Community Schooling

I believe it is in the family's best interest to have most of the instruction take place in the home, but what the community can do is organize a few group activities that the families can participate in if they want to so that the home-schooled children do not become insular in their attitudes. Your goal of keeping the traditional values alive is a good one, I think, but children do need to learn how to interact with children who have different values, and indeed, different behavior. My reservation against the local school concept, which I am guessing is something like our charter schools that we are experimenting with here in the US is that they end up being a bit like the the elected boards of directors that we were discussing recently when you mentioned problems in the governing of a residential community. You find that there are predominantly a couple of different kinds of participants: 1) Really good people like you and your husband who has other things to do but sort of end of having to donate a lot of time managing because of 2) people who act like little war-lords out of self-aggrandizement, abusing power and refusing to be egalitarian. It usually ends up being an issue of who is controlling the money and greed usually wins. I know that sounds pessimistic but I was involved in education administration almost my whole life and I have just seen these community programs fail over and over and over and always for the same reason. But I would like to add that I think that parent is right about the secular values thing, and also that a reason parents need to get together and discuss these issues from time to time is that it is vital that people work together to preserve their right to home school. I have lived in places and in times when home schooling was legislated out of the realm of possibility, either by outright laws against or by insurmountable regulations and bureaucracy. I highly applaud what you are doing, by the way.

I think anything like this runs a danger of being usurped by the government - so unless you put it under some kind of umbrella you would have them trying to step in and tell you what you needed to teach your children. I have to say that I've seen home schooling do a wonderful job and I've seen it fail miserably. One family just kind of abandoned their daughter once she graduated rather than supporting her into college and life. She ended up dropping out of college, being arrested and pregnant all because they had failed to help her, they just kind of "dumped" her because she wasn't the all important "son". He went on to college on a football scholarship and now is a pro football player here in the States.

hmmmmm might work but then it wouldnt be home schooling

I think it's an excellent idea..as long as the education doesn't become like what "public" school is now, but preparing a child for an actual job, might produce more children graduating from school rather than wanting to quit at the first chance they get.

It is always important to preserve tradition in terms of education. Now that the world is getting modernized by the minute, it's hard to teach the young ones the importance of our culture. I believe it is our responsibility to take care and nurture our heritage by keeping them alive in the younger generations. So i think your co-parent's suggestion is right, if not a very good one.

I have been doing home school when I was around 6 to 12, that is 4 years ago. Home school is not a bad idea, most home schooled kids are much easier to succeed in life and are usually at the top of the class when they attend normal school. What I suggest is that you should find other families and children to do the homeschooling together so it would be much easier to teach and your child won't feel lonely. Kids tend to learn bad things in those public school.