I totally agree with this article...

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32404017/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

What ever happened to letting a child BE a child? Letting them explore and play and learn about the world using only their own curiosity and senses?

I can tell you, one of the things that led me to home school my children was the fact that the schools pushed and pushed and pushed and that stupid No Child Left Behind bullshit.

My kids are NOT geniouses. However, when The Princess (who has been at her current customer relations job for 3 years) interviewed, the interviewer inadvertenly (that means "accidentally" in case you went to public school) left a stack of papers on the table in the interview room. The papers had test scores on them from 4 applicants. The Princess scored the highest on all the testing out of the 4. Her Reading/English skills came in at 100%; her Math (which has always been more of a struggle for her) came in at 93%. The other 3 applicants had even lower scores and all of them had attended public school.

I have read such stupid things about home schooling. One article by some "expert" said that those that home school end up with stupid kids and one other "expert" said we were raising a generation of "rocket scientists with no social skills". I never could quite figure out where we fit in that, since my house was full of my kid's peers constantly, and they did very well in their work, but we approached it from a very laid back perspective. So are they idiots, or socially retarded?

When The Princess was 17 she decided she was done, ready to graduate, so she went and got a GED, where she won an award for her creative writing. The "class" she attended was made up mostly of kids her own age or a little older that had dropped out of public school in order to graduate early, and there were over 200 of them. So even though it was "JUST" a GED class, I was proud of her. She did very well and passed with flying colors.

And many will argue, but I can't find any employer that would consider a GED nothing less than a diploma, ESPECIALLY for a home schooled child. They totally understand that the only way to get that "piece of paper" saying your child is finished with school is the GED.

When I read articles like this, or posts by other blogging moms, like this, I am so glad that we chose home schooling. The public school system is a disgrace, and every time they try to "fix" it, it just gets worse.

And many home schooling "programs" aren't much better. Many states require so much of this test and that test and this curriculum and that curriculum, that kids still spend an entire day working on school work when you can teach in 4 hours what public schools take 7-8 hours cramming in. And they have time to play, to read, to draw, to color, to learn something they are interested in, etc.

I was BLOWN AWAY when my neice told me there is no more recess at the elementary schools in our city. NO MORE RECESS? WTF??? They are allowed to go outside for 20 minutes, BEFORE lunch and that is IT. I absolutely COULD NOT believe what I was hearing. And home schoolers are missing out on social skills? Uh, HELLO? Next they will do completely away with summer vacations.

It is no wonder the Japanese are ahead of us. Apparently they know what they are doing. And they AREN'T pushing these poor kids to excel at whatever the cost or making them look like fools. Maybe someone should do a little more research on what really IS best for kids and do THAT.

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