Yep, we're STILL in Florida! Endeavor's launch got scrubbed, so while we're waiting to see if the auxiliary heaters will get fixed in time for us to still see the launch before I HAVE to head home (cloth diapering classes don't teach themselves, apparently), we're hanging out in Orlando in a motel/water park. Orlando is weird.
In other news, check out my blog (and vote for me!) in the Top 25 Homeschooling Blogs search over at Circle of Moms. There are some great other homeschool blogs represented, so I highly recommend that you check it out.
Ignore the intro paragraph to the contest, however, because it is offensive:
When choices for your children's school come down to a badly run public school or an over-priced private school, sometimes your best option is to educate them at home.
Um, no.
Homeschool isn't the last-ditch best option only for people who are unfortunate enough to have crap choices among educational institutions.
Homeschool isn't better than public school only if the public school is badly-run.
Homeschool isn't better than private school only if the private school is expensive.
(I also have issues with referring to a private school as "over-priced"--just because a private school costs more than I can pay does not mean that the private school charges more for tuition than it provides in education).
Homeschool isn't the last-ditch choice, and it isn't THE best choice, and neither are well-run or poorly-run public schools, and neither are expensive or inexpensive private schools.
Homeschool is a choice, just like all the others, and it's up to you to not simply default into a choice, but to research it, to think about it, and to MAKE that choice for your own family. If you choose to put your children into public school, then you can provide them supplementary educational experiences if you don't feel that the school is run well. If you choose to put your children into private school, then you can work more to pay more for an expensive school.
And if you homeschool...well, then you've got a billion more choices to make, every day. What will you learn? Where will you go? What shall we read? What games should we play? What would you like to make for lunch? Should we stay for an extra three days in Florida, to see if we can watch the shuttle launch?
Us homeschoolers, we have a word for those choices:
We call it freedom.
3 comments:
Well put! And FWIW, I keep trying to sell the idea of public school to my kids...just kidding! But I do let them know there are many reasonable options out there to homeschooling. :)
So well written. Thanks for setting it straight! It was a long, thought out decision for me to choose homeschooling. I describe my process in this post: http://mymontessorimoments.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/2473/
p.s. Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog. It has introduced me to your fabulous blog. I voted for you. :)
I had to laugh and cringe at the same time when I read that print too. The cool thing is that whoever wrote that now has the opportunity to see how many wonderful, rich options are out there!
Post a Comment