Homeschooling, unschooling, home educating, call it what you will it’s all the same thing.  So here are the reasons that our family chose to unplug from (or really never plug into) school.  Opting out of School offers the following benefits:

Access to a Free Education

I wanted my children to have unlimited access to a free education.

This is Freedom to access unlimited information which is unrestricted by time or spacial constraints, untethered by a standardized polyester curriculum  designed solely to increase scores in order to funnel more funding into a district where it can continue to be misappropriated.

Education and information that is Freely available through an unlimited variety of sources instead of a limited pre-selected, pre-chosen staff limited by their own perspective and questionable dedication.

Freedom to access an infinite plethora of financially free resources such as libraries, Internet, church,  community, family,  apprenticeships,  etc that all exist outside the limited walls of the classroom.  This experience  may or may not include the further  opportunity for reasonably inexpensive educational experience according to our family’s economic situation at any given time; such as road trips, visits to the zoo’s, museums and other cultural events etc.  The true freedom for such opportunities  only exist outside of the time and space limitations of the school day and school building are now freely available to my kids without worry of time restrictions or satisfying compulsory attendance records.

And free from monetary demands as well as monetary expectations to compensate for misappropriations of funds which require me to pay for group supplies, furnishings and useless field trips during which any true learning will be curtailed by pre-determined tours that limit time  for explorations anyway.

Unencumbered Opportunity for Intellectual Growth

I went to college when I was 18, like everyone else. But unlike other people, I had never been to school before. The first standardized test I ever took was the SAT. The day I took it was the first time I’d ever been in a high school classroom. It didn’t seem like a fun place.

I started college as a Music Ed major, because while I didn’t know what I wanted to study, I knew I liked music. The Intro to Music Education teacher, a woman I’ll call Mrs. Grimini, had taught kindergarten at a local school before joining the university faculty. She led us in songs like “The wheels on the bus go round and round!” She wanted us to share a memory of our own music teachers from kindergarten and first grade.

Everyone had one: The triangle. Holding hands in a circle. Those rainbow xylophones.

“Actually,” I said, “I didn’t go to school. But my dad is a jazz pianist?”  Read the full article by Kate Fridkis here

NEWELL - According to home-school parents in the Newell, Vale and Nisland communities, there are a lot of reasons they have chosen to teach their children at home.

"One of the most important things to me is that I can work with my child's individual strengths, work on challenges and not get bogged down in a specific schedule," said Michele Raposa, who home schools her three children, Gabe, Seth and Kalee.

Raposa said the children move at their own pace, and if they work quickly through something and want to start something new, she doesn't have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up. It is just her child.

"It is a daily hands-on experience," said home-school parent Cheyenne Winkler.

Raposa said she is part of the Black Hills Area Home School organization. Raposa said she appreciates the support and the different activities that are available to her children through this organization. The group meets monthly, when members share their talents. Raposa has taught several sessions for the organization, including classes in science, geography and social studies.

"The kids involved get a different teacher now and then," she said smiling.

The organization also helps promote activities such as track and field day, ski day, dance, presentation club and a variety of other activities to promote socialization skills.

"Parents want the best for their children," Raposa said.

For most home school parents, part of the allure of teaching their children at home is the flexibility.

"We can educate our children through normal curriculum but also through things outside the classroom," Winkler said, adding that religion also plays a role in her decision to teach her children at home, but it is not the sole reason. Read the full article by Colleen Brunner here.

When I was a kid learning in public school I remember thinking, where is the trick? The answer was never the obvious simple one that made the most sense to me but the one they were hiding in the riddle. I understood things best when directly applying it to my life and even having the right answer given to me first, and remembering the right answer instead of accidentally memorizing the wrong one. Because of this, I trusted little of what I read, and tried to find the hidden meaning in what could really be simple learning. Wouldn’t that make for a generation of untrusting people? Hmm, it explains a lot, right? Read the full article here