THE DAY HOMESCHOOLING DIES

Email | 21 Oct 03 | Chis Davis

[SLB]

My oldest son, Seth, was homeschooled the entire time he lived at home. This past summer, as he and I were discussing his upbringing, I had a realization about this movement we all call "homeschooling," and I said to Seth, "When you have kids, they will not be public schooled. They won't be private schooled. They won't be Christian schooled."

"And," I concluded, "your kids won't be home schooled, either."

The realization I had while talking with Seth is that God had begun something twenty years ago that came to be called “homeschooling,” but which really wasn’t about schooling at all. Here's what I mean.

THE COLLAPSE OF THE FAMILY

For thousands of years children have grown up in what today would be considered an unnatural place—the home. In this setting, parents never thought of themselves as "home schoolers." There was no alternative to children spending their days at home, having knowledge, experiences and character passed to them by their parents and extended family. What children needed to know, they learned as part of their daily lives: sowing and reaping, weather, how a business works, how to treat customers (and everyone else, for that matter). Life was their education.

Throughout history, small, homogeneous groups have attempted to provide a common education for their youth, yet it wasn’t until around the mid 1800's that entire nations decided to take children out of the home and “school” them. I will briefly mention the two main causes for this dramatic change in the way we began raising our children. Interestingly, both occurred at approximately the same time.

First, in the mid-1800’s the Industrial Revolution began. The new factories needed laborers and the siren call went out for men to leave their homes and be paid a salary (something new for most men). The possibility of being able to increase one’s family's standard of living was the draw that caused men to cease being patriarchs of a family enterprise and become employees.

Around this same time, another movement was taking shape: The Common (Public) School movement. The leaders of the Public School movement were, for the most part, humanists who were concerned about two things they believed endangered America’s future: The continuation of what they called religious superstitious beliefs and the influx of illiterate immigrants seeking jobs and a better life in this country. These leaders believed that realizing their two-fold goal of ridding our society of religion and providing an education for immigrant children mandated compulsory education for every child. Soon, the various states were passing compulsory attendance laws and children began to be public schooled en masse.

So, as dads were leaving home with a promise of employment, children were also leaving home with a promise of being made employable for the next generation. Within a very short period of time, the family unit that had been tightly held together for generations, became a set of individuals going their separate ways. To the factories went the dads. To the schools went the kids. Where Mom went is the subject of another article.

It wasn’t long before people forgot what it was like to be a family with Dad as the head of a "family enterprise" and the whole family working together as co-producers. In one generation, the cultural memory of children growing up at home was forgotten. Children belonged "in school" during the most productive hours of their day, learning whatever would make them employable, becoming independent, establishing strong friendships that replaced the bonds of family. And what had been a lifestyle of learning became "book learning" as learning became separated from real life. Of course, there was always a small group of families whose children never attended public school. Typically, these were American's wealthiest whose children received exclusive private educations in areas intended to prepare them for leadership in government, education, science and business. Most Americans don’t realize that public school was never intended to prepare leaders. It has always been intended to prepare employees. [For a fuller understanding of this subject, read John Gatto's books, The Underground History of American Education, A Different Kind of Teacher, and Dumbing us Down].

HOW SHOULD WE THEN SCHOOL?

In the 1950's—one hundred years after the of the public school movement began—some middle class parents began to desire an educational experience for their children whose curricula was more individualized. It was at this time that the private school movement began. I attended one of these schools in what should have been my fourth grade. It was little more than an experimental school run by one man who was also the only teacher. He didn’t like having one fourth grader, so I was skipped to fifth grade where there was one other student. I don't remember learning much, but it was more fun than public school!

During the Civil Rights years, the Christian school movement began along with its own particular brand of curricula which was mainly "Christianized" public school material. The concept remained that children were to be brought out of their homes and taught by educators, (presumably Christian), who, because they were “professionals” would do a better job of training children than could the children’s parents. It seemed that parents would now get the best of both worlds: a public-style education that was also Christian.

Then, in the late 1970's and early 1980's, a new schooling movement began. All over the country, parents began keeping their children home instead of sending them to one of the other schooling options. Some parents made this decision out of concern for their children’s safety. Others didn’t like the education their children were receiving. However, the majority decided to keep their children home simply because they wanted a relationship with them and parents didn’t think this could happen very well if the kids were gone all day long. It was quite a novel (and controversial) idea that children should be kept home during the schooling hours of the day.

So, today, parents have several choices as to how their children might be educated:

Public School Private School Christian School Home School

Note that the above choices relate to where and how the child is educated. In the past 150 years we have changed the first word, but we have not changed the last word, “School.” Each choice still emphasizes the fact that children are to be "schooled."

A MISUNDERSTOOD MOVEMENT?

I don't know how keeping our children home during the day came to be known as "Home Schooling," but I do have a theory: If I asked most adults, "What is the appropriate activity for every child, age six to age eighteen, during the days Monday through Friday?" Most adults would say, "These are the years when a child is being schooled, of course." That is why we have such phrases in our vocabulary as the "school age child." So, if a child is to be "schooled" during these formative years, the only real question is, "Where will he be schooled?" Today, the answer is, "He will either be public schooled, private schooled, Christian schooled, or home schooled."

Assuming, then, that every child is to "be schooled" during the day, if he is home during the day, he will be home schooled during the day. Hence the origin of the label "homeschooling."

Is “schooling” really supposed to be a child’s primary daily activity? It wasn’t until the advent of the modern public school movement. Schooling a child was never meant to be the "constant" with the variable being where the child spends his or her day. It has always been just the other way around.

What is so problematic with the term "Home Schooling" is what it has done to parents whose children are spending their days at home. Giving an activity a label means something to those involved in the activity. If we are comfortable with certain words in the label and not so comfortable with other words, those words with which we feel least secure will take on greater significance. Insecurity is a nice word for fear. Whatever we fear becomes a driver in our lives as we attempt to overcome our fear and feel secure again.

When we sent our children to school, we felt a sense of security that trained professionals were educating them. We didn't pretend that we could do a job which others had spent years being trained to do. We might feel that we could raise our children in some areas, but not to provide for their education.

Then, one day, we became homeschoolers. Insecure homeschooler; but homeschoolers nevertheless. However, since what we were doing was labeled "homeschooling," we, in our insecurity, actually became home-SCHOOLERS rather than HOME-schoolers. The importance of our children becoming educated (isn't that what children do during the day?) took on greater prominence than the importance of them being home. This is understandable when we realize that there is no cultural memory of what having our children home really means to the family or to society.

What did I mean when I told my son, "And, your kids won't be homeschooled"? During Seth's years at home, his academic education was never the main priority. In our home, we did have a rigid priority structure, but those priorities were first relationships; second, practical skills; and, finally, academics. Seth grew up with a strong academic upbringing, but academics were never our priority. Seth is a skilled, very competent individual of the highest character. He is also one of the happiest young men I have ever known. As I look back at Seth's time at home, I have come to realize that he was never "homeschooled." He simply grew up in a most remarkable place—his home

When our children were young we would take them with us to the store. Other kids were in school. The check-out lady would inevitably ask, "You boys aren’t in school today?" Since the boys knew we were homeschoolers, they would respond, "No, ma’am, we’re homeschooled."

STARTING OVER

If I could do it all over again, I would not call ourselves "homeschoolers." I have actually come to dislike the term because I think it creates significant problems. If I were starting over again, when the lady at the store says, "You boys aren't in school today?" I would teach the boys to say, simply, "No ma'am," and let it go at that.

In just the past year I have noticed a growing distinction between families who are homeschooling and those whose children are home, but not being homeSCHOOLED. Are the "not-being-homeschooled" children receiving a quality upbringing, including a quality education? Today enough research exists that I can honestly say an unequivocal “yes”. I would even go so far as to say that the not-being-homeschooled child is receiving an education which is superior to the child being homeschooled. [For a fuller discussion on this, see our article, "Identity-Directed Homeschooling"].

The availability of what has come to be known as “prepackaged curricula” is helping manifest a separation of the two types of families who were once grouped together under the one term: “homeschoolers.” Many parents purchase prepackaged curricula because they don't understand what God originally intended when He began this movement over twenty years ago.

What do you think your children should be doing all day now that they are home? Probably the most obvious way to determine what you really believe is to ask yourself, “Is my child the constant or is my child’s education the constant?” Look at the materials you use to bring learning into your child’s life. Do you use graded, prepackaged, curricula? Is your child in a grade as he would be if he were in an institutional setting? Do you follow the institutionalized Scope & Sequence educational model? Or, have you stepped completely out of the lock-step, institutional way of raising your child?

This article is not intended to discourage, but to give hope. In most parents’ hearts is the desire to reprioritize their lives around what is truly important to them: having a relationship with their children. To bring your children home can be an immense lifestyle change. For some, making this change has to be done in stages. If you have brought your children home it may have been necessary (for a season) to place before them the ever popular “curriculum-in-a-box.” Hopefully, that season will be short. Our children never went to school, were never in a grade, and we never used a prepackaged curriculum. Nevertheless, it took us a while to learn all that I am sharing with you here. Be encouraged. You are allowed to do what your heart tells you is right.

IF WE AREN'T HOMESCHOOLING, THEN WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Right now, nearly two million children are spending their days at home rather than “at school,” thus putting an end to a 150 year "detour" which began in the 1850’s and which seriously harmed family life and Kingdom community as God initially intended them to be lived. As families leave this detour and turn onto the road whose name is “Life As It Was Intended To Be,” we will see vistas we have only read about in books. Let me offer some suggestions.

1 | Don’t send your children to school. Any school. Bring them home. Raise them to be the individuals God has created them to become.

2 | Don’t bring the school, any school (along with its "efficient", but arbitrary, grade levels, scope & sequence, and boxed curriculum) into your home. Allow your children to learn through life and the relationships around them.

3 | Learn how to awaken curiosity in your children. (This is the subject of a future EJournal.)

4 | The only thing that should be prepackaged is your child. By this I mean your child was born with all the talents, giftings, and callings put into him or her since the foundation of the world. Find out what these are and let your child become truly good at what you find. [For a fuller discussion of this, order the Davis' tape, "Identity Directed Homeschooling"]

5 | Dad's heart must turn toward his children and the hearts of the children must turn toward Dad. Ultimately, this may bring Dad out of the corporate workforce to come home. This final step may take another generation to be fulfilled. But, for it to be fulfilled, Dads must at least begin moving in that direction (ie. Giving his children the option of becoming entrepreneurs).

6 | In your own home, let "homeschooling" die. In other words, don't homeschool your children.

God has asked us to raise a generation prepared for the future by becoming exactly what He intended each person to become. This will be different for each and every child. Your home is the place where the acorn can become the oak tree. Or, the seed can become the maple tree. Or, the other seed can become the pine tree. Plant your children squarely in their own home and allow the individual God created to grow.

Chris Davis is the founder of the Elijah Company and a father of 4 children.

[Domestic Church]

The author is an award winning public school teacher. He won the NY state teacher of the year award (before writing it of course.) Besides, he knows his history.

[TopQuark]

Well, I tried: I read a few chapters. So far it seems to be a stream of consciousness.

To see the problem with our schools does not require this treatise: the problem is not the public form of education but that it is dominated by socialists --- much like other institutions of society. And, no, we did not grow so many socialists because of the public schools either: the two- or three-centuries-long retreat of religion left a vacuum that has been gradually filled with this new religion.

The problem is therefore not the FORM of schooling but the currently given CONTENT.

[annyokie]

How is un-schooling different? I mean no offense to any homeschoolers here, but how is watching the history channel at home any different than watching the history channel at school?

I'm not cracking wise, I really want to know the reasoning.

Thanks to all.

[harpseal]

BTT

[SauronOfMordor]

How is un-schooling different?

I use text books and assign problems. An unschooler would tend to let the kid explore and learn what interested him in whatever manner interested him, with the parent being available to answer questions and point towards resources

[annyokie]

Un-schooling sounds like it could be trouble. My youngest loves math and dislikes reading (he is seven.)

Is allowing a child to make his/her educational path a good thing? If I were allowed this option at seven, I never would have taken an interest in mathematics.

[Domestic Church]

Perhaps you should read Charlotte Iserbyte instead...she was in Reagan's Dept of Education and wrote a lengthy book about the educational machinery in this nation. The title is " The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America" and there was a good thread on it:

http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3846d8ab444a.htm

And also the Rudner study is worth a glance if you are statiscally oriented: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/

[TopQuark]

Thank you for the pointers.

[TopQuark]

Thank you for the pointers.

[mo]

I find this post fascinating in its parallels with others detailing the "losses" of manufacturing jobs overseas...God truly has something wonderful for us yet...

[federalist1]

This is our family's sixth year of home schooling. My son did not read well by third grade. He could barely read at all. He did, however, master Newton's first three laws of motion; he was thrilled with how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth; etc. He has an engineer's mind that, as a third grader, drew accurate conclusions about the way things work that took me some time to work through. He was always right. Had I tried to make my son fit the "read by x age" mold, he would be labelled learning disabled. In the public schools, he would have been a candidate for drugging into submission.

Re: schools. How can an entire group of children go through the same class and come out with such different results? We accept as self-evident that each child is different. Yet we presume to teach all at the same pace. And any child who is not ready to learn what the experts say they should be able to learn is considered out of step. Why? Because the child does not fit some expert's' mold?

Children are not machines to be programmed. It is high time more people -- particularly parents -- stopped trying to shave off this quality here and that quality there to make them fit a mold that has no basis in real life. The bell curve means some children are at the ends. Cramming all children into the middle ought to be criminal. We do not cut off children's fingers to make them the same length (not yet), we do not put them on stretchers to make them the same height. Why do we insist that their brains are the only parts that are supposed to grow in lock step with some invented norm?

Children are born sponges. They are forced during their school years to learn and do what someone else has said they should, and in the way someone else says they should do it. And then we wonder why middle schoolers become so detached and unmotivated. They've spent their whole lives being told what to do and how to do it!

Have you ever met a young child who did not blow your socks off with some amazing gift? Not all gifts fit into the school mode, though, and many are not rewarded or even recognized.

I highly recommend Dr. Raymond Moore's "Better Late Than Early." Some children's neurological connections don't get made until the age of 10 or 12. That's fine. Unless they've already been called stupid by the likes of people who think they are damaged if they can't read by third grade. Einstien and Thomas Edison were such idiots. I believe many Einsteins and Edisons are beaten down by the system and prevented from knowing of their genius, let alone using it.

In the U.S., we school for normalcy. We then complain that our children as a group are so horribly average. Those who can't read by third grade are condemned to intellectual ghetto for the rest of their lives? Maybe your children, but not mine! Mine are an heritage of the Lord with gifts of His choosing in His time.

By the way, both my children score several years above so-called "grade level" in standardized testing. They think the standards are silly. They are doing what they can as well as they can, and that is enough.

[Theophilus]

The leaders of the Public School movement were, for the most part, humanists

It would be nice to see a confirmation of that.

With the exception of Washington, this little list lifted from PBS is a humanist Hall Of Shame for social(ist) engineers & idealouges

Public education today is a product of more than a century of reform and revision. In each era, visionary individuals have taken the lead and transformed the system to meet their ideals. Below are some of the women and men who have shaped our experience of school. Click on an image to see their story.

[TopQuark]

Thanks for the pointer.

I read the article on Mann, as you recommended. What specific socialist or "humanist" measures did he take to qualify his as a shameful character?

[Theophilus]

Demonstrably false history???

Very early on: "Hughes and members of New York’s prominent Protestant establishment helped to set in motion the secularization of American public schools, a process that began in the 19th century, and continues to this day."

[Theophilus]

What specific socialist or "humanist" measures did he take to qualify his as a shameful character

"After brief stints in law and business" - failed in law and business - "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"

"Mann committed himself to social reforms" - hmmmmmmm, how helpful! Whatever happened to: "If it ain't broke"???

"including the construction of a state insane asylum" - early socialized medicine?

"and leadership in the temperance movement" - a libertarian favorite!!!

"Mann established the state board of education" - statism pure and simple

"promoted state regulated public education as a way to bring order and discipline to the working class"

"Many historians, however, see Mann’s legacy as positive, contending that overall his contributions led to a more egalitarian and democratic society. Some credit Mann with spearheading the most successful progressive social movement of the 19th century: Public Education"

[coton_lover]

This article sounds really nice, but in California we must keep records and we must follow a curriculum set forth by the state. We have to have certain things. To give children experiences in learning that this author gave his own children, you need money. There are people out there that must deal with their money situation, that are always struggling just to get books. I know lots of homeschooling families that have a lack of funds. They can't get a bunch of fancy stuff and go places. They rely on what they can get their hands on. Thank goodness they still are willing to homeschool. These people would love to take their kids to aquariums and museums and any other educational places, but they lack the funds. A lot of these people use charter schools for what they need. But the bottom line is that there are willing to sacrifice--like the mother not working--to keep their children at home and our country will reap the harvest.

[shattered]

Is your son an only child and if so, did this create problems with loneliness and/or boredom? Curious if home schooling an only can be enjoyed by them as much as by a group of siblings. Thanks for any input.

[StarCMC]

Homeschool bump

[TopQuark]

"After brief stints in law and business" - failed in law and business - "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach"M

Nothing more than a smear on your part.

"Mann committed himself to social reforms" - hmmmmmmm, how helpful! Whatever happened to: "If it ain't broke"??? No, it was not broken: it was outdated. Some claimed that our racial laws at the time were not broken, too.

"and leadership in the temperance movement" - a libertarian favorite!!! You seem to be all over the map.

"Mann established the state board of education" - statism pure and simple You should familizarize yourself with a notion of a public good. I do share the view of most that a minimal level of education is a public good. Markets fail to provide public goods, and that is what the governments are supposed to do. As any producer, it requires a manager, which in this case is a board of education.

You are too hasty with your conclusions and accusations.

[Alia]

This article sounds really nice, but in California we must keep records and we must follow a curriculum set forth by the state.

Ah. Are you involved with an ISP? (Independent Schooling Program) through your county district's office? Private or homeschooling -- there is no "curriculum" set forth by the state; and there shouldn't be. Ever, IMHO.