The Homeschool Alternative
When we decided to live and travel in South America Homeschooling was a natural alternative for us, we obviously did not have the “luxury” of public school and since we were not planning on being in one place for more than a couple of months enrolling the kids in a local school was not possible either.
However, besides the practical considerations of the trip there were other considerations as well. We began looking at alternatives years ago for a host of reasons.
The debate surrounding our public schools continues to rage on. With each new presidential administration comes the next new “fix”, and in my opinion the next nail in the coffin of a completely dysfunctional system.
Many people never question whether they should send their kids to the public school system. They are told they have to and they do it. For others the available options do not meet their needs, and for some they have discovered the homeschool option.
For our family, we began looking into option other than public schools early in our first childs education. We were naïve and did not understand a lot of things, but we knew that this http://portable-parents.com/blog/2008/05/portable-parents/drugs-are-not-the-answer/ was no way to treat kids…AND certainly not our kid.
We now understand the issues facing the public school system in our country, we have educated ourselves about the history of public education, and we took steps to get our kids an education that respected them as individuals. For the past 3 years Gina has volunteered at both the kids’ schools, racking up the top volunteer hours at both schools. She has witnessed firsthand the impact of overworked teachers, underfunded programs, and a system that rewards compliance over creativity.
Buenos Aires Botanical Garden
My primary reasons for recommending homeschool as an alternative is that it allows students to learn naturally, it encourages creativity and free thinking, and that it treats them with respect and dignity. These are severely lacking in our current public school system.
Homeshooling is legal in all states. Homeschooling is growing and according to the National Center for Edcuational Statistics (ominous sounding agency) there were 1.3 million homeschoolers in 2003. My sense is that it is growing at a faster pace than ever before, and that what once was a cottage/religious based movement is now mainstream and picking up energy.
Homeschooling quite obviously fits our current lifestyle, both in providing the portability we need for our travel schedule but also allowing the kids experiences to facilitate learning. They are learning many lessons from touching and walking and talking and seeing and experiencing, and not from simply reading it in a textbook in a classroom.
Current State of Affairs
A couple of weeks ago when we announced the Big News that we were returning to the U.S., I answered a number of questions that we had received from readers of the blog and one of these was I thought we could have done a better job with our homeschool efforts.
The grandparents apparently took this to mean that my comments meant the kids received NO EDUCATION, won’t receive any again next year…and are surely to suffer at the hands of their parents unless we rush them into public school – or some such thoughts. After emails and skype calls on this topic…what better way to explain ourselves than turn it into a blog post 
Before I discuss our experiences, and perhaps more clearly articulate what has and hasn’t worked for us this past year, I thought we could look at the state of the current public school system a little to find out what we are missing…sounds like fun to me!
Well I have not been in the U.S. for a year but understand that there are problems with a few budgets…like ALL of them. We have many friends that are school teachers thankfully many of them still have jobs…but in our hometown many others have lost theirs. This will result in few teachers per student and I believe require more parent participation.
For those of you that have not been in a public school classroom lately – the functional schools are completely supported by parent volunteers and I would contend would not be able to provide much education at all if not for these parents.
We happen to have a college professor in the family now…and I have heard about the stresses he is under, not only personally having to take a reduction in pay and do more with less, but also as a result of the broader impact the devastating cuts are having on his university and his friends and peers lives. Not easy to deal with I imagine. Budget cuts devastate California higher education and similar headlines dominate the news…simply insert your state of choice.
Canby, Oregon - our hometown - probably has it better than many school districts, Los Angeles schools are not faring well;
The Los Angeles public schools are facing a huge budget deficit. The Board of Education voted Tuesday to cut thousands of jobs over the coming year — everything from teachers to janitors.
Angry teachers, holding picket signs and mock pink slips, chanted outside the doors of the downtown Los Angeles school board offices.
Inside the packed board chambers, fifth-grade teacher Araceli Castro pleaded with school board members not to fire her.
Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that these issues will not affect our children. That the pressures and stresses teachers, parents, and communities face as a result of these fiscal crises won’t also weigh on the shoulders of our kids as well. These pressures combined with typical peer pressure, drug use, violence, drinking, sex and a host of other social problems are also there to greet our children every morning.
A vocal advocate of school reform, John Taylor Gatto wrote an article years ago titled “The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher” where he gave an account of the lessons he taught to his students each day as directed by the school board. These lessons were:
- Stay in the class where you belong
- Turn on and off like a light switch
- Surrender your will to a pre-destined chain of command
- Only I determine what curriculum you will study
- Your self respect should depend on an observers measure of your worth
- You are being watched
I am not convinced that the kids are missing out on all that much truth be told!
The Lesson of Experience
Ok, so what exactly have our experiences been this year? What went right and what could be improved?
We began the year with a formal curriculum, in fact, we added a 5th suitcase to our gear that stored nothing but books and school supplies. For the first 5 months we used these books and curriculum to varying degrees. In Costa Rica we read every night out loud to the kids, and each school day they completed their assignments as outlined in the curriculum.
Look at that...
It became apparent the not all of the information was interesting to them, and a big struggle is that we have 2 very different kids and no single program will satisfy both of them. In Ecuador we began using the internet much more for a variety of different subjects, which also helped us find resources more suited to each kid.
Gigi was enrolled in a local Spanish school for part of the time we lived in Ecuador, so had homework that Gina helped her complete. Grant used a combination of our formal curriculum, online math and science, and writing when we could get him to cooperate.
When we got “thrown out” of Ecuador we decided to leave the suitcase full of books behind. At this point the kids were not using them, having moved to more internet based work, and it is a huge deal trying to lug 50+ pounds of books around. We did not know what the future held and the thought of dragging this suitcase all over was not appealing.
Once in Peru the kids continued using the internet as a primary source of classes. Grant had gone through a math CD program we brought with us from the states and that we had ordered a new one while in Ecuador but we missed it – we spent months trying to get it shipped to us in Peru.
While the kids were doing schoolwork the tension over getting them to do it increased. Gigi is the most stubborn little thing on the planet and when she chooses not to do something there is no changing her mind (reminds me of some parent/teacher conferences we had). Grant continued his studies, substituting online math for the missing CD.
For 8 weeks we traveled from Trujillo Peru to Salta Argentina and we moved a lot in that period of time, seeing southern Peru, Lima, Machu Piccchu, Boliva, and finally crossing the border into Argentina. The kids read a little and Gigi used the time on the bus to work on her math books – but for the most part the formal schooling took a back seat to getting around.
I mentioned that we “degraded” into unschooling, meaning we went from a formal curriculum to an informal. Unschooling does not use a fixed curriculum, and is interest driven, child-led, natural, organic, eclectic, or self-directed learning.
The “issue” for Gina and I is that this was not part of the original plan AND unschooling is very difficult to get your head around…both of us having come from a very traditional approach to our education, ie, a public school system.
So, the long and short of it is that the kids did get a good education this year, some of which was structured either from the suitcase full of books that we drug with us or from a small private school in Cotacachi Ecuador or from workbooks and CD’s or from a host of visits to museums and other cultural activities and adventures. In addition, they learned about a lot of other countries, cultures, animals, etc., that they would not have had a chance to learn about in their public schools back home.
Schooling v.s. Education
But, for me there is a much bigger issue or questions that we need to ask ourselves. One of these is “are the lessons kids need to learn inside a classroom or outside?” and “is what is being taught in our classrooms true?”
The plight of indigenous peoples is a lesson that the kids would not get from a textbook…at least not the true story. We made friends with a indigenous family in Ecuador and learned about their way of life and shared some of our foods and customs. Ecuador’s indigenous population is greater than 80%, in the U.S. that number is less than 2%. Estimates are that 20-40 million Native Americans lived in what is now the continental US in 1492, what do our history books tell of the decimation of this population?
I was reflecting the other day that we have spent more than a year together with our kids 24/7! I get emails from people wondering how we do it, and I will admit that there are times when we could all use a break from each other, but this is also an amazing blessing as well.
There are tremendous educational benefits for the kids as a result of this closeness. While we might have sat down to dinner as a family once, maybe twice a week, now all of our meals are spent together. The conversations we have with the kids at the dinner table cover the full gamut of topics…some more educational than others but all important to their individual development and the strengthening as a family.
I will have memories of bumping along some road in some country in South America watching the landscape rush by for the rest of my life. But these memories also include spending time with Grant and Gigi and answering the myriad of questions that only 13 year old and 8 year old minds can think up. Most of the questions I did not have answers to, but confessing my shortcomings to each of them is educational in its own right. There is NOTHING taught in the classroom that is more valuable than these lessons shared looking out the window of a long bus ride.
Public schools are all about ensuring that everyone “fits” and that as many as possible revert to the mean. Those that can’t keep up or disturb the process are dealt with, and those that show promise or interest beyond the rote education are ignored. I think there are other ways to give our children an education that will actually benefit their creativity and individuality, and further their understanding of things that interest them.
So, what is in store the coming year?
The short answer is more of the same.
We will work at improving certain areas…like trying to find ways to make learning more fun for the kids – and for the time we are in the U.S. will have the benefit of additional resources (namely a language they can read) such as libraries and bookstores.
It is unlikely that we go back to the formal curriculum we began with last year, but will likely incorporate a little more structure than we had the last few months of the school year. Our research indicated that it takes time for a family to find their way with homeschooling, discarding what doesn’t work and trying new ideas. We are working our way through the ups and downs as well.
Grant has indicated that he wants to play High School sports, so if Gina and I honor this wish Grant will enroll in public school again in the near future. Our experience with homeschooling has given us ideas about how we might assist and structure a learning environment for him that allows him to follow his interests more than is likely provided in public school.
…and you never know…
As I take a break from writing this book length article to grab a cup of coffee, Gigi is in the kitchen reading a book to Gina while Grant sits next to her hugging her and listening (and bugging) to Gigi read out loud. This is not part of some formal curriculum – but I will take it just the same!
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You can find variations of this in many countries in South America (pan de yuca in Ecuador, pao de quejo in Brazil). I had my first chipa on a bus in Missiones, Argentina – they are very common bus food in much of Argentina and in many cases made in a Chiparia, dedicated to making only chipas, which means, gluten-free! The ingredients in a traditional chipa are mantioca flour (a version of tapioca/yucca flour), cheese, milk and butter). They can be round, like a bagel, in sticks or in little balls. They also sell them as snacks in the movie theaters here in Buenos Aires! Outside of BA they will cost you $1 peso per chipa, here in BA they will cost $2-$3 pesos per chipa. My local panaderia here in Palermo (located next door to the GluHotel on Godoy Cruz and Honduras) makes them daily but usually sells out by the afternoon. (Plus, they are made in a regular bakery so celiacs will be contending with cross-contamination.) Many stores sell a chipa mix in the flour section in a little blue bag so you can make them yourself, or many of the above-mentioned outlets sell the raw ingredients and you can google the recipe.
by Sean
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