The following is an index of our Week of Joy series about homeschooling positives. Stories range from why the decision to homeschool was made (ranging from bullying in public schools to medical necessities to love of teaching) to what children appreciated most about their experiences.
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“Do you want proof that homeschooling can be awesome? Then look at Homeschoolers Anonymous. Seriously. Along with Nicholas Ducote, I have organized an online community that — in less than five months — has received national media coverage, garnered almost half a million views, received both the praise and the wrath of educational activists, and engages in dynamic social media activism. I don’t attribute that to myself. I attribute that to homeschooling.”
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“I’ve been fairly critical of homeschooling in a good number of blog posts over the past two years. One thing I’ve been asked a number of times is whether, looking back, there was anything about my homeschooling experience that was positive…So here it is, my attempt to write about the positives side of my homeschool experience. But I’m going to warn you up front that I don’t think this is going to go all that smoothly.”
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“I would never give back that experience. The glue that held it all together and kept my parents from being dysfunctional task masters, or chronic busy bodies with a messiah complex was that they loved us kids and wanted the world for us. And they sought every day to live out a faith that convicted them to serve, love and empower. That is perhaps the greatest example that they left me. “
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“I thrived in self-directed, participatory learning. I’m reading Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed this week and I missed out on what he terms the banking model of education, where the student is an empty account into which the expert teacher makes deposits (till high school and college, at least). In contrast, my mom always talked about how we all learned together.”
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“I may have faced negative consequences from a tightly-controlled childhood and education, but I have still been successful in my adult life, thank to the academics and life-skills my parents’ instruction provided. I am grateful that they cared for me and gave me the tools I needed to become a person I can be proud of.”
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“I was homeschooled all the way through. K-12. Religion was a factor and I don’t mind that. My parents are Christians, we were in a Christian homeschool co-op, and I am still a Christian. I am not ashamed to say I love Christianity and I love homeschooling. But what I love about my homeschooling experience was the lack of structure.”
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“I am, and always have been the gregarious, outgoing, bubbly one in our family. Even though I went through abuse and trauma, I loved being homeschooled. My brain thrived on the literature-based approach that my mother took. If I could afford to not work and stay at home, I might homeschool my future children if they wanted me to.”
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“For years, my family and I had battled bullies and an administration dead set against helping me end the torment I was enduring. I had switched schools, moved, and done everything I could to blend in and keep my head down. I was out of options and out of hope. I remember this tremendous sense of relief at the idea of leaving school, and once I had, I felt truly safe for the first time in years.”
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“I was home schooled full time in eighth grade, and part time in ninth and tenth. Up until that time, I had been enrolled in our local public schools, where my dad was a teacher. I’d been having problems with bullying at my middle school (both by my peers and by teachers, WTF?!), and when my mother asked me if I wanted to try home schooling, I jumped at the chance. It sounded almost too good to be true.”
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Homeschoolers Anonymous 