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Strollerderby
Public School vs. Homeschool: a Teacher’s Perspective
John Evans was a public schoolteacher in Texas. When his son Clint began failing academically, Evans tried many tactics to help him succeed. Finally, he pulled the kid out of school and taught him at home.
Clint’s a grown-up now, doing fine on his own. John has written a book, Clint’s Story, using their experience as a homeschooling family to make the case for homeschooling as superior to public schooling. With his background as a teacher, he has plenty of anecdotes to back up his case, and he’s done a fair amount of research too.
Taking a DIY approach to publishing as he did to education, John has published Clint’s Story himself. Perhaps because of that, the prose is cut from fairly rough cloth and peppered with cliches. There’s good stuff here for those considering homeschooling, though: a straightforward account of one family’s success with it, and some compelling arguments to try it if the public schools are failing your child.
I had planned to homeschool my kids, so I jumped on the chance to review this book. John is a Christian minister. His approach is very grounded in his faith, which I don’t share. He’s not selling God in this book, though, just an out-of-the-classroom learning experience. I can totally get behind that.
At the moment, my kindergartner is thriving in school, after demanding to go. Homeschooling is on the back burner for us, a parachute we’ll deploy if things sour in the later grades. If you’re still thinking about it, this book is a quick read with some good material, but a perspective that is pretty far from the urban hipster one shared by many of this blog’s readers.
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3 Comments
[...] Public School vs. Homeschool: John Evans was a public schoolteacher in Texas. When his son Clint began failing academically, Evans tried many tactics to help him succeed. Finally, he pulled the kid out of school and taught him at home. [...]
Weekly Link Round-Up — ChildWild commented on Dec 14 09 at 10:52 pmAnonymous commented on Dec 15 09 at 6:48 amGood for him. I probably won’t read it, however. My mother has been a speech pathologist in a public school for over 30 years. I’ve heard it all and then some – which is why I was put in a tiny parochial school, and I plan on homeschooling myself.
Might I offer a word of advice about your child “demanding” to go? YOU are the parent; I’m in college and there is a HUGE difference between children of parents who were “just” authorities (good kids), those who were just controlling, and those who gave the kids anything they want (brats, promiscuous, etc…). Please, please, please, if it’s good for your kid, they’ll thank you later.
Lucky commented on Mar 16 10 at 7:11 pmAnonymous obviously didn’t read your piece about your daughter wanting to go to school.
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