Homeschooling Panel

To often I think people get a negative view of homeschooling, and I felt this panel did a very good job addressing the positive aspects of schooling children at home. There is a very good chance my children will go to a public school, considering I will be teaching at one. However, this made me consider what it would be like to teach my child at home. They wouldn't have bells to interrupt their learning. They wouldn't have to change from subject to subject. If they are really into math at the time, they could push through as much of the material as they want, grade after grade if wanted, until they needed a break. Students schooled at home get much more one-on-one time and don't have to compete for the attention of the teacher.

I think there is a lot we as future educators can learn from home schooling. After taking Paideia 2, we all know that changing the school system is alot easier to discuss then to actually do. However, I think there are things that homeschooling offers that we need to look closer into and try to incorporate into the public education system.

Religion in U.S Schools

I wrote my Response Paper #4 on religion in U.S schools. I discussed the three paths schools could take when deciding what parts of religion to include in their curriculum. They can leave religion out entirely and ignore its existence, they can teach the Creationism and Darwin sides entirely, or they can embark on the path less traveled and offer multiple religions and allow the students (and parents) the option of which to study. I like the third option best. The idea I propose in my paper is that this would happen in the form of one course that has units on a variety of religions. The requirements for this class could be something like this; students are required to attend 3 of the 6 units offered on the chosen religions for the course. Religions could be chosen from a survey of the religions the students are most interested in learning about. If an assignment or lecture came up that was offensive to the student’s beliefs, they would be excused from it and given an alternative assignment. I think this is a good idea, because it allows parents to have a say in what units they want their child attending. It also doesn't force Christianity or Darwinism on the students, but lets them select what religions they are interested in studying. I don't think a school should entirely ignore religion in their curriculum, and this option makes it possible to include it.