Today’s school-aged parents are parents of my generation. We’re accustomed to changing technology—at least in our adult lives. Sometimes however, we seem to recollect our own childhood education experiences as the continuing norm when that just isn’t so. When we were school-aged, we went from a period of no public internet to dial-up internet. Our idea of research was to randomly browse a ProQuest archive for as long as it took to find something relevant, because searching was an emerging art. This isn’t the world today, and we should stop acting like it where our children are concerned.

I’m not an expert, but I am a parent. I’m a parent who cares about and is committed to my children’s success. I’m one of many who have been on the fence about, but am now leaning towards and preparing for homeschooling. In exploring this idea and making preparations to execute it, here are some of my findings.

Homeschooled kids have largely been stereotyped as being socially awkward and not prepared to handle the real world. However a new Harvard study has found exactly the opposite; Homeschooled kids are more well adjusted and engaged than their public schooled peers. This is because homeschooled kids are more self-sufficient, and thrive on how to think than what to think.

If you think as a parent you are unfit to teach your children, this is merely a confidence problem you have to overcome, rather than an ability problem. This is especially true since we live in the age of information, whereas the self learning experience is a far cry from what it was when we experienced gradescool. 

Where exactly are your kids with education? How do you know where to start? The easiest answer is simply to let your kids show you.

For literacy, start with your child journaling. Whether a real journal about their day, or imaginative stories, they’ll show you exactly where they are. The words they misspell are their challenge words. They clearly know what the word means if they’ve used it accurately in context, so now it’s time to teach them how to spell it. Then it’s time to teach them similar words, and their meanings, that follow the same spelling rules while you’re on that theme. Then teach them a few alternate synonym word choices to that word. Encourage them to use these new words in their future writing. You’re creating a literacy web, while you should be challenging them to expand.

Once you have expanded literacy, you’ve given them the opportunity to learn whatever they would like if you have fostered an environment of curiosity. Raise a self starter and they will learn.

Mathematics is a challenge for me, but lucky for me I’m good with money. Coincidentally, money is a great way to introduce any mathematical concept visually all the way up to Pre Algebra. Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Decimals, Fractions and Percentages can all be visually taught with pocket change. It’s crucial to visually teach these concepts with real world tangibility before moving to written mathematics. Teaching the “why behind the what” with something as motivating as money is a great way to introduce new concepts. As for that later Algebra stuff… well, I have a few years to figure that out.

If you’re still stuck on the social aspect part, then there’s a good chance that you’re actually shallow and you should work on that. You weren’t really socialized so much as you were part of a hierarchy, and lucky you for not having been at the bottom of that hierarchy like I was. Getting pushed didn’t do much for me socially. Getting a concussion in a classroom only to have the school lie to my father about it (zero tolerance bullying) didn’t do much for me socially. Getting put in choke holds in the locker room didn’t do much for me socially.

Sunday school did a lot for me socially. If it weren’t for Sunday School, I’d be far worse off socially. If public school is where I gained my social skills, I’d probably be a psychopath right now. I understand religion is a debatable topic in libertarian circles, but community churches certainly engage in the community service and voluntarism that libertarians espouse. Sunday School is where these concepts were introduced to me and where I first engaged in them. 

Regardless of how one feels about religion, your child will fare far better socially by going to Sunday School than public school. Or any club or sports team. There are far more beneficial ways for your children to learn constructive social skills than public school. Even just a few short hours a week of constructive social activities far outweigh hours long days of public school where kids are exposed to negative behaviors and interactions. Even the kids who bully other kids aren’t getting anything positive socially, because that behavior won’t get them far in the real world, even though schools effectively enable it by pretending it doesn’t happen.

All in all, you as a parent are your child’s best teacher. There are resources out there to help you that didn’t exist when you were your child’s age. If you are committed, your children will be better off learning from you. 

The post Considering Homeschooling? You’re Far From Alone. appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Then, as Alice Cooper so famously sang, school was out for summer.

But, while the lessons are over for some kids, a substantial chunk of the homeschool community continues on much the same as always. 

Homeschool is not traditional school. Quite often, school’s not “out” for summer because their teachers (a.k.a. parents) recognize the fact that learning never stops and home education has no mandatory schedule.

Homeschool is about embracing a lifestyle of lifelong learning, developing a deep sense of curiosity about the world, and exploring complex interests. Summer can be the best time to dive deep into the experience.

Math happens in the kitchen, baking brownies and making change at a local craft fair. Or maybe math is measuring twice and cutting once while building a new deck on the back of the house or sewing decorative table runners. 

Science takes place outside in the backyard, watching strawberries grow from blossoms to blooms to berries. It occurs late at night with a telescope pointed at the moon or searching for a giant red spot on Jupiter, catching glimpses of meteors, or focusing in on a dark, starry sky.

On lazy summer afternoons, reading may last for hours in a hammock in the back yard. And after all the reading, P.E. might be a bike ride, a dip in a swimming pool, or a game of baseball or softball.

There’s time for theatre, art, and music, too. 4-H projects are finished for the county and state fairs. Family vacations reveal rich tapestries of history or geography. Life lessons abound with summer jobs and volunteer projects.

Contrary to stereotypes, homeschool kids have active social lives during the school year and during the summer, because their friendships have never revolved solely around a building, but instead around shared interests and values. 

Homeschool’s not out for summer because homeschool isn’t drudgery. It’s not about finishing workbook pages, sitting in desks, or studying for high stakes tests. Because learning hasn’t been stigmatized as a negative to be avoided, homeschooled kids continue on their merry way all summer long. 

Done right, and with the correct balance between work and play, discipline and relaxation, summer school can become the best school of all. Rather than a time of punishment or extra days to make up for failed classes, the season offers the promise of unique opportunities and time to explore them.

Why would kids want school to be out for summer when it’s so much fun?

Gina Prosch educates her children at home in Mid-Missouri. She is also a homeschool life coach (and parent) who blogs and shares homeschool resources at www.TheHomeschoolWay.com. She is also the co-host of The OnlySchoolers Podcast. 

Image: Wikimedia CCA 3.0

The post School’s NOT Out for Summer appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

After we finish one of these banned classics, someone inevitably asks, “Why was this banned in the first place?”

Years ago, when I first began teaching, books might be banned because they showed characters having sex, swearing, committing suicide, or advocating for communism. Today, those things barely cause a ripple and, instead, books are most often canceled for reasons related to ‘presentism‘—judging the past by the standards of the present.

It’s funny how literature written hundreds or thousands of years ago tends to represent the ideas, views, values, and social structures prevalent at the time.

For instance, Homer lived around the 8th or 9th century BCE, but the “Iliad” immortalized people from the earlier Bronze Age. Whether or not the events of the Trojan War actually happened, the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean was a violent time. Is it shocking that Homer’s Bronze Age characters see violence as a practical way to solve problems? Why are we surprised that Agamemnon and his troops engaged in pillaging and plundering? It’s not like the Argive army had signed on to the Geneva Convention.

When Shakespeare wrote the “Merchant of Venice” in the late 1500s, anti-Semitism was commonplace across Europe. Venetian Jews were forced into segregated neighborhoods from 1516–1797. If Shakespeare set his play in Venice, doesn’t it stand to reason anti-Semitism might be an issue for one of his characters, who just happens to be a Jewish moneylender residing in the city?

Characters who come to life through historic works of literature show the world as it was—not as we’d like it to be. 

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” (another oft-banned book), Atticus Finch tells Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” 

Historians and archaeologists may give us hints about what life was like during the Bronze Age or Renaissance Venice, but outside the realm of speculative fiction it is not possible to visit the past in a time machine as H.G. Wells imagined. 

But we can dive into books, plays, and poems that have stood the test of time, and help us understand what life was like.

There’s no way to know what it would have felt like to be part of a Bronze Age army laying siege to another city unless we turn a page of the “Iliad” and climb inside Achilles’ skin for a moment. 

There’s no way to pop into a Renaissance Venetian market for the afternoon, so instead we read “The Merchant of Venice” and crawl inside Shylock’s head. By doing so, we begin to see the world from Shylock’s point of view; to understand why he asked for a pound of flesh.

Today’s trend of banning or ‘canceling’ authors and their books simply because those books don’t represent modern day values condemns us to know even less about the past than we already do. 

Classic literature gives us the opportunity to gain an understanding of the constants of the human condition. Readers of the “Iliad” come to understand there were wars during the Bronze Age, just as there are wars today that cause immeasurable suffering. Readers of “The Merchant of Venice” learn that anti-Semitism was a problem in Europe long before Hitler’s Germany. 

When we read great books written long ago, we heed Atticus Finch’s advice and it makes a difference. I’ve seen firsthand how reading classics increases my students’ level of empathy. They gain an understanding of the unchanging nature of the human condition. My students also come to see how much progress we as human beings have made because, having read about a Bronze Age battlefield or a segregated Venetian neighborhood, they understand where we started.

We should embrace history—not cancel it—so that we are not doomed to repeat it.

Gina Prosch educates her children at home in Mid-Missouri. She is also a homeschool life coach (and parent) who blogs and shares homeschool resources at www.TheHomeschoolWay.com. She is also the co-host of The OnlySchoolers Podcast. 

The post Canceling Lessons Learned from Classic Literature appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

 Oops!  This stranger may have thought she was paying him a compliment, but I know better.  I asked him how he handled the situation.

 “I said the same thing I always say when people say that to me. I told her there’s nothing natural about doing triple jumps and the only reason anybody can do any jumps at all—single, double, triple, or quad—is because they’ve worked hard learning to skate.”

 Over my years as a rink mom, I’ve seen firsthand how well-meaning friends and family members do kids a huge disservice when we write off their accomplishments (or those of others) with the dismissive bromide of ‘natural talent’. In reality, natural talent is always a combination of discipline, work ethic, and a willingness to spend hours on a given endeavor. Natural talent is trying and failing. And trying again. Failing again. Then trying yet again and maybe—finally—seeing progress. As I’ve told my son many times, if you work hard enough for long enough, all of a sudden you’ll discover you have natural talent.

 “You’ve got natural talent! I could never do that!” is code speak for something fairly insidious—whether we know it or not. Dig deeper, and the truth is revealed. The idea of ‘natural talent’ is a handy disclaimer. A solid excuse. A rationalization that does away with causality. 

 Certainly, things like a top-notch vestibular system (inner ear) helps with balance, which is crucial to anyone skating. But in the final assessment, everyone who gets a spot on the US Olympic figure skating team is there because they’ve spent thousands of hours perfecting their skating skills. That’s the only way they got to be the best of the best. 

 What’s true with sports is also true with school subjects. Ask any school aged kids what their favorite subjects are, and you’ll get an answer. Some kids like math, and some kids like reading and language arts. Other kids live for the days they have art or music classes. However, regardless of which subjects kids may see as “easy” or “fun”, there will inevitably come a day when what started off as easy takes more work.

 Falling back on the crutch of ‘natural talent’ gives kids an excuse for never pursuing something that is difficult. It makes it easier to quit when things get hard. It makes it easy to justify never starting in the first place. The notion of natural talent creates a seemingly magical (and, can we say—unfair) universe where success is doled out arbitrarily.  

 “No worries, Ben, your portion of natural math talent went to Sally at birth, so it’s not your fault you don’t understand fractions.”

In the end, real, lasting success comes not to those with natural talent, but to the person who works through failure after failure. As Adam Savage often said on Mythbusters, “Failure is always an option!” As parents, we need to help our children embrace a philosophy where talent is an end result, not a primary source. We must normalize difficulty and struggle, rather than fall back on the easy out of ‘natural talent’. 

Gina Prosch educates her children at home in Mid-Missouri. She is also a homeschool life coach (and parent) who blogs and shares homeschool resources at www.TheHomeschoolWay.com. She is also the co-host of The OnlySchoolers Podcast. 

The post “I’m Not Good at That”- The Myth of ‘Natural Talent’ appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

This is no shock, considering most people were dissatisfied with public education before the COVID-19 pandemic. Understandably, parents are now worried whether their kids are learning and developing as they should be. This situation urgently needs to be resolved, and public education as it stands now cannot do that.

Of all parents, only 29% feel their child is progressing very well academically; 25% for emotional development, and 27% for social development under COVID-19 restrictions. It is a bleak reality that under a third of all parents feel schools are performing above mediocrity with their child’s development. 

Furthermore, the mental health of students has been considerably worse over the past few years, and school choice has a massive upside in curbing that loss in the long term. One article finds “that states that enacted charter school laws witnessed a 10% decrease in suicide rates among 15- to 19-year-olds. Private-school voucher laws were also associated with fewer suicides, though the change was not statistically significant.” Ten percent might seem small, but over time, that is hundreds of lives that can be saved.

Consider further that private schools  are rated the highest by parents on how they feel their children are progressing (all 45% and over for each type of development). The only other type of school to exceed the average of all parents in any development is charter schools and academic and social development. Unfortunately, these two types of schools are the least accessible either via economic means or state regulation of charter schools.

These sentiments are confirmed by the support for school choice policies, such as education savings accounts (81%), school vouchers (73%), tax-credit scholarships (74%), and public charter schools (72%). These are massively popular programs that people believe can make a difference.

Not only do we need that difference, but we need it fast. The United Nations Children’s Fund warns that “when schools close, children risk losing their learning, support system, food and safety, with the most marginalized children – who are the most likely to drop out altogether – paying the heaviest price.” That is not just in the United States, but worldwide.

Our current system is not working as it should and too many are suffering for it. The United States needs to be an example for supporting children and their families. It is the duty of any public education system to do so. So why not consider the prospects of widely popular programs that aim to help these families? Let us open education alternatives for families and make it work for those who need it most.

The post Pandemic Public Education is Leaving Children Behind appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Homeschool is just that. It’s home and school. It should sound ideal. All the comforts of home. With all the benefits of education—the exploring, the discoveries, the flourishing. 

Instead, for many families it sounds like stress. Lots and lots of stress. 

It doesn’t have to. You can make the flourishing happen. You can kick the stress to the curb. The trick is to let your children take ownership in their own education. Put them in charge and see what happens.

Does that sound crazy? Maybe. But consider this. Is it any more crazy than working overtime to replicate a school setting in your home, complete with miniature desks, homework assignments, and rigorous schedules? If you’re not sending your kids to school “out there,” clearly a traditional school environment isn’t, for whatever reason, meeting your family’s needs. Why break your neck trying to turn your basement family room into an in-home remake of a public school classroom?

Instead, spend your time exploring one of the primary benefits of homeschooling—tailor make an education based on your kids’ interests. Foster their love of learning and curiosity about the world. Radically re-envision what educating children looks like. You can do it.

First—ask your kids what they want to learn about this year. Find out what truly interests them, not what they’ve been told they need to know. What subjects have they have always wanted explore and learn more about? 

Second—listen with integrity. When you grant your children liberty and agency in their education, as a parent it’s your job to listen to them, to really hear them, and then act on what they’re saying. If your kindergartener is passionate about trains, then study trains. If your third-grade son wants to learn about the stars, then study astronomy. If your ninth grade daughter is obsessed with fashion, then study fashion. 

You’ll soon see that learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. 

Third—integrate their interests into the curriculum. Trains can be counted, which means they’re math. The Little Engine that Could is reading. Making a miniature steam engine is science, and learning about how trains changed the world is history. The same pattern of interconnectedness works for astronomy—and even fashion.

When your sixth grader wants to learn sew, buy her a sewing machine and fabric. She’ll soon be a whiz at fractions. Then when that same young woman is in high school and wants to start an Etsy shop featuring her clothing designs, you’ll help her start her own small business!

Homeschool parents quickly realize the challenge they face isn’t so much being a teacher (because heaven knows we don’t know everything) as it is being a facilitator or mentor helping kids figure out how they can learn what they want to learn and become their most authentic selves.

Convey the idea that education is not about pleasing an authority (be it mom and dad, or the government). It’s about your student’s life–with all the responsibilities and consequences. It’s a first-class ticket to independence, autonomy, and emotional flourishing—first as small children, then as teenagers, and eventually as adults who are comfortable living and working in the world, interacting with people of all ages. 

Will your homeschool kid’s education look like a traditional education? I certainly hope not. Will there be holes in their education? Undoubtedly. (There were definitely holes in my public high school education.)

Allowing kids active agency in their education plays into the boundless curiosity all children have. Nurture that curiosity throughout their at-home education, and they will remain curious throughout their lives. They’ll be armed with the knowledge that they can teach themselves (or find someone to teach them) what they want to learn or need to know. 

And—most importantly—they’ll be ready to meet the world head-on, filled with passion and accountability.

Gina Prosch educates her children at home in Mid-Missouri. She is also a homeschool life coach (and parent) who blogs and shares homeschool resources at www.TheHomeschoolWay.com. She is also the co-host of The OnlySchoolers Podcast. 

The post Give Your Kids Ownership in Their Education and Watch Them Flourish appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

While we can all agree this is a complicated situation, many of the nation’s public schools went with a one-size-fits-all solution. The problem is that one size never fits all.

Schools across the US chose to begin the 20/21 school year with remote ‘learning’, or ‘virtual schooling’. This settles some minds, as it would mean students would mostly do school work online rather than on campus; it also leaves parents trying to juggle work and being a teacher. Many parents are feeling frustrated and confused by the plethora of programs students must use. Although students would not be on campus in this scenario, teachers would teach from their classrooms, in many cases.

Another solution many schools went with was a hybrid schedule. This schedule splits students into groups. Each group does some remote learning and some in-person learning. The hybrid schedule lacks stability and routine. While many like to answer with “school is not daycare,” there are many families struggling to make ends meet. Not all jobs offer the flexibility it takes for kids to go to school some days and not others. This has left parents feeling hopeless and some have even lost their jobs trying to figure it out. Teachers are still exposed to the same students just as with a normal in-person schedule, just on different days of the week. This is senseless. Kids are struggling. Parents are struggling. Even Doctor Cade Brumley admitted that he can’t help but think hybrid and remote learning are not completely successful.

While in-person learning seems ideal, most of the schools allowing it have implemented guidelines that destroy all sense of normalcy. Some schools have mandated masks for all grades. Imagine being five years old and uneasy about your mom dropping you off to strangers for the first day of kindergarten. She is not allowed to walk you to your class. As you exit the car, you are taken by people you have never met. They are all wearing masks. They immediately put a temperature gun in your face. You make your way to your classroom. While you may be upset or nervous, you have to keep a distance. There is no comforting hug. You cannot even see a reassuring smile. Can you imagine how frightening and lonely this must feel?

Some schools have not mandated masks for younger students. They recognized the unrealistic expectation that would come with younger children being forced to keep their faces covered at all times. One school in Louisiana had students walking with their arms out like zombies to keep a distance from other students.

Unfortunately, the majority of schools also insist teachers wear masks. This puts students struggling with speech at a disadvantage, hindering students who may not qualify for therapy, but still depend on seeing the mouth to understand a word and how to pronounce it. Masks are a disservice to anyone who struggles with hearing. Communication is an important part of social and emotional development, but it does not seem as if these things were considered before guidelines were written.

Not only are children having to accommodate the fear mongering of the adults by wearing masks and being treated as lepers, but they are also missing out on important things such as graduation, prom, dances, ring ceremonies, and sports.

While there are many sports in high school, football is front and center right now. States already allowing students to play include Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Alabama. States that should be playing soon include Kentucky and South Carolina. Louisiana, however, is not playing and had a hearing about it on September 4th.

(Update: it was decided that Louisiana schools would move up the start of the football season to Oct. 1-3.)

One concerned citizen is Shane Evans. Not only is he a father who was once a coach himself, but he is the Chief of Investigations for the East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office. In a letter to the members of the Louisiana House Committee on Education, he explained that the data “does not connect high school sports with serious illness or death due to Covid, but it is clear that taking our kids out of contact with their coaches and competition is detrimental”. As the letter indicates, the date does show that teen homicide victims have more than doubled so far in comparison to last year. It also shows 90 overdose deaths between January 1 and September 3 of 2019, whereas 2020 year-to-date is already at 166 with several pending toxicology.

Shane Evans continued “I hope they understand, if they cancel football, those kids are still going to gather on the weekends”. While some may not understand the importance of staying in shape and the discipline kids get from sports, Shane Evans hit the nail on the head when he added that sports “keep kids out of trouble”.

Countless parents have decided that the things being advertised as ‘The New Normal’ simply are not normal enough. Pictures have been circulating on social media of children spaced out in lunchrooms, masks on playgrounds, and students having to play alone if at all. This ‘new normal’ does not allow the “socialization” people give public schools credit for. If masks work well enough to mandate them, things should be otherwise normal. Instead of striving for a sense of ‘normalcy’, decisions were made without considering how students are impacted by Covid. There has been little to no data on what emotional and mental impact these guidelines will have on children. The majority of these decisions were made by people not involved in these children’s lives or even the communities they live in.

Sadly, even the most concerned parents have had no say. In Louisiana, when it came to parents trying to speak up for their children, they were told to mask up or get out (1:38:36). I was one of those parents who showed up at committee hearings to speak on behalf of my child who struggles with speech. Wearing a mask to explain how masks will not work in certain situations would have taken away from the point being made. A mask would have hindered an attempt to show those present how words are formed, and how even adults rely on seeing the mouth when listening to someone speak. Even when we offered to socially distance, we were told to put on a mask or leave. Instead of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education listening to the concerns of parents, they had us escorted out by six officers (1:41:06). The meeting continued and the guidelines were approved, including mandating masks in schools.

On the KWOS Morning Show, Nancy Pendergrass mentioned that a Missouri survey showed that 70% were in favor of in-person schooling. Even still, that district went to virtual learning. These things were decided out of fear that students would spread Covid-19 to teachers. This is another example of how decisions were made without considering the children or those funding these schools—the taxpayers.

Reason Foundation’s Director of School Choice, Corey A. DeAngelis, has shared polls and studies showing a rather large shift from public school to other options such as home school, private school, and micro school.

One county in Florida that refused in-person learning had an enrollment drop of about 7,600 students. Dallas, Texas has seen enrollment drop about 3.6 percent from last year. Corey A. DeAngelis went on to share other polls/surveys showing national numbers. One showed home school doubling from 5% to 10%. The Gallup numbers DeAngelis shared showed public school enrollment dropping from 83% to 76%. As he explained in his post, this would be about 3.5 million leaving public school. While there are undoubtedly numerous reasons for this shift, one cannot ignore the fact that a lot of parents are simply fed up.

With all that is going on, a few phrases we often hear are, “please be patient”, “everything is subject to change”, and “this is a fluid situation”. Yet, they have shown zero patience and understanding for parents and students. Communities are asked to fund, support, and sing the praises of school systems that refused to consider their legitimate concerns.

As our government tries to force their “New Normal” on families, it seems parents are choosing their own “New Normal”. Parents have gone with the flow for too long. They have put faith in a system that has put their children last. Students have become nothing more than money signs sitting in a desk—and they can’t even sit in the desks anymore.

The only way parents will be heard is by removing their students from public schools and shrinking their funding. Money talks. It will be interesting to see what school looks like over the next few years. What will it really mean when we hear the phrase “school is back in session”?

The post School is Back in Session! It’s Time to Drop Out. appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

This comes on the heels of several states closing down all public schools, with many school districts making similar decisions at the local level across the country.

As parents prepared themselves for a new reality of educating their own children at home, #homeschooling began trending on Twitter, Monday. Moms and dads were sharing their plans, checklists, schedules, resources, successes, and ‘failures’ on this first day of the school week. And all the while, veteran homeschoolers were like –

Some parents were very organized in their approach, with colorful, structured schedules (god bless ‘em).

Others were slightly less formal, but still with a good (if not somewhat vague) plan laid out.

Still others tried more of a non-traditional curriculum plan, only to be vetoed by their spouse… (This didn’t sound so bad to me – there are learning opportunities in nearly everything!)

Only a few short hours in, many parents were confronted with the varied challenges that come with homeschooling.

Teachers (parents) rejoiced in their successes, as well (we’ll see how they feel in another week).

The freedom for parents to choose how to educate their children has been an ongoing battle. It was most recently brought to the forefront when Reason Foundation’s Corey DeAngelis caught former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on video lying about sending her children to public schools. He has continued to call out Republican and Democrat officials alike for their hypocrisy in fighting against school choice while sending their own children to private schools. Parents from all walks of life continue to lobby their state legislatures for more education choices.

Perhaps a good that will come out of this coronavirus pandemic that has upended life as we have known it in America will be the realization that government schools are not the only and certainly not the best option for our children. Each child deserves the opportunity to be educated in the way that works best for them, whether that be homeschool, private school, charter school, public school, or any other number of options. The ‘schooling’ is unimportant. What is important is that they be given every opportunity to learn.

Whether you are a veteran homeschooler or a #coronaquarantine parent teaching your child at home for the first time, go check out the #homeschool posts on Twitter. You will laugh, be encouraged, and find a treasure trove of support and resources.

Whether your homeschool looks like this:

Or like this:

The important thing is that you do you. We all learn differently and you do what works best for you and your children. A child who is taught to love learning will never stop learning. And that is the best lesson you can teach them.

The post Coronavirus Effect: We Are All Homeschoolers Now appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

1. Homeschoolers perform well academically.

2. Your kids may be happier.

3. Issues like ADHD might disappear or become less problematic.

4. It doesn’t matter if they fidget.

5. YOU may be happier! All that time spent on your kids’ homework can now be used more productively for family learning and living.

6. You can still work and homeschool.

7. And even grow a successful business while homeschooling your kids.

8. Your kids can also build successful businesses, as many grown unschoolers become entrepreneurs.

9. You can be a single parent and homeschool your kids.

10. Your kids can be little for longer. Early school enrollment has been linked by Harvard researchers with troubling rates of ADHD diagnosis. A year can make a big difference in early childhood development.

11. Some of us are just late bloomers. We don’t all need to be on “America’s early-blooming conveyor belt.”

12. Then again, homeschooling can help those kids who might be early bloomers and graduate from college at 16.

13. Whether early, late, or somewhere in the middle, homeschooling allows all children to move at their own pace.

14. You can choose from a panoply of curriculum options based on your children’s needs and your family’s educational philosophy.

15. Or you can focus on unschooling, a self-directed education approach tied to a child’s interests.

16. Homeschooling gives your kids plenty of time to play! In a culture where childhood free play is disappearing, preserving play is crucial to a child’s health and well-being.

17. They can have more recess and less homework.

18. You can take advantage of weekly homeschool park days, field trips, classes, and other gatherings offered through a homeschooling group near you.

19. Homeschooling co-ops are growing, so you can find support and resources.

20. Homeschooling learning centers are sprouting worldwide, prioritizing self-directed education and allowing more flexibility to more families who want to homeschool.

21. Parks, beaches, libraries, and museums are often less crowded during school hours, and many offer programming specifically for homeschoolers.

22. You’re not alone. Nearly two million US children are homeschooled, and the homeschooling population is increasingly reflective of America’s diversity. In fact, the number of black homeschoolers doubled between 2007 and 2011.

23. One-quarter of today’s homeschoolers are Hispanic-Americans who want to preserve bilingualism and family culture.

24. Some families of color are choosing homeschooling to escape what they see as poor academic outcomes in schools, a curriculum that ignores their cultural heritage, institutional racism, and disciplinary approaches that disproportionately target children of color.

25. More military families are choosing homeschooling to provide stability and consistency through frequent relocations and deployments.

26. While the majority of homeschoolers are Christians, many Muslim families are choosing to homeschool, as are atheists.

27. Homeschooling has wide bipartisan appeal.

28. More urban parents are choosing to homeschool, prioritizing family and individualized learning.

29. Religious freedom may be important to many homeschooling families, but it is not the primary reason they choose to homeschool. “Concern about the school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure” is the top motivator according to federal data.

30. Fear of school shootings and widespread bullying are other concerns that are prompting more families to consider the homeschooling option.

31. Some parents choose homeschooling because they are frustrated by Common Core curriculum frameworks and frequent testing in public schools.

32. Adolescent anxiety, depression, and suicide decline during the summer, but Vanderbilt University researchers found that suicidal tendencies spike at back-to-school time. (This is a pattern opposite to that of adults, who experience more suicidal thoughts and acts in the summertime.) Homeschooling your kids may reduce these school-induced mental health issues.

33. It will also prevent schools from surreptitiously collecting and tracking data on your child’s mental health.

34. Your kids’ summertime can be fully self-directed, as can the rest of their year.

35. That’s because kids thrive under self-directed education.

36. Some kids are asking to be homeschooled.

37. And they may even thank you for it.

38. Today’s teens aren’t working in part-time or summer jobs like they used to. Homeschooling can offer time for valuable teen work experience.

39. It can also provide the opportunity to cultivate teen entrepreneurial skills.

40. Your kids don’t have to wait for adulthood to pursue their passions.

41. By forming authentic connections with community members, homeschoolers can take advantage of teen apprenticeship programs.

42. Some apprenticeship programs have a great track record on helping homeschoolers build important career skills and get great jobs.

43. Self-directed learning centers for teen homeschoolers can provide a launchpad for community college classes and jobs while offering peer connection and adult mentoring.

44. With homeschooling, you can inspire your kids to love reading.

45. Maybe that’s because they will actually read books, something one-quarter of Americans reported not doing in 2014.

47. Your kids might even choose to voluntarily read financial statements or do worksheets.

47. You can preserve their natural childhood creativity.

48. Schools kill creativity, as Sir Ken Robinson proclaims in his TED Talk, the most-watched one ever.

49. Homeschooling might even help your kids use their creativity in remarkable ways, as other well-known homeschoolers have done.

50. With homeschooling, learning happens all the time, all year round. There are no arbitrary starts and stops.

51. You can take vacations at any time of the year without needing permission from the principal.

52. Or you can go world-schooling, spending extended periods of time traveling the world together as a family or letting your teens travel the world without you.

53. Your kids can have healthier lunches than they would at school.

54. And you can actually enjoy lunch with them rather than being banned from the school cafeteria.

55. Your kids don’t have to walk through metal detectors, past armed police officers, and into locked classrooms in order to learn.

56. You can avoid bathroom wars and let your kids go to the bathroom wherever and whenever they want—without raising their hand to ask for permission.

57. Research shows that teen homeschoolers get more sleep than their schooled peers.

58. Technological innovations make self-education through homeschooling not only possible but also preferable.

59. Free, online learning programs like Khan Academy, Duolingo, Scratch, Prodigy Math, and MIT OpenCourseWare complement learning in an array of topics, while others, like Lynda.com and Mango, may be available for free through your local public library.

60. Schooling was for the Industrial Age, but unschooling is for the future.

61. With robots doing more of our work, we need to rely more on our distinctly human qualities, like curiosity and ingenuity, to thrive in the Innovation Era.

62. Homeschooling could be the “smartest way to teach kids in the 21st century,” according to Business Insider.

63. Teen homeschoolers can enroll in an online high school program to earn a high school diploma if they choose.

64. But young people don’t need a high school diploma in order to go to college.

65. Many teen homeschoolers take community college classes and transfer into four-year universities with significant credits and cost-savings. Research suggests that community college transfers also do better than their non-transfer peers.

66. Homeschooling may be the new path to Harvard.

67. Many colleges openly recruit and welcome homeschoolers because they tend to be “innovative thinkers.”

68. But college doesn’t need to be the only pathway to a meaningful adult life and livelihood. Many lucrative jobs don’t require a college degree, and companies like Google and Apple have dropped their degree requirements.

69. In fact, more homeschooling families from the tech community in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are choosing to homeschool their kids.

70. Hybrid homeschooling models are popping up everywhere, allowing more families access to this educational option.

71. Some of these hybrid homeschool programs are public charter schools that are free to attend and actually give families access to funds for homeschooling.

72. Other education choice mechanisms, like Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) and tax-credit scholarship programs, are expanding to include homeschoolers, offering financial assistance to those families who need and want it.

73. Some states allow homeschoolers to fully participate in their local school sports teams and extracurricular activities.

74. Homeschooling may be particularly helpful for children with disabilities, like dyslexia, as the personalized learning model allows for more flexibility and customization.

75. Homeschooling is growing in popularity worldwide, especially in India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Israel, and even in China, where it’s illegal.

76. Homeschooling grants children remarkable freedom and autonomy, particularly self-directed approaches like unschooling, but it’s definitely not the Lord of the Flies.

77. Homeschooling allows for much more authentic, purposeful learning tied to interests and everyday interactions in the community rather than contrived assignments at school.

78. Throughout the American colonial and revolutionary eras, homeschooling was the norm, educating leaders like George Washington and Abigail Adams.

79. In fact, many famous people were homeschooled.

80. And many famous people homeschool their own kids.

81. Your homeschooled kids will probably be able to name at least one right protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, something 37 percent of adults who participated in a recent University of Pennsylvania survey couldn’t do.

82. Homeschooling can be preferable to school because it’s a totally different learning environment. As homeschooling pioneer John Holt wrote in Teach Your Own: “What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth in the world is not that it is a better school than the schools but that it isn’t a school at all.”

83. Immersed in their larger community and engaged in genuine, multi-generational activities, homeschoolers tend to be better socialized than their schooled peers. Newer studies suggest the same.

84. Homeschoolers interact daily with an assortment of people in their community in pursuit of common interests, not in an age-segregated classroom with a handful of teachers.

85. Research suggests that homeschoolers are more politically tolerant than others.

86. They can dig deeper into emerging passions, becoming highly proficient.

87. They also have the freedom to quit.

88. They can spend abundant time outside and in nature.

89. Homeschooling can create strong sibling relationships and tight family bonds.

90. Homeschooling is legal in all 50 US states and has been since 1993, but regulations vary widely by state.

91. In spite of ongoing efforts to regulate homeschoolers, US homeschooling is becoming less regulated.

92. That’s because homeschooling parents are powerful defenders of education freedom.

93. Parents can focus family learning around their own values, not someone else’s.

94. Homeschooling is one way to get around regressive compulsory schooling laws and put parents back in charge of their child’s education.

95. It can free children from coercive, test-driven schooling.

96. It is one education option among many to consider as more parents opt-out of mass schooling.

97. Homeschooling is the ultimate school choice.

98. It is inspiring education entrepreneurship to disrupt the schooling status quo.

99. And it’s encouraging frustrated educators to leave the classroom and launch their own alternatives to school.

100. Homeschooling is all about having the liberty to learn.

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Kerry McDonald

Kerry McDonald is a Senior Education Fellow at FEE and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019). Kerry has a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College and an M.Ed. in education policy from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children. Follow her on Twitter @kerry_edu.

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

The post 100 Reasons to Homeschool Your Kids appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

A Broken System

Yet we continue to hear the “Red for Ed” crowd scream for more funding. Here in the state of Indiana, the superintendent of public education is leading an assault on the state legislature for a meager 2 percent increase in state funding. Many educators are characterizing this as a decrease in funding! In no other walk of life would we continue to pour so many resources into a failed system. If you had any doubt about this after reading Part One, let me present you with some facts.

In what was one of many fiery speaking engagements, the late John Taylor Gatto delivered a line that has resonated with me as I have studied the effects the public schooling system has on children. In this particular speech, Gatto was recounting the story of Jaime Escalante, the educator who successfully taught calculus at Garfield High School in Los Angeles yet was forced to resign.

As he finishes describing the trials and fate of Escalante, Gatto explains that above racism and other forms of bigotry is the embedded idea that what really occurred was a deliberate attempt to stop genuine learning. Earlier in the speech, Gatto laid out a compelling case of how and why schooling is meant to keep citizens ignorant. This success at an inner city school was not going to be tolerated by the establishment. He implored his listeners to understand the real problem and to quit “fencing with shadows.”

Flushing Money Down the Drain

So what does this mean? Throughout history, compulsory schooling has consistently been viewed as not only progressive but also in need of reform. The most common method of reform has been to throw piles of money at the problem. According to the Department of Education’s (DOE) website, the DOE spent an estimated $69.4 billion in 2017. Compare that to the initial $2.9 billion ($23 billion adjusted for inflation) budgeted under the Elementary and Secondary School Act of 1965.

To put this into context, education spending as a percent of gross domestic product has gone from 2.6 percent in the 1950s to 6.1 percent as recently as 2010. This is just a look at federal spending; each state also allocates a portion of their budget to education, with California leading the way at over $72 million. Finally, we have seen a tremendous amount of private capital injected to help reform schools. Institutions such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have invested billions of dollars in education. All this spending must be yielding better results, right? Let’s take a look.

Contrary to what those in public education will tell you, the system is flush with cash, which generates very few positive results. Take New York as an example. The state was front and center in the reform battle during President Obama’s Race to the Top (RTT) initiative.According to Cornell’s NYC

Leading up to the controversial dash for cash, the city had been experiencing an education overhaul, including battles over charters and a knock-down fight with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Board of Education chief, Joel Klein, and the powerful unions. The state was seeing an infusion of Wall Street cash backing charters, which were being throttled by state Democrats and union bosses.

In addition to the almost $700 million in RTT funds and the $61.4 million spent at the state level, the city of New York saw millions of dollars invested from groups like Democrats for Education Reform (DFER). So what are the results of these investments? According to Cornell University’s NYC Education Data program, less than half of all eighth graders in the state are proficient in English language arts and math. We see this same type of result across the country.

Indeed, these results do not stack up well internationally, either. A 2015 Organization for Economic Cooperation Development report shows just how far behind American students are falling. The average score for 15-year-olds in math, language, and science on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test for the US was 470. Only Mexico (402), Chile (423) and Turkey (420) had lower scores. Thirty-one other nations had scores higher than the US, with Japan leading the way at 532.

Where to Look for Solutions

Why, in 2019, after all the money spent and all the reforms that have been instituted, are we still seeing such horrific results in our schools? The answer is much simpler than it has been made out to be: The system is broken. There is no remedy to fix this system. It is fundamentally flawed. The famous saying that you cannot fix a problem with the same mind that created it rings so true. So if reform will not work, what are we to do?

Again, the answer is simple: unschool. First, let’s be clear—charters and virtual schools are not desired long-term outcomes. They are soft variants of the current system, and while they may show growth in the short-term, in the long run, they still stifle learning due to government regulation. There are many methods for accomplishing the goal of unschooling. Some systems are already in place, such as homeschooling. Another great model is the Sudbury School. This is a democratic system of education that allows students the autonomy to determine their own paths of learning.

All across the nation, students are being prodded like cattle into classrooms, and the one-size-fits-all approach is failing them. They are bored and uninterested, and we blame them. We tell them and their parents that there is something medically wrong with them—that they need medication and counseling. This ought to weigh on the minds of every adult in America as cruel and abusive. Only systems that return power, and ultimately the desire to learn in children, will suffice. We need more educators like John Taylor Gatto to speak up and have the courage to buck the system. We need more leaders like Kerry McDonald and Dr. Peter Gray, who have led the charge in researching and promoting the unschooling model. Until that time, we will keep fencing with shadows.

This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.

The post The History and Results of our Disastrous Public School System, Part II appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.