When the Schoolhouse Is Your House
Why homeschooling might be right for you (but not me)
by Thomas Litchford
At first blush, homeschooling seems perfect the military family: no worrying about the quality of public schools, no stressing over continuity of curriculum after a PCS. Plus, you don’t have to force teenagers to commit social suicide by moving in the middle of a school year or enduring a voluntary separation while waiting out the end of a school year before moving.
When I’m completely honest with myself, I can admit I’m looking forward to Sean going off to school. In this fantasy, I use the hours he’s gone to write and the school is safe and well-funded. In reality, there’s a very real danger I’ll fritter away my time writing e-mail and watching the “Today Show” and the news on public schools in America is generally not good.
Why homeschool?
Homeschoolers give a lot of different reasons for why they chose to be do-it-yourself educators for their kids. I’ve heard everything from simply wanting to spend more time with their children, to religious concerns, to being impressed by other homeschooled kids. But the most common reason I found in my research was the desire for more control over the quality of their education.
The other day I read a New York Times article about how many teachers are resorting to an Internet video called “The Story of Stuff” to explain the environmental impact of American consumerism. The video is politically motivated, one-sided, and biased against capitalism. It is not what one usually thinks of as a solid teaching tool. Other homeschoolers have expressed concern over school boards who ban books. It’s understandable that some parents would want more control over what their children learn, no matter what side of the political divide they’re on.
Choosing to homeschool
Neither I nor my parents ever had a problem with the quality of the schools I attended. My parents were diligent in finding the best school districts, and they encouraged and demanded hard work from me. But I can certainly understand parents’ anxiety over frequent moves. I received my primary education in three different school systems in three different states. My father was not in the military, but he did serve in the ranks of the “corporate army,” taking orders to Minnesota, then Florida, then Michigan. Every time, my folks had to find a house in the right neighborhood in the right school district.
Of course, I never had to agonize over the budget or deal with the mortgage company. My problems were social. Everywhere we went I ran into trouble. Every neighborhood had a bully, always a few years older than me, always just down the street.
Some of my ambivalence regarding homeschooling is simply this: I went to public schools, my wife went to public schools, most of our friends went to public schools and we all turned out just fine. Have schools really declined in quality so much since I was a student (it wasn’t that long ago)? Or are we as a culture just more nervous about them, the way we seem to be more nervous about everything, now that we have the Internet on our phones and 24-hour cable news on TV?
I met a Navy husband a few weeks ago at a hail and farewell luncheon who was also a stay-at-home dad. He told me how impressed he’d been with the schools and the well-behaved students in Japan where they’d been stationed. He was less impressed with what he found upon his return to the States, but when I asked him if he’d considered homeschooling, he immediately said no. It’s hard enough having to fulfill the dual role of dad and mom. He didn’t want to try to be teacher, too.
The desire to homeschool seems to be about having more control and maintaining that control in a responsible way requires a tremendous amount of effort and organization. When considering homeschooling one’s youngsters, one must ask himself if he’s willing to do all the work, devote all the time, grade all the homework and keep all the records. Knowing myself – knowing, for example, my tendency to forget to send invoices, or to remember it’s trash day only when I hear the truck rumbling up my street – I tend to think I would be a lousy teacher.
It would appear that the parents best suited to homeschooling are the ones who could succeed in an actual classroom. It takes dedication, enthusiasm, and organization, and I’m sure there are a lot of very talented amateurs providing their kids with a top notch education. But, I think I’m going to leave it to the professionals.