Should I home-school my kids?

Let me start by introducing myself, so that whoever is reading this post will understand where I'm coming from. I am a mother of four kids, from infant to 7 years old. My kids are all boys and although everyone tells me they look like little clones of each other, their personalities and temperaments are completely different, including the speeds and how they learn, as well as what they are interested in. Also, I am a teacher. I taught high school math and science for the last 10 years, and tutored students math and science since I was in first year university. I taught at different schools, different levels and even in different provinces in Canada. I taught international students and Canadians; I taught students from grade 6 to grade 12 and tutored all the way from grade 1 to first year university students. I taught really low ability kids and really high ability kids (gifted). And I even taught and tutored "home-schooled" kids. All this to say that I have had a great deal of experience with many different kinds of kids and many different kinds of teaching.

Now that I am a mother of four, the thought crossed my mind whether I should home-school my own kids. Is it worth it for them to go to school, and waste precious time in school on "discipline" or "routine" issues. My husband was seriously contemplating whether teaching our kids at home would be a better option. Our oldest child seems to be wasting time at school, not learning anything new, or at least that's our impression. So our parental instincts are kicking in, and the debate in our minds rages on, whether we should leave him in school, find a new school (and have him go through the stress of finding new friends all over again) or keeping him home and doing home-schooling.

For a while, I was really interested in home-schooling, not for the sake of my kids, but for my career. A few years back I started "Community Schooling" which was designed to give workshops for home-schooled children. It was more of a network of teachers that were available to teach, tutor, or give workshops to children that didn't go to school, but were learning at home. I provided math and science workshops, but I had teachers teaching French and Spanish. This Community Schooling idea lead me to do a lot of research on home-schooled kids and home-schooling in general. Also, I had a lot of first hand experience with these children and these families. Here are some of the reasons why some of the children I taught were home-schooled:

- children were bullied at school, and the school didn't do anything about it

- the parents didn't agree with the local school's beliefs / policies / traditions

- the parents didn't see eye to eye with the teacher about certain things about the child's education (for example assigning homework / worksheets)

- the parents thought they could do a better job at teaching their own kids

- the school system didn't allow the children to go to English school (due to immigrant status. In Quebec, children of immigrants can only go to French School - so people that come just for a few years for a job have a hard time finding school for their kids. They usually send them to private school, but this is an expense not all families can afford.)

- the parents travel a lot and take their children with them

- the children were engaged in a lot of extra curricular activities, and the parents thought these were more important than going to school (i.e. actor, musician, competitive soccer / hockey)

- the child is sick and has to be hospitalized a lot of the time

- the child does not belong in the main stream "school system" for any reason

- parents don't feel that the school is a safe environment

- the child was kicked out of school

- etc.

For me the reason I would keep my sons from school to home-school them would be that I have time to teach them, as I am now at home with the baby, and that I could probably do a better job than they can do at school. But, for the same reasons, I would not keep them home. Even though I'm at home, I cannot dedicate my whole day to teaching them... my baby needs to be fed, changed, etc; food has to be cooked; groceries have to be bought; laundry has to be done. Of course, all these things can be done with the children, and they can learn along the way, but my only point here is that I cannot dedicate all my time to my kids, like they have at school, with a professional getting paid for the service. Also, can I really prepare them better than the school? Of course, some of the things I can do much better, like teaching them math and science - after all I'm an expert in these fields. But would I ever teach them French? Or Gym (like how to actually dribble a ball, or how to do a somersault?). Or would I ever discuss history with my kids? I feel like I would miss out a lot of stuff, while putting emphasis only on the things I like.

The solution to this of course is obvious: find textbooks or curricula and follow them. I know that families of home schooled kids actually purchase and trade textbooks / programs / special curricula so that they don't miss out on anything. They form these home school communities, where the families support each other. They have "play dates", go to workshops together (like the ones I was leading), they do art, music, and drama classes together. It's not like the kids are all alone. They have kids to hang out with, kids to socialize with, but in the safety of someone's home, without wasting time on the silly things of school.

One of my student's mother told me that the more she is a home schooled mom, the more she is becoming radical with her views on schooling. She doesn't believe in the school system, and she lets her child learn what they want to learn. She is following these prescribed "curricula" less and following the intrinsic motivation / interest of her son. Her son was an awesome student of mine, and I can see how this kid will grow up to be this super interesting person. But will he not have some holes in his education? Maybe, but really, who cares... As long as he is well balanced, interested in life-long-learning, has great critical thinking skills, and of course properly socialized, who cares if he knows all the prime ministers of Canada? My son in school might have to memorize these silly facts for a test one of these days, but he'll probably forget this very shortly. So what is school good for?

My husband asked me the other day, whether homeschooled children are usually super smart, or are they mostly "stupid". I answered that there is a huge range for homeschooled children. There are the children that are in fact really really smart... not wasting the time they would in school. But then there is also the other extreme, where some homeschooled kids don't learn to read until they are 12 (or older), or don't know their multiplications table even when they're in high school. School seems to make this spread of people smaller. There is the problem for smart kids, where they waste their time, and they can't excel as fast as at home. But at least for the average kid, there is no way of not learning to read, or not learning basic math. There is a leveling of sorts at school. It's just too bad school isn't good for everyone... and I think this is when homeschooling or some sort of differentiated schooling is a good option.

I think if I ever decide to homeschool, I'll have to make sure to commit completely. Teaching is a full time job, and it's important to take it seriously, especially with my own kids. I can't let it slide.

But I know there are some people in the homeschooling community that disagree with me completely... they believe in the "unschooling" philosophy... unfortunately I don't understand this philosophy and for now I can't condone it at this time. Maybe some of you can help me understand this idea.

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