By Megen Hibbins
There is a lot of negativity in the community towards homeschooling parents and this stems from a lack of understanding and information about homeschooling itself.
Speaking to children that were homeschooled in my community, that are now adults with children themselves, had me wondering why so many people were dead against it. I started to realize that it was due to the misconception and negative press about parents who homeschooled – wanting to control their children, mold them to a socially acceptable (according to them) being, and that most people felt that homeschooling restricted the child’s mental, emotional and social health.
Yet when I have spoken to both parents, teachers and formerly homeschooled children, the comments were very positive. I found that most of the children that were homeschooled, especially the ones that had also been at public or private school (had a taste of each schooling form), were very grateful to their parents for taking the time to teach them at home.
I sit here pondering the subject while teaching my own children the art of making grapefruit and ginger marmalade. Placing them down in the stall at the road where they learn about counting and concepts of financial and economical society, despite their young ages of seven, six, four and two.
This is in complete contrast to the commonly held narrow-minded view on the homeschooling system. Believing that children were in need of socialization even though the students and former students themselves had stated that they had plenty of socialization and interaction, minus the bullying.
I sit here pondering the subject while teaching my own children the art of making grapefruit and ginger marmalade. Placing them down in the stall at the road where they learn about counting and concepts of financial and economical society, despite their young ages of seven, six, four and two. I am wondering if the subject got a bad rap due to misunderstandings or the fact that it is simple naivety towards the homeschooling community and negative press about families that just did it differently.
I homeschooled my eldest child after he struggled in mainstream school. He was then placed back into a small school and while there he did seem to progress a little in social skills, but saying all this he was an autistic child so social integration could go very wrong at any time. He is now 20 and fully integrated into society, working two jobs, living with his girlfriend and quite able to conduct himself in social settings.
