RE: Are they crazy or am I? The nonconformist's dilemma
Thank you! It took me most of my life before I owned my homeschool background. I felt insecure and left out, embarrassed in some contexts. But now I've come to be proud, and glad, as it has given me some advantages that I'm just now starting to realize and utilize.
I wish for a school system that is democratic, decentralized, and fluid. I have nothing against the idea of public school, just institutionally controlled schools which do not put the children, communities, and future as the priority. I hope one day we'll see this happen, in the meantime, I'm all for homeschooling. I've been seeing a lot more interest in homeschooling by the non religious community. And that's really encouraging. It's not just the far right that's seeing this problem, awareness and self governance is spreading.
Two of my autism spectrum nephews now homeschool for physical and emotional reasons. It's a much more viable alternative with internet availability, and ironically has been done for quite a while up in Canada where communities are much more spread out. Having been through the public school system, I can't help but feel that some learning is better off done away from a social atmosphere, especially when kids are introverted, highly sensitive, or challenged in some way by social situations. Sure, send kids to school for group activities like sports, assemblies, projects, and hands on learning. I always felt that the pressure on kids to look or act a certain way to be an unhealthy factor in a learning environment. There is too much attempt at control over what is taught, especially with history and science.