Homeschooler's rant

The Ortega girls have just been overwhelmed with life lately! Especially me...between work, school, homeschooling and family and social obligations we have no breathing room! This week Skylar is doing state testing. I am not in favor of having her test, it's one of the reasons I homeschool. I want to be in control of my children's education. However, with the recent anti-homeschooling court ruling, I felt it best to comply...What can I say, apparently the government knows better than I do what is best for my children. I respect the right of others to stick their kids in the public school system, I just want equal consideration. Furthermore, with the state cutting down on the arts and physical activities, I don't feel that my children would get the education I want them to have. I feel that there is too much emphasis on the three R's. While learning to read, write, and count is certainly important, so is art, music and creativity. I feel that lately the public school seems to stamp out creativity and individuality in all but the most strong minded of children. I want to encourage creativity and self expression in my children. I want to instill morals and leadership skills in them. Although I get quite a bit of criticism regarding my choices, my children are well mannered and sociable. They make friends quickly and have many. Since they have never been bullied, teased or put down, they do not lack self confidence. Studies have found no evidence that homeschooled children lack social skills. As a matter of fact, studies by both the Cato Institute and the Fraiser Institute find “*the typical home-schooled child is more mature, friendly, happy, thoughtful, competent, and better socialized than students in public or private schools. “ Lawrence Rudner's 1998 study on US homeschoolers states "**the achievement test scores of this group of home school students are exceptionally high". I may be a bit prejudiced, but I consider my children extremely bright. And while they are not averse to playing video games, they do prefer to run around outside or work on crafts rather than sit in front of the television set all day. We don’t even have cable. They enjoy classical music, opera and the ballet. Although they will get tired after a couple of hours, they enjoy art museums. All three of my girls love history, (they call it story time) Like all children, they are curious about how the world around them works, and science is their favorite class. They are imaginative, and will spend hours putting together their own storybooks and plays. When you homeschool, everything is a learning opportunity, whether it be a visit to the theatre or the doctor’s office. At a recent visit to the chiropractor’s office, Skylar asked the doctor about a model of a skeleton he had in a corner. The appointment turned into an anatomy lesson. On an afternoon walk through the neighborhood, we’ll have a contest to see who can read the most signs. Even while we are doing formal schoolwork, the girls consider many of the exercises “games”. Perhaps some families do need the state to step in and tell them how to manage their families. For others, public or private school is the best choice. Not everyone is cut out to homeschool. However, for my own family, and thousand of families like mine, homeschooling is the best choice.


*http://www.cnsnews.com/culture/archive/200110/cul20011023a.html
**http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/