Monday 21 November 2011

Why we don't homeschool...

A comment in my comms box recently asked why we don't homeschool, which is an excellent question, and felt worthy of a post of its own.

My late father always used to say 'There are two reasons for everything: the good reason and the real reason.'

So I will be quite honest and say that the real reason we chose not to homeschool is because my wife point-blank refused to countenance the idea.

At the time, she wasn't Catholic; but even though she was received into the Church some 15 years ago, I think her refusal would be as strong.

However, with hindsight, there are some good reasons for not homeschooling (as well as many excellent reasons for homeschooling - some of the best Catholic young people I know have been homeschooled, and all that stuff about not being socialised is rubbish, in my experience).

However, I do think that there is some value in having children in schools who are Catholic; it opens the eyes of friends and teachers - and even sometimes those who are hostile to them - to the fact that it there are still believing Catholics about.

Ant and Bernie have both survived school and gone onto University with their Faith intact - and one of Bernie's friends is now keen to convert.

Charlie and Dominique both seem secure in their Faith, at present; and as regular readers will know, I have recently had to take the opportunity to educate their school about some basic issues...

So while I was disappointed at Anna's refusal to consider homeschooling, if I had my time again, I am not sure I would want to homeschool: for our kids, the other option has worked, and possibly benefitted others beyond our family.

4 comments:

Stuart James said...

We homeschooled our son until the start of this academic year, when he started at an excellent secondary school.

He is thriving, so all's well that ends well.

Although, I still miss him at times during the day. But that's the selfish part.

Ben Trovato said...

Glad it worked for well for him and you. Still wonder if we should have done the same...

antonia said...

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.

Really really glad to hear your children have kept the faith; that says a lot about you & your wife and what good parents you are.
Sadly for many kids Catholic schools weaken their faith.

God bless
xxxx

Ben Trovato said...

Antonia

And thanks for the question. I have to say that our eldest two were in a Catholic School for a while. The junior school was good (though not excellent) with a Catholic head.

The senior school was less good, and we ended up moving them to a non-faith school.

It is that school which we are currently negotiating with about the inappropriate video, and which is (so far) responding with sensitivity and understanding (though I have not had the final reply yet)). See my other posts for details of how this story unfolds...