A reason to homeschool...

[HuggaBuggaMommy]

Wanted to share this with my fellow homeschool mamas:

I was at a writers' conference this week, and one of the author's there said "90% of all 5-year-olds are creative. But by age 21, only 10% of all people are..." The reason behind this? Public school. "The kids spend all day getting told 'don't color outside the lines' and 'stay in your seats' and 'don't speak unless spoken to' etc..." This coming from a former school teacher.

This is one of the main reason I homeschool...

[J3K]

yup. I totally agree.
Sit still.
Don't talk unless you raise your hand.
Can't pee unless you have permission.
No water until it's "water break" time.
No individual thoughts on how something works , or how it ties into another subject , or gaining inspiration from it to complete something else.

I get the comment a lot regarding my youngest "She's so creative". I tell people openly and honestly "It's because she's homeschooled and can follow her creativity. At no point are her creative juices stopped to complete something meaningless to her like a math equation or a grammar lesson."

[MarynMunchkins]

:scratch I'm not dissing homeschooling, but how on earth do you define "creative" in order to come up with a statistic like that? :/

[SouthPaw]

i was wondering how they came up with that statistic, myself :think

[SueQ]

not sure about the statistic thing but I do know that schools and some teachers can really stiffle creativity.

I have heard of teachers docking points because a child drew a purple elephant and elephants are grey not purple or a child drew a round house but houses are built in square or retangle shapes not circular. :cry

[erinee]

a child drew a purple elephant and elephants are grew not purple or a child drew a round house but houses are built in square or retangle shapes not circular.

Try telling that to Walt Disney and Frank Lloyd Wright. :shifty

I agree, I don't know how accurate the statistics are, but I do think schools stifle creativity.

[booboo]

My own experience with the public school is that if the child doesn't or can't fit into their specific "mold" (think cookie cutter shaped child) then there's something wrong with them and the parents have to do whatever they can to make their child(ren) fit. :td

Last week I had my kids make a map of any room in our house. Dd age 5 made one of the bathroom and added stuff to it! I'm so thankful for the freedom to homeschool. :grin

[J3K]

I can recall very vividly wanting to use a crayon instead of a colored pencil. And getting a note sent home in my backpack that said something along the lines of "Jenni wasn't cooperating today refusing to use colored pencils as her medium. " and of course I got in big trouble for it....no one ever asking me "why". (I to this day still cannot stand the sound colored pencils make when they scratch across the page.)

[erinee]

(I to this day still cannot stand the sound colored pencils make when they scratch across the page.)

That sounds so much like me! I don't have the problem with colored pencils, but there are just weird sounds that bother me, things that don't bother most people -- like the clicker on the mouse, not always, but sometimes.

[AttachedMamma]

I have heard of teachers docking points because a child drew a purple elephant and elephants are grey not purple or a child drew a round house but houses are built in square or retangle shapes not circular. :cry


Yeah, well I guess those teachers never heard of a yurt (circular house)! How are we supposed to churn out architects if school won't let them design? :hunh

cindi

[AttachedMamma]

Although I have a couple of unpleasant memories of school (mostly from the treatment of Catholic nuns), I never considered my schooling to be all that awful. I didn't know any different--it's all I knew. :shrug As I learned about homeschooling (before dd was a gleam in my eye), I realized there are so many different ways I could have learned...and been educated...all the potential I missed out on...how untapped my creativity and critical thinking skills were. I realized how I was stifled...forced to conform (basically brainwashed :shifty). It wasn't until after high school and after I took a break and started attending a relaxed community college that I was able to enjoy learning again. Today I am more thirsty to learn than I ever was in my life--and I'm over 40! :grin

cindi

[fourbygrace]

I'm not sure about the accuracy of the statistic, but I have heard this before. I am sitting here trying to think of the people in my inner and outer circle and who I would consider creative. Hmm . . . depends on your definition of creative. The most creative people I know are now homeschooling moms. I don't know many artists either. It probably depends on who is in your circle, but I am including neighbors as well.

My maid-of-honor pulled her daughter out of public school and put her in a private Montessori type school after her 2nd grade teacher refused to let her daughter do an art project any other way except the way she told the students to do it. The flower had to be red, and the leaves had to be at a 45 degree angle, the snowman could not have buttons on his stomach becasue it did not match her model etc. She also made her daughter miss recess for weeks because her handwriting was not neat enough. (I had this same woman as my teacher for 4th grade and I disliked her very much. She did not let anyone think outside the box that she had created.)

Public schools are designed to keep everyone on the same conveyor belt and produce everyone with an equal education. Many schools have eliminated any of the creative classes such as art and music. There is not much room for creativity with all the testing that the students must be prepared for or the schools are in jeopardy of losing their funding. Math, reading and writing are the focus now, and there is little time for anything else. I taught for 6 years before children and I know this to be true in the schools that I taught at -four different schools in three different districts. It is worse now than it was 8 years ago.

The U.S. educational system is designed to raise followers who will fit into a socialistic society and if you think I am exaggerating, read some of the goals of the NEA. I am grateful to still have the right to homeschool, althought the NEA wants to eliminate that right as well as charter or private schools. The all powerful state will then reign. Sorry to get on a sopabox, but I just read notes last week from the NEA 's annual conference and it was frightening.

Blessings,
Mary

[SouthPaw]

:mrgreen in PS i was encouraged to do creative writing throughout school...also had the opportunity to take a computer graphics class in HS ... i personally didn't feel squelched... however i am sure some teachers out there are more worried about following the "rules" for each creative project than actually allowing children to experiment.. i did take one art class where you were actually judged on results (i.e. talent) and well, i am not the greatest artist and got a B, even though i really tried to do my best w/all the work... which kinda stinks when it is messing with your GPA :shrug it was a little confining to have to live up to someone else's standard.. :think

[LauraK]

This is slightly off topic but I just want to say that math takes creativity. My dh is a math professor and I am a statistician and it drives me nuts when people say math is not a creative endeavor. This is why many mathematicians are also talented musicians.

That said, I do think it sucks that there is an absence of art and music in some schools and that some teachers are not nurturing of a childs creativity. With what I know about math education I think sometimes teachers make students "think within the box" because they themselves are lacking in knowledge of mathematics. Since I am well trained in mathematics and have the ability to think about mathematical things I like to always see all the different ways to approach a problem, even a "simple" one that you could give to an elementary or middle school child. Unfortunately, many teachers are not so well trained. As a child many of my teachers were supportive of my ability to solve problems my own way. I never studied (because I had HORRIBLE work habits) so quickly learned how to derive equations I would need myself so I could do well on tests. Anyway...I just hate when people imply that mathematics is not a creative endeavor. I am sure people who teach writing would also consider that a "creative endeavor".

[J3K]

I took a creative writing course in highschool and was shocked when the teacher gave us outlines of things we had to write on.
It was just like any other class in truth. Do what the teacher says and if you stray outside the lines you are docked for it.

I made the lead character in one of my stories a male instead of a female. I got an F for not following teachers orders , and then I got detention to re write the story the way the teacher wanted it written ...with a female lead character.

Yup. Creative writing alright.

[fourbygrace]

This is slightly off topic but I just want to say that math takes creativity. My dh is a math professor and I am a statistician and it drives me nuts when people say math is not a creative endeavor. This is why many mathematicians are also talented musicians.

That said, I do think it sucks that there is an absence of art and music in some schools and that some teachers are not nurturing of a childs creativity. With what I know about math education I think sometimes teachers make students "think within the box" because they themselves are lacking in knowledge of mathematics.


Sorry if I insulted you, Laura! I did not mean to say that math was not a creative endevour. It can certainly be creative. I totally agree with your assessment that teachers are sometimes lacking in knowledge of mathematics. That is so true. My college class entitled "Teaching Math" consisted of us going through a basic math book to make sure our skills were up to an 8th grade level and then we had to prepare lesson plans using a Math textbook as our guide. That was the class in total - I kid you not!! Not one drop of creativity included. I had to learn to think more creatively after I was already in the classroom and had NO textbooks to use. I have learned even more since beginning to homeschool.

My 8 year old has more natural mathematical ability than I do becasue I was never taught to think mathematically. I was great at computation and following the rules, but never learned to think out of the box. I did great in math classes until I hit geometry. I did not get it at all. Somehow, I got a B in that class, but do not remember one single thing about it.

So I stand corrected! :D

Blessings,
Mary

[LauraK]

Oh, I am not insulted...it is just one of my little pet peeves... :) Geek that I am :) I do realize that a lot of math is not taught in this manner and that a lot of the creativity in math does come up later on.

Since I have gotten involved with doing math ed research I have been really shocked at how poorly math is taught. I think the one on one format of homeschooling is probably wonderful for most kids. I learned math fine in PS but I think about 10% of kids will learn math fine no matter what because of how their brains are wired...the majority of people however don't do so well unfortunately. That said I used to HATE math even though I excelled in it and thought it was really boring even though I was good at it. I only started to like math once I got past calculus in college and started taking the 300 level courses and beyond...LOL. I think this really establishes me as a geek...

Oh well it is almost midnight and speaking of teaching I have to teach tomorrow morning so I better get to bed!!

[cindergretta]

:blush I didn't read all the replies but here is my take- when I was in 2nd grade, my art teacher told me my western picture was "wrong" b/c I put a sun in the corner. :sad2 And when my dd was in public school for K (btw, I don't have any REAL problems with PS and think it is necessary, so please don't take this the wrong way!) she was told she had to sit while doing her artwork. I honestly couldn't figure out why. She was standing right next to her chair. What difference did it make? The little boy next to her made his basket with all the same color construction paper and was told to take it apart and re-do it using at least a couple of different colors! :jawdrop :hunh My kids do all kinds of (really weird????) stuff in the course of any given day. They write and illustrate books, make menus, airline tickets, and coupons, draw pictures, and do a LOT of cutting and gluing! And that is just the artsy crafty part. Their games and playing get wildly creative.... or maybe the word is strange.... but I love it and there is no direction from me or anyone else.

[milkmommy]

I can see where PS could be a huge problem I'd had both good and bad experience in this area. What I bet might be a more intresting study would be the overall home life. While I always attended "PS" my parents were very involved they took us to museums parks plays operas musicals art shows provided us with lots of creative outlits etc as a result though schooling at times might have worked "against us" (not awways) we had such a positve home enviroment we thrived in the creative department, yet I knew "friends" whos parents just didn't want to bother they were tol Go watch TV just do what your teacher says stop coloring outside the lines (or just never bothered providing those mediums. My guess is the HS envirmoment is going to simpily have nvolved parents. I can't see any HS mamma here saying all day leave me alone and go watch TV. IF that makes any sense.

Deanna

[J3K]

I can't see any HS mamma here saying all day leave me alone and go watch TV.

:shifty :shifty

In my defense , it was a terrible , horrible , no good , very bad day.

[milkmommy]

I can't see any HS mamma here saying all day leave me alone and go watch TV.

:shifty :shifty

In my defense , it was a terrible , horrible , no good , very bad day.

:giggle :hug we have those days also (of course my DD woll likely attend priviate school) :shifty its the overall all the time never bothering to actualy stop and spend quality time teaching I'm refering to. Like whe nI ddid some volenteer work at an Elementary school it was asked that the paerts spend 10 mintues reading to their kids (anything) and the number of parents who flat ou told us they had better things to do an dthats what "we" were for. :no2 Not the attitude you'll get from HS who are deticating a huge chunk of their lifes to teaching their kids.

Deanna

[Desert Rose]

I went to PS and did well. But my dh and sisters did not do well. That is because I am the type that can sit and listen to lectures all day and enjoy it! LOL. Dh and my sisters were labelled as trouble-makers early on (they are energetic, social, kinesthetic learners) and therefore ended up hating school and dropping out. That is one of the reasons ds will not go to PS (that and the anti-religious, social-agenda issues). I cannot see him as the type that can thrive in a rigid atmosphere that does not value individuality, energy, and self--directed learning.