Yes, You May Have to Give Up Some

THINGS to Homeschool

By Linda Dobson

We gave up new clothes, and in their stead we found the beauty inside the individual.

Every day – I mean, every day – my e-mail box fills with more and more and more horror stories associated with public school attendance. Before I finished this morning’s coffee, I saw a video a high school student made of another student getting arrested for taking his sister’s purse, in jest, after the principal had it in his possession. I read the story of the teen who got kicked out of AP English class for writing a sarcastic essay or two that contained truth. Some school superintendent recommends tasers for the policemen in the school. Massachusetts to standardized test all incoming kindergartners. And a real tear jerker, “The Heartbreaking Point.” Been there, done that.

Then, I read the story of “Linda Walker, Illinois Kindergarten Teacher, Hangs Self In Classroom.” Just how hopeless has the school system become?

As parents, it’s never been more important to ask ourselves just how much we’re willing to put children through for what is increasingly becoming a broken, empty education that leaves increasing numbers illiterate, lacking life skills, and incapable of self-sufficiency.

You May Have to Give Up Some THINGS to Homeschool

Just this week I witnessed two parents get into an “I’m poorer than you” match when, as it always does, the criticism of homeschool as “only for the rich” reared its ugly head. It’s a criticism (or, perhaps more honestly, a reason given not to homeschool) that’s been around  as long as I can remember, and I peg the start of my homeschool advocacy at 1986.

See also “Four New Education Bills Introduced: Rearranging No Child Left Behind’s Deck Chairs“

The truth is you don’t have to be rich to homeschool and, indeed, many current homeschool families are anything but. Here’s the other part of that truth: You may have to give up some things in order to homeschool.

When I could no longer bear what was happening to my son in public school kindergarten, we made the decision to homeschool him. It entailed, in no particular order of importance:

• No full-time job for me
• Got rid of second car
• Life below the poverty level
• Moved to a much less expensive, much uglier house
• An hour drive one way for a big monthly grocery shop
• Second-hand clothes
• If there was any to be had, it was because I baked bread, cookies, cakes, pies, etc.
• A large garden
• Picked wild fruit in season
• No dinners out
• Homemade gifts for all
• Staycations instead of vacations
• Woodstove for heat

I could go on, but you get the idea. And you know what? I knew we were “poor,” but I never felt poor. In fact, whenever I had cause to compare our family life with another, I found us rich beyond belief. We didn’t always have what we wanted, but we had what we needed of THINGS, plus a cornucopia of life’s greatest gifts.

Only an empty cup can be filled. We gave up a full-time job and in its stead got a healthy child when the stress of school was gone. We gave up a second car and and in its stead our children were spared “teaching to the test” to receive a true education. We gave up a nice house and in its stead grew children with lots of time for play and exploration. We gave up convenience foods and in their stead grew healthy vegetables for the children’s plates. We gave up new clothes, and in their stead we found the beauty inside the individual. We gave up dinners out, and in their stead we shared the fruit of each other’s growing life skills. We lived below the poverty level and there we quietly – and gladly – replaced THINGS with protecting our children from arbitrary violence, bullying, cheating, labeling, excessive testing, kindergarten sex ed, lousy and rushed lunches, sick buildings, lack of exercise, peer pressure, and brain washing.

Yes, you may have to give up some THINGS to homeschool.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

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