Comments on: (Lack of) Educational Philosophy

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:47:55 +0000

I’m with you – I think public school is fine and I just hope that my kids grow up knowing how to be happy. I did just fine in public school and had a wonderfully involved mom who made sure we learned at home as well as at school. She also made a huge effort to make learning fun. Now, I have more degrees than I know what to do with and best job so I think she was on to something. I sincerely think that kids will do well if their parents are supportive and involved and that many of these parenting philosophies are vehicles for this type of involvement. Whatever works.

By: Lauren @ Hobo Mama

Lauren @ Hobo Mama — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:40:54 +0000

I have an educational philosophy that may be at odds with my personal preferences. Sigh.

We would like to unschool. But we work from home and could really, really use the hours free in our day that public school would afford. This sounds selfish and lazy, considering our purported dedication to unschooling. See, it would help if we didn’t have a philosophy, because then we could get away with sending our kids to public school with no worries.

We’ll see! I guess we have time yet, though you’ve reminded me that it will sneak up on us…

I voted for you! Congrats!
.-= Lauren @ Hobo Mama´s last post ..January Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting resolutions =-.

By: Dana Keller

Dana Keller — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:58:12 +0000

Educate the whole child — that’s my philosophy in a nutshell. My daughter is transitioning to elementary school as well next year, and we are also in the midst of registration this week. I wish I could be as level-headed as you are about this! I’m afraid that while I whole heartedly agree with just about all the things you’ve written that I can’t own it quite like you do.

By: Francesca

Francesca — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:56:48 +0000

True, there's no universal path to fulfillment in life, but parents teach their children what fulfillment in life means. About public schools, I'm all for them: good/excellent education must be available to all children equally, this is what we should invest in. .-= Francesca´s last post ..Corner View ~ Holiday =-.

By: Lady M

Lady M — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:46:00 +0000

I went to all public schools from K-12 and loved it. We’re planning to enroll Q-ster in our neighborhood public school (next month, ack!), and hope that we’ll meet other young families in our new area. Our immediate streets have older children, and it would be nice to playmates close by. If all goes well, we’ll be part of the elementary community for nine years (between the two boys), and from what I’ve seen so far, it’s a good school. I’m still nervous, of course.
.-= Lady M´s last post ..The View From Here =-.

By: Melodie

Melodie — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:11:24 +0000

I think (I hope!) that parental support has a lot to do with any kind of schooling system. Other than that and the fact that I love the idea of homeschooling, I'm pretty much with you. I had a good public school experience, and while my daughter certainly is not like me in the social ways, I hope with my support she will do well. And if not, I have no qualms with pulling her out. .-= Melodie´s last post ..Mindfully Loving My Children =-.

By: Dionna @ Code Name: Mama

Dionna @ Code Name: Mama — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:02:23 +0000

We’re pretty set on homeschooling, at least initially. Our city has an amazing homeschooling community with lots of group “classes,” activities, etc. (which takes care of hubby’s concern with the social aspect).
I didn’t have a horrible experience in public school, but I don’t think I ever reached my full potential/learned everything I wanted to learn – I’d love for Kieran to be able to explore subjects at his leisure, enjoy learning w/o the massive homework that US schools assign now, etc.
I wonder how different the public school philosophies are b/wn US & Canada.

By: coffeewithjulie

coffeewithjulie — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:02:15 +0000

Educational philosophy? Yikes, not really. We have some strong ideas on the value of an education … like at this point, my daughter doesn’t even realize that you can actually quit school. She believes that after high school, she’ll get to choose a university and that school isn’t over until after university. You won’t tell her that she can quit school at 16, will ya?

By: abbie

abbie — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:57:55 +0000

I do have an educational philosophy, since that’s my profession! I have to say that I’ve developed it over the last 10 years of training as a teacher, both formally and informally. My training is specific to science, and so is my experience, so my philosophy is mostly based on that. But it’s also based on what I learned from growing up on the farm, and from my parents.

So here goes… trying to simplify as much as possible. I do my best to incorporate experiential learning into my classes, where students are “learning by doing”. I’m also a constructivist, which means that I like to have kids figure things out for themselves instead of me just telling them the material. It’s hard not to point out that a kid is overfertilizing a plant in our greenhouse, but I let them make those mistakes because I think there’s a value in them. I also try to do place-based learning, where students learn through their own environments, so we talk about native plants and animals, as well as local endangered species and their role in the ecosystem instead of the tried and true pandas and whales.

I think reading, writing and critical thinking are some of the most important skills we can instill in children. I like to have children make their own decisions, and these skills enable them to do so. My students are always welcome to argue with me about climate change or evolution, but they had better know their stuff so their argument is worth listening to and debating with.

I see these as major initiatives in my local public schools, and that’s why I’ll enroll my kids in public school when they’re old enough. But I also realize that a lot of the responsibility for their education is mine, and I’m more than willing to teach them at home as well.
.-= abbie´s last post ..I Think I’ll Keep Him =-.

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:06:38 +0000

I was pretty much on board with everything you said, at your stage (and still am — there’s no ‘but’). I did stress a little over whether to send them to public or Catholic, which seems really stupid now, since I don’t really consider myself Catholic any more, but at the time it seemed reasonable. I love our neighbourhood school — I volunteer in the library once a week and in both kids’ classrooms, and the school has a great feel. I like the way the teachers talk to their students, and the way the principal talks to the teachers. In a way I do wish I had the wherewithal (if that means time, energy, intelligence and did I mention energy) to homeschool my kids, or to supplement their education more. But they’re both smart, happy, like piano lessons and drawing, and have a lot of friends of lots of attractively different hues. I do agree with Marcy about good teachers combining more than one philosophy — I’ve seen a wide range of Montessori schools, and was offered a job in one when I hadn’t yet graduated university, and I’ve had friends who teach in private schools that would never send their kids there. There’s no perfect recipe — and like you said, you’ll never know if you could have made a ‘better’ choice, so it’s best to go with your gut and make the best of it. Hannah is going to have such a blast.
.-= Allison´s last post ..***********Not THAT Kind of Rye =-.