OK – I have completely avoided this topic… for a long time… because:
- I don’t feel like getting into arguments with people about it.
- I don’t feel like defending our decisions to anyone else.
- I don’t feel like offering endless disclaimers as to why we’ve chosen this route.
- and… again… I don’t feel like getting into arguments with people about it!
But – I can’t avoid the topic any more because people keep asking questions about our kids and their schooling… and I can’t keep avoiding this conversation forEVER.
So here goes: we are homeschooling the kids… not only homeschooling, but exploring the option of un-schooling too! exhales
It’s actually quite funny. I was the person who vowed that I would never… EVER… homeschool my kids. Ever! Homeschooling was for uber-right-wing… ultra-conservative religious families… it was not for me. Homeschooling was for the Amish – and the Blou Rokkie Colony in Benoni… not for me. Homeschooling was for people who were “too scared” to let their kids venture out into the “Real World”… homeschooling was for bored mothers… homeschooling was for hillbillies and hippies and crystal-swingers and (insert long list of ugly judgemental stereotyping here)… blah, blah-dee, blah.
Just shows what happens when you vow never EVER EVER to do something! I am eating my words… and not only that, I’m very remorseful about all of my ugly, judgemental stereotyping!
Homeschooling (and particularly the unschooling movement) – I have quickly discovered – is one of those topics that gets people all heated up and foaming-at-the-mouth mad in just a few short seconds. Mothers, especially, get very worked up. It’s like the whole breast-feeding vs. bottle debate…. or the natural delivery vs. C-section debate… or the working mom vs. stay-at-home mom debate… (as if we don’t have enough to criticise each other about) we now have the schooling debate too!
Why are we so… on edge? Why are we sooo defensive!? Why do we feel that someone else’s decision (to do things differently) is a direct affront on our decisions to do things our way?
My friend Jana has 4 kids. All of them were natural births without pain relief… 3 of those births were home-births. The last child was an unassisted home birth (her husband delivered the baby because the midwife hadn’t yet arrived). Jana also breastfed all of the babies for months / years.
Now – I’m not like Jana. I like hospitals. I hired a private room in a private hospital – and both of my kids were born via C-section. I breast-fed both of them for only a few weeks until I switched to bottle. I’m also not a “Big Family” kind of mom…. I’m not planning on having any more kids – two’s my limit, thank-you (Jana, I think, could have 10 children and would manage just fine).
But here’s the thing… although Jana’s choices are completely NOT what I would have chosen… they remain Jana’s choices. Jana’s body. Jana’s children. Jana’s family. And Jana has the right to make those choices – and to NOT be attacked by all-and-sundry who don’t agree with her ways.
Can I please – reserve that same right – the right to give birth to… feed… raise… and educate my kids as I see fit… as their mother… who knows them better, cares deeply about their future happiness and loves them more infinitely than any stranger who has decided that she knows better than me on what my kids do – or do not – need.
OK – disclaimer over!
Here are a few reasons why we have chosen homeschooling:
- The typical one-size-fits-all System of Education simply doesn’t make sense to us. There is a brilliant manifesto by Seth Godin which goes into far more detail than what I’m prepared to (on this blog). I also love the thoughts of Sir Ken Robinson whose book, “The Element” made me cry more than once. Here’s a story that particularly moved me.
- We want to travel… we don’t want to be tied down in one place. Homeschooling / unschooling supports our particular nomadic way of life.
- Nick and I are both Questioners… in that we find it really difficult to swallow a certain methodology or do things in a certain way because-that’s-the-way-it’s-always-been-done… or because-that’s-how-everyone-else-does-it. Things need to make sense to us (and this includes Rules and Systems). We don’t follow rules because somebody said “this is a rule and you need to follow it”… we follow rules that make sense to follow (i.e :”Don’t drive through a red traffic light” – is a rule that makes sense to us. “Don’t bring your food into our movie theatre – you’re only allowed to buy OUR (overpriced) food” – is simply a stupid rule… and is thus ignored). I want my children to be Questioners too. I don’t want them to just simply swallow whatever crap is regurgitated by society / the media / politics / religion / friends / whatever. I want to raise kids that think for themselves. Now, I don’t know about you – but I used to get into lots of trouble at school for questioning the answers. Teachers were happy when I answered the questions – but would get frustrated and annoyed when I questioned the answers.
By the way, to understand what unschooling is (and isn’t)… you can read a few great articles here, here, here and here. Obviously homeschooling and unschooling is not for everyone… but right now, it’s our choice and we’re happy with it.
Yeah, just do it…all the best you guys on this next adventurous move 🙂
Thanks Fred. You guys actually played a significant role in our decision… your very relaxed view of education and out-of-the-box-thinking was a GOOD thing for me to be exposed to. I still remember you saying: “we don’t think outside the box, we’ve thrown the box away”. 🙂
Good for you. Btw, your definite limit to two kids sounded and awful lot like a ‘never’ so watch out lol. Try to not apologize too much for thinking for yourself. If someone chooses to be offended by your family’s choices then that is their personal problem not your fault.
You are ABSOLUTELY right – on both counts! On the never-say-never count… including (eek!) the possibility of extra kids! (eek! eek!) You’re also right about the defensive over-apologising. I really need to just get on with our decisions – and stop worrying about what others might say or think. I need to grow a much thicker skin! 🙂
I’m considering home schooling for my son – would like to meet up with some people in Benoni who does home schooling
Hi Sarita…
There are a number of people homeschooling in South Africa. I don’t know of anyone homeschooling in Benoni, but I’m sure there are people. There’s a few great Facebook groups were you can connect with South African homeschoolers and unschoolers… like “Unschoolers in South Africa” and “Homeschool Western Cape” (I’m sure there’s also a Gauteng group out there somewhere too). I know it can be quite a daunting decision at first – and I’ve found a number of friends online who are educating their kids differently (and it has been so helpful). Hope you come right. 🙂