Public School and Home School

As Bear gets further along in school and I meet more and more people who home school it is something that I'm more and more interested in finding more information on.  I'm finding too that I quite enjoy Bear being in school.  It gives Mia and I some time by ourselves that we have never had before.  That being said, I can see the plus and minus side of things to both situations.

As I do not have any major issues with public school I don't see any reason to go crazy and pull Bear out.  Now, I do see the value in having some educational things happen here at home.  Especially during the summer.  In this way I think we can get the benefits of both without having so much work for Mom. 

The benefits of public school as I see them:  It teaches you to work with a large group of people every single day.  It teaches you to work for a boss/teacher.  Even if you don't care for that person.  You learn the finer points of navigating many personalities at all social levels.  It teaches you how to deal with things you don't necessarily want to do.  It expands your social network to people you may never come into contact with otherwise.  I think this is one of the biggest benefits in my mind.  You can teach all the other stuff with home school as well but I think coming into contact with people your parents would never introduce you  to is a good life lesson.  We as parents hope to teach our children how to maintain their own integrity and deal with all people with grace and dignity.  The true test of this, in my mind, is to deal with people that have different back grounds, social status, races, religions, creeds, ability levels, etc.

The draw backs to public school:  As a parent you lose a lot of control over what your child consumes.  Both physically at lunch, socially in interacting with kids and teachers, and visually with all the paraphernalia that goes with being in school.  Not to mention you may not always agree with a teaching style or content.  There are also the social drawbacks and pressures that go along with being in school.

The benefits to home school:  You, as a parent, have total control over your child's education.  Both social and book.  You don't have to deal with "that" teacher/administrator.  You don't have to worry about how to get your kid to school.  Your kid can set the pace of learning.  You can mold the curriculum to your kid and their learning style.

The draw backs to home school:  You never get a break.  You do the work of the teacher on top of your job as a parent.  Your child is sheltered from the world socially. I know this is up for debate but on the whole that I have seen this holds true whatever the reasoning behind it. You, as a parent, have total control over your child's education.  Yes, both a benefit and a draw back.  What benefits a parent doesn't always benefit the child.

There are lots more detailed things I could get into both on public and home school.  I see the appeal of both.  If we were further from the school I would probably seriously consider home school.  As it is I think we'll do a mix.  My kids will stick with traditional public school.  I will supplement that schooling with home education in the form of raising animals, a garden, reading voraciously, and helping them to explore whatever interests them at the time. 

Right now Bear seems very interested in having some sort of business venture with me doing the farmer's market.  We'll test the waters with this a little this weekend.  I'm going to have him join me and assist at market.  He is talking about wanting to grow some vegetables for a market stand.  We have an understanding.  He'll do the work of helping me plant, water, and weed while I front him the seed, the garden space, and a market table.  The sale of his vegetables will go to help pay for seeds and market but he will get to keep the majority of the profit.  I think I will require that he save a small portion of it but the rest he may take to purchase what he likes.

We shall see how this goes.  You never know.  I figure we're better off testing it with the vegetables.  He's also talked about wanting to do something with dairy goats too.  I think we'll start him small and see how his attention holds.  It will be fun to see how this develops.

Disclaimer:  I do not mean to step on any one's toes regarding their chosen method of education.  I feel like the method doesn't matter as much as actually getting an education.  I still love the quote (and I'm not sure who said it, although I think it has been attributed to Mark Twain) "Don't let your schoolin' get in the way of your education," or something to that effect.  My goal with my kids is to keep that desire to learn throughout their life.