I used to teach art & lit to a fairly decent sized homeschool group. The art classes were grades k-12, and I was also hired to teach a few private lessons for certain families. The literature classes were for middle school aged children only. Besides teaching I enter acted with this group fairly often. I saw children who were poorly instructed and socially backwards and as well as children who were very advanced and participating in science clubs, writing contests, etc. Finding social outlets for children and pre-teens seemed fairly easy for most. I was actually very impressed with what I saw in regards to the younger children. When the kids hit the upper grades, 8th-12th, I wasn’t so keen. They didn’t have the social skills to communicate with others in their age group who were not homeschooled. There were far less organized activities for them to participate in and the few who confided in me often expressed angst (like typical teens) about not being able to do anything without a parent organizing every detail. They were right in a sense, the parents were not giving them any time to just be kids and hang out. Okay, so maybe this isn’t a bad thing… I mean hey, is it that important that little Suzie grow up knowing who Paris Hilton is?
The only other problem I had with the homeschool group was it’s insistence on editing my materials and keeping certain “offensive” images of art, or in the case of the lit group, a certain passage in “The Diary of Anne Frank” from being discussed. Some of the books that mentioned things that were not cool with the philosophy of the group were blacked out with permanent marker.
All this aside, I have seriously considered homeschooling my own children. The families that we met were incredibly close and loving. Unfortunately there is not a secular group in my area so we would be alone in our homeschooling effort.
As a mother I do fear for my children when they go off to school this fall. I wonder about bullies and if the teacher will really understands what they need, I wonder if their peers will be little snots and pick on them… but I have to let go a little. *sigh* That’s tough for this mom.
