Education

I began home educating because my son couldn't keep up with the education system. I continue to home educate because the education system can't keep up with my son.
Education is a strange phenomenon.
There are so many, ideas, curricula, options, and opinions going into the education than anything else in the world today. Millions of dollars are spent on how, why, where, when, and what our children learn. We could feed several third world countries. Yet Canada has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world today. We live in a country with resources coming out of the wazoo, yet we sit at a 50% literacy rate. Our children are being pushed through a tired, old, and under-funded system. Teachers are exhausted and stretched to the limit. Money is spent on cushiony chairs for board members instead of new curricula for the students. When my generation was in school (about 20 years ago would have sat me at gr 10) this wasn’t an issue. Why is it an issue now?

If your child has Special Needs it’s even worse. Schools over the last 10 years have fully integrated Special Needs children into the classroom. It’s a great idea, except for the fact that the resources they need are not available to them. An Individual Education Plan looks great on paper but the resources needed to implement such techniques are not available to the schools to put these ideas into practice. This makes it even more impossible for children who learn differently to learn at all.

My sons began their lives with lots of energy, animated, and full of spitfire. They are still like that and I’m glad. In the school system (my eldest has been in and out over the years) they are considered bored, inattentive, and unwilling to learn. BUT every assessment, every test, every ‘professional’ that have assessed them have stated how intelligent, ahead of their peers, superior mind, outgoing socially, and polite they are. Why is it within the school system they are behind and out of the school system they are ahead? Because I tapped in to how they learn, have the resources to accommodate them, gave them a love of learning, and took some time to be with them. Something the education system can’t or refuses to do.

The high literacy rate in today’s society has been contributed to:
Schools not having the resources, staff, or training
Governments pushing them through in the ‘no child left behind’
Parents not spending time needed to just read to their children every day. (this makes a HUGE difference if your child is home educated or in school)
Society shrugging all this off and not speaking out against their beliefs out of laziness (in my humble opinion)
With home education we have beaten all these reasons. At last testing, my sons have fallen into the 98th percentile that home educators hold. Around the world and here in Canada, home educators have been holding an average of 98% across all subjects, where as the school system sits (here in Canada, not sure about the rest of the world’s education system) at 50%.

Why? Because we have the resources, we don’t move to another lesson before the first one is learned at an 80% passing rate, we spend time reading to our children, and we are not afraid to speak out against the forces that hold education back for children.

There are many ideas, curricula, options, and opinions that I haven't talked about today. I don't feel like writing a novel, that's been done. This is just a very small article on my humble opinion on the subject. If you would like to read how many famous people are home educated and have beaten the system. Than click on the link! You may be surprised!

http://www.home4schoolgear.com/famoushomeschooler.html

If your child is not learning in the system, maybe they just learn differently, or need a little extra time with you! Spend it with them. It’s worth it.