Blog-cations... and Job Training

I am sorry to say I seem to be on a Blog-cation. I am trying hard to stay away from the distractions in my life. Do you find yourself there? It seems that most of the blogs I follow seem to be on bit of Blog-cation, too. It seems there is less posting (and I suspect, as it is here, more "doing"). For me it seems to be a busy time at our house, but more than anything it is really about trying to figure out all the this homeschooling stuff. I wish it was just easy to "get it". I look back and I do "get it" more each day, but it would be great if we were just raised this way and trained to do this job this way. I wonder how many centuries ago was it that women lost sight of their roles in teaching their children. And not just teaching them, but teaching them to teach the future generations. I know this is Biblical.... I did not know this a year ago and it is a shame there are so many women out there like that.

And worse than that... the spiritual leaders of our homes... the fathers, the grandfathers do not "get it", either. This weekend I spent some time with relatives. There was some talk of our homeschooling decision, but I think the thing that stands out is that at some point in the day yesterday as a group of us where standing around I heard my father-in-law speaking and I think he was really thinking it and the words just spilled out of his mouth as he said, "Just what IS this homeschooling thing anyway?!" I might note that without realizing it I totally ignored it and stayed busy at the task at hand for the moment. You get a bit "immune" to the comments on some days... the ugliness, the questions, the crazy looks, the change in the way you are treated and in the way your children get treated.... When was it that the spiritual leaders of the home decided that they just would not pass this knowledge on... or search it out in their Bibles. My father-in-law used to be a deacon in his church... I have seen him read his Bible many times, yet he seems to not "get" the idea of homeschooling. My father-in-law seems to be concerned about the level of education our children will get as opposed to what a big school could provide. This is coming from a man who sent his children to a school so small that there were only 50 or so in each graduating class. 8l

I was thinking about the diversity of this country that we all live in an it occurred to me that if anyone really thought about it much, then homeschooling wouldn't seem so questionable really. Compare with me for a moment the obvious educational diversity that one might receive in each of these scenarios:

1. A small country school; population 500; graduating class size 35; My husband actually taught at one of these schools and they even broke the "public school rule" of no prayer. They prayed during school freely, at lunch time, before staff meetings, etc.. ; being a small school funding was more limited, so there would be less available in many worldly ways; most of these kids are less subjected to drug related issues, fashion issues, and spend a lot more time at home in general because it is so far to go anywhere; they are educated in nature and country living without it being a "subject". Would you question their education... or their social skills?...
2. A medium somewhat country/city school; population 3,000; graduating class size 250; I went to school in one of these and my husband currently teaches in that same district; They don't break the "public school rule" of no prayer. They observe a moment of silence and have the "appropriate" clubs for that sort of thing. ;( ; funding is adequate and there is a fair amount of money, so they have all they need but not all the technology available that a larger school of worldly means might have. There are more drug related issues, teen and pre-teen pregnancy, fashion issues are more of a headache. They are probably split 50/50 on being "townies" and "country kids" and experience many of the same issues as the school listed in #1, but also have more upper class society influence. This is the town that I would refer to as the average "small town America". Would you question their education... or their social skills?...
3. A large school in the heart of Houston (or other majot city); population = too many ;) ; graduating class 500+ ; They are probably more similar to school #2, but they have all the technology and worldly advantages that America's school have to offer; There are more of EVERY issue in most of these schools, but ... Would you question their education... or their social skills?...
4. Use a similar size scenario as #3, but let's say it is located in New York City, NY; I can't give an accurate scenario because I have never even been there, but I would think it would be much the same as #3 with a heavy influence in the arts and theater, very busy and fast-paced; many "advantages" from an artistic perspective. Would you question their education... or their social skills?...
5. Consider the child that lives in a village so remote that it would require driving 40 miles to the nearest school to be among a small class of peers; consider that child spends 2-3 hours commuting per day to "take advantage" of a public school setting.; I met a family like this on vacation a few years back and I remember the mother telling me how crazy it would be to do that commute for her son. She chose to homeschool instead. But, once again, consider the child that is not homeschooled and lives out this scenario. Would you question their education... or their social skills?...
6. What about a family in the mountains that lives in a tiny little tourist town. The scenario might look a lot like school #1. Actually, it might be much smaller and have much less of the worldly "advantages". I met a family that was faced with this scenario. They lived off of their tourism business providing snow sledding tours through the woods via horse and buggy sleds. They chose to homeschool, but consider their neighbors in that community. Would you question their education... or their social skills?...

Do you get my point? This country is so diverse and people are recieving so many different levels of education dependent upon the size of the school district, the city population, the cultural and geographic locations, and many other factors. It just seems that homeschooling wouldn't seem so "questionable" really if people really would consider it one more option in this diverse countries options.

Maybe there's more to this post... I'm thinking on this one, so you might see a follow-up post to this one. I would love to hear some thoughts on this, so share some with me in the comments.