Another great debate is underway here at my house, this time the topic is about how our daughter is going to get her education.
I'm all for unschooling her, my other half wants her to go to the local school.
I am an alternative type. Some people may refer to me as a hippie. I tend to go through the alternative route for pretty much everything these days.
I cosleep with our daughter, she's unvaccinated, I am following her lead with when she's ready to wean, I use food and homeopathy as medicine. It just follows my logic to stay on the same road we're travelling with her and not send her to school.
Sending her to school doesn't feel right to me. I don't want her to learn things based on a curriculum that has been dictated by the government. I don't want her to learn things from them. I don't want her to learn how to do things and to fit into their box.
I believe that she will be able to learn more at home. She'll learn life skills. I'll be dedicated to her and she's going to get my full attention. At school she'd have to fight with 26 - 30 other students for the attention of one teacher.
I want to encourage her to question things, to have the time to work through problems and not have to stop just because a bell rings. I want her to explore, to pull things apart and put them back together. I want her to be exposed to a wide variety of what life has to offer. I want her to love how to learn. I don't want her to start to hate learning. How many times have you heard children say that they hate school? I don't want that for my girl.
I also don't like the idea of sending her there and not knowing anything about the teaching staff. I won't know her teacher and what their values are. This person can have a huge influence on their students. I understand that the majority are good people, but I had a bad experience with a teacher and I don't want her to have that.
I don't want her to be put into an artificial environment (a classroom segregated with peers her own age) and have potential to be damaged by bullying or unkind words. Where else in society (apart from school) do we interact with people in the same age group and the only interaction with adults are when they're in a position of power. It's not the real world.
I don't believe that making children do things that they don't want to do, especially when it can cause stress and anxiety, is good for them. I don't believe that those are the type of lessons that help children grow.
I found this quote while I was looking into unschooling in New Zealand. "It’s not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It’s our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.” – by L R Knost.
My partner doesn't agree with me. He thinks that she should go to school. His only argument is that he doesn't want her to miss out the social aspect. I understand where he's coming from, but I believe that there's other things that she can attend to meet kids and make friends. He's adamant that it's not the same and she'll miss out on making friends that she will know for life. I disagree. I think we will be able to find other like minded parents who are unschooling their children too. We can get together with play dates. She's not going to be stuck at home with me and never allowed to leave the house!
Does anyone have any advice for or against unschooling children that they're willing to share? I'm not giving up on my dream to have her unschooled. I have a few years yet. She's turning 1 in a couple of weeks, so there's time to win the argument.
References:
https://www.nchenz.org.nz