Materials. Part I.

On rainy days I like taking the kids store browsing. We’ll spend hours walking around PetSmart, Wal*Mart, Target, and Borders book store simply roaming the aisles, looking at items we’ll never buy, or amusing ourselves with animal and people watching. The other morning, however, I spent a solid portion of our trip time scanning an enormous selection of homeschool, afterschool, and remedial workbooks for students in pre-K through 12th grade at a local bookstore. I was surprised to see such an abundant selection of materials in such a relatively small store.

This got me thinking. Is the local academic rigor in this area so weak that parents feel compelled to purchase additional schooling workbooks for their kids– like my sister-in-law, an astute parent who recognizes what her children are and are not learning in school and is willing to put in the time to correct academic deficiencies in her children? Or, are teachers purchasing these workbooks to ensure they are covering testable grade-appropriate skills required by No Child Left Behind? (I have a strange feeling this could be the case, since parents I speak to often refer to how well their child did on the state testing). Or, is there a demand for these materials because there is a good deal of homeschooled kids in Eastern PA? According to the staff worker I spoke to all three questions sum up why Borders’ homeschooling section is about the same size as their magazine section: the schools in this area have a poor reputation, homeschooling is a popular alternative for the county– the highest in the state; and many teachers do purchase the workbooks to help them prepare for standardized tests.

It doesn’t surprise me that many of the parents in this area homeschool. The county we live in is littered with 4000 sq. foot family McMansions throughout the older and newer neighborhoods surrounded by a sea of worn houses and trailers in serious need of TLC; all of the social services for this county are located in the same area as the major school districts; and the average commute time is over an hour for 27% of the working population– over 60% of the population drives at least 40 minutes to work every day! All of this can mean several things: There are droves of upper middle and upper class families in the area, and, by the same token, a lot of people are barely making end’s meet; higher paying jobs do not exist close by, and just as many are commuting into NYC and the surrounding metropolitan area to find those better paying jobs. How do these statistics and general observations add up to homeschooling? Easy. First, homeschooling not only takes courage and demands parents to be willing to take risks, but it also takes a rudimentary understanding of how to educate one’s child. In other words, one needs to be just as smart as our local elementary teacher. I think it is safe to equate higher learning with a higher social status. (This by no means implies the rich are smart or those in poverty are dumb. Please do not jump to unsupported conclusions). Second, generally speaking, the more money one has the less likely they are to tolerate the social ills that plague the economically poor– that’s one reason why this area has so many gated communities. Wasn’t it Hesiod whom said, “A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing”?

I had an interesting conversation with a grandfather the other day in the park about the local school system. His story is a sad story. His youngest son, a recent high school graduate and special needs child, had a child with his girlfriend six years ago. After nearly five years, the grandfather and his wife, grandma, took custody of the six-year-old from his own son. It was an agreed upon move, for the betterment of the child, but still a heart-wrenching tragedy laced with the seeds of future frustrations and sorrows. His experiences with the school systems in the area were less than praiseworthy. Having both Honors and special needs children attend the local high school, his experiences with the local school system could not have received more attention for me. By the end of our conversation, I could not help returning to the idea of homeschooling our children.

More out of curiosity than investigation we recently purchased a pre-K and a Kindergarten workbook. The pre-K book is designed for children ages 3-5. For those who do not have kids or are not around little kids enough to see the glaring problem staring one right in the face, let me just say there is one heck of a lot of difference– emotionally, socially, developmentally– between a three-year-old and a five-year-old! The skills taught in the pre-K and Kindergarten books will be set aside for another blog, but lets just say there is not much difference between the two.

So what does all this mean? It means that after 866 words I’ve got some more thinking to do and a heck of a lot more to write about.

To be continued….