student looking for studies worth studying. Whop determines the worth of studies? The student. He will need to take those studies, live with what he has learned, and build a life with it. Education is for the student.
Homeschooling specializes in flexibility. When a student reveals an interest, a passion, homeschool mom and dad can happily go to work. As a homeschool family you can alter, direct, doctor what is studied to provide your child every opportunity to experience their developing interests. Schools just can't do that, not at all. In school, a child can't suddenly de-emphasize math and science, say, to focus on their newly discovered passion for music or history or auto mechanics. Buit homeschoolers can and do. This is one of the great strengths of homeschooling – the ability to tailor studies to encourage real joy of learning, and perhaps even a profession or calling in the student.
Finally, schools can only present a limited approach to HOW to learn. It involves a lot of useless testing. (Anyone who ever crammed for a test will tell you that they did not learn anything. Whatever facts were memorized for the test were promptly forgotten within a week or two, as they had no context, no use.) It involves keeping pace with other students, very destructive for either “fast students” who of necessity will be held back, and “slow students” who will be labeled as “remedial,” or as “less than the average.”
There are many ways to learn, and I would argue that for the vast majority of students, the methods used by schools are repulsive and destructive. As homeschoolers, you are free to experiment and to discover the BEST ways to educate your child, the BEST methods for him to learn. They may be quite unique. After all, every child is unique. And only homeschooling provides the freedom and flexibility to allow your child's special qualities to open up to the sun.
Steven Horwich has been a professional educator for over 40 years, and a homeschool advocate and author of curriculum for 15. His K-12 secular curriculum, STEPS (www.stepsed.com) has been used by over 20,000 students worldwide, and includes world history, science, civics, creative writing, study basics, current events, and lots of arts.
What does every sane parent want for their child? While we might disagree on many particulars, there are certain things we can probably just about all agree to.
- We want our children to be safe. This is job # 1 for any parent – keep your children safe. We want them to grow up to become healthy, strong adults, unafraid and effective.
- We want our children to live lives that are rewarding to them, rather than some form of soul-killing drudgery. We want them to find happiness in their efforts, their work, their personal lives.
- We want them to be able to learn about and do things when needed. That means that we'd like them to be able to enjoy learning, to learn willingly and well. We'd like them to be “smart,” and to be able to accomplish whatever they must, whatever their hearts decide upon.
Let's say for the sake of discussion that these minimal goals are agreed upon. We know that a great deal of a child's time, energy and attention is going to be committed to their education. It is, in fact, the job of a child to become educated. It should also be a joy. So, mom and dad, how do we get there? How do we provide all of this to our kids?
You may or may not approve of my answers, but I hope you will consider them, given the stakes.
It starts with homeschooling your children. If you want to have a shot at the three goals described above, homeschool is easily the best answer.
A child should be safe in your home. You've been keeping your children safe since the day they were born, if you've done your job as a parent. I'm not talking about coddling and babying children, that can have detrimental results, as we all are aware. I am talking about the essential. It's not a very complicated idea. No child can learn well while feeling that they are in danger. Could you? Can any of us? A child requires a safe environment in which to exist, to grow, and to learn. Schools miserably fail this very first test. The school cannot (and will not) protect your child from bullying, as can be clearly seen in the millions of reported cases per year. What's more, it is all too often the teacher, an administrator, a staff member at the school, who is doing the abusing. This highly disturbing reality is far more common than you might imagine.
We can't expect a child to be able to focus on studies of any kind when he's busy looking over his shoulder and ducking. Can't be done. But a homeschooling child should know that home is a safe place. (And it's up to you, mom and dad, to make it safe and keep it safe!) That allows a child to do the things he cannot do in school – focus and learn.
To the second goal. We want each child to discover those things about the world that they can love to be a part of. What does your child want to do with his life? (It will doubtless change, perhaps many times, as he grows.) But schools can only offer one road, one route, one approach. They cannot tailor curriculum, or even the methods used to teach, from child to child. If your child doesn't easily, readily “fit in” to the school and it's regimented “one-size-fits-all” approach, well, your child is going to be seen as a problem.
Your child is NOT a problem – he's a child. And he's a student looking for studies worth studying. Whop determines the worth of studies? The student. He will need to take those studies, live with what he has learned, and build a life with it. Education is for the student.
Homeschooling specializes in flexibility. When a student reveals an interest, a passion, homeschool mom and dad can happily go to work. As a homeschool family you can alter, direct, doctor what is studied to provide your child every opportunity to experience their developing interests. Schools just can't do that, not at all. In school, a child can't suddenly de-emphasize math and science, say, to focus on their newly discovered passion for music or history or auto mechanics. Buit homeschoolers can and do. This is one of the great strengths of homeschooling – the ability to tailor studies to encourage real joy of learning, and perhaps even a profession or calling in the student.
Finally, schools can only present a limited approach to HOW to learn. It involves a lot of useless testing. (Anyone who ever crammed for a test will tell you that they did not learn anything. Whatever facts were memorized for the test were promptly forgotten within a week or two, as they had no context, no use.) It involves keeping pace with other students, very destructive for either “fast students” who of necessity will be held back, and “slow students” who will be labeled as “remedial,” or as “less than the average.”
There are many ways to learn, and I would argue that for the vast majority of students, the methods used by schools are repulsive and destructive. As homeschoolers, you are free to experiment and to discover the BEST ways to educate your child, the BEST methods for him to learn. They may be quite unique. After all, every child is unique. And only homeschooling provides the freedom and flexibility to allow your child's special qualities to open up to the sun.
Steven Horwich has been a professional educator for over 40 years, and a homeschool advocate and author of curriculum for 15. His K-12 secular curriculum, STEPS (www.stepsed.com) has been used by over 20,000 students worldwide, and includes world history, science, civics, creative writing, study basics, current events, and lots of arts.
