Faith Works 4-21-23

Faith Works 4-21-23
Jeff Gill

A theology of holistic education
___

If you follow much of the discussion and debate out of the Statehouse, and in a number of school districts with levies up on the ballot next month, you are hearing a vocal constituency is concerned public education is getting too much money, and that parents need more choices with less interference in how they educate their children.

Some of this discussion is around how homeschooling is managed in Ohio. As a parish minister, I've preached at least once in every church I've ever served this: I firmly believe every parent should homeschool their children.

Watching the shocked expressions on more than a few faces, I let the tension hang a bit in the air, and then add: many, probably most of us, will supplement that with our public schools.

I mean that, not just as a rhetorical device. Most of the problems we think we have, or are told exist, in the public school system, are because not enough parents are homeschooling. Another point that always gets some pushback when I make it is that between birth and age 18 the typical child will spend 9% of their time in school.

After some puzzlement, folks put the pieces together and then say "wait, you're counting the time they spend asleep." You bet I am. Sleep is perhaps the number one issue educators are struggling with, in public, parochial, or higher education. They aren't getting enough of it, the students or their parents, and the educational process is seriously harmed by that lack.

You might also object to including their first five years of life, but how a child enters and experiences kindergarten and first grade is shaped profoundly by whether or not the student is prepared with basics like letters, numbers, and colors before Day One in the little red schoolhouse.

Summers? Yeah, I'm counting that. If June, July, and nowadays the first half of August, anyhow, are filled with stress, conflict, anger, uncertainty, the teachers and bus drivers and administrators know it in the first weeks of school.

I am quite serious. Every family is, or should be, homeschooling. The education and development of a child, a student, a young citizen, is not just the responsibility of the school staff. And here's the thing: homeschoolers, legit doing the real deal homeschoolers, of which there are many in Licking County and God bless them for taking that on, know that their children need rest and solid nutrition and encouragement and a supportive structure all around them for learning to happen. I love actual homeschoolers; they are brave and devoted and their children learn and succeed in their lives.

If someone deals with their child's problems in school by saying "I'm going to homeschool" but puts no time into looking at what they intend or getting that approved, which in Ohio and Licking County is indeed quite simple: that's the kind of "homeschooling" which gives homeschoolers an unfair bad name.

For the vast majority of us with kids in public school, or even the rest of us who don't have school-age family anymore, but interact with and encourage and coach or counsel or in any way work with children: everyone should be homeschooling. Otherwise, we are wasting the money that goes into our school districts and public education. Because they can't with their 9% of a child's life, no matter how committed they are, change the 100% of a student's experience.

As for public education, I'm in and out of all ten districts in Licking County, and there's not one where I see they are wasting time, money, or your student's capacity. Parochial schools I see less often up close, but their outcomes are consistently amazing. Bless them all, but just keep praying for the rising generation of youth, who are facing challenges none of us could imagine when we were young.

They need us all to teach them well.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher; he's also become a full-time caregiver so he's interested in all ages. Tell him how you've learned to teach our children well at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.