I almost never watch the Super Nanny. But when my beloved Private Practice was suddenly replaced (it was probably announced but I don’t pay attention to those things), with the Super Nanny, I happened to catch wind that the families featured were a homeschooling family and another family with twins. I could hardly pass that up.
The family with the twins came and went and the Super Nanny worked her magic. The parents were over protective blah, blah, blah. (I actually was shocked that the parents could be that over protective because I know from having twins myself, I would lose my sanity. Sometimes you just gotta let go.)
Then came the family who “homeschooled.” You knew the episode was going to be bad when you find out in the beginning that it’s not the parents who are asking for help, but the family’s two teen daughters who are left by mom and dad to get their school work done and care for three young children.
I was prepared for a show that bashed homeschooling and I didn’t find it. It’s a good thing too because what those girls were doing was not homeschooling. Technically, I would define what they’re doing as “public school at home” (and I make the distinction only because different rules apply to those types of situations than apply to “homeschoolers”). But frankly, I wouldn’t even say they were public schooling at home. The girls knew it too.
You see, parents who homeschool do just that. They are busy during the day not with other jobs, but with teaching their children. My husband often says to people that I too have a full time job in teaching the children. When you use an online program, that still doesn’t negate your parental responsibility to do all the things that you would do if your child was going to school; including checking over homework, helping out if need be and providing a quiet place for your child to study.
So you see, the Super Nanny didn’t feature a homeschooling family. This wasn’t an example of homeschooling gone bad. This was a case of parenting gone bad.