Is that really homeschooling?
I’m a bit shocked by the way some homeschoolers have picked apart the decision by John Edwards and his wife to homeschool their children. The fact is that they plan to hire tutors to help, something that some homeschooling parents find not just shocking but an insult to “true” homeschooling.
My first response is shock. Mrs. Edwards has cancer. The homeschooling will not only keep the family together during the long campaign trail it will also allow more freedom for their two children to spend time with their mother during this difficult period. If they have the resources to hire tutors to help then more power to them.
So many families choose to homeschool in such vastly different ways. Some may spend six hours a day at the kitchen table working in books and practicing writing on a portable chalkboard. The next family may let their children go and do as they please trusting that education will come from life. And yet neither is a more “true” homeschooler than the other. Some families do it all themselves, some join coops, some send their children to local community colleges, some take a class or two at the public school system, and some do hire tutors to come to their home and help in areas that the parents may not feel able to teach. The freedom that comes from homeschooling also means that each family has the freedom to choose the method that works for them.
homeschool, homschooling, tutor, cancer, John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards
April 13th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
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