I am an Independent Educator. What is that? Well to help you understand, the more common term is "Homeschooler. toddler gymnasticsBut the problem is that I don't think the term homeschooler really exemplifies what we do. Sure people are familiar with the term, and everyone seems to think they know exactly what that means but..... well..um...
It's been nearly a decade that I've been doing what we do and in my experience it has become evident that most folks really do not truly understand. Therefore I decided that a new term was needed in order to better describe what it is our family does (you know, us toddler gymnastics apparelstrange folks that don't send our kids to school). We tried 'Autodidacts' for a while, but it seemed to just cause more confusion! So, I've adapted the term "Independent Education" and that is what we call ourselves around here....
Hence it does folks like us a great injustice by misrepresenting our intentions. This confusion has lead to the dumbfounded stares from our family members when we first announce our intentions to educate at home, and the 'tsk' sounds from neighbors who appear to instantly feel sorry for our poor kids. It also generates this seemingly insatiable need that strangers have to perform 'random' tests on our children to ensure that they are indeed learning something (as if it's their job to assess this) The general lack of understanding also perpetuates the never-ending line of questioning about 'socialization'...how will the children learn to get along with other humans if they are 'homeschooled'? Not to mention, the baffled receptionists at dance class, gymnastics and other kids activities when we write "homeschool" on the line where it says "school" on the registration forms.
The good news is, that by our very nature parents like me are indeed outside-the-lines kinds of people so we can use whatever term we like and there isn't any board or headquarters that can make us do otherwise.
Call it what you will... in-fact I encourage anyone to invent their own terms for their own individual family dynamic... around here, we call it "Independent Education":)
I realize that not everyone makes the same choice as I did - to avoid "school". So just keep in mind, that a family wherein the children do attend some kind of 'school' can still be "Independent Educators". Just as there is a great deal to be learned outside the 'house'....http://itfvn.com/201009-toddler-gymnastics-great-thing-to-begin.phptoddler gymnastics wearThere's lots to be learned (A WHOLE LOT) outside of that classroom.
It's all about learning so, Go learn!
by: Laurette Lynn
It's been nearly a decade that I've been doing what we do and in my experience it has become evident that most folks really do not truly understand. Therefore I decided that a new term was needed in order to better describe what it is our family does (you know, us toddler gymnastics apparelstrange folks that don't send our kids to school). We tried 'Autodidacts' for a while, but it seemed to just cause more confusion! So, I've adapted the term "Independent Education" and that is what we call ourselves around here....
Hence it does folks like us a great injustice by misrepresenting our intentions. This confusion has lead to the dumbfounded stares from our family members when we first announce our intentions to educate at home, and the 'tsk' sounds from neighbors who appear to instantly feel sorry for our poor kids. It also generates this seemingly insatiable need that strangers have to perform 'random' tests on our children to ensure that they are indeed learning something (as if it's their job to assess this) The general lack of understanding also perpetuates the never-ending line of questioning about 'socialization'...how will the children learn to get along with other humans if they are 'homeschooled'? Not to mention, the baffled receptionists at dance class, gymnastics and other kids activities when we write "homeschool" on the line where it says "school" on the registration forms.
The good news is, that by our very nature parents like me are indeed outside-the-lines kinds of people so we can use whatever term we like and there isn't any board or headquarters that can make us do otherwise.
Call it what you will... in-fact I encourage anyone to invent their own terms for their own individual family dynamic... around here, we call it "Independent Education":)
I realize that not everyone makes the same choice as I did - to avoid "school". So just keep in mind, that a family wherein the children do attend some kind of 'school' can still be "Independent Educators". Just as there is a great deal to be learned outside the 'house'....http://itfvn.com/201009-toddler-gymnastics-great-thing-to-begin.phptoddler gymnastics wearThere's lots to be learned (A WHOLE LOT) outside of that classroom.
It's all about learning so, Go learn!
by: Laurette Lynn
