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Homeschool in the city
By adamg on Mon, 08/01/2011 - 9:22am
Kerry McDonald posts an FAQ about schooling your kids at home in a Cambridge condo:
Q. Don't you want to live in a big house with a big yard and plentiful parking?
A: We like our cozy home and we rarely drive our car in the city so assigned parking isn't a necessity for us. And who needs a big yard when we have Harvard Yard just up the road? Also, our small shared backyard in our big, six-family building fosters a strong sense of community and collaborative play, particularly because there is now a gaggle of kids in our building. So much of our time in the city is spent outside of our house--meeting friends at nearby parks and playgrounds, visiting museums and libraries, exploring city squares, hopping on a bus or subway train--that we don't feel limited by our small city space.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Homeschooling?
How can you have a blog all about the joys of living in the 'city', but then homeschool?
Aversion to sending kids to the same school as 'urban youth' is half the reason people move to the suburbs, so, unless the message of the blog is "You can homeschool to keep away from them!", the blog is dodging the question.
Cambridge Rindge and Latin isn't that bad a school so what's wrong with it?
Homeschooling
You know, anon, a person might homeschool because he thinks his children will learn best at their own speed and following their own interests.
It's kind of unreasonable to preempt any possible argument in favor of homeschooling with the pronouncement that anyone who homeschools in the city must be doing it because they're a racist.
Lots of people in this country homeschool. Many of them do so in rural, overwhelmingly white school districts. Why shouldn't people who prefer to live in a city do so as well?
Is it just because some anonymous creep on the internet might call them a racist? Or that the public schools are one of the joys of the city that one just can't have the full city experience without?
Anon makes a perfectly
Anon makes a perfectly reasonable point, which you refuse to respond to. This person is telling others that urban school systems get an undeserved bad reputation, but she home-schools her own kids. It's a simple fact that most people who start out living in the city leave when their children reach school age, and those people don't have the time or the ability to home school.
Anon didn't say that home schooling was wrong. If the blogger had said that living in the city is great except for the schools, then there would be no inconsistency. But when a person talks up the great things that urban schools has to offer, but doesn't partake herself, then there's an issue. The obvious question is, if she couldn't home school her kids for some reason, would she still live in her beloved city?
What issue?
* "That deli around the corner serves the best tongue sandwiches in the area", said the vegetarian.
* "The ferry ride out to Spectacle Island is inexpensive and really enjoyable on a sunny day", said the guy who is afraid of boats.
* "The chocolate shakes here are amazing!", said the guy drinking a vanilla shake at the time.
* "Boston's urban schools are excellent at education", said the homeschooling mother.
What issue is there with her opinion or any of these other examples? A vegetarian may not ever eat at that deli, but it doesn't mean they can't have formed an opinion based on the facts at hand like Yelp's opinions on the tongue sandwich or how close the next nearest deli is. The vanilla shake drinker may not be drinking the chocolate shake out of preference that day but doesn't mean he hasn't ever had the chocolate shake there before and wanted to try/do something different.
There's no inconsistency here for her to homeschool her kids while praising the local schools.
Yeah, agreed
Homeschooling might just be what's right for her family and her kids' learning styles. It doesn't mean she hates public schools, or that she knows nothing about them.
We belong to a synagogue. We've gone to a lot of churches with Christian friends and can tell you which ones we think mesh and don't mesh with who we are and what we're about and where we could and couldn't see ourselves, even though we don't ever plan to belong to one.
Also
It isn't like homeschoolers can or should be totally oblivious to their local public schools. No one lives in a bubble; they're surely going to have friends in their home who go to public schools, so they'll want to know about the culture of the local public schools and what kinds of approaches the public-school friends are going to be taught. Oh, and their kids are still young; it's quite possible someone might need some special services at some point (speech, occupational therapy, whatnot), and those are provided free-of-charge by the public schools to homeschoolers and private schoolers. Some homeschoolers take a class or two or participate in things like music ensembles at their local public schools too.
…right… …but…
I mean, yes, you're right, a vegetarian can pass along opinions from their friends or from what they read on Yelp or whatever, but come on. If you're looking for the best braised tongue in town, are you going to get your opinion on the matter from Mr Vegan, or Mr Carnivore?
Speaking as a vegetarian myself, you're welcome to ask me where the best burger joints in town are, and I'll have opinions on the matter, but they'll be based on how the veggie burgers are, which is not why most other people would be asking such a question. I wouldn't want to use my own opinion on the best burgers on town, and I certainly don't know why anyone else would, either.
Depends on who you ask I guess
I bet if I ask any vegan in Coolidge Corner which deli sells the best tongue sandwich, they'll all send me to Michael's.
Even if that one analogy is not a 100% match, the chocolate shake one still stands. Just because the guy is drinking a vanilla shake at the time doesn't mean he has no opinion on the best chocolate shake in town. Turn the vegetarian into "a guy eating a veggie burger" and it would be just the same.
The greater point still stands regardless of how well or poorly I framed one of the three analogies.
I see your point but still disagree with it
I just picked up on that one because I can relate to it, but the same idea applies to all of them.
Yes, any person not partaking in something may still have valid & potentially even useful opinions on that which they are not partaking.
The obvious is going unstated in these examples though — surely someone that *is* partaking would have an at least superficially more credible & reliable opinion than the person that is conspicuously, pointedly, not doing so.
Put it this way: would you want to read movie reviews from someone that doesn't themselves go to the movies, but does read Roger Ebert and can parrot his generally useful opinions? Or wouldn't you rather just ignore that person and just read Ebert yourself without the English-to-English translator?
Back on point: there's a reason, whatever it may be, that McDonald thinks that home-schooling is a better option than the community schools available to her family. The reason isn't stated, but it's beside the point in any event. By conspiciously opting out of that system, she's automatically a less constructive voice about it than other parents that do choose to put their kids in these schools.
Poppycock
Adam doesn't research and write most of the news you read on UHub, but you come here anyways to read news, don't you? Why? All he does is link elsewhere and digest the stories to present to you a summary around the links that go to the original pieces that he found. Do you really need the English-to-English translator?
The part you don't get
McDonald isn't opting out of the specific community public schools available to her family. She's opting out of private schools available to her too, and opting out of public schools in other towns she might move to. She's opting out of all schools. This is no more a condemnation of Cambridge Public Schools than it is of BB&N or Lincoln-Sudbury.
The decision to home-school your children has a huge impact on your life. It's a bigger deal than moving to the burbs or sending your kid to private school. It's not something people do lightly just because they don't like the local public schools.
If it would still help you to think in terms of analogies, it's like someone who only rides a bicycle telling you that the Audi A3 TDI is a great car. Yes, their opinion on the matter is worth less than that of someone who actually drives one. But their choice to ride a bicycle instead isn't a tacit condemnation of that car in particular.
Likewise, it seems that McDonald's opinion on the quality of Cambridge Public Schools should be considered less valuable than that of someone whose children attend or attended them. But to imagine that their lack of quality is the reason she's homeschooling her children is simply absurd.
Consider This
The cost of homeschooling is the cost of one adult's yearly salary.
That's not a lightweight commitment.
That cost is made possible by living somewhere where you can afford to live on a single salary. That's why homeschoolers tend to be more common in more affordible communities. We bought our house from a homeschool family.
So, when Sock Puppet says that the choice is between private schools, public schools in wealthy communities, etc. he is essentially correct. That additional income could pay for tuition or for a more expensive address.
Obvious questions
The obvious questions can sometimes be the dumbest ones.
There are two things this woman says she loves:
(1) homeschooling her children;
(2) living in the city.
If she couldn't have (1), why would she give up (2) as well? Just to make herself extra-unhappy?
Perhaps you should consider that this woman would likely homeschool her children no matter where she lived - even in Concord, perhaps - and that she thinks the public schools in Cambridge are perfectly fine as far as schools go, but schools just aren't her cup of tea.
I know a lot of homeschoolers - have a lot in my family - and that choice isn't usually made with regard to a particular school or school system. For most people, it would be easier and cheaper to move or pick a private school than to commit to homeschooling your children. Those are the options you consider when you don't like a particular school system. You don't 86 your career and commit to decades of homeschooling instead.
I think Cambridge is a nice place to live too. Am I allowed to say that given I don't live there?
special needs
A lot of parents pull their kids out of the school system because they are not learning well there due to behavioral disorders. That isn't necessarily because the school system is bad or hasn't tried to accommodate their needs, but because the kid needs one-on-one attention and a flexible environment and acceptance that each day not be timed and scripted that most systems cannot provide.
Which public school isn't a mess?
Even the "good" schools have issues. Anyone on a waiting list to get into one will tell you. It's also troublesome to be part of school activities out in the burbs. I went to a school which was far outside of a city. Every time I was part of a sporting event, it became a big challenge for me to get home.
I agree with all of the answers posted on this person's blog.
what a yuppie
Wow brag a lot??
I don't like her for the fact that she seems to put down everyone else via stating that every aspect of her lifestyle is "perfect" and thus, your lifestyle cannot possibly match up. This isn't the crime-ridden Boston of the 70s/80s and the majority of people out there are familiar with the offerings of "the city" and comfortable in such a setting.
A realtor?
You think you're better than me?
I agree, god forbid anyone blog about how much they like where they live or suggest they have a good life. I mean, on a blog of all places! Disgusting. They must certainly be a realtor or a yuppie. Both groups are known to be unashamed of being happy. It makes me sick to even think about being unashamed about being happy. Its shameful.
Defending a happy homeschooler
First, I am happy. I like my life. I also homeschool. I, like Kerry, like to share these apsects of my life with others. And while passionate about why I homeschool, I also think that there are wonderful private and public schools in my town. I just choose not to use them.
It is rediculous that one cannot have positive opinions about other lifestyles.
Kerry - I love your blog and hope you will not be discouraged by a few comments by those whom I believe just misinterpreted your statements.
your rediculous
sorry to be a petty troll, but I think one of the first things to correct in your homeschooling would be a spelling class. "Rediculous" is not a word.
And you might look up the common contraction
It's you're, not your. No doubt a mistake, but it looks pretty bad to make one when criticizing somebody else for a similar mistake.
its sarcasm
caught you!
or not sarcasm
actually, I'm not saying "you are ridiculous" I am saying "your usage of the word 'rediculous' is wrong"