Homeschooling Thoughts

Once all are comfortable with the idea that my kids can function adequately academically ("at or ahead of grade level" will bring on the knowing nods), the "S" word, as it had been skulking all along in a forbidding forest darkly draped in Spanish moss, like some huge, horrific toad, will suddenly leap out from among the stinging nettles and skunk cabbage to reveal its gnarled and grotesque, scarifying even if slightly ludicrous, visage.
-David Albert, in "And the Skylark Sings with Me"






We destroy the love of learning in children, which is so strong when they are small, by encouraging and compelling them to work for petty rewards--gold stars, or papers marked 100 and tacked to the wall, or A's on report cards, or honor rolls, or dean's lists or Phi Beta Kappa keys--in short, for the ignoble satisfaction of feeling that they are better than someone else.
-John Holt







The Government's favourite formula for raising educational standards has the merit of simplicity. We are now top of the European league table in at least one respect: our children are subjected to more national school exams than those in any other country......Parents may comfort themselves with the thought that, however badly educated their children may be when they leave school, they will at least be able to do exams.
- Thomas Armstrong