Why We Homeschool

Families choose homeschool education for their children for many different reasons. The rationale behind our decision began predominantly with the arguments expressed in a collection of essays put together by John Taylor Gatto. My husband and I were introduced to his book, The Underground History of American Education, before we had children. It opened our eyes to some underlying precepts in the public school system with which we assuredly did not agree. Our own negative public school experiences support his assertions and helped cement our decision to homeschool.

One of the more salient points that Gatto makes is that when you look at the history of government-run, compulsory education, the original intent was to cultivate good factory workers who easily conform to a schedule and meet production goals. Most people would agree that this doesn't make much sense in our modern American society yet the public school system has changed little over the years (except to perhaps become more confining, restrictive and monotonous).

English: School children doing exams inside a classroom, 1940. Children sitting at their school desks in a classroom doing scholarship examinations, 16 April 1940. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I feel strongly that everyone in the world regardless of class, gender, race, culture, religion, etc. should have access to free education. In the absence of other options, government-run, public education can be a good thing. But, given the availability of time and resources, a homeschool education is often better.

Sir Ken Robinson has the number one most watched TedTalk, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" A whiteboard presentation of another of his talks called "Changing Education Paradigms" (embedded below) clearly demonstrates our issues with public school.

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