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Are All Homeschooled Students Going to be Super Students?
1/11/2005
In this article I would like to focus on the mistaken notion that all homeschoolers excel academically. According to various studies, home schooled children tend to score consistently higher on standardized tests than children attending public or even private schools. This makes some homeschoolers feel that if their children are not a grade or two ahead of where they should be, just maybe they are doing something wrong. I think this is a terrible and unnecessary burden.
In the first place, it is important to note that, even if our children are working at grade level and doing very average work, they are very likely ahead of where they would be if they were in school. Late bloomers often fall behind almost from the day they enter school. This is not due to a lack of ability but a lack of maturity and readiness. With time these children fall further and further behind and eventually just get shoved from grade to grade. Often they end up hating school, and hating reading and math, while the parents know they are actually quite capable. These same children flourish – eventually – if taught at home. Also the child who truly lacks ability or has a learning disability has a fighting chance if taught and nurtured in the home.
Our youngest was working below grade level for several years. I felt bad, not because there was anything wrong with that, but because I would have liked learning to be easier for him. By the time he was 10 or 11 he had almost made up for lost time. Gradually the weak areas disappeared. By the time he was 14 you would never know he had ever had difficulties. From experience I know that if he had gone to school he would have struggled and begun to feel dumb and incapable. He would have grown up hating reading and very possibly disliking himself because he has fairly high expectations for himself.
Now he is an enthusiastic and eager child with many interests. He is a real hands-on person who loves gardening, cooking, painting, making crafts and generally making the surroundings beautiful. Academically he does very well but of greater importance is not how he would score on achievement tests but how he is developing many skills and interests and that he has time to reflect on the fact that he is a child of God and needs to live accordingly.
It is vitally important that, to the best of our ability, we guide our children according to their abilities. Each of our children has a task here on earth. Some will do great things, others will do little things – the one is not more important than the other. It is not our concern what others are doing. It is only our concern to equip our children, as best as we are able, for the task before them. It is also important to help our children realize that they are not in competition with siblings, cousins or friends. They each have all they need – both strengths and weaknesses to do the task they are to do. They must learn to do it diligently and with a willing heart.
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