Yesterday I came home to watch my 7 year old son and 5 year old son playing in the house. This would seem common to most people except that in our house its the final sign that a very bad habit picked up in public school by my oldest son is finally passing with time.
My son entered kindergarden last year and by the time we pulled him out of school he had developed the idea that children are to be divided into age groups with the higher age groups to be seen as superior to the lower age groups. Almost immediately upon entering school his time away from his siblings coupled with this new-found arrogance strained his relationship with his then 4 year old brother and 3 year old sister. Meanwhile, the two siblings at home thrived in their relationship.
One of the greatest historical novelties of public (and even private) education is collecting children into age homogenous groups. In the experience of my own children this is detrimental to the development of natural human interaction with other people -- especially since MOST people are not your own age. When we enter school at the age of five we are predominantly around people within 1-2 years of our age until we get to college. We even tend to get jobs working with other teenagers. If we go to a small college that might not change. If we go to a large university chances are there will be some older people there with us. When we finally enter the workforce all of the sudden we face the stark reality of "generational diversity".
Second, this "age arrogance" that develops does not allow slower children to develop necessary life skills at their pace. People tend to be faster and slower on different skills. With me, I should have been in school until I was 20 when it came to English. Homeschooling is more like the one room school house, especially since so many homeschoolers have 3 or more kids. Even social events tend to include large groups of kids from 5 all the way up to 18 years of age. Adults also tend to be there in droves. That is more like real life and IMHO that is truly a benefit of homeschooling.
My son entered kindergarden last year and by the time we pulled him out of school he had developed the idea that children are to be divided into age groups with the higher age groups to be seen as superior to the lower age groups. Almost immediately upon entering school his time away from his siblings coupled with this new-found arrogance strained his relationship with his then 4 year old brother and 3 year old sister. Meanwhile, the two siblings at home thrived in their relationship.
One of the greatest historical novelties of public (and even private) education is collecting children into age homogenous groups. In the experience of my own children this is detrimental to the development of natural human interaction with other people -- especially since MOST people are not your own age. When we enter school at the age of five we are predominantly around people within 1-2 years of our age until we get to college. We even tend to get jobs working with other teenagers. If we go to a small college that might not change. If we go to a large university chances are there will be some older people there with us. When we finally enter the workforce all of the sudden we face the stark reality of "generational diversity".
Second, this "age arrogance" that develops does not allow slower children to develop necessary life skills at their pace. People tend to be faster and slower on different skills. With me, I should have been in school until I was 20 when it came to English. Homeschooling is more like the one room school house, especially since so many homeschoolers have 3 or more kids. Even social events tend to include large groups of kids from 5 all the way up to 18 years of age. Adults also tend to be there in droves. That is more like real life and IMHO that is truly a benefit of homeschooling.
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