Schooling

The other night my wife, Cathy and I had a discussion about how we were raised.  My parents decided to home school most of their kids.  I grew up doing school work and thinking the home is the center of learning.  Cathy's parents are both school teachers, and while Cathy did learn in the home she learned at a school.

She grew up in an environment where if you didn't attend a public school, you didn't learn much.  I grew up the opposite.  I grew up thinking that to truly become educated you have to learn by yourself for the most part.  Schools are good, but that they are not the best way to learn.  Her parent's didn't have a very good view of home schoolers.  So needless to say, the education of our children was something that Cathy and I discussed a little before we married. We didn't want to discuss it a lot for fear of having a different view on education than the other, which would lead to arguments.

Well, those fears were not cause for worry.  The other night her parents were discussion home school and how it is not as good as public school, Cathy was there and didn't know what to say to them, because while she grew up not liking home school, knowing me had made her rethink what she had thought about those who chose not to attend school.

She called me at work, and we began to discuss how we want to educate our children.  Education is something all parents want for their children, where the level of education can make all the difference in the world.  All parents want their kids to be able to add and subtract, read and do other things that happen during life.  They want their children to succeed.

Well, our discussion focused on the differences of public versus home school.  This lead us to basically saying the same things; we want our kids to be well rounded adults who can do whatever their jobs later in life require of them, and to be comfortable socially.  I don't really want to raise socially awkward children.  This is something her parents do not like about home school.  They do not see how the home school kids can get the same level of socialization as those in public school.

The thought hit me that I needed to quit comparing the modes of education, and focus on what I want for my kids.  I was raised one way, Cathy another.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Not all families are the same, and they shouldn't want to be.  Having different ideas is what makes communities great.  If everyone has the same ideas nothing changes.  I want my kids to succeed in their learning, and I want to be involved.

My mom was heavily involved in my education, and I thank her for that.  I feel like parents need to be involved, taking their kids to music lessons, museums, theaters, and doing activities with them.  I guess I hadn't thought of the many parents who do take their kids to lessons after school, who stay up late helping with homework.  I hardly ever did homework after school, because I did my work during the day while everyone else was in school.

I want to be involved in my kids lives, which I think every parents wants.  With a baby only a few weeks from being born, I need to start preparing.  After our discussion, Cathy and I decided that we would do what is best for each individual child rather than just automatically sending them to public school or refusing to consider the idea of home school.  Each child is different and their education needs to be as well.