I don’t know about you, but I am done with all this homeschooling business that I didn’t sign up for.
OK, so my kid is only in preschool. He doesn’t get graded on anything. There’s no math to sweat through.
And, yes, I know that quarantine homeschool isn’t real homeschool. Real homeschoolers actually do get out of the house. They join co-ops and see friends and take classes at various educational institutions.
Plus, teachers everywhere are working hard to make sure students feel loved, seen, and educated through this traumatic mess.
But as I sit here pining for the days of regular school, I want to give us all a reminder of the beauty of public (or private) every-single-day school. You know, the one where you drop your kids off with beloved teachers and then pick them up again hours later.
While I applaud those who work hard to educate (or, umm, un-educate) their own kids in normal times, I’m here to say that regular school is an excellent option in many cases. Is it perfect? No. But neither is home/wild/unschooling.
I say this as a former homeschooled child, by the way.
Here are just three reasons why regular school is awesome and we all can’t wait to get back to it.
1. You’re not the only adult who can connect with your kid
I left my son’s first-ever IEP meeting feeling greatly supported by a team of professionals, and at his first parent-teacher conference several months later, the feeling persisted.
Only this time, the teacher and therapists knew my son. They smiled when they spoke of him. They told me that he had the potential to be a leader among his classmates.
A leader? I thought. My little autistic boy who just months ago spent hours self-isolating after hearing a baby yell?
But after going to class early a couple times and watching my boy before he could see me, I could see that it’s true.
I would never have known this, if not for his teachers. They have formed a bond with him that I find infinitely valuable. They see his strengths and weaknesses in different ways than I do, and together we all help him grow and learn.
They leave sweet notes on his school packets that just make me ache for the good days, meaning three weeks ago when I last dropped him off in his classroom.
2. Yes, we regular-school parents still get to see our kids’ minds unfold
Contrary to popular belief, we don’t miss out on our kids’ learning.
In fact, right now we’re seeing just how much heavy lifting teachers do behind the scenes. We don’t even have to go through some of the toughest parts of it (unless we do a lot of homework help). We just get to see the gems of knowledge pop up.
For example, my son is only in preschool and he’s mostly there for the social interactions (and so I can work for a couple hours in the morning).
But I can already see how he’s learning things I never thought to teach him. (Because, well, he’s 3.) We were sitting together at lunch a few weeks ago and he started to say, “Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday … days of the week!”
This, from a boy who had about 20 words total just six months ago. And he’s connecting the song they sing to learn the days of the week with the actual days of the week.
Another time, he grabbed the 1 and the 0 from a puzzle, put them together, and said, “10!”
When my baby is in school, I get to be his mama — 100%. I don’t have to worry about teaching him how to read, write, and count. But I do get to delight in watching him apply the things he’s learned from school at home.
3. You can’t beat the social skills learned at school
I was homeschooled for one year. My dad, an elementary school teacher, did an excellent job. I probably learned more in that year than I did in the rest of my time at a tiny semi-rural private school (four grades in one classroom make for spotty learning).
But I missed my friends. My parents still hosted weekly playdates with our school friends. We did a skiing program with them. We took music classes with them. Still, I missed them.
I had to leave the school building while they got to stay for lunch, recess, and sitting at their desk groups to learn together.
Many homeschoolers take classes outside the home and make it a point to engage in social learning with other kids.
But school is repetitive, constant time spent with the same group of people for nine months. You learn — for better or for worse — the intricacies of how to play, learn, argue, exercise, do art, complain, and conspire together.
No homeschool co-op can compare.
The friends I made in school as a child are still my friends today. I know this isn’t everyone’s experience and that the same petri dish of social life that contributes to friendship can breed horrific bullying, too.
That’s something that educators, parents, and kids all need to work on improving. But that’s just it — we’re improving life for our kids together.
Right now, I’m dreaming of the day my little one goes back to school. He needs the social interaction so much. I know it’s important to stay inside – and he hasn’t left the house in weeks – but it’s hard on all of us.
I can’t wait to drop him off at his classroom again, waving hello to his teachers and therapists.
And I can’t wait to pick him up, smiling and bouncy while he waves goodbye to all his friends, and hear him tell me all about his day.
