Wife Swap

So last night's Wife Swap featured a local family here in Yucaipa. They are self-described as non-conformist and they homeschool their children using an unschooling method. Did you guys see the episode? I was so excited to watch it and see a local family and a fellow homeschooler on the show. There was even article in the local paper about the family which really made me interested to see the episode. I was so disappointed in what I saw. As a homeschooler I try really hard to make sure my child is educated at least as well as he would be in a public school and strive to get him ahead of grade level. Its really hard homeschooling, but I think its worth it. I have some friends that follow the unschooling method and when done correctly it is actually way more work for the parent than traditional book learning because you have be ready to follow every little cue your child puts out of what they are interested in and immediately jump on it. What that family was doing was really a disservice to their kids. I was thinking about the episode and wondering if it was just edited to make them look bad which I am sure it partly was but the writing sample that they showed from the 10 year old spoke volumes and he didn't know basic multiplication. I am sad that people will see that show and think that's what homeschoolers do.

I was actually scared for a minute after watching that episode that my children would be receiving that same disservice and lack of education. I had to remind myself that we are not the same people though, and we don't educate that way. It lit a fire under me to ensure that we are not letting things slide here. I was so grateful that my friend Diane who is also a homeschooler called me after the episode aired and we talked about it and shared the same view about what we saw. We will not let each other do that to our kids. I told Elijah last night that we are going to be doing more school work than we have been each day. I am also grateful that we are with the charter school and that someone is overseeing our progress and that Elijah will be doing the standardized tests. I know it sounds weird to say that I am grateful for standardized tests but I know that they will at least be a way to measure our progress and show us areas we can improve in.

Another thing that struck me is that this family really could make things harder for other homeschooling families. The right to homeschool has recently been challenged here in California and the last thing we needed was to show the country a homeschooling family where the level of academics is so low it borders on neglect. I journeyed over to the Wife Swap message boards at ABC and there were people chiming in asking about the homeschool laws in California and shouldn't those kids need to get tested at some point.

If you saw the episode I would love to hear your thoughts.