The main reason why we continue to homeschool has not changed in 14 years. It is to allow our children to learn at their own pace without holding them back OR ostracizing them for weak areas. To be able to spend extra time and effort in subjects that need work and to launch them in areas of strength.
In essence my children do not run at one consistent grade level, but work according to their abilities spanning several grade levels within their schooling.
Recently I was reading a literature selection to my children. (Yes, we still do read aloud even after they can read on their own!).
This passage from Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, perfectly summarizes why I’m passionate about homeschooling and not in favor of a “one-size fits all” approach to education!
Elizabeth Ann fell back on the bench with her mouth open. She felt really dizzy. What crazy things the teacher said! She felt as though she was being pulled limb from limb.
“What’s the matter?” asked the teacher, seeing her bewildered face.
“Why-why,” said Elizabeth Ann, “I don’t know what I am at all. If I’m second-grade arithmetic and seventh-grade reading and third-grade spelling, what grade am I?”
The teacher laughed. “You aren’t any grade at all, no matter where you are in school. You’re just yourself, aren’t you? What difference does it make what grade you’re in? And what’s the use of your reading little baby things too easy for you just because you don’t know your multiplication table?”
“Well, for goodness’ sakes!” ejaculated Elizabeth Ann, feeling very much as though somebody had stood her suddenly on her head.
“What’s the matter?” asked the teacher again.
This time Elizabeth Ann didn’t answer, because she herself didn’t know what the matter was. But I do , and I’ll tell you. The matter was that never before had she known what she was doing in school. She had always thought she was there to pass from one grade to another, and she was ever so startled to get a glimpse of the fact that she was there to learn how to read and write and cipher and generally use her mind, so she could take care of herself when she came to be grown up….”
Isn’t that reason enough to continue along a God-given homeschool path that has proven successful?
