Someone, who is opposed to homeschooling recently asked me if I thought I could possibly be a better teacher than someone who was actually trained to teach would be. The implication was clear: it was arrogant, or at the very least misinformed of me to assume that I could teach better. My answer is that in some cases yes, I’m a better teacher. I wrote an article several months ago about my astonishment at walking into a public school and seeing a bulletin board riddled with spelling errors. That wouldn’t happen to me.
But I am quite sure that there are public school (or private school for that matter) teachers who have superior teaching skills. What I do think is a constant in the home education equation is that home schooled students on average are better learners. We see time and time again that homeschoolers win national competitions. They are getting into top colleges, and they have done well enough that they garner national attention in the world of education.
No Bad Experiences
Well, that’s a misnomer because I can’t really claim that homeschoolers don’t have bad experiences in education ever. I know for my own kids however, the concept of passing and/or failing something is far from their minds. Neither of my children would look at a subject or a test and think there’s a possibility of failure. In fact, they are not even tested until they clearly understand the concept. I obviously can’t speak for all homeschooling families, but I think that most families don’t ‘fail’ kids but rather re-teach as necessary until the concept is mastered. You would be surprised what a difference it makes when you remove the possibility of ‘failure’.
Life Long Learning
In education, teachers constantly talk about how to create ‘life long learners’ while I think the majority of homeschooling families are actually busy creating ‘life long learners.’ Is there a better example of a life long learner than a homeschooling parent–someone who has taught themselves the ‘art’ of teaching for the sake of their child’s education? I don’t know about you, but I found my daughter’s school work mostly fascinating. Obviously she studies things that are basic and not that fascinating. But history, science, even literature–I’m learning anew.
But even more than that, there is never a point in our lives where the learning turns off. Around every corner lies an opportunity to discuss what we’ve read, think about a new investigations, or answer other questions. Just the other day we were visiting our family of raccoons that live behind the grocery store and my daughter noticed that they weren’t outside. She wondered if it was raining but then my son reminded her that they were nocturnal. So even a trip to the grocery store turns educational.
So do I think I’m more qualified than a teacher who is actually trained to teach? Probably not. But I don’t think that’s the point. I think my kids are just better learners.