1. Homeschooling is based on the idea that a child's learning should be as flexible as possible, in as safe of an environment as possible. I think that's a nice concept to an EXTENT, but the fact of the matter is, when you live in this society you have to know how to deal with all kinds of people. A lot of the time, homeschooling centers around the idea that socially, it's best if the kids mianly interact in homeschool groups or co-ops run by the parents, to stay away from bad and dangerous influences...That's a nice idea, but it's not the way reality works at all. In the adult world, people still have their crazy and dangerous habits; those things don't magically go away once childhood is over. A lot of the time, people can act far worse than they ever did in highschool, because they're more experienced, so they're even more skilled at whatever craziness they're doing. Stopping kids from socialising from certain types of people doesn't entirely protect them. They'll HAVE to deal with it all eventually, whether the parents want them to or not...I think many poeple assume that once the kid reaches adulthood things will be different...But the truth is, even when they're adults they can still fall victim to ANYTHING, and because they were forced to mainly socialise with safe people growing up, they might not handle it well at all, or even know how to deal with it....Of course PS kids don't know how to deal with a lot of things either, but what I'm saying is that a homeschool kid might not know how to deal with it AT ALL, and might just completely collaspe when something bad happens, because it's just that unacceptable to them. When I have children, that's not a risk I'm willing to take. I want them to know how to handle themselves, and not be sheltered from people. I want them to realize not everyone will listen to them, respect them, or even WANT to even remotely care about them, so that instead of taking what other people do very seriously, they can just laugh it off and get on with their lives, not panic.
2. The idea of unschooling is based on the idea that children should have as much of a childhood as possible, with as few time and schedule restraints as possible. I think it's a brilliant idea....for elementary school kids. Once kids hit double digits, they need to understand some basic social skills and facts about the way society works. You HAVE to know how to interact with people appropriately, because otherwise people will react negatively, or the kids will have to deal with certain issues. For example, I've seen parents post lots of times about how they don't think it's necesasary for their teen to have to take certain classes, work if they don't want to, or even that their children don't need to even know how to read by very late ages. I've even read several stories where the parents let their children decline colleges because 'they didn't like them'. If an ADULT wants to make those kinds of decisions, and they're not dependent on other people financially, then that's their choice...But to let a kid throwaway a great opportunity because they didn't 'like' is ridiculous beyond belief. The decisions a kid make will have a HUGE impact on thier futures; not liking certain things isn't how society or the real world works. At the end of the day, a child throwing away good opportunites can really, really hurt them, and mess up the futures they would have had otherwise. Also, I've read some unschooling stories where everything went perfectly fine, and the kids had great opportunities... on the otherhand, there are also quite a few negative unschooling stories, where the kids' futures didn't turn out so well at all. So, why would anyone ever risk the negative side happening for a CHILD, who can't fully understand the or deal with the consequences of everything? And when it could be so easily prevented, just by taking into account how society works, and basic educational standards that would take a few hours per day to work on?
When I have kids, I want to take an approach to their lives that's realistic. Not just on an emotional level, but also by recognizing that we live in a society that's dependent on things working a certain way whether anyone likes it or not. I think I'd be harming my kids far more than by putting them in public school if I didn't recognize that.
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