Hacking the idea of traditional homeschooling

The first portion of my education was handled by nuns. Although there were other teachers, the nuns served as school principals and shaped my little mind and didn't teach me enough science.

But my Mom was a natural teacher (thanks, Mom!). As a stay-at-home Mom for the first eight years of my life, she always had time to greet me after school, help me with my homework and do supplemental learning activities with me.

She would have been an amazing homeschooling teacher, if that was the route she wanted to take. But homeschooling at that time was not as popular as it has become today.

This long piece from Wired takes a look at a new type of homeschooling household: From the household of techie parents. More parents who work in the tech industry have started homeschooling their children as a way to foster more creativity and independent thinking - tenets that many tech industry companies value.

The article discusses how advances in technology have allowed everyone to have access to information, so the question for parents who homeschool their children has changed from "Is this something you have to learn?" to "Is this something you want to learn?"

Homeschooling is not a feasible option for our household. And, although I'm going to keep my little guy in traditional school, I am interested in supplementing his learning the way my Mom did with me. The article is correct - the information is all out there already - I just need to ask my son what he is interested in and take it from there.

Do you homeschool your children? What's the biggest challenge you've faced? Share with me in the comments.