Despite not being an overly popular method of educating, various reasons drive parents into home schooling and even though they are not in the classroom, students are obviously still expected to meet the traditional methods of evaluation. The Canadian Homeschooler is a website that is designed to help educators in the home schooling environment design new lesson plans and keep their activities fresh and interesting.
Based on Lisa Marie’s experience, the founder of the website, she found that the majority of resources for homeschooling were actually American based and Canadian homeschoolers simply had to make amends as they went along the program. This became a source of frustration for her and set out to find better Canadian resources, which turned up fruitless. In the end, she started this website to try and get rid of this problem and has started a forum like space where people can share resources and learn from each other. While homeschooling is a personal preference, it is not mine. A very important aspect of education and successful curriculum is learning in new environments and being a social member of society. Some parents still opt to home school their children but the majorities are still more inclined to the more institutionalized version of learning. Through the years, the school environment has become an integral part of socialization, just Michael Foucault suggests it should be. He has many theories that apply to education, one of which he has referred to as moral orthopedics. The institution was formed to take youth out of the house and instruct them, en masse, in the ways in which the school thought they should behave. Additionally, they were removed from the earlier teaching methods to become socialized with children and youth of similar age and status. By removing the children from spending the majority of time with adults, according to Foucault, this was supposed to be not only more effective when educating them but also a form of protection. The children could possibly be exposed to the perversity of adults if they are left with them all day everyday, but in institutions they are given more security. Of course this is an old ideal and there are conflicting perspectives on such matters. Parents such as Lisa Marie obviously believe that what she is doing for her children is right and as long as she instructs them in a manner that is appropriate and insightful how can anybody judge her? A family who homeschools is obviously a very tight knit unit but as the students get older, should it not be the student’s choice if they remain homeschooled or if they are allowed to join the public sector? There are exceptions to such a suggestion. Many parents with children who have mental disabilities may choose to home school their children, as many schools do not have the resources required to care for such an individual.
http://thecanadianhomeschooler.com
Hey, Im glad you brought up home schooling because this is a topic we have not really discussed much in class. I completely agree with you in that a major part of education is learning to become a social member of society. I have a friend who was home schooled and he frequently says he feels as though a part of his education is missing because he rarely got to participate in group projects and presentations. Also events like school dances and gym class were unavailable to him.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a review on a few different articles about bullying. I wonder if some parents choose home schooling as a way to protect their children from these types of situations. Im sure some people would argue that this is a form or protection while others would say that children need to learn how to deal with confrontation with peers.
Home schooling would also shelter children from dealing with controversal issues such as what was seen in the snakes and latters performance. If the parent is in complete control of what the child is exposed to, he/she will never come in contact with any groups the parents don't approve of..such as a gay-straight-alliance.