By Staff
In recent years, and even as recently as the past few months, public school enrollment rates have dropped—kids transferring into their own homes for school. We now see that California has had a 78% growth in homeschooling rates. I was once part of the mass crowds involved in the homeschooling trend. However, once I transferred in my sophomore year to Benicia High school, friends asked me why I would ever want to go to a public school. Here’s the thing, I love public school, but it just doesn’t work for some people. I want to share my thoughts on the debate of public versus homeschooling to provoke thoughts about what type of schooling is truly best for you.
I was homeschooled starting at around grade 5. For the first few months, my mother was very involved. I had homework that was graded, and I felt I was getting a real education. The issue is my mom soon left my education up to me. This “homeschooling” isn’t what I’m going to base this article off of because it only shows the poor side of homeschooling. Still, there’s just a few things I want to say about this.
If one is considering independent homeschooling, you must have a passion and be driven to learn. Some days will be easier to stay on task than others, but one must either have a “teacher” to hold them accountable or have some type of plan to keep themselves focused. I fell severely behind in math and history because, at 9 years old, I was left with little support or access to school material or any type of curriculum for my education.
This experience is not universal, and perhaps not even common. I have a friend who was homeschooled. His father was his “teacher.” He is now in public high school and in advanced math—AP calculus—and is an extremely good student. The difference is not the love of education (we both find joy in learning and good grades), but the difference is my friend wasn’t left without supervision at a very young and impressionable age where the foundation of education is laid.
Now that I’m older and have learned how to be more responsible in my education, I believe I would be able to hold myself responsible for the work I’d have to do if I was once again homeschooled. However, at 8 years old, when I had the choice between cartoons or math that I didn’t understand, I would pick TV.
Independent homeschooling is not the only way to be homeschooled. My sister was involved in a homeschooling program. Certain homeschooling programs rely on student accountability with in-person meetings a few times a week, like the one my sister enrolled in. This varies program to program. I personally have not experienced such a schedule, so instead I will be focusing on the online program I was enrolled in for 8th and 9th grade. The program I was enrolled in provided what I was previously lacking: I had a curriculum and a teacher.
Here’s the thing: most online, home-schooling programs are often self paced. What’s the issue? It can become discouraging and confusing. I believe my classes sometimes had zoom meetings that were optional. Was this ever confirmed? No. I didn’t understand something? I might be able to email my teachers and get a response…in a few days. Apparently my school had a call line. Did I ever receive that number? No.
Maybe my school was a poor example. Maybe I had overbearing anxiety and it prevented me from even trying to find out. Maybe I was too lazy. Maybe the information was just unclear. So, what’s the point of this? If you want to go into homeschooling for anxiety, it has the possibility of working for you depending on the program (and it depends on what parts of school cause your anxiety). If you’re wanting to be homeschooled because “school is too much responsibility,” you are looking at the wrong solution. It’ll be your responsibility to enforce your education with no teacher constantly nudging you or helping you to finish your work in a timely manner.
However, there are some amazing benefits that homeschooling can offer. Museum trips are considered a day of school. You can go on a vacation without filing paperwork and worrying about missing important days at school. You have more time to explore different subjects outside of the mandatory ones. For example, my school offered a Criminology course. When I was independently homeschooled, I took courses at a community college for American Sign Language.
If I knew now what I knew growing up, I would have forced my mom to enroll me in an online school or homeschooling program much earlier. However, being homeschooled the way I was led me to one major realization: education can change lives.
This brings me to the benefits of public school. I am not a social person, which causes me to lean away from analyzing the greatness of prom, homecoming, and football games. Still, I understand that for some people these things are pivotal for an enjoyable teenhood. For me, I couldn’t care less about such things. Still, I have experienced them, and at the very least I can say that it has caused me to improve my engagement skills.
There are certain clubs being homeschooled that cause one to miss out on. Though one may be able to find certain extracurricular opportunities, there are certain clubs that would be harder to find for teens. For example, the debate club, model U.N, and key club. Personally, I have found great pleasure and new-found passion in such clubs.
The main reason I enjoy public school is the routine—the active and non-changing routine of getting up, going to school, and learning. I know I’m not falling behind, and if I want to be ahead, I can be. Responsibility isn’t taken off by being in public school. One still has to do homework, and one still must exert effort in order to gain any real knowledge. The difference is one has access to readily available help. In my experience, I don’t feel as alone and helpless when I don’t know something. Public school has allowed me to face social anxiety, caused me to view my future in a more certain way, and has allowed me to be able to respect education in different ways by experiencing both public and homeschooling.
I’ll be the first to admit that public school is not a panacea for everyone and everything. It was for me. Still, public school isn’t suitable for everyone’s needs, but in writing this article, I hope I shed light on both sides of this issue, provoking a different perspective on the blessing of both homeschooling and public school.
beniciapaw.com 