Top 10 Reasons I Couldn’t Homeschool

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The theme for today’s Fatherhood Friday is more back to school stories. Obviously, my little man is too young for me to drop any knowledge about going back to school and I’ve done my best to forget as much as I can about my own school experiences.

However, I recently had a conversation about the topic of homeschooling that got me thinking. I’m sure it is a great option for some parents and I applaud them for it, but there are a number of reasons why it would be the last choice for me, and they include:

Patience is not one of my virtues
My curriculum would likely be rejected
The only poetry I know is that of John Facenda
It would take away time from blogging
‘History of the Clone Wars‘ wouldn’t be recognized subject
Social development would be measured by Twitter ‘followers’
‘Field trips’ to football games would mitigate cost savings
‘Compound fracture interest’ remains controversial mathematical concept
My associate professor of music: James Hetfield
I’d be the first parent to fail their kid out of home school

Tagged as: Clone Wars, Education, Football, Homeschooling, John Facenda, Twitter

Keith Wilcox

Damn I'm an Idiot I was totally thinking HALFORD. Dumb dumb dumb -- the stupidity hurts my brain :-) hahahah
Keith Wilcox

How did I miss this post!? (did you know there is actually a symbol that combines the question mark with the exclamation point? It's called an interrobang -- seriously!) This post is excellent. You might know I homeschool my kids (permeates almost all my writing). I completely understand where you're coming from. It definitely takes time away from blogging. Social stuff, hmmm, not so sure that's much of a problem. But, The field trips can definitely get expensive (note, trip to St Louis Arch). And, you and I share a love for Judas Priest apparently! Painkiller!
PJ Mullen

I have a lot of respect for parents that homeschool, I just know that I'm better suited for supporting his education through active participation rather than being his primary educator. And I'm a big fan of Judas Priest as well, but I had just mowed the lawn to Metallica before I wrote this post.
TotallyToni

Okay this made me LOL (I am a fellow Nestle Family attendee). My main reason I could not home school is because I have a hard enough time trying to help my son (4th grade) with his math...so sad really that I can't figure it out most of the time....

Math not my strong suit, but I could whiz them through the rest of the subjects through graduation :) Okay so the patience thing could pose a problem here as well :)
PJ Mullen

Oh cool, nice to meet you. That opportunity came out of left field for me and am excited to be involved. My problem would be teaching grammar, but I'm totally with you on the patience thing.
Joeprah

Never say never. I thought I would never be a stay-at-home-dad and just look at me. You just never know. Clone Wars has got to some historical value, just saying.
PJ Mullen

Very true, I have a nasty habit of still saying never even though there is a minivan parked in my driveway.
Weasel Momma

Just think how fun it would be to teach a class on "How real men like their chili".
PJ Mullen

Hmm, you might be on to something...I think Barbecue 101 would be a highly insightful topic as well.
RecycledDad

It is good to be frank with ourselves about our strengths and weaknesses!

My parents home-schooled my two younger brothers for a few years, and my brothers both ended up a grade ahead. But my parents are both professional teachers, so I guess they had kind of an edge?! It's certainly not a job that every parent is qualified to do.

Thanks for an entertaining post!
PJ Mullen

Thanks, that is pretty cool and I agree that certainly gave them an edge. The way my wife and I are looking at it is the student will get out of schooling what they put into it. So as long as we are there to encourage and support him in his studies he'll do fine.
simplefather

I would argue that the opportunities at a football game are endless. Math conversion (yards to feet). Arithmetic (we're killing them by 10 points). How not to act in public (the drunk guy who just spilled his beer all over you). The list could go on and on.
PJ Mullen

Hmmm...now you've got me rethinking my whole opinion on this. See what you did right there? :)
SeattleDad

Maybe you could be start the 'School of Blog' and be the Jack Black character. Maybe then it would work.
PJ Mullen

That is a great idea. Then I could sell the movie rights and get Jack Black to play me. Unsurprisingly, there are some physical similarities :)
Jason @ The Devoted Dad

Yes, History of the Clone Wars- where can I sign up? I like the social interaction that my kids get in their preschool setting. I do believe some home schooled parents are able to manage this, but it definitely takes a lot of work and skill to be able to provide a good educational environment in the home. -Jason
PJ Mullen

I agree, it is possible and I can see the benefits, but it is more work than I think I'm capable of. Besides, there are plenty of opportunities to be involved in his schooling that I will be sure to take advantage.
R_Mattocks

This one had me rolling, especially the social development and the Clone Wars. I also found out my level of patience last year when the schools shut down from Swine Flu. I resolved to try keeping the girls on a semi-school schedule complete with worksheets, book reports, math problems. .. by day 3 I wanted to run free with a heard of lemmings. And the saddest part of this is, I just got my initial certification to teach HS English.
PJ Mullen

If I homeschooled my kid would probably end up blogging about how much his teacher sucks :) Wow, HS English. Good for you, one of my good friends that graduated our business oriented college abandoned a sales career track to teach HS history in the Boston public school system. He loves it.
tysdaddy

Hetfield = God!

You could so homeschool . . . we did it for a few years, until we moved to a better school district. One with fewer incidents of violence. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over . . .
PJ Mullen

Ha! Yes he is. I actually had Ride the Lightning on while trying to write that post :)
theteachertom

Ha! Great list.

But seriously, I thought about home schooling before I became a teacher. My number one reason for rejecting it was that I simply don't have the skills or energy to cobble together a social life for a kid. And that, more than academics, is why my girl goes to regular school.
PJ Mullen

I agree, I could probably manage the academics to an extent, but being the introvert I am the social thing would hamstring him too much. For my wife and I the big thing is being involved in his school work no matter where the learning takes place. I would imagine we'll do our fair share of schooling him even though it will be through homework and whatnot.