Here is a quote from a local homeschooling list I am on. The topic of discussion was how homeschooling and parent cooperatives were perhaps not able to both fall under the home school statute, as a co-op was not, by definition, done in the home, although the instruction was indeed provided by parents. I was sort of following the dialogue casually, interested in the finer points of the law and how it is actually applied, when suddenly, out of nowhere came this
"Are unschoolers getting educated by their parents more than 40% of the time? No way."
WHAT? Did I read this correctly? Did this woman just assert that unschooling parents spend less than 40% of their time educating their kids? Wow. I wonder if that is even POSSIBLE???
I was in such a tizzy I didn't know what to do? Should I jump in to this conversation that really had NOTHING to do with unschooling and SET HER STRAIGHT, or should I just let it go? Well, I couldn't just let it go (as you can see). But I have not jumped into the discussion directly, because in all honesty, it had nothing to do with UNSCHOOLING in the FIRST place. But it did get me thinking, "do people really think I am doing NOTHING with my kids all day?" And it made me sad.
Why does someone else's opinion about what I may or may not be doing make me so sad? I am sad that this woman is so narrowly defining education. I am sad that so many parents don't see all of the opportunities to share this life that is all around us all the time, with their kids. I am sad to see someone so ready to dismiss someone else's choices so blatantly, clearly without really looking into it. And, I am sad that while this woman was trying to figure out a way to be INCLUDED in the homeschooling statute, she was willing to do it at someone else's expense.
It is 7:30 pm on Sunday night. My husband is reading out loud to the boys (listening skills, perhaps), while I sit here and listen (we will discuss the story later, as this is the 14th book in the Warriors series that we have all read together). My older son is practicing a hand-eye coordination game I brought him back from Honduras (geography, social studies and eye tracking), and my younger son is making himself his own special dinner (planning, organizing and following through with an idea he generated, he is only 7). We are all together, quiet, calm and relaxed (we can go on for as long as we like, this curriculum has no start or finish). I wonder if this counts as part of our 40% educational experience for the day?