Is this how the "professionals" think of us?

Here are some bits from an article out of a North Carolina paper.

Two million students are being home schooled in the United States and that number is rapidly growing. No longer a taboo topic, parents now admit they'd rather keep their kids at home to teach lessons they won't find in public schools.

You mean lessons in phonics, math drills, diagramming sentences, memorizing speeches and poetry, art, music, and recess? All of these have been dropped or scaled back from public school curriculums in recent years.

But are they harming their children?

How? By sacrificing any/all free time we have to teach our children and giving them opportunities to learn and interact with others?

"We are professionals, we know how to teach and you need to be their parents,” said high school history teacher Diane Birdwell.

I was one of these professionals before I had children. I know what is taught in many university Education Departments and the quality of many "professional teachers". (Yes, I acknowledge that there are many wonderful teachers) I prefer to teach my children myself.

"I have seen the results of when they don't do it right and they fail or give up and the kids come into the public school system and they are behind their peers both socially and academically,” Birdwell said.

Most of the children who are behind socially and are academically labeled as failures are public school students. There are many examples of children who have been deemed deficient by the professionals, pulled out of school by their parents and have gone on to become successful learners.

However, studies show home schooled students score up to 30 percent higher on standardized tests than public school kids. But what about their socialization skills?

Okay, now we will concede that homeschooled kids are usually smarter, but....

Most homeschool parents overcompensate for their child's social "isolation". My two school-age children are involved in swimming lessons, riding lessons, piano lessons, art lessons, Cub Scouts, Little Flowers, CCD (Catholic Sunday School), serving Mass, co-op field trips, and have siblings and friends to play with.

High school history teacher Diane Birdwell says there are some lessons parents aren't qualified to teach. ...most teachers say parents can give Bible lessons after school, as long as they leave the reading, writing and arithmetic to them.

So, you suck up the best 8 hours of a child's day (and assign 2 hours worth of homework) and we are supposed to fit in religion class, sports, and music lessons in the remaining time? You fill their heads with secular humanistic philosophy, multiculturalism, and sex ed, leaving little time for parents to instill their values and morals to their children (but maybe that's the point).

I don't see the public schools doing a fantastic job teaching those reading, writing, and arithmetic skills to the students they already have. I wouldn't buy a car that is known to be hard to start, belches black smoke, and breaks down on the freeway. Why would I buy an education for my kid that is just as much of a lemon?