Hey I just started following this blog and I was hoping if you can answer my questions? Ok so I'm trying to convince my parents into letting me be homeschooled bc public school well sucks so I was wondering what points seem most valid (they're not very open minded :( )? And maybe what are the best independent online programs?
Hi lionross! I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to reply to your ask.
If you want to talk to your parents about homeschooling, the first thing you need to know is why they put you in public school in the first place. It’s easier to come up with points that will make them consider an alternative when you know why they chose what they did. So here are the most common reasons I’ve encountered when talking to parents who put their kids into public school.
It’s the default.This is probably the most common reason American parents put their children into public school. Not many parents even consider other options; public school is free and normal. Unless you’re in a certain social class or a certain religious subculture, your parents may not have ever met anyone who didn’t have their kids in public school.
They want you to have a good education.Most parents hope that their child will grow up to be a responsible adult with a full-time job that pays well over minimum wage. In order for this to happen, a good education is pretty much paramount. And not just a good education, but one that provides you with what’s necessary to get an entry-level job these days. Your parents may also hope that, with the help of your education, you will become a well-read and intelligent adult.
They want you to be properly socialised.I’m not talking about having friends, here, I’m talking about integration into American culture and society. Since public school is the default in American society, it’s an essential part of American culture. Public schools create an almost completely uniform country-wide base of experience for American adults. Growing up in a public school creates mindsets that you will share with the majority of other people who grew up in public schools. And this isn’t an unforseen outcome: it’s kind of the point!
They don’t know how bad the public school system is.A lot of parents aren’t aware that public schools aren’t exactly the same as they were thirty-some years ago, when they were students. And honestly, a lot of their parents weren’t aware that the public schools had changed at all since thirty years before that. Oddly, most parents have adapted to change in most of the world, but never suspect that you might encounter something they didn’t in public school.
So what can you do to get your parents to consider homeschooling?This is where I move into conjecture, because I’ve been homeschooled from birth by parents who made that decision before I was born. Honestly, my first reaction to your question was “wow, I have no idea how to deal with this”, and I’ve had to think about this seriously for a long time before I felt I could give an answer.
Talk to your parents about your school.If you’re not already doing it, tell your parents about your experiences in school. Not in a sit-down-let’s-have-a-serious-talk way, but casually, in your normal conversations with them. Ask them about their experience in public school, or with other methods of education. This will help you determine their reasons for putting you in public school, the extent of their knowledge of the current state of public schools, and their attitude towards alternative education.
Know what you want from your education.Do you have a specific set of interests? Do you want a broad education that will prepare you for any type of future? Do you have an interest in pursuing higher education? Do you already know what career field(s) you’re interested in? Do you have trouble with the teaching methods in the public school system? Does the environment make it difficult for you to learn?
Make sure you know, as exactly as possible, what you need in an education to live the life you want to live, and how your current education is contributing to or preventing your attainment of that goal. This is something you’ll need when you begin to seriously talk to your parents about homeschooling.
Find out what your alternatives are.My homeschooling curriculum was pretty much entirely put together by my mother, and by the time I was sixteen her method was to supervise my core studies - history, poetry, English literature, economics, and religion - and allow me to pursue my career-based interests on my own. So I can’t recommend independent online programs - I haven’t used any.
Your best bet is researching those on your own and choosing the one that fits within your parameters as far as money, parental involvement, fields of study, and higher education are concerned. If you can’t choose a program before talking with you parents, it might be a good idea to have one on hand, just as an example, so they can see what they’re like. Most people still think of homeschooling as public school in the home with the parent(s) teaching, and your parents may not be aware that there are many, many different ways to homeschool, some requiring very little parental supervision.
As an example - again, I can’t make a recommendation - K12 estimates that students will spend 5 to 6 hours a day on coursework and homework, with as little as 2 hours of work with your “learning coach” (usually, but not always, a parent). K12 also offers a free information kit, which you might find useful.
I can recommend two sites that offer courses for independent study.
Coursera - free college level courses on a variety of subjects, created by professors from various universities. The courses I’ve taken or looked at consist of short video lectures followed by even shorter questionnaires, and finish with a longer multiple-choice test. Required reading (if any) must be acquired separately from the class. Note: as far as I am aware, you cannot earn college credits on Coursera.
Khan Academy - free courses on a variety of subjects that cover most grade levels. They also offer test prep, and have an on-site system for setting goals and recording progress.
These sites will be most useful if you intend to create your own curriculum, as you can select the courses that will teach you what you need to know and ignore the rest.
In conclusion.Once you know what you want, what your parents want, what you have, and what’s available elsewhere, you can present all this to your parents, maybe all at once, maybe bit by bit. If you have trouble with face-to-face conversations, as I often do, you can try a letter or an email.
Either way, let them know that you’ve thought this over carefully and for a long time, and that you know not only what you want to do, but that you can successfully do it with their help. And even if your parents can’t accept the idea right away, or at all, you’ll have made them aware of your position, and maybe they’ll at least consider it.
