AKMA’s Random Thoughts

Also, the other homeschooling children and parents you meet make great company too...

As a home-schooling parent, I have a vested interest in this topic, but probably no more than a man who "directs doctoral programs in education leadership at the University of California, Irvine."

I have seen parents who should not be teaching their children at home, no question. But out of many hundreds of home-educating families, there have only been two or three of those.

That said, I reject the notion that "Good teaching is a complex act that involves more than simply loving children." Or rather, I reject the implicit notion that good teaching can ever take place when teachers do not love children.

Most people have a memory of a favorite teacher from their own education experience. I wonder how many of them have anything to do with the smartest teacher they ever met, and how many of them remember instead a teacher who cared. Who spent extra time ensuring that their students were really learning.

In the absence of any sort of personal relationship, sure, I want a teacher who can pass tests and teach the material while sleepwalking. But when a teacher (or parent) is personally concerned with and responsible for the students, the passion can make up for a lot of inexperience. Unlike vice-versa.

The books, after all, can often nearly teach themselves, and all a dedicated teacher has to do is learn the material a day or two before their students. ;-)

Teaching doesn't take place when there is no personal connection. That's why so many people struggle with distance learning, and why so many public schools fail miserably. If teachers don't care, the best they can accomplish is indoctrination; usually, they don't even get to that point, and basically warehouse kids until they can be moved up the ladder.

I'll go out on a limb, probably even further than Phillip would, and state that in my experience, the *worst* homeschooling parents I know are giving better results than area public schools. Cal Thomas once said that we should treat public schools as if the building was on fire: get your kids out, whatever it takes. I'm sure some of that is hyperbole, but then again having shared houses with several public school teachers in the central NJ area, I'm ready to accept his point.

Yes, Jim, you did go further than I would. ;)

What I didn't mention in my previous comment is that my family operates an ISP in California that is in its 16th year of operation and currently has more than 1200 students enrolled. I've seen a lot of homeschoolers. In my memory, which may be faulty since I'm no longer involved in the day-to-day operations, there are only two families which we have kicked out of the school. Ever.

One of them I still use to this day, years later, as my proof that not all families should teach their kids at home. I won't give their name here, but rest assured that there are a few kids scattered around this great land that would probably be better off in most ways in almost any government school. I would guess it's about .1% of homeschoolers, though. Or less.

And of course there are the examples on the flip side, of students whose lives were forever changed for the better by a good teacher. I read about things like that every now and then.

If I were a betting man, though, I'd say that the odds heavily favor educational excellence from the average homeschooler over the average government school.