Well, it’s a bunch of unanswered questions at this moment, but I guess if I start writing about it I may find answers a bit faster. The bottom line is: in a year Alexander is supposed to go to school and I am not sure that it’s a good idea. Not because schools are necessarily bad, but because I tend to question things that are taken for granted and to distrust external authorities, especially when they try to tell me how things should be.
We take so much for granted about the way the school system operates, and there is so much fear connected to success and failure in school that I believe strongly that we are creating a culture that blindly accepts some cultural story about what works and what doesn’t. The bottom line, in my own experience, is that every child has their own learning needs, and every parent can help meet those needs by keeping a few basic questions at the top of mind. Think about the school system, and what it teaches. Read John Taylor Gatto, John Holt, David Albert and others and think about the kind of learning environment that will best serve your kids. [Chris Corrigan]
This is what I’ve been doing – reading and thinking (and asking people I talk to f2f all half-formed and difficult questions that come as a result :)
Update: most of the details about my questions and priorities at the moment are in the comments below – elicited in a conversation with others.
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There are three factors important in my mind:
1) I don’t care much for the conveyor belt structure of schools (yearly cohorts, one pace), nor do I think full frontal class teaching is particularly useful as singular teaching method
2) School isn’t just a place to learn stuff, it’s also a meeting place for kids’ peers (if you ask kids it’s the only thing they think school is good for. It’s also why kids miss school during holidays)
3) Some skills I think important aren’t taught at all
Home schooling e.g. may fix item 1, but possibly kills your own liberty as a professional, as well as doesn’t address point 2.
Research indicates that character traits are formed 50% by inheritance, 50% by peer groups (particularly the niche still available in early peer groups), and 0% by any parental effort, which makes item 2 very important.
There are of course different options in the Dutch school system that address item 1, while preserving item 2. And there’s different ways of getting involved. And ways to create your own school (perhaps talk to Olaf Brugman on that!). Which may help address point 3, although you can address that in multiple ways more easily.
On the other hand: most people turn out ok, and we all went through the school system. So you probably need to evaluate the school system in terms of 1) results / benefits 2) harm 3) potential not being unlocked, against the effort connected to each possible path.
Hi Lilia, in addition to what Ton says and reacting on what you say about each child having its own learning needs, I was wondering if you are familiar with the more alternative school types. These, such as Montessori, Jenaplan, Freinet, have more the invidual in mind and don’t start from the “average” learner. I attended a Jenaplan school (I know there is one in Enschede, but mine was in another city). I loved it, especially because I could learn and work in my own speed. Jenaplan education is very social with a lot of group activities, combining it with a focus on the individual. If you can’t start your own school (which you can, having a PhD, I think!), because you would have to give up your job, I would opt for one of these alternative types.
Good luck!
Here in the U.S., most people who homeschool do so for religious reasons. I have several friends, though, that have homeschooled their kids for other reasons, partly for the reasons you give but also so they can spend more time with their kids as they grow up.
Looking back on it now, and if I had known then what I know now, I would love to have been able to homeschool my two boys. The peer socialization question is an important one to address, but there are enough non-school activities that kids participate in that this is a problem that can be addressed successfully.
Who knows, when my sons have kids of their own, and I’m in more of a position to not have to “work”, maybe they’ll let me be my grandkids’ teacher? Wouldn’t that be fun.
Ton, Carla, thanks for the comments. We are definitely looking at the “alternative” school types – this is the nice part of the Dutch educational system. My issues at this point are not that much with the specific school type and the methods (there could be a match to our needs given the variety), but more with the system as a whole.
In particularly:
- I’m not sure that starting a full-time school at 4 is a good thing – socially. Alexander goes to daycare 2 days a week and you can easily see tiredness and overstimulation. Changing it into 5 days a week is a big step.
- Another thing is the compatibility with our family and working rhythms. For us being able to work full day means that Alexander would have to deal with three different groups of teachers/caregivers in two locations (school – lunchtime – afterschool/BSO). Holidays are extremely strict and any extra days off require lots of negotiations – that will definitely be an issue with working in projects and having international family. This would be understandable with bigger schoolkids, but with 4-6 years old I don’t get it (and it’s a law that schools can’t do much about).
- Then there is lack of freedom. In the Netherlands unless you start homeschooling from the beginning, you essentially lose the right to take your kid out of the school system if it doesn’t work. If not this I wouldn’t worry that much about trying it out to see how it works.
In general, I don’t have a problem with the system per se, but mainly with the fact that it’s pretty unflexible and essentially requires me to outsource the education of my kids to the state without giving much flexibility in terms of timing and format. And the laws are from 1969…
Talking about homeschooling/unschooling – that’s a big question. First, being convinced that it’s a better option than the available schools. Then the challenge of aligning it with out professional lifes. And then all the how-tos that you need to make it work.
And, Ton, to answer your question about “social life” – assuming that your school is the best place for it is similar to assuming that your organisation is the best place to make friends. We know that it depends on whether there is a match and where else you can meaningfully connect with your peers. There is lots written about it, but I particularly liked De Vraag since it’s closer to the local context than a lot of other things.
To sum it up – I think most of my “issues” with the school system are very similar than my issues with the organisations, that are too slow to change to address the changes in life, work and learning. The difference is that you can make a choice to leave an organisation and go self-employed to get where you want to be, but your child can not get out of the school system without your support. And you will never have all the answers to decide what is better…
Brett, missed your comment… I think homeschooling is wide-spead in the US, so the support networks of homeschooling families are bigger – that makes the social aspect a bit easier, I guess. And, of course, being a foreigner understanding Dutch, but not being able to speak/write in it fluently, makes the social issue even more challenging.
The professional side of it is very tough – at the moment we should be able to deal with the financial implications of homeschooling, but I am more worried about the professional ones. I’m happy to cut on work to some extend, but at this moment it looks more like an either/or choice that I’m not ready to address yet.
Our little one is racing toward four years old. She has not spent a minute in formal daycare or preschool. So far, her social development is just fine — shares toys, doesn’t hit other kids, etc. She gets some social stimulation (play group, music class, Sunday school). Then she gets a little structured learning time at home and great gobs of unstructured adventure time where she’s free to figure out the funny-looking word she inhabits with her parents and grandparents and rabbits in the yard on her own.
Kids need adult guidance. They need to know they belong to a community. But they also need much more time to themselves, time when they have to build their own meanings and purpose rather than comforming to the conveyor belt knowledge and structure Tom mentioned. Schools aren’t necessarily bad, although, Lilia, you yourself have seen the “tiredness and overstimulation” your little one gets from the formal setting. Schools can do good, but we parents can do better working one-on-one with our kids… if we can afford the time and effort to do so.
We went through the process but things changed and our son decided he did not want to be unschooled. I think it works best in the middle years: ages 9 – 14
Here are my bookmarks:
http://delicious.com/jarche/unschooling
Lilia – I understand your questions, and there were times when I was so frustrated with the educational system that I considered options. However, at the danger of making people believe I am a bad mother – I think a professional teacher is a better teacher for my child than I am, I think children need to have as many adults in their lives as possible, particularly in this society where we no longer live in small communities where children feel connected to the adults geographically close, and I think the tension between what is taught elsewhere and what is taught at home is very valuable.
Also, I know that the anger and bitterness I would feel at being trapped in the company of two (admittedly wonderful) children day out and day in would have killed any joy of learning the children might feel. As it was I could bring home impulses they did not get through school, and they could bring home impulses they did not get from me. We would frequently discuss the differences between what was taught at school and what we thought at home, and like the contrary nerds my children grew up to be, they adored to for instance correct the school books or argue their teachers to frustration.
Also, I was able to be an alternative when they had problems. Any learning, reading or writing disabilities are very challenging, and while I think I understood those much better than the teachers, I also had the priviledge of being the one who helped solve problems rather than the sole responsibility for getting around them. I could suggest strategies and alternatives, and discuss them with a trained teacher, rather than bang my head in the wall all alone, as I would if I taught the children.
And all of this before you even start considering that the best – flawed as it is – security network for children at risk is the school. It doesn’t even have to be abuse, neglect or other similar parenting errors that necessitates it, but it means that some more adults see your child on a regular basis and can help catch up with what goes on in its life.
Of course, this is coloured by schools I and my children went to – farily good, if not brilliant, in a pretty stable, safe society. But I am very much in favour of public schools, and do not like the idea of home-schooling.
Torill, having many adults to learn from and professional teaching makes a lot of sense. And not getting crazy from being “locked” at home too :)
I guess my struggles are more about the system where structured schooling starts (1)way too early (at 4 in NL), (2) doesn’t fit the way our family lives (we are ready to adjust if there are good reasons instead of what now looks like old-fashioned rules) and (3) couldn’t be changed for an alternative (e.g. homeschooling) once you start it.
I think my ideal picture at the moment would be to start “school” for 2 days a week around 4 or a bit later (since it’s not that far from playing for the first couple of years anyway), gradually increase that to the required 5 days when we see that it makes sense learning-wise and be able to go for an alternative at any moment when we see a mismatch (or an educational opportunity that outweights the value that school brings).
One more thing – about professionally trained teachers. I guess it’s a matter of being lucky next to being able to make informed choices.
In my browsing I picked up a report about school teachers in the Netherlands, which indicated lack of opportunities for professional development and unhappiness with salaries. Also, between primary teachers only 2% have higher education – doesn’t mean that those who don’t have it are not good and passionate about their work, but could mean that their worldviews might be not as diverse or open as we consider important. That wouldn’t be a big issue with a bigger kid, but I’m not so sure that I want a 4 years old to spend more than half of his awake time with adults who don’t share values we consider important.
Hi Lilia, we’re homeschooling/unschooling our son, for secular/learning reasons, in the US (there are a lot more secular homeschoolers here than people realize!).
The biggest benefit to homeschooling, from what I’ve seen, comes in the first few years when kids need to be out and about building forts and making messes and learning how to learn, and – this is important – learning that they CAN learn on their own, and learning how THEY learn and how they can use that. Older kids can handle the busywork/passivity/authority issues better, and they can take out of school what helps them and leave the rest aside, if they have a good foundation. (The one-room schoolhouses went from ages 8 to 12, not 4 to 18, and they were better for it.) Sadly what seems to happen is that many parents don’t realize there is a problem until the damage is already done. As our little neighbor said on entering preschool, “I don’t have to learn anymore. My teacher is going to teach me!”
If you’d like to talk about choices and options – and difficulties, because I’ve found them, too – I’d be glad to connect via email or chat on Skype.