And Around and Around We Go....

Yes, it's been a while. Chalk it up to a) a truly horrific trip to Ireland (I feel I can be totally frank about this since my in-laws don't have access to this blog) b) several weeks of non-stop illnesses and c) a very wet and gloomy January. Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder when the Four Horsemen will ride into town.

But that's not what I'm here for. Tonight, I would like to rant -- yet again -- about school. After taking a brief hiatus from insomnia-inducing worrying about where to send M to school in, wait for it, 2011....I dove back in with a frenzy over the holidays and have been at it since. It's been quite a trip.

First off, though, I feel the need to defend myself. While I am obviously addicted to a) parenting books and b) worrying about my children's education...I honestly do not consider myself a school snob. I spent some of my childhood in private schools, but I also spent a good portion of it in some excellent (and not so excellent) public schools both in Georgia (excellent) and California (not so excellent). In fact some of my fondest memories are those from my time in public school...when the Georgia public schools were well-funded and not under constant pressure to perform to a series of tests in order to receive additional funds. We had P.E. every day (though this is NOT a source of any fond memories for me) and a full band and orchestra and choir and tons of art classes. Sigh. I digress. My point is, I didn't start this journey with a chip on my shoulder about public schools.

Back to my current investigations. Frankly, I feel like I'm going in circles. Just when I think I've reached a conclusion or found a solution...something else rears it's head (ugly or otherwise) and I'm thrown right back into the chaos of trying to figure out what the fuck we're going to do.

A while back I mentioned homeschooling but at the time, I was pretty much against the whole damn thing. It just felt like way too much effort, to be brutally honest, and possibly a recipe for how to raise the next Unabomber. But now I'm not so sure. In fact, I'm feeling more and more that it might not be such a bad gig. The fact is...there are an endless number of homeschooling formats to fit every family and temperment under the sun. You can do it all yourself...you can go the "unschooling" route which is where you let the kids lead while you discretely follow...you can sign up with a "virtual" school (of which there are many) and get the help of certified teachers along with a structure curriculum and even school-hosted social events/extracurricular activities and sports...you can hook up with other homeschoolers in your area and form co-ops where you share/trade educational skills and resources...or you can do a little of everything. In fact, the amount of choices are kind of overwhelming and hard to digest in one go.

Why am I circling back to the idea of homeschooling? Aside from the fact that I am at home full time and it's incredibly affordable when compared with private schools....I read a few books. "Of course you did!" I can hear you say. Well what did you expect?! Anyway, first up was the rather depressing and eye-opening book by John Taylor Gatto. An award-winning New York City public school teacher for over 30 years, Gatto has an insiders view of what's wrong with the system. His first book, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, is a no-holds barred look at everything that sucks about how education is managed in the U.S. and many countries in the western world. I suspect Mr. Gatto has Libertarian party leanings but once I got past that, I found his short book breathtaking in its ability to poke holes in many of the things we have taken for granted about schooling and education in this country. While he doesn't go so far as to push homeschooling (at least in this book), Gatto is a big proponent of individualized, interest-led learning, less breadth and more depth, the removal of grades, homework, and all the other trappings of today's schools. (quick side note: did you know the whole structure of school: the ringing bells, the rows of desks, the 45 to 60 minute classes, etc were created as a way to prepare 19th century American children for jobs in 19th century factories? Fascinating! And begs the question: why are we still using this format 100 years after the end of the Industrial Age when hardly anyone works in a factory?)

While reading Gatto's book, I was also dabbling in another book...recommended to me by a child therapist: Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers by Gordon Neufeld. The focus of this book is less on education (although that does factor in) and more about today's peer-oriented culture and how it damages parent-child relationships and also meddles with normal child development. The gist is parents should be less worried about their child's social life and more focused on deepening the family connection. And if this gets in the way of peer-relationships, all the better. Perhaps you can see how this also feeds into the homeschooling concept. What better way to protect kids from peer influence, bullying, and the bullshit that is today's adolescent culture than to nuture and educate them at home while still providing social opps outside the home? BTW, even if you think the book's premise is total bunk...it's worth a read just to get another point of view.

I finished both books around the same time. And by this point, dear Reader, I was close to a nervous breakdown. But did I stop? No! My next book was all about Waldorf...an educational method that has long intrigued/baffled me. I picked up this book: Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out by Jack Petrash (kisses to my handy Kindle which was able to provide instant book gratification even while in Ireland!). Much to my surprise/amusement, the foreward was written by none other than the aforementioned John Taylor Gatto. This seemed like a sign of some sort...and indeed, the book helped me understand and respect the whole Waldorf thing without going into some of the founder, Rudolf Steiner's, more -- er -- interesting ideas. While I suspect Waldorf only works for certain types of personalities...it sounds like the type of school I would have LOVED as a child.

So where does that leave me now? Well, I've signed up for four school tours in the next four weeks (all private; one Montessori and one Waldorf, two more traditional, all with small class sizes and a focus on the individual) and I have been investigating homeschooling on the side (just in case the whole lottery/windfall inheritance thing doesn't pan out). I've decided for good that public school just isn't going to work for us, good district or otherwise. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not ANY school will work...but that's TBD. I want my kids to enjoy being kids minus the pressure to grow up fast. And between you and me, college aside, some of my best learning experiences were those I pursued OUTSIDE school on my own time with a helpful nudge or two from my parents. Might this also be the same for most kids, including my own?

To be continued....