We're Here to Help

I just read an amazing post that made me tear up. Absolutely amazing. A very good reminder that we are not perfect, but there's a reason that's okay.

But I sensed a different theme today since Kristen has already covered grace and forgiveness so well.

Today's theme was businesses, corporations, and the "evil empires" of the homeschool curriculum world. As a member of one of these, and a firm believer in it--not to mention being raised by a semi-heretic--I feel a keen duty to respond. In fact, I already have (and I hope I did so well, winsomely, graciously, and with love and a touch of humor). But now I'd like to more proactively deal with the subject: Sonlight Curriculum as a homeschool provider, company, and business entity.

Sonlight's primary goal is to enable parents to raise their children in the homeschool environment. As my mom has said from the beginning: To keep parents "in the field" one more year. This started with missionaries overseas, but has since morphed to include homeschooling parents everywhere. The goal is to provide a resource that people can come to for materials if they do not have access to them where they are. In that sense, Sonlight is a service. And thus, customer service is a huge priority.

But aren't homeschool companies like Sonlight money-grubbing? I mean, can't I find the books cheaper elsewhere?

Perhaps.

But online book retailers are purely in it for the profit. Companies dedicated to your homeschooling experience do far more. They exist to help you with your success in educating your children, not just selling you a box of books. In fact, every homeschool curriculum provider is also giving you the time and effort it takes to compile and organize the materials, testing, adjusting, and working to make your experience the best that it can be.

At least, that's how it is here at Sonlight. I'm guessing it's true for the other guys as well.

So, yes, Sonlight Curriculum is a business. A business that makes it possible for you to teach your children "The way you wish you'd been taught. Guaranteed." And if it turns out not to be that way for you, please send it back.

Where else do you get a 100% guarantee like that?

You can't if you do it yourself.

Not that you shouldn't do it yourself if you want to. Rather, Sonlight provides a unique opportunity that we want to make as painless to try as possible. We want you to find the right match for you and your kids. If that's not Sonlight, that's fine. And with the guarantee, you can spend half a year figuring that out before you are in any real financial binds.

As a company we can do that for you.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Unfettered Anarchy or Equilibrium?

When I see something that is wrong it really bothers me. And so I am not always as gracious as I should be when dealing with situations.

That's a "growth area" for me.

And so, for me, this whole debate about how much intervention the government should make on homeschoolers has been a challenge. If I was still my Jr. High Self (very glad I've grown up a little since then), I'd be ranting and raving. Now I only do it when I get home and start talking about it with my friends and family <smile>.

But a post by Milton Gaither gave me a moment's pause. Not because it changes my opinions at all, but because it casts light on my thoughts in a slightly different way, which may help explain things a little better.

The post, and the linked article, is about American Muslims homeschooling.

How do you feel about that?

To be honest, there's a slight discomfort associated with that idea; similar to when a couple of "punks" (local teenagers) stop on the sidewalk in front of my house for a few minutes ['What are they up to?']. But like the kids in front of my house, the majority of Muslim homeschoolers are not doing it for any ignoble purpose. But this becomes more of an issue because there are many similarities to the Christian homeschooling community, as Mr. Gaither points out.

So, should the government step in to make sure there is no "unfettered" "anarchy" (or even terrorism) going on? I mean, we sure don't want any abuse to be happening any more than we would like someone to blow up a bus.

But this is where the argument falls apart.

Of course no one wants to allow parents to abuse their children! Of course we don't want terrorists to run rampant. No one is arguing that we should.

But is the government the right "person" for the job? Should we sit back and let "the government... protect us"?

No.

Because if we do that, we make way for what just about every single utopian-society-gone-bad movie or book out there warns us against: Totalitarian government.

It is bad to leave people to their own devices without any kind of outside influence, sure, but it is even worse to let a government (made up of people) do the same.

But what of our checks and balances? We have those in place so our government won't become totalitarian.

Yes, in theory. But if we let them start dictating things for us, we should not be surprised when we end up in a dictatorship.

I will leave you with a brilliant quote: "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Reading Assessment

Ever wondered what your child's reading level was?

I haven't, but I'm still waiting on my kids to arrive <smile>. And when they come they will likely be speaking and reading Russian, so it won't be hard to place their English reading level.

But for those of you starting out on this homeschooling journey, you may wonder what level of books you should purchase for your child. What Sonlight Core should you buy?

The fine guys of the web development team have created a fantastic little tool for you to use. The web-based Quick Reading Assessment will quickly help you discover your child's reading level.


Todd has a pop.

So cool!

Just one of the many things that Sonlight is doing to help you in your homeschool journey.

I took the test yesterday, just to see how fun it was, and it turns out I can read.

Phew.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Add Your Child as a Friend

This blog has been in flux. That's not surprising since I just started it last week. (Sorry to all of you who tried to access the blog last week while we were fighting with the URL and ISP.)

The latest change: I just added a fun little Facebook icon over on the right there.

Am I actively promoting Facebook? No, but I will say that even my mom has started using it to keep herself connected with my little brother while he's away at college. This is important.

An interesting article from "Digital Directions" talks about how kids in school are getting busted for posting pictures of themselves drinking and such online. There is also a lot of online bullying going on as well.

So, wouldn't you like to know what's happening to your kid out in the world? If your child is using Facebook, Myspace, has a blog, or is active anywhere online... ask him or her to become your friend and add their blog to your RSS reader. It's just one more way you can stay "up" on what is happening in your child's life.

And if you have trouble figuring out this whole "social networking" thing, ask questions. Your kids may roll their eyes, but your active interest in what they are up to is important to them. And if you get really stuck, you can always post a question here. I'm happy to help <smile>.


And while on the topic of things I've put over on the right, I don't want to be redundant with the "Other Posts of Note", but Lyn Newton just said that "teachers should be parents." Of course, as a public school teacher she is advocating parents becoming teachers in the school system, but she's right: Parents should be teachers... you've already been one.


Tomorrow I will tell you about something I just learned about on Sonlight.com. It's way cool.

Oh, the suspense!

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Parenting Magazine's Tips

In my wanderings today (well, my RSS and Google Alerts reading), I came across an article from Parenting Magazine. While the article seems to support homeschooling, the tone felt "off" to me. Maybe because it reminded me of articles that we wrote for my school's paper back in the day. Or maybe it was the nasty formatting of the site. But something just didn't feel right.

And so, I will attempt to get this nagging feeling out of my mind by addressing a few issues that I feel were not handled perfectly in the article's "Tips For Homeschooling Your Child".

Homeschooling tends to take up a lot of time in your day. ...There are experiments and projects to be done, lessons to prepare, papers to grade, field trips, park days, music lessons, and the list goes on.

Maybe it's just me, but a parenting magazine should know better. It could be said of parenting: Having a kid is more than just pushing it out at birth... there are meals to be made, diapers to be changed, rooms to paint, clothes to buy, field trips, park days, music lessons, and the list goes on.

And so the point is this: Homeschooling is just a logical, relatively easy transition from parenting. Parenting takes up a lot of time in your day. Homeschooling isn't an addition to your schedule, it's the natural continuation of the one you started when you gave birth.

Since lessons are so individualized, you’ll be able to fit a lot of education into just a few hours each day–but you have to be supremely organized and able to devote your full attention during those hours.

I'm guessing that being "supremely organized" would help in just about every aspect of life, but with the resources available to us today, we don't have to be that panicked about this. Sheesh, the article makes it sound like if you're not the quintessential mother you're doomed to destroy your child's education and future. You do need to be able to devote time to your child, but you've been practicing that since the little tyke woke you up in the middle of the night.

Homeschooling often produces impressive results in academic performance. The benefits arise from the one-on-one attention it provides the student and from the fact that many parents who presently homeschool have teaching preparation or experience.

Ugh, this one really bothered me. Now, granted, my wife did major in elementary education, but that's not what's really giving her the "teaching preparation" that makes her ready for homeschooling. Being a parent does this far better than a degree in educational philosophy.

There is no need to add the pressure of being formally trained in teaching to teach your child. As my sister has pointed out: We teach our kids to tie their shoes, to talk, to walk... we can teach them other subjects as well. And if you're really worried, there are plenty of resources out there to help you on this journey.

Home schooling can provide children with a better education than what they would get in an actual classroom but you have to do your part as parent and teacher to make sure you are going at the right pace, that they are learning effectively and that they remain interested in learning so that they will absorb whatever you teach them.

In my experience, classrooms do not have the ability to go at every student's pace. Most of my classroom teachers had no way of making sure the material was going at the "right pace". Tests were the only indication my classroom teachers had that I was "learning effectively", and they had no way of knowing if I was still "interested in learning" so I could "absorb" what they were teaching.

So I say, "Lay off."

While these are certainly valid things to consider when it comes to your children's education, they should not be placed as burdens on your neck. Homeschooling can be a joy. Homeschooling begins at birth and hopefully never stops; it's just that some people use it to teach generally considered "school subjects" at home as well.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

The Value and the Cost

I got a call yesterday from our adoption agency with news that since most people in Kyrgyzstan think all Americans are movie stars and have millions of dollars, we would not be eligible for any kind of discounts if we adopt more than one kid. 'That shouldn't be a big deal,' I thought. 'What kinds of expenses are there?'

So, I asked.

"Well, you'll need $12,000 for this... $6,000 for that..." and on and on it went.

In the end, it is estimated that we'll need around $50K just for the Kyrgyzstan fees. That's not including the fees we've already paid, travel, food... oh man. And if someone had told me that it would cost around $75,000 to adopt three kids, I don't know if I'd ever have started. But now that we've filled out half the paperwork, signed a bunch of checks, seen pictures, and really felt like this was something we're supposed to do, we're going to keep moving forward ...and apply for a few grants <smile>.

And this is easily applied to homeschooling.

[NB: I sincerely hope that no one gets sick of me drawing parallels between the two because I have a feeling that I probably will do so often since they are both such a big part of my life experience]

I've been trying to discover the reasons why people do and do not buy from Sonlight for their homeschool curriculum. Cost is the big reason, so when they look at the price they immediately write it off: Nope, can't do that.

But we need to move beyond the cost of things and look at their value. How much is it worth to adopt children? How much is it worth to teach them?

And so someone suggested that instead of starting with the price, start with the value. For me, adopting three beautiful children is an immeasurable blessing, and homeschooling them will be the same. And with Sonlight Curriculum we will build a library of fantastic books that my kids will be able to enjoy their entire lives. I know I still love many of the books I read growing up with Sonlight.


Some Sonlight Books

Much like college, only far more intimate, the opportunity to homeschool your children is a worthwhile investment. And there is value in it.

I realize that finances are a real hurdle for some of us (and with this adoption thing, boy, do I ever understand that), but if this is what we should be doing--and the amazing value of it seems to say that we should--then the price is merely a hurdle to get over, an obstacle to overcome, and not a barrier that stops us.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Is Public School Really Failing?

Yesterday I said that the reason the public school system is failing is due to its need to not just educate but also parent (i.e. care for and instill values in) the youth who attend.

But is the public school system really failing?

I mean, I went to a public High School. I did really well. I didn't get into drugs, I didn't sleep around, I wasn't into the party scene, and I only got shoved and picked on a few times.

In fact, there are many parents who don't consider homeschooling simply because their child is doing so well in the public school system: Acing tests, reading well, and succeeding. So how can it be fair to say, as I did yesterday, that "the public school system should not be for anyone as it currently exists"?

Furthermore, many of my friends are products of the public school system, and they are functioning just fine in society. And while you can often pick out the homeschooled kids from the public schooled kids in a library, it's much harder to do with adults in the workplace.

However, the measure of the value of a system is not that people come out of it and are successful, even thrive, but rather if the system is doing what it is supposed to be doing.

For an extreme example: Holocaust survivors, after WWII, were able to go back to a new life. In fact, there are a few who are even alive today. So, did the horrific experience of living in a concentration camp eliminate their ability to find love, joy, or meaning in life? No. But does that mean that it's good for people to have lived through such a horrific experience? No.

I am not saying that public schools are like concentration camps, mine sure wasn't (though I've heard some really terrible stories of a few). I am merely pointing out the flaw in the thinking that because people survive something that it was good for them. "That which does not kill me, strengthens me" is errant thinking. Losing an arm will strengthen your other arm and make your more creative in your approach to life, but are you truly stronger? No. There is a give and take in all things.

So, the foremost question is this: Is the public school system the best option for our children?

No, it's not. A good private school, a great personal tutor, or a fantastic homeschooling environment would be far better. And this is because these environments are more able to "parent" the child. These focused educational systems are built around instilling values (whatever those may be), and they are values with which you agree. If they stopped instilling those values in your child, you would move him or her to another environment.

What's more, the public school system is designed not to teach values to your child (that whole odd reading of "separation of church and state"), and in so doing, teaches your child values with which you may not agree and have shown themselves harmful to individuals and societies (such as the "clique" or "have/have nots" mentalities).

But really the question comes down to this: What is best for our children?

The statistics show, over and over again, how the American public school system is failing our children. And since we do not accept the parents who fail their children, we should not accept any less from the public schools.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Parent 150 Kids a Day

Melanie Hubbard, a public school teacher who used to teach at the collegiate level, has an amazing article on the failures of the public school system. The article is well worth at least skimming for the details that interest you. But what stuck out to me the most was the beginning of the last paragraph in her article:

"I can't do this. I can't parent 150 kids a day, much less educate them."

This reminded me of another post where a public school teacher accosted a homeschooling mother and asked how she could handle so many children.

"How many children are there per teacher in the schools?"
"Thirty."
"Well, I have fewer children to watch than a teacher."

Brilliant.

But the bigger issue is this: Public schools are required to take on the role of parenting. In fact, that seems to be the entire goal of the German school system. School is just as much about teaching values and caring for kids as it is about the three "R"s... maybe more so.

And that's why the system is failing.*

Homeschooling is not for everyone, sure, but it seems equally true that the public school system should not be for anyone as it currently exists. Melanie says it really well:

I believe in a level playing field for all, and it irks me that some can pay for what all deserve. ...I am unaccountably in tears — tears, I decide, of outrage.

She is talking about private schools that not everyone can afford. But the same is true of homeschooling. Many people just can't afford it, due to a lack of time or money, or both. Or perhaps, as Ms. Hubbard seems be, they may have yet to be shown how viable homeschooling really is.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

*I realized as I wrote this line that it would require a blog post of its own. I will post that tomorrow. And as for Ms. Hubbard's desire for a "level playing field"... it's just impractical. I agree that we should all ideally have loving, nurturing and involved parents, but that just isn't going to happen. So even here, the benefits of considering your involvement in your child's education, even in a school system outside your home, point toward homeschooling.

Parents or Professionals?

Today sounds like a very important day for homeschoolers in Germany. And what comes out of the trial may be an indication of a larger, world-wide move against homeschooling. Then again, it may not. But the central questions apply to parents and educators everywhere.

Should parents be trusted/allowed to educate their kids?

Those who have been homeschooling for a while, or been in the homeschool community, ask: Well, who else should we trust and allow to educate our kids? Who could possibly be more effective than loving and nurturing parents armed with the fantastic tools available to us today? And has anyone who opposes homeschooling actually considered the statistics about how successful homeschooled kids are?

Those who are at a minimum wary of homeschooling wonder: Can we trust average parents to accomplish what others have spent at least 4 years in college studying? Who could possibly be more effective than a caring person who has dedicated his or her life to teaching, especially with all the resources available to them? And has anyone who supports homeschooling read the horror stories that come out of that subculture?


I could go on to write the rebuttals and counterpoints to each of these, but I'm going to focus on what seems to be the central issue: Specialization.

The world today is getting more and more specialized. We have professionals for everything, degrees for everything, and so we tend to distrust those who are not "trained" in that area (fantastic post about this over at Principled Discovery). And this has led to one of the number one questions raised by parents: Could I really educate my kids?

The data supports the answer: Yes, you can!

It seems to me that the main issue we need to respond to is the idea of "specialization" and that "professionals" do it better than others.

As a filmmaker, I freely admit that Hollywood tends to produce better films that the independents. But much of that has to with experience, and not nearly as much with money, training, or titles. And who has more experience raising your child: A credentialed teacher or you?

You do.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Jumping In

...and over my head.

I'm not new to homeschooling in the least. I was homeschooled from 1st through 8th grade and a natural guinea pig for Sonlight. I loved my experience and went on to be a Valedictorian at my high school. Homeschooling was really effective for me and my academic success is just one of the many indicators of that.

I've also spent the past years producing the Discover & Do and MathTacular DVDs for Sonlight.

As of Thursday last week, my wife and I realized that we may suddenly be homeschooling kids in the next couple of months as well. And since I have taken it upon myself to become a major voice in the homeschooling world, I decided I needed to start reading about what others have to say about homeschooling.

I am currently subscribed to 18 blogs, and that list is growing almost every day. I also get updates from Google about what is happening on the "interwebs" surrounding homeschooling. And it is blowing me away.

There is so much vehemence on both sides. Some people are scared, others feel attacked, most people are genuinely very concerned about the children. But that's not what we often talk about. We seem to talk about the horrors of public school, the "sick monsters" who pull their children away from society and kill them, dropping test scores, fears of inadequacy, and how the government should or should not be involved.

It's mudslinging.

And it's infuriating. All too often we who are passionate about subjects tend toward heated words and discussion because we strongly believe in it. We lose sight of the real issues and get caught up in the details of trying to prove that we aren't monsters for keeping our kids at home or sending them off to school.

I'm still new to this discussion, but I guess I'm not in over my head as much as I initially felt. This isn't new. The issues are different from the others I have dealt with in the past, but we're still human and we still need to be more gracious and loving.

May this blog be a place where truth is written in love, and where the real issues and concerns are voiced and the mud is left outside on the porch.

~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father