Attacks on Homeschooling

While this blog is supposed to be focused on Montessori homeschooling specifically, I've decided to incorporate just a little on homeschooling in general.

There is an article currently on the CBC site about homeschooling called Minding Your Own. It's a very simple article, not meant to go too in-depth, but some of the naysaying comments really irked me. It's just so typical of people who know little about homeschooling who come up with some sort of reasoning to say something against it.

What I really don't get is today's focus on socialization. Actually, as I write that, I do get it. Why? Because it's almost too obvious that most kids will have better academics at home in a tutorial situation. There has to be something to criticize homeschooling about, mustn't there? And so people come up with really questionable ideas like a child won't handle other teachers and the structure later on if he's homeschooled, or the parents have neuroses. (Yes, one of the people in the feedback section actually said that!!!) We, as a society, have been brainwashed to believe that everything must be given in childhood the same way it will be later on. Except for when you are working and enter real life, because of course, except for teachers, nobody's job functions on bells ringing every 40-90 minutes to change what work you are doing. It's a wonder people don't start encouraging school to begin at birth, where the babies can go off and follow a schedule with bells!

I don't know why these idiotic comments have gotten me so. I thought I had gone past that, and just saw that people just don't know what they're talking about and that's that. I think it was how far some of them went in their attempts to cut down homeschooling. I'm used to the whole "how will you teach them things they don't know" and the socialization issue, but pulling in far-fetched reasons as they did... Just irks me. I wish these kinds of things could be conversations instead of comments simply left on a website. It would then be potentially possible to have these people see the silliness of their comments. Although not necessarily--some people will dig in their heels regardless of how idiotic a belief may be.

*sigh*