MEN'S WEEK PERSPECTIVES

Today's guest post was written by J. Hathaway, the husband of one of my dearest friends. They've been homeschooling for about five years now and in the beginning, J. wasn't sure about homeschooling. It has been interesting to see his ideas and feelings toward homeschool evolve. J. is a statistician with five children. I don't know all their ages but the oldest is 10 and the youngest is 2. Take it away, J.!

1) How have your views of education changed because of your wife's views of education?

I don't think I had any views of education before I met my wife, other than "understanding math is power." But the clearest viewpoint I have learned from her is that the love of reading is KEY to individuality in learning and understanding.

2) Do you think homeschoolers are quacks--or, in other words--what changed your mind about homeschooling and how do you feel about it now?

YES, I still think homeschoolers are quacks, in general. But I have found that the number of quacks among "normal" schoolers is also high. Meaning, all groups have quacks among them. What is typically implied with "quacky homeschoolers" is their poor social skills and I don't think that's a function of being homeschooled. It goes back to the relationship between causation and correlation. I don't think that homeschooling causes "quackiness," I think that quackiness in children is caused by their parents and quacky parents choose to homeschool at a higher rate. Therefore, quackiness is correlated with homeschooling but not caused by homeschooling. My views on homeschoolers changed when I realized that the rate of quackiness wasn't much different among homeschoolers as compared to public schooled children. This idea together with the fact that homeschoolers can choose who their kids interact with allows more ability to avoid quacky people. Another thing I like about homeschooling deals with the primary parent teacher. My wife is a stay-at-home mom, the primary parent teacher, and I have enjoyed watching her grow through being challenged socially, politically, scientifically, and mathematically herself (www.directionliving.blogspot.com).

3) What do you want for your children or, in other words, what do you think being an educated person entails?

First, I want my children to be able to read, understand, and present information clearly. Second, I want my children to not be afraid of math!!! Third, I want my children to be fascinated with current economic, political and scientific thought. These three ordered points assume a foundation in religious faith.

4) What positives have come for your family from the decision to homeschool?

In no specific order, here are some positives:

Positive #1: We can do whatever we want, whenever we want to . . . literally! We wake up when we want to. We go to bed when we want to. And we go on vacation when we want to.

Positive #2: My family depends on each other for activity and friendship. And we as parents are obviously more involved in the learning of our children.

Positive #3: Due to new public school programs here in WA, we get some tax dollars back. :-)

Positive #4: My children don't have potty mouths! Nor do they know how to make obscene gestures . . . except for those which I taught them myself! :-)