Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your grandkids …

Briefly here, it’s worth unpacking a few assumptions underlying a (presumably rhetorical) question like this.

First, there is the assumption that if one is not unschooling, then one is “just replicating a school-like atmosphere at home.” In other words, this assumes that unschooling is the only alternative to re-creating school at home. I disagree with this, having found that, even though we are not unschooling, our home learning experience does not resemble the experience that my daughter had in the local school system. One of the many beauties of homeschooling is that we parents can select an educational approach that fits both us and our students: I have chosen an approach that fits my children’s love of routine and my need for learning goals to keep me on task. However, having educational goals, routines, and even textbooks does not mean that we are simply creating a replica of the learning that is going on in the big brick building across town.

Second, there is the assumption that avoiding a school-like atmosphere is the main reason for homeschooling; otherwise, why bother doing it? I would push back on that one, as I have heard (and have myself) so many reasons for homeschooling. Some of us do this so that our children can spend time with a parent whose work schedule would otherwise keep them apart much of the time. Some of us do this so that we can support our children’s exceptional learning abilities and needs. Some of us want to see our children becoming familiar with topics that they would be unlikely to encounter in a public school system. Some of us see the socialization aspect of public school as a negative influence on our children’s lives. We have different reasons for doing this apart from avoiding a school-like atmosphere; hence the range of homeschooling philosophies and approaches.

And finally, there is the assumption that a school-like atmosphere is so negative that replicating it is not a worthwhile endeavour for at-home learning. There certainly are aspects of institutional education that I want to avoid (the difficulty of tailoring learning experiences for individual children in public schools is a big one for me). That said, there are aspects of public school that can be worth imitating (in my case, having long-term learning goals or “curriculum expectations” in the parlance of public education). School is not wholly bad, and there are aspects of it that I am perfectly happy using in my home if they enhance our learning experience.

This is getting long here. (Like I said, I need a blog post to flesh this out!) Thanks for the comment!