Under Construction
I have to admit when I began college I had no intention of ever considering homeschooling. I have always admired those who do, but it never seemed like an option I might choose. I planned to finish my degree, have three or four kids, stay at home with them until the youngest was in school all day, and then apply for my own teaching jobs. Since Faithlan's birth six months ago, I have seriously reconsidered this plan.
Sometime during my second year of college I began to contemplate my own experiences with education. I found elementary school miserable, and sometimes pleaded with my mom to let me stay home with her. I know she felt bad about this, but was not confident enough in her own abilities to provide quality instruction because she made average grades in school. I think she would have enjoyed homeschooling but believed she was giving us the best education by allowing certified teachers to instruct us.
Especially in the primary grades, I missed my mom tremendously. I was jealous that my younger siblings were still at home with her. I didn't feel safe at school away from them. My mom had made the effort to practice attachment parenting, but the system that governs our mainstream education does not accomodate this style. Fortunately, my mom volunteered often in my classroom and always attended field trips. This made school bearable, but I was still not happy.
At home my opinions and thoughts were respected as those of an adult, but the classroom environment was very teacher-centered. It lacked freedom for students. One had to go to the bathroom at certain times and eat at certain times. One had to make your letters just so and read those boring basal readers. Everyone was supposed to fit the mold. There was no room for individuality or personal strengths and weaknesses. Everyone was cataloged according to their performance relative to that of others.
By my above description of elementary, one may be lead to believe I was a horrible student and this was the cause of my suffering. On the contrary, I excelled academically. I made straight A's. I scored in the 99th percentile on all those fill-in-the-circle-with-a-#2-pencil standardized tests. I attribute this to having been attachment parented and breastfed. (My mom had already taught me to read before I entered Kindergarten, simply by reading to me constantly.) I was a teacher pleaser. I didn't disrupt class or talk out of turn. I sat quietly and wished I was at home.
Finally by junior high, I began to enjoy myself, and by high school, I was having a blast. I think young children have a natural desire to be near their mothers. Yet the goverment expects us to send our children to school for seven hours a day, starting at the age of five. That's too early!
Everything that I have learned in my college career leads me to the conclusion that a homeschool education is the best education available. I will go into more detail soon. In a nutshell, all the Educational Psychology and current teaching methods I have studied are working toward a classroom environment that is more similar to that which has been used in homeschools for decades. I recent swing in education is to child-centered curriculum. What's more child-centered than homeschooling? There is a movement for smaller class sizes and a focus on individuality. I could type on and on, but I haven't the time.
So now my plan is to homeschool each of my children through elementary. When they are old enough to enter junior high, I will give them the choice to continue homeschooling or attend public school