I ran across a blog post today that gave a favorable report based on a comparison of homeschooled kids to public schooled kids.
Considering the positive nature of the post, I have to say the responses caught me off guard. Readers were annoyed that homeschooled children were compared to public schooled kids. I quote:
Didn’t we just have a reeeaallly lengthy conversation about the importance of not doing this sort of thing? 😉 You know, not judging kids by arbitrary standards that we never accepted as valid in the first place? That kind of thing?
While I do understand the point of view of the people who commented, I have to ask what choice we as homeschoolers have. Yes, we have stepped outside the box to educate our children, but if we do not stick our foot back in every so often to measure our success, how do we know we truly know that we have accomplished anything at all?
How do we continue to justify homeschooling as superior, or even just-as-good, if we take no measurements? Until colleges throw out test based acceptance criteria, a college bound homeschooler must be measured. Until the workforce throws out educational requirement, homeschoolers must be able to prove they are just as accomplished.
While I feel it is great to be able to measure a child against their own personal best, I also believe that by knowing how other kids of the same age/grade/talent level are doing, you will know how to proceed in your homeschooling adventure. As far as I can see, there will always be some reason to measure homeschooled kids against public schooled kids.
If anyone has an opposing opinion, I would love to hear it.
*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.
*Want to know more about homeschooling? Start with the 2006 homeschool blog in review!