The Homeschooling Option: How to Decide When It’s Right for Your Family by Lisa Rivero

I ended up liking this book much more than I thought I would. I thought it would be a very factual book that is always a little slow and boring to read. It was very factual, but I ended up identifying with and agreeing with so many things that were said. I could literally quote almost the entire book; it really stood out to me. I will try to summarize some of the key points. It is definitely worth the read if you are considering homeschooling. I learned new information in here that I haven’t in any other books.

The first point on homeschooling that really stood out to me was that homeschooling appeals to a very diverse group of people. I love how this was pointed out as I have begun to realize this myself. Homeschooling used to be thought of as only for hippies or religious freaks. It is now being noted that homeschoolers are from all walks of life; all socioeconomic classes, all ethnicities, all religions, conservatives, liberals, anyone. This should speak volumes.

Another point I loved about homeschooling is the realization that not all children learn at the same pace; that grades, scores, testing, amongst other things are unnecessary. Children do not have to conform to arbitrary grade levels with homeschooling. They meet milestones in their own pace and learn about things as they are interested. Not all homeschoolers take this approach of course, but there is a growing trend in this area. I suppose this type of learning would be correctly termed unschooling. This book gives a bit of history of homeschooling and unschooling. It can really be summarized as trusting children to lead their own education, while offering some oversight and guidance. This is helpful because children have all types of learning styles, and homeschooling allows them to learn at their own pace in a relaxed, secure, healthy way. Children also learn better about things they are interested in at any given moment. Children learn no different than adults do.

Here’s a quote from the book that I love and sums up exactly how I feel about homeschooling.

“When families entrust children to schools, they are giving up control over not only six or more hours of the child’s day, but what subjects the child will study, how those subjects will be taught, how well the child’s approach to learning will be understood and accommodated, and whether or how much the child will be tested. For many families, especially if they see their children struggling or not thriving in school, this loss of control feels like an abdication of parental responsibility. They feel a duty to provide children with the education they deserve."

Now some more quotes.

“Homeschooling gives children the opportunity to soar in their areas of strength and take their time with more challenging subjects.”

“Once we understand that children learn state history in fourth grade because to do it then is convenient for the schools, not necessarily for the children, we can make a decision for our own child based on the child’s needs and interests, not on someone else’s timetable of what every fourth grader should know.”

Another topic of interest is that of violence and safety in the schools. The book paints a picture of what some children must go through to learn and obtain an education. Instances of children walking through metal detectors to get into the school, police officers stationed in and around the school, amongst other things are mentioned as real experiences by children. These precautions may be necessary measures, but personally I feel sad so many children will come to equate that with the realities of education. This is a tough environment to inspire a life-long love of learning.

There are also examples in the book of how chaotic our modern day is. Families are so busy with activities and achievements that they barely have time to breathe. Homeschooling gives a way to “step off the merry go round” as the book puts it. This is one of the best parts of homeschooling to me. It allows for families to have much more time to spend together, while still having plenty of time to do some activities and also obtain an education. I feel this is a win win situation.

Great points continue in this book with the realization that if someone else educates a child other than the parents, it can create complications for the parents in the long run even into the child’s adulthood. The book calls the problem the “helicopter” parent, not knowing what their role is in their children’s lives, not knowing how they are needed or wanted, not knowing what is too much or too little. I can see how this could have the potential to be a problem because parents give up a lot of power over their decisions regarding their children when they choose public education. I also feel parents become less in touch with their instincts, and therefore this leads to the parent feeling less capable of knowing how to be involved. What exactly is the role of the parent in regards to education when a child is schooled outside of the home?

There are chapters in this book devoted to homeschooling teens, homeschooling with special needs, laws in each state (as well as resources in the back), and a Q&A.

Something I especially liked about this book is the quotes used throughout from various children that are or were homeschooled and various parents that homeschool. It was great to hear the experiences of real people. There was a lot of wisdom in most of the quotes.

There are so many ways to homeschool and no one way is correct. There are also many reasons people choose to homeschool. This book covers quite a bit and gives great insight to many questions people may have. A great read!