Medieval Living

So I always hear how concerned people are about the education of the children here in this state. Politicians are constantly using the education theme for campaigning – “We need to fix our schools so that our children can compete with the other states in the nation!” Hmmmm, well Albuquerque Public Schools recently announced that they (the district administration folks) made some errors in calculating the budget . . . to the tune of $43 million – plus or minus. The fallout of this is that an estimated 500 positions will be vacated because of retirements . . . and those 500 positions will not be filled. And then another 700 positions will be terminated . . . layed off . . . released . . . whatever. Ouch! But of course, we don’t need to worry, as this will have little impact on classroom sizes . . . maybe an increase of one or two students per class. Hmmmm – more APS math at work? Let’s look at this . . . suppose there are three U.S. History teachers in one high school – each teaching five sections with around 30 students per section . . . 150 students per teacher, 450 students total. That’s about right – a school with 1800 students, divided by four (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades) would be 450 students. So one of those teachers has the misfortune of being layed off, and his or her classes are then divided between the other two teachers. Hmmm – 150 divided by 2 is 75 – each teacher now has 225 students, divided into five sections of U.S. History . . . equals . . . 45 students per class. Now wait a minute . . . I thought there was only going to be an increase of 1 or 2 students, not 15!!! Now I’m not a math teacher . . . and of course not all of the 1,200 vacated jobs will be teacher positions . . . but it seems to me that there is going to be some serious issues within our schools here. And Los Lunas has just announced similar problems, while Rio Rancho last year was asking teachers to “volunteer” their time in the classroom. Yikes!
So what does this have to do with Medieval Living and homeschooling? Alot!!! We all ready have 7,000 registered homeschool families in the state – a significant change in the quality of public school education will likely cause the number of homeschool families to soar.
Now the biggest comment I hear from public school people about homeschoolers is that the homeschool child doesn’t learn how to socialize, and for that reason alone, homeschooling should be rejected. Now I’ve seen what goes on in the public schools . . . and without going into detail, I’m not so sure that the type of “socializing” I see going on there is what I would want my children to experience. At our recent weaving class, I had the opportunity to observe homeschool children from a variety of situations and ages . . . and I have to say, these children are among the best behaved I have ever seen. And go figure . . . their parents were well behaved also! Hmmmm. Enough said.
Okay . . . not all is gloom and doom – I have seen some extremely good kids come out of the public schools – students who will become major contributors to our community. Teachers are working very diligently to address the issues faced in the public schools. The biggest problem is that our society has developed an anti-education culture, in spite of the constant chatter about improving education. A significant percentage of parents want their children to receive a good education . . . but they will do nothing to help . . .they won’t make their children do their homework – they won’t encourage their children to behave in school – they won’t make their children get enough sleep – they give them “crap” for breakfast, if they get breakfast at all – and they won’t show up for meetings with teachers. Then, when the student is in danger of failing, the parents point at the teachers and say “Why is my little Johnie/Suzie/whoever failing? Why aren’t YOU doing something about it? You must be a terrible teacher!!!” and so on and so on and so on. *Sighs* Again, not all is negative – there are those parents who ARE involved with their children’s education, who insist that homework is done, who insist they get enough sleep, and who are always at meetings with teachers. But the numbers are skewed horribly in the wrong direction – the number of involved parents are a signifcant minority. And many of those parents are the ones who will pull their child out of the public school and place them in either a charter school, a private school (such as Albuquerque Academy or Bosque School), or in a homeschool.
And so this is where Medieval Living is stepping in – to assist those who take the homeschool route. I am very glad to continue offering a growing number of courses – with topics which are intersting and keep the students engaged, which teach both academics and practical/vocational skill development, and which provide students with the opportunity to explore and examine ideas and activities that are rarely found in a public school setting. If you have read all the way to this point . . . thank you! I know that I have gone on ad naseum – but it’s a serious situation and I am concerned for those who face the decision of whether or not to public school or homeschool. And of course, I’m concerned with how Medieval Living can help meet the anticipated rise in homeschool families. We are going to need some help, both in the classroom and in financial support. I’m open to suggestions and ideas to gain both . . . thank you in advance!

scott@medieval-living.com