Choosing to learn

Each year, as the time nears when kids will be heading back to school, our family has to make some decisions.  Our older two kids both have the choice of whether to attend the public school just up the street or to homeschool with me.  Once school starts, they’re choice is made for the year.

For my eldest, the choice is now easy.  He’s done both, and he’s decided that homeschool is his preferred way to learn.  He likes to work independently, to focus on a single topic until he exhausts it, to pursue his interests as far as they take him,  I don’t foresee that he’ll change his mind, at least not until highschool rolls around.

My middle son still really struggles with this decision.  As a relentlessly busy child, he hates the parts of school that involve sitting in chairs and doing busy work.  On the other hand, he’s also a very social child, so he loves the constant stimulus of other children around him.  Though our local homeschool group is large and active, with something to do almost every day, it’s never enough to satisfy his need for social interaction.  So far, he’s always chosen public school, and I think he may do so again this year, though he’s still wavering.

I have my own preferences, of course. I like the freedom of homeschooling, the ability to expose my kids to all kinds of learning experiences at home, in nature, in the community, and even farther afield.  The point for me, however, is that I want to give my kids the opportunity to choose how they’ll learn. I don’t want them to assume that learning happens only in one place and in one way. I want them to know that school is only one place that learning happens. I want them to pursue learning wherever they are and whatever they’re doing, even if they do end up choosing to attend public school. I want them to choose learning rather than have it chosen for them.