Hmmm... education seems to be a popular topic on this forum.

So, I'll trot out my pet educational issue. Homeschooling.

I made a remark in another thread that I'm "in 10th grade- sort of." What this really means is that I'm homeschooled, so "grade" has little or no meaning for me.

It all started for me several years ago. My parents are both educators- my Dad is a college prof (English), and my mother was a special ed teacher (and is now a stay at home mom). They were increasingly unsatisfied with the quality of education at the public school I was going to. They knew a few people who were homeschoolers, and started becoming interested in it. One day, they sat me down. "Jannette, what would you think about homeschooling?" Needless to say, since I had been a bit unsatisfied as well, I was all for it.

Perhaps it isn't for everyone, but I love it. First of all, you have to have a good relationship with your parents. You also have to have a bit of self motivation. A willingness to have a flexible schedule helps.

One argument that I hear so much of the time is "Well, when do you get out of the house?" Because my dad has a flexible schedule (profs get a lot of time off) and my mom is stay-at-home (and thus does the bulk of the "teaching"- bit see below), my family is free to travel. My parents are the original travel bugs; I've been to 9 foreign countries: Canada, Mexico (both of these much more than just border visits), Belize, UK, France, Ireland, China, Japan, and South Korea. We're going to Russia in March (I'm trying to learn a little, hence the "Do svidaniya" in my sig), and if enough money can be saved up, Argentina this summer. In my travels, I've met people from all over; I have penpals in all corners of the globe.

My mom does whatever formal teaching I get. But mostly, we do things differently. Instead of a subject-by-subject approach, I tend to start with a topic, and then get into related topics. For example, take cloning. There's genetics, ethics, politics, history... and on and on. I find it makes things seem more connected. I spend a lot of time reading books, and a lot of time writing.

My family didn't decide to homeschool because of religious reasons, but I'd say that certainly entered into it. I know there are lots of reasons religious values can't be taught in schools (though now it seems they can't even be MENTIONED- but that's another debate). Homeschooling gets around all of that. Far from being a screen against diversity, I feel homeschooling encourages it by allowing an examination of values that would be impossible in most public school settings.

So, aside from comments about the above... I'm interested in hearing people's comments about homeschooling. (I'd be happy to answer people's questions as well.) Also... is anyone here part of the "unschooling" movement? And what about schedules: a more regular, fixed schedule, or a less fixed one?

Just curious...

Do svidaniya,
Jannette ("the unconventional")