I visit the
Dr. Phil message board from time to time when I need material or a good laugh. Honestly some of the statements the public school advocates make are sooooooooooooooo stupid they are funny. Here are some gems from Teachsmiles (who claims to be a public school teacher).
I believe parents who choose to homeschool their children are selfish and lack confidence in their parenting skills. The parents who decide to unschool are just plain uneducated, as most of us agree. I too would love to homeschool my youngest child, 8 years old, but it is absolutely for selfish reasons. I would enjoy spending more time with her and protecting her from life's difficulties.
I am so tired of hearing how homeschoolers are selfish. Since I covered this in a previous post I'll just give you the link to my post
The Other S Word . Now for the uneducated part of her statement. Many of the homeschooling parents I know have Masters, Bachelors or Associates degrees. I myself have an Associates degree and my hubby has a Bachelors, so maybe Teachsmiles can explain how she could possibly consider us uneducated? Could it possibly be because my husband was Valedictorian of his public school class? Or maybe it was because I only graduated with honors from my public school?
Homeschooling & going to school are NOT the same thing done in different measures. Homeschool (as you say) may be better for some children, however, homeschooling is not good for the adult that child will become. That parent will forever be raising that child or feeling the crippling left by the child "flying the coup". I believe the child can be successful in any environment of education or be unsuccessful, IT IS ALL ABOUT THE PARENTS!
Oh PLEASE! My goal as a homeschool mother is to see my children go to college and embark on successful careers. I was thrilled when my 16 year old gained early admission to college. At 17 he is in his second year of a Computer Science Degree, he made the Dean's List and he works part time at Sicily's Pizza. His “flying the coup” certainly does not cripple me; I am enjoying the extra free time I have. And he is more then capable of taking care of himself as I raised him to be self-sufficient. Most homeschool parents I know have made "plans" for what they are going to do once their homeschooling journey ends; for some that means going back to a full time career they put on a back burner in order to homeschool, for others it means going back to working full time instead of part time and for others it means getting more involved in charity work or pursing hobbies.
Parenting is the biggest job in society and if you are too afraid to parent fully then you are not doing your job. Part of parenting is preparing children to function as contributing educated citizens of society, not parenting "willy nilly as you please". Stand up and be proud! Have the faith in how you raise your children that they will prosper and succeed in PS education. Do not be a controlling feeble minded person who fears & controls all 24 hours of their child's life. "How will they survive without you?"
I pity the students who get stuck with Teachsmiles as a teacher. Her remarks show how bigoted she is against homeschoolers. Homeschooling parents prepare their children to function as contributing educated citizens of society. We instill them with things like a work ethic, and the knowledge that punctuality is important, two things employers find very desirable. We teach them to be self-sufficient so they can survive without us. We allow them to make choices and explore the world and offer a helping hand when they ask for our guidance. What's the problem with that?
12 comments:
Oy. If I didn't know better, I would say that teacher is my sister-in-law, a veteran PS teacher who claims no homeschooled child has ever been current with the classroom when re-entering public school. According to her, I'm the only one doing a good job homeschooling, everyone else does not. Plus, the last time I saw her, she asked me when we were putting him back in PS. I said: I don't know. I liked. Try never.
I am selfish. I want my child to have an education tailored to his educational and psychological needs, something that the public school system miserably failed here. I am selfish in that I want the best for my son, and am able to provide that for him.
I think PS teachers are just threatened by us. Job security, you know?
Luckily all public school teachers do not feel that way. I am friends with several public school teachers and they have been very supportive of my decision to homeschool and very helpful with lesson plans; we actually exchange ideas at times.
I think it's probably the difference between the teachers who are in it for the kids and the ones who are in it for the money.
I shouldn't have made a blanket public school teacher statement, I apologize for that. You are right, they are not all that way. My other sister-in-law is extremely supportive of our homeschooling and her friends who homeschool. My son's second grade teacher is also supportive of our homeschooling. So that's two that I know personally.
My SIL that I referenced at first has been teaching for 20 years. At first it was for the love of kids, but she's suffering from burn-out and it's all about the money now.
That probably happens a lot. I know my brief stint as a substitute teacher in the public school system cured me of ever wanting to do it professionally. It was a pleasure to work with the kids that wanted to learn, but those that didn't made life miserable for the rest of us, and there wasn't much a teacher could do about it. After dealing with that for 20 years I imagine you would get a bit jaded and possibly have to believe that PS was the only way in order to justify staying in the system.
I actually know a few PS teachers that homeschool their own kids.
I understood where you were coming from. After visiting the Dr. Phil board I sometimes come away with a us v them attitude.
I was pleasantly surprised that another PS teacher put teachsmiles in her place.
those of us with a degree can feel somewhat confident in the face of such criticism, however i do get discouraged when people question the sanity of having my children with me all the time. i think it's because they haven't had the opportunity to experience the joy of being committed to being a parent, full-time and the relationship with your children that comes from that.
i, too, had my doubts about homeschoolers before i became one. i shudder to think what i might have blogged back then before i knew better.
Her comments do not bother me and I am without anything other than a highschool degree. There has been research done on the issue of parents having a degree or not and the testing of their kids shows virtually no difference.
I too have a couple of teacher friends that totally support home educating.
Hi Sandy, you are so right. I have read the research that said parents who just have a high school diploma or a GED do just fine homeschooling their kids.
I think the knowledge that their parents value education is the main thing.
My youngest was arguing with me about chores the other day--her new one is unloading the dishwasher; big sister has graduated too loading the dishwasher, and there was a vacancy LOL I patiently explained to her that we all have to do chores to make the household run. She still balked, so I said to her:
"It is my job to turn out good people. I will be a failure as a parent if I produce incompetent adults who cannot cook for themselves, clean up after themselves, mend their clothing, and be productive members of society."
I think that's my homeschooling mission. Every day it's about what they're going to be when they "fly the coup" (BTW, I love this new spelling of "coop"--perhaps an armed revolt is necessary for TeachSmile's children to leave??).
I am not sure what TeacSmiles problem was she certainly seemed to have a problem with SAHM and homeschoolers.
My youngest dislocated his kneecap so he has got a temporary break from kitchen duty. I miss his help. I am doing a happy dance because today is the oldest son's day off from work so he can take over the kitchen duty tonight.
LOL, Oh I remember her. I spent WAY too much time on the Dr. Phil board. You may recognize my name Mammato4boys. :)
Hi Sheri, I do remember you from the board.
Is it still active? I got busy and stopped visiting.
Alasandra, the Dr Phil board is creeping along. Barely any posts these days.
Lately I've been trying to focus on the "research" Dr. Phil keeps claiming. http://homeschoolblogger.com/RollsLife/281501/Need+help+from+homeschoolers+to+combat+homeschooling+lies..html
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