Why We Home-Educated and Why We’d

Do It Again

Michael Goheen

Burnaby, B.C.

Introduction

• Background– Home educated four to end of

secondary school– Lecture worldwide in education

• Why did we home-educate?– Not: academic excellence, character

building, moral training, protection from wicked world

– But: Christian education

• Why would we do it again?– Fruits and results we never anticipated

Academic Reasons

• Excellent education• Read/write/think creatively and critically• Able to foster strengths of each• Breadth of subjects: e.g., able to teach

intellectual history, art history• Extracurricular activities and subjects. String

quartet.• Important foundational studies: Biblical and

western worldview.• Explicitly Christian: most important consideration.• Kids enjoy learning; curiosity remains.• Verbal skills• Flexibility

Social Reasons

• Develops leaders• Not primarily peer-oriented or

dependent; ‘lemmings’ or clones• Boundary breaking: Age; gender • More positive interactions per day• Contribution to broader community• Relationships: kids at home are forced

to work through problems when they disagree, argue, or fight

• Support group. Family relating to family not just kids. More wholistic.

Family Reasons

• Friendships: Kids and parents• Flexibility in schedules: enabled us to be

involved in other creative things • Marnie continued to learn as she prepares and

reads.• Marnie really knows our kids • Fathers are able to play bigger role in lives of

kids.• Learning same subjects at different levels • Kids learn from each other. Older teach

younger. • No homework! Have evenings together.

‘Spiritual’ reasons

• Family worship. Single most important dimension of our family

• Many spinoffs have come we did not anticipate

Moral reasons

• Able to develop moral maturity. Following scenario common: kids learn from peers, learn things not acceptable to parents, parents lay down law to curb behaviour, legalism, friction

• Moral fibre and convictions; peer-orientation not factor.

Aesthetic Reasons

• Kids able to develop insight and discernment in: – music – art – drama.

Emotional Reasons

• Develop more healthy emotional stability. Not peer and social pressure.

• Security – bullying rampant in (also Christian) schools; – pressure for ‘romance’

• ‘Adolescent angst’: Comes from grouping together kids who struggling with identity

Learning/Life Integration

• Ongoing connection and discussion between life and learning. No artificial (‘rational’) structures.

• Better prepared for so-called ‘real world’

Public Life

• Able to criticize and analyse current events

• Analyse critical areas: e.g., media, globalization, economics, technology

Challenge

• Challenge each of you to list some categories and list/talk about benefits

• Tell stories

• Talk about struggles