Homeschool Thoughts from a Public School Teacher

We were at a church BBQ on Memorial Day, when I heard across the room,

"If you can homeschool, you should definitely do that."
   

My ears perked up, especially when I realized that it came out of the mouth of a public school teacher to a dad of small children.  I was too intrigued to let it go.  While I see this gentleman every week at church, I have never had a conversation with him and decided this was the perfect time to change that.  I had to apologize for eavesdropping but asked if he could please share with me his thoughts on education.  He graciously talked with me as he nibbled his corn-on-the-cob.

It was one of the most interesting conversations I've ever had.  Here is a man, who has been a high school math teacher for nearly 20 years, and doesn't agree with government education.  On average, students come to him at a 4th grade math level; if he's lucky, 7th.  He can't fail students, or he gets fired.  He also can't give too much extra help, or it shows favoritism and he'll get fired.  So, he has been working 80 hours a week, for years, to figure out the weak spots of hundreds of students, calling their parents and trying to guide them through fixing those weak spots, all under the radar so he can keep his job.  Some parents really appreciate it and some want him to leave them alone.  The often unsaid truth is, there is a lot of just pushing kids through the system; school administration needs good test scores and graduating kids and parents just want their kids done.

 So why are students at such a low level of math, with many holes in their education?  Problems rose with the introduction to common core because in essence, it watered down the material so that all students could meet the same standards.  This teacher says he encourages parents to file complaints with the school administration to change curriculum.  Perhaps his most interesting point of the discussion came in the section; the new teachers he's seeing come into education are not prepared to teach.  Is it possible that this is the fruit of the weak system?  Think about it...students who are getting watered down education their whole life and then are trying to teach on that...it's definitely something to mull over.

Some families do want to make the effort to fix the math problem so that the student can go to college.  I asked what percentage of students he sees go on to college now and it was a tough question for him to answer.  There's a handful that do go, but aren't necessarly on the path for success there.

There's another handful that want to go and shouldn't.  And there's yet another handful that don't go, but should.  Over all, he says, there is a lack of initiative and drive in learning.

On another note, he has seen many instances where homeschoolers have come to high school, completely unprepared educationally and socially.  It is a sad truth that sometimes homeschool really does mean NO SCHOOL.  I tried to play devils advocate a little and countered that maybe it's simply that what is being taught at home is vastly different than curriculum in government schools.  For instance, if I put my kids in public school right now, they would have no idea some of the "common core" concepts.  His rebuttal was that while they wouldn't know specific things, with basic educational skills, they could catch on quickly.  While he doesn't agree with government being the one to rule over homeschooling, he feels like there does need to be some kind of accountability for parents.

The social part of that is for a whole other post, but making sure our kids are prepared for college is a huge thing for me, so I asked what he thought were essential to get students on that path for success in college.  He said:

1. Create a learning environment at home, so learning is something that is always happening.

2. MULTIPLICATION TABLES.  Coincidentally, teachers now are giving students calculators in 4th grade because they have them on their phones anyway and they figure they'll just use them on homework.  My jaw dropped when he told me that.

3. Keep your kids around a variety of people.

This girl will be going to college in 7 years!  All the more reason I titled this blog 'Soak It Up' because that's just what I'm going to do for these short years I have with her.