Homeschooling in Columbus
Almost immediately after we found out we were having our first child, I began thinking about my daughter’s education. The very first thought was that I could homeschool her.
“Why would you want to homeschool?”, my wife asked.
She gave me a look like I was crazy.
“I think I can do it better” was all I could come up with at that time.
As I thought about it more over the coming days, I reflected on the fact that I really didn’t enjoy my public school experience - the stress, constant homework, competition, and always feeling like I was being judged. It was intense pressure and, while it may have driven me to get good grades, it didn’t drive me towards learning. I got good grades but I left K-12 ill prepared for the real world. And I left with no desire / joy for learning.
After that conversation with my wife, I went on a long journey to understand education and how it could be done better. I didn’t want to simply move because of the school rankings in Dublin or Olentangy. The only thing these rankings reflected is that students got high test scores.
Along the way, I read a dozen books, connected with educators, watched TED talks and education videos on YouTube, and began following a large number of educators on Twitter and through social media. I was convinced there was a better way.
Along the way, I found the perfect model for everything I was reading - Acton’s learner-driven approach to education.
Still…. it took many, many months and a trip to Austin, TX to convince my wife of the Acton approach.
And while she’s 110% on board with the learner-driven approach to education, it was a long journey to get her there.
And just last week, she admitted something - “I used to think that homeschooling was backwards. But they’re the ones that actually understand self-paced, learner-driven education. They’re the ones that had it right all along.”
That was a big moment. That comment from her helped me remember our initial conversation about homeschooling.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve had many conversations with homeschooling families to understand their thoughts around education. A number of homeschoolers have recently joined our STEM Club as well as our school.
These conversations and meetings led me to write a post on LinkedIn about homeschooling that I want to share here.
Do you scoff when you hear a family homeschools?
Rethink what you know about homeschooling....
In my role as Head of School at Acton Academy Columbus, I come across a lot of homeschoolers and here's what I've learned.
Homeschoolers are awesome, loving parents. They care deeply about their children's education. There are a lot of reasons parents choose to homeschool:
Yes, it's still common for parents to homeschool because they want to pass on their religious values to their child.
But there are a lot of non-religious reasons as well.
They love the flexibility that homeschooling allows them to spend more time with their child
Homeschooling parents often feel they can do a better job educating their kids.
Homeschooling can be done from anywhere - on the road, on a beach, or while traveling around the world
Parents often homeschool because the school environment is not challenging enough. How could you expect a large traditional school to make it challenging for every child when they're all taught the same things everyday?
Homeschoolers want to give their children agency of their own education and learn to be independent. They believe that education is more than following instructions and preparing for tests.
These are just some of the real reasons that parents homeschool. And they're not weird.
The tools and resources are all there for parents to homeschool. And homeschooling parents work really hard to bring everything together to make it work.
What about social time for their kids?
Yes, it can be a challenge but there are many ways homeschooling families get social time for their kids. They create small homeschooling co-ops, plan field trips and participate in many other activities with other homeschooling families.
Don't be so quick to dismiss the notion of homeschooling.
It is growing. It is not "weird" - it can be an awesome approach to education!
Acton Academy is structured like a homeschool. We are not tied to a public district. We have not applied for a charter and as far as the State of Ohio is concerned the learners that attend Acton are being homeschooled.
And I couldn’t be happier about it.
Our learners are excelling because their education is so personalized. Our mission is to help every child find a passion that will change the world. And that really means understand that every child is unique. Each child learns at her / his own pace. That’s what homeschoolers have understood for a long, long time.
I think the rest of the world is finally starting to catch up.