Editor's note: Homeschooling is one of the fastest growing alternatives for families frustrated with a failing school system. Here is why former New York City parent and home education expert Laurette Lynn made this choice.
Guest post by Laurette Lynn | Cross posted at Unplugged Mom
Homeschooling, unschooling, home educating, call it what you will it’s all the same thing. So here are the reasons that our family chose to unplug from (or really never plug into) school. Opting out of School offers the following benefits:
Access to a Free Education
I wanted my children to have unlimited access to a free education.
This is Freedom to access unlimited information which is unrestricted by time or spacial constraints, untethered by a standardized polyester curriculum designed solely to increase scores in order to funnel more funding into a district where it can continue to be misappropriated.
Education and information that is Freely available through an unlimited variety of sources instead of a limited pre-selected, pre-chosen staff limited by their own perspective and questionable dedication.
Freedom to access an infinite plethora of financially free resources such as libraries, Internet, church, community, family, apprenticeships, etc that all exist outside the limited walls of the classroom. This experience may or may not include the further opportunity for reasonably inexpensive educational experience according to our family’s economic situation at any given time; such as road trips, visits to the zoo’s, museums and other cultural events etc. The true freedom for such opportunities only exist outside of the time and space limitations of the school day and school building are now freely available to my kids without worry of time restrictions or satisfying compulsory attendance records.
And free from monetary demands as well as monetary expectations to compensate for misappropriations of funds which require me to pay for group supplies, furnishings and useless field trips during which any true learning will be curtailed by pre-determined tours that limit time for explorations anyway.
Unencumbered Opportunity for Intellectual Growth
To freely learn how to think and reason, and to foster intellectual curiosity and stimulate intellectual creativity, without the limitations and restriction that has lead to a pandemic of intellectual atrophy.
To have the opportunity to exercise critical thought through a pursuit of knowledge and understanding (through unlimited resources)rather than a spoon feeding, which requires no critical thought and only compliant absorption of limited information subject to filtering and alterations by the board or the agenda of the individual performing the feeding.
To be free to peruse personal goals now rather than be dubiously convinced to wait for an imaginary age based rite in order to begin living out ones dreams or entrepreneurship.
To have the support, encouragement and guidance from a support system that truly has the child’s best interest in goal rather than an elusive bureaucratic board reliant upon scores, existing to perpetuate itself and having no knowledge of or genuine interest in, the personal intellectual growth or well being of the individual child.
Real World, Real Life Experience
To have access to the real world wherein the child can explore real places and events, solve real conundrums, ponder real-life perplexities, experience real situations and learn from real experiences.
To take part in real celebrations, parties and events with friends and family rather than canned, ritualistic and out-dated compulsory set ups.
To experience the reality of trial and error for the sheer experience of reaching a goal or falling short – not for concern over a red ink letter on a report card.
To understand the feeling of grief and frustration through genuine loss and defeat so that they can learn how to emotionally process these feelings more authentically rather than hearing about them or being subject to replicated and controlled holographic situations.
To learn through visiting live geographical places, touching tasting, smelling and experiencing the real and natural world that exists only outside the limited time and space of the classroom.
To understand language, physics, math and science by engaging in tasks in which these skills are needed, and then accomplishing an end goal after having executed the skills to reach the desired outcome.
To understand history through conversation, enactment, experience and from a variety of sometimes conflicting opinons and views.
To learn to listen, reason, judge, hypothesize and eventually formulate a unique opinion based on a variety of information from a variety of real sources.
To grow up in the real world, rather than the one dimensional artificial reality deliberately pre-constructed by the compulsory classroom environment where young humans assimilate only reproductions and pathetic replications of reality and where genuine experience is replaced by fake hypothetical delivered by forced mental intravenous on a mass scale. An experience that is the very antithesis of real life.
To learn how to get along with others: aka “socialize”
To have the opportunity t meet a variety of people, variety of ages, backgrounds, cultures, ethnicity, religions etc in every day real life encounters.
To learn how to spontaneously cooperate with other human beings in natural and real life circumstances rather than the manufactured situations inaccurately demonstrated according to a replicated reality.
To naturally form meaningful relationships rather than being forced to endure artificial social conditions, which have no doubt fostered the current nationwide (perhaps wider) phenomenon of social apathy.
To enjoy the benefit of growing up with a true appreciation for fellow human beings and respect for variances in other human beings.
To freely engage in discussions that they find interesting without restrictions or time/space limitations.
To freely initiate and foster relationships and friendships with others whom they choose to befriend, and have the freedom to avoid friendship with anyone who is uncomfortable to their personal chemistry; rather than be constrained and forced to spend the majority of their youth in a limited physical space,among a limited amount of pre-selected youth of similar age, ethnicity, economic background and grouped according to the modern illusion of per-fabricated social class. This is an experience that both defies and suffocates authentic social experience and relationship building opportunities, which we wish to avoid.
To acquire debate and dissent skills through real-life arguments over real situations with an unlimited and uncontrolled variety of real people that will offer honest contrast and challenges to their notions. Rather than set up situations and theatrical performances of controlled disagreement in a supervised false reality environment.
To be free to disagree and voice their disagreement without worry of being sent to an authorities office for reprimandation for failing to forcibly comply with the collective.
To enjoy the freedom to choose
Freedom of choice is respected and encouraged rather than ignored, denied and eventually replaced by conditioned environmental and social responses and compulsive compliance with a collective. Our family is free to deliberate, explore and then make personal decisions without the encumbrance of making a grade, fitting a falsely perceived social mold, complying with ulterior agenda’s or adhering to standards.
We are free to learn by exploring free access to unlimited information while living our lives in the real world. This helps us to make informed, intellectually evaluated and well considered decisions regarding our relationships, our spirituality, our health and wellness and our future goals and dreams.
Because it’s better for the community and the world
This personal freedom of choice, this unlimited opportunity to learn, this unrestricted time to develop and thus more deeply understand love ourselves, this unfettered opportunity to get to know, appreciate and love our fellow human beings all thereby enables us to make more significantly positive contributions to the whole of humanity.
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