How do you find the time?
A hilarious comment over at the blog of my good friend, and homeschooling super-hero, Welcome To My Brain was just begging for a response. Though I know the commenter will probably never return and never read this, it is still a bit of therapy to reply. And who knows, there might be others who feel the same way. So here is the chance to answer them before they leave remarks. (A bit of background- Christine is a breastfeeding supporter, and every week posts a random photo of a mother nursing)
I just can’t seem how people can homeschool their kids and they get enough stuff in one day then being in a regular public school. I would NEVER homeschool my kids because I would be afraid that they wouldn’t get into a good college. And if they couldn’t I would think about that forever, like the “what if’s”.
And Im sure your kids don’t enough schooling… when they are learning, their mom is on the internet trying to find pictures of womens boobs and then posting them to her blog. Sad is what it is. - Kirstie
Well Kirstie, lets look at this logically. First we have the time issue. Yes, public schools take 8 hours a day to get everything done. So I can see how you would assume that homeschooling can take the entire day away. But you see with homeschooling you get to trim a lot of the fat off. Take away the time between classes, time settling the class, time answering the same question 15 different ways, time dealing with the disruptive students, time dealing with thos late to class or needing to leave early, and all the other few hundred moments each day where the teachers are not actively teaching. You’ve sliced your school time in half! But you also get to add to it with homeschooling! You can teach while you eat meals, teach on the weekends, teach at night, teach in the car, and teach during all the other moments that public school teachers do not have access to the children. Wow. So the time required has been cut in half, but the time available has been doubled. Not to mention that older children are able to care for themselves in some instances. Imagine back to school. How often was the class quietly during their work while the teacher sat at the desk waiting for a question to be asked? Well the same thing applies to homeschool, except instead of sitting there waiting I can wash the dishes, check my email, take a shower, cook, clean, or anything else that I need to do. The freedom of homeschooling is a bonus for the parents as much as for the children.
As for fear of them not getting into a good school, well that can be said of public schools as well. There is no guarentee that public or private schooled children will go to college, let alone a good one. Would you spend your days worrying about the “what if” if they did not get in and were not homeschooled? That arguement just seems silly. And frankly, I find it a bit sad that that is the best you can come up with.
As for looking for picture of boobs, well you see sad and I see a woman passionate about mothers and babies. To each their own.
So Kirstie, if you’re out there, I’d love to hear your reply. And any other homeschooler who would like a chance to get out their frustration here is your invitation. What would you like to say?
*EDIT*
Well, she responded.
Wow.
Looks like Im making big news in the blog world. People think that Im not going to respond after what happened over here the other day. Im not a coward and Im sick of all of these moms talking about me in a bad way. Im sorry but I guess Im the only one who cares about my childrens future.
Talk to all of you later when your kids are sitting on the street with a sign saying “will work for food”.
I’m just glad to know that all of us homeschooling moms don’t care about our children’s futures. It’s always nice to be shwon the truth. 
homeschool, homeschooling, arguements against homeschooling, blogging, comments
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:23 am
That is one of the arguments that really confuses me. The instant jump from homeschooling to school-at-home. Do these people not remember spending 35 minutes standing in lines waiting for bathroom breaks? Do they not remember filing down the hall for the wasteland of the lunchroom?
The last statistic I read from PS teachers was that they only get three hours aggregate instruction time during the day. That does not include one-on-one time. If PS is doing such a great job, then why do our children need tutors, after-school enrichment and Sylvan?
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Terrific arguments! I really enjoyed reading this, you always seem to articulate so well what I’ve been trying to explain to my in-laws for the last year. I may have to just send them your link
I have been amazed at the amount of school that gets done at home and we still have tons of fun family time left, and my oldest had only done 1/2 day kindergarten. The difference from 4 hours away from home every single day vs. 30-45 minutes a day is amazing to me, plus we were done with kindergarten-level work in mid-April 
We went ahead and started first grade because the weather was still cold, but now that it’s nicer we are stopping our school year for a nice break while everyone else is still in school, filling their required hours and checking off the details that we finished over a month ago. I love homeschooling!
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Kirstie, Good grief! Most children who are home-schooled well have their pick of schools. Was it the national spelling bee where all the finalists were home-schooled?
May 29th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
In Cafi Cohen’s first book, she wrote of a study that showed that out of 600 hours spent in the classroom, only 200 were “on target,” that is, actually engaged in instruction. The rest was just crowd control, passing out papers, administrative tasks, etc.
And Becca is right: top notch school actually recruit homeschool students.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Oh, dear. I’ve gone and messed up my children. They graduated from our homeschool. One became a salaried manager at a restaurant and the other is a contact lens tech at an ophthalmologist’s office. And here they could have been on a street corner with a sign instead.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Darn, I need to tell Big B that he’s not really starting college a year earlier than he would have had he stayed in PS. Oh and I better tell him that the colleges don’t want him after all because some uninformed twit says so. *eyeroll*
It’s one thing to do your research and THEN comment on something because at least then you don’t sound stupid. It’s a total waste of our time to have to read what these dipsticks post when all it is is stupidity spewed by fear of the unknown.
September 18th, 2007 at 8:16 am
I think what dumbfounded me about the detractors comments was the atrocious grammar. My right hand was itching for a red pen. My 11 year old homeschooled child writes better than that!
September 24th, 2007 at 6:32 am
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