Tidepooling for our #classroomfortheday

I’ve had many conversations about homeschooling in the last few months. Some ideas have changed the way I think, others have reinforced what I already know, but all have given me new depth and perspective on my kids and learning.

We recently spent a weekend with my cousin and her family. A few years ago when they came to Utah for our Grandfather’s funeral we had long discussions about life, career, kids, school and everything in between. It was so great to follow up on those conversations and see how our dreams and hopes have developed. She has been homeschooling her kids (she now has 6, the youngest is 14 months) for years and had some great insight as well. We talked curriculum, what she does for science, spelling, math, etc. but the biggest thing to me was her take on standards. As a society we are so ingrained to educational standards that we feel we have to measure up. Even as homeschooling parents we are worried we aren’t teaching the “right” things, or that our kids are not at the right “level”. Who developed these levels anyway? What does a bureaucratic system (to use Senator Madsen’s words) know about my child and they way her or she learns? Nothing.

I officially love Matt Walsh’s blog. He’s witty, funny, and apparently we think the same since I agree with most of what he writes about. Recently, he wrote an article titled, “Your 5 year old failed a standardized test. Therefore, he is stupid, insane, and doomed to a life of failure.” It really made me think. I look at my 6 year old Andrew, who is a bouncy, electronic loving, can’t sit still type of boy and working with him one on one, we are already a year ahead in “school”. He soaks it up. I let him sit on the table, he writes with his notebooks on his knees, he runs around outside and then comes back in to finish. He has flexibility to do all that and not be chained to a desk for 6 hours everyday. I love it. Its liberating for both of us.

Posting this article on Facebook the other night, led a friend to refer to a TED talk posted back in 2006 titled, “How School Kills Creativity”. Sam and I both watched it last night and had another light bulb moment. What are our kids GOOD at? I mean really good at? What do they LOVE to do? Are we spending so much time trying to teach them math, spelling, language arts, and science (all good topics) that we are missing the chance to let them excel at something else? I get so frustrated when there is paper lying all over the Airstream, or glitter, or glue, or other artsy things, yet that is what Rachel LOVES to do. She’s an artist at heart. She’s creative. Am I encouraging that or destroying it? Our school systems are designed to create the same type of person. One who can follow rules, navigate the system, and teach others to do the same.

As we continue this journey of ours, I’m becoming less and less enamored with public education and the supposed “benefits”. Talking with my cousin this weekend we discussed leadership opportunities, learning situations, private tutoring, and other ways my children could still benefit and learn all the “normal” things while being on the road. I’m not sure I ever want to put them back into the public school system – even when we finally settle down.

On the flip side, I had a friend also comment on Facebook about the many amazing teachers her kids have had in public school. Teachers that are aware of each child individually, they want to push, help these kids learn and maximize their potential. I definitely agree with her. There are amazing teachers out there – but I still think the system itself is broken. Teachers that have to spend their own money on resources, that can’t accelerate a child due to policy, or other red tape they have to jump through in order to do their jobs. It really is a sad state of affairs.

There is a group in Utah currently lobbying for some changes that would benefit homeschooling families. The first is a bill to provide an income tax credit to homeschooling families (this bill didn’t pass). When I first came to realize how much books and supplies were going to cost, I was flustered. Not enrolling my kids in public school denies me of the tax benefits of the education system. Taxes that I personally now pay to educate other people’s children and not my own. This bill would allow some relief as a reduction of the state income tax we would pay. I’m in.

The second bill they are proposing is a one time affidavit to give notice to public schools that a child will not be enrolling, instead of the current yearly affidavit (this bill did pass). Knowing that I wouldn’t have to be in Utah every year to sign the form at the District Office to release my kids from public school makes me a huge advocate of this law. As Senator Mark Madsen recently stated during one of the sessions, “Teachers and parents are not the same. Teachers are the servants of the parents. Parent are parents. They are accountable to someone entirely different. To suggest that parents are accountable to a public school bureaucracy for how they educate their kids is bunk.” (I love that he said “bunk”. That’s the rant of a Mormon politician.)

Those are my random thoughts on education. I’m sure my opinion will change over time as it always does. What is right for our family now may not be in the future. Perhaps our kids will end up at a charter specialty school someday in the future, or maybe we will do plain old public school. For now though, I’m going to teach and encourage them the best way I know how.