Visiting School?

[crazychicknlady]

My kids are curious about school. Not in an our life sucks and we want something better sort of way. More in a we want to see for ourselves what this strange place is, since so many people go, and we have no frame of reference to help us understand what it is really like sort of way.

Not surprising, I suppose, since they usually prefer experiencing something to know what it's like, rather than being satisfied with someone else's description.

Ironic that school would systematically crush that compunction out of them if they actually attended for any length of time.

I've been trying to be very fair in my depiction of school lately, because we don't have many homeschooling friends anymore, and most of the kids we encounter go to school. But sometimes I think I'd rather just read them The seven lesson schoolteacher by John Taylor Gatto or some quotes of famous people collected by Psychology Today and be done with it.

Maybe I should tell them to get a job as a teacher's aid when they grow up if they really want to see what the inside of a school is like. It would be less of a pain in the butt for me, and likely less damaging for them.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I went to school and don't feel damaged at all. Uneducated maybe, but definitely not damaged. Everyone's experiences are different. Maybe, just maybe your kids would thrive in school.
K.

[crazychicknlady.livejournal.com]

I actually think my kids would want to stop regular school within a week (more likely one day for S, and up to two weeks for H). I think I was more worried about not providing them an experience they wanted, rather than thinking they are missing out on something special.

They don't even want it much. Definitely a passing curiosity, not a driving desire. And something that only comes up very occasionally.

If popular culture were not so steeped in school as the status quo, it might not come up at all.

[dotarvi.livejournal.com]

Hey Jenny, this is your cousin Megan. I have two ideas for you, nothing exceptional and possibly things you've already considered. One, they could ask their friends what school is like. Maybe share in their homework, since that is the best way to get an idea of what goes on (without actually attending). Also, you could see if sometime in the future one of their friends is in a school play or something like that, maybe you could take them to go see the play, and at the same time, the school, see the classrooms. It might help give them a context.

And lastly, encourage them to go take classes at a community college when they are a bit older. It's a great way to see what school is like on one's own terms.

Take care, and thank you for sharing in your blog, I enjoy reading about what you're up to.

[crazychicknlady.livejournal.com]

Hi! I didn't realize that was you :). I'd love to read more of your posts sometime.

Thanks for the suggestions. We always figured community college would replace highschool someday, but I wouldn't consider that to be the same experience as school.

Maybe as they get more into 4-H they'll get more exposure to school stuff through the other kids in the program and get a better feel for it.

[dotarvi.livejournal.com]

I never blog anymore. I just don't have time for it. :(

When I went to community college just out of highschool I hated it because, in my opinion, it was just like highschool. When I went back a few years ago (when I moved to WA) my experience was different, but only because I was a different person. The other students had actually gotten younger in a lot of cases. WA has a program for highschool kids where they can get their first two years of college while finishing their last two years of highschool. Very cool program, I think. But anyway, as far as the social experience goes community college can be like highschool or not, which is great because you can choose to experience the groups and cliques etc or just ignore all of that. As far as academics go it is a huge improvement. Everyone there wants the credits at least, even if they don't care for the subject. And the most notable difference is the complete lack of bullying in community college, but I think that's a part of the experience that everyone should get to skip. So no, not exactly the same experience, but close enough I think. Another thought I just had, not a replacement for the school experience by any stretch, but a summer camp program might give them a taste for it too. There are a lot of interest based programs up here, more academically oriented. I don't know if you have anything like that down there, but they're usually only a couple of weeks long. They aren't like school, but they are structured and taught and might give your kids an experience as context so that they can relate more of what school descriptions mean.

On a totally different note... Do you remember Demian? He just got married last weekend. His wife is pregnant (they started trying once engaged) and they plan to home school. I wanted to get them in touch with you (it's way early to worry about it, but it's fresh in my mind). I was hoping you would have a handy list of references and resources that they might find useful.

[crazychicknlady.livejournal.com]

I saw the facebook announcements about the wedding. I can try friending them there. I didn't know they were expecting, yay for them :). You can point them at my livejournal if you like. I'd love to have more than my handful of readers ;-). I can certainly recommend books and a few sites, but as you've probably figured from reading here, I'm an unschooler, and if they want more formal homeschooling I may not be much help.

A good book to start with, even if they are already leaning towards one style or another, is The Homeschooling Handbook, by Mary Griffith.

There are so many resources out there these days for homeschoolers, though, that all they'd have to do is a google search to provide them with plenty of reading material. But, I'm happy to recommend more if they want or just chat if they want.