I have volunteered to be a teacher assistant at Lake Simcoe Public School in Keswick for 3 weeks now. I am helping out in SK/JK and Grade 5 classes. It is a wonderful experience to see how homeschooling is far superior than sending your children to school, be it a public school or Christian school. Both teachers in the Sk/JK and Grade 5 are good Christians that they take their roles very seriously, hoping to teach the core Christian values in a hostile public school system, which prohibits Bible and the mentioning of the name Jesus Christ. I admire their courage and sacrifice they have made in this course.
My parents have always questioned me why we homeschool. They say the school is like a mini-society where the kids can learn how to “survive” in the real world. No where this is close to the truth.
1. The grade 5 teacher told me there is so much gossip and jealousy in his class that he has to constantly deal with. With a ratio of 1 teacher to 29 students, it is simply impossible for the teacher to properly address the need of every student. Some teachers simply give up. Without proper admonition and discipline from an adult, I believe a child cannot learn how to survive in a society with a right attitude.
2. The school is not a mini-society. It is a special place designed by humanistic educator and “experts” to exclude day-to-day real life in the class. The students do go to field trips or visit a fire station, but are these “real life”? I believe real life should be working along with adults, talking and doing business with adults, serving others with adults. A homeschooling child actually interact with the “real society” when his parents bring him along wherever they go. He can meet the banker, the lady at the grocery store, the postman, the customers of the family business etc…..
3. In a school, kids learn from peers and this does not make sense. A child learns to be a responsible adult when he is around with an adult. Also, putting kids of the same age together is very strange. They become uneasy with people of other age groups, even when they are with their siblings. They like to “hang out” with their classmates rather than be with their own families. I speak of personal experience because my daughters are very close to each other while my wife is not so with her sisters (they all went to school) or myself with my younger brother. While we still talk to each other, I hardly know his friends or vice versa.
There are many more advantages in homeschooling over sending your child to a school. I strongly believe it is a parent’s responsibility before God to teach his own children. There are exceptions where a child has to be in a school (like single parent families) but in general, a loving parent with a right heart with God is sufficient for homeschooling. The parent does not need a bachelor of education to be successful in homeschooling. Building characters based on biblical principles is far more important than teaching knowledge to a child. If you care about your child, consider homeschooling. Mothers, let go of your career. Is your job more important than the soul of your beloved child? Fathers, work with your wife so the family can live on single income. Do you really need a big house? Do you really need a big screen flat panel TV? Homeschooling is tough and demanding but also very rewarding. Your child will thank you eternally.
