A fan of “flexible schooling” writes

By Eternity Matters

OK, it took some time for me to arrive at this position, but I am now a huge fan of flexible schooling.  We did it the last two years of youngest daughter’s high school and wish we would have started earlier.  Technically it is home schooling, but with the mix of online courses and Home School Association classes it is really more like flexible schooling.

A few benefits:

  • You get the kids out of the cesspools that many public schools have become
  • Incredible flexibility for study time, volunteer activities and extracurricular activities.
  • Very small class sizes — smaller than even private schools.
  • You don’t have the gang, drug, fighting and other activities that even good school districts have.
  • It is a bargain compared to private schools.
  • Opportunities to develop excellent time management skills.  College won’t be as big of a transition, as kids will be used to managing their time.
  • Dual credit high school classes that cover high school and college requirements are the ultimate bargain.  Our community college system is already 1/5 of what the state schools charge and if your child hasn’t graduated high school the cost is even less.  You’ll spend more on books than tuition.

You need to be very intentional about getting the education and the socializing down. We know of a couple home schooled kids who meet the stereotype of not being socialized well (though that may have had nothing to do with where they were schooled), but countless more who are phenomenally well adjusted . It is a running joke with home schooling about that. These kids are out and about doing all sorts of things.

I know that we pay 100% of our property taxes and 100% of the extra costs of home schooling, and many people do the same to send their kids to private schools. You can just scan the cost / student in many areas (over $10,000 per student to get the current results) and see that something has gone horribly wrong with how we administer education.

We could do so much more with flexibile schooling by utilizing best-of-the-best recorded lessons, computer training/testing and having teachers do more tutoring than trying to give one-size-fits-all lessons to over 20 kids at once.  It would save big $$$ and get better results.

[Thanks to the blog site Eternity Matters for permission to run this post.]

2 Comments

  1. Shawn Pavlik on September 5, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    As a public school teacher, I have to say things are generally not as bad as people suggest. I teach at a medium sized district in the Metro area, and really the drug problem is not serious here (maybe 2-3 busts in 7 years?), and gangs have not gained a foothold here yet. I think the benefit of having a trained teacher is also understated. Most teachers do a very good job of providing an education. I am concerned with the importance place on testing, but otherwise I think we do a good job. Students that fail are ones who give no effort and for whom we have NO support at home. We can’t FORCE students to work, no matter how much we threaten or cajole. If you are active in your child’s education 9 times out of 10 they will be successful.



    • quinersdiner on September 5, 2014 at 2:08 pm

      Good info, Shawn. Iowa is a better state in which to live than most.