The issue of how to define success is such a tricky one. Academics was such a priority in my family that I have to remind myself that it isn’t for everyone, and it doesn’t need to be. And yet there are (academic) skills that I think are important, and I worry about kids like katie describes who aren’t getting them (not that public school always do such a great job of this either, I realize).

As far as well-roundedness, I think there’s a middle ground here. I am one of the ‘jack of all trades master of none’ folks, and I do think I lose out sometimes by not having a deep passion for any one topic. On the other hand, many of the things I love now were not things I would ever have chosen if I had the choice. I loathed writing essays all the way through college, but boy am I grateful someone pushed me to learn how to write effectively - it’s one of my most useful skills as a research scientist. Oh, and I didn’t like science labs much either; now I use those skills every day. It’s sometimes hard to see the connection between the early skills and where they can take you, and while some of that can be addressed by good teaching I’m not sure that all of it can. And yet you can’t learn everything about everything, and I do think it’s important to have the freedom to pursue your interests…this is a hard balance to find.

Lots of things to think about…thanks for all the interesting ideas.

chanie

It’s comforting to hear that there are classroom experiences to be had in home schooling… I think maybe the well-roundedness I’m really groping for is in… adult educator influences. Some of the best experiences in my life have been in classes, even ones I would never have thought I’d enjoy, where I encountered a teacher who was truly passionate about their subject and made learning it a joy. The thought of being my kids’ ONLY teacher is terrifying.

Today was my 6 month anniversary working at a daycare/preschool… Which is weird, given how much I have always questioned (and mostly rejected) preschool, and am now starting to question all school.

With the possible exception of Junior Colleges. I adore those places.

But the more I think about my experiences with school…. the more I think that its true value to me was that it got me away from home. It took YEARS for me to finally get that I learn all the time, not just in a classroom.

but i do think it’s extremely important to make sure that there is an element of “wellroundedness” to an education, beyond pursuing simple interests. i worked in the admissions office of a competitive conservatory theater program for three years, and each year we got one or two homeschooled students auditioning or interviewing for our various programs. on more than one occasion, the prospective student would be quite talented in whatever their field was - acting, let’s say - but extremely underprepared in virtually every other capacity. while we were absolutely willing to accept homeschooled students, and often accepted talented theater students who weren’t the best academic prospects, we were unable to accept two students because it was clear they wouldn’t be able to fulfill the very basic academic requirements for the unversity - basic freshman writing courses were going to be huge labors, as was the one extremely basic math course required. one girl’s parent was very upset about it, and tried to argue us into accepting her, but eventually gave up after a lengthy conversation about how it wasn’t just academics that were at hand, it was a reflection on how successful she’d be able to be at communicating with people in the future regarding work, and her ability to handle the business end of what she was going into.