Legitimate Selvedge<p>Thoughts on <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/publicschool" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>publicschool</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/homeschool" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>homeschool</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/communityschooling" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>communityschooling</span></a>.</p><p>What public schools could and should be is miles away from what public schools actually are, in practice, today. </p><p>Public schools could and should be safe, comfortable places where all children get an equal chance at a quality, diverse education in an environment that celebrates them, led for and by a community. </p><p>The reality is that they are often dangerous places where children receive a limited and developmentally inappropriate education in an environment that resembles a prison even more strongly than it does the &quot;real world&quot; jobs schools claim to prepare our children for. How extreme the issues are is highly dependent on the wealth of the community and individual family. </p><p>My experience with all of these comes particularly from Florida, but please don&#39;t kid yourself into thinking these issues are exclusive to here, or that they won&#39;t spread across the country faster than a wildfire. </p><p>Most families simply do not have an option but to send their children to public schools. Many others simply haven&#39;t considered any other options because public school is right there, with a beautiful promise of education, socialization, and free childcare. </p><p>Homeschooling universally gets a bad reputation because holy shit for some families they are a means to extend child abuse around the clock and have been for some time. Plus it can be a lot of time, work and money and comes with a whole lot of judgement and downright aggression from others. </p><p>Actual community schools are borderline non-existent. </p><p>Faced with these issues, my child&#39;s father and I began researching schooling options long before I was even pregnant with our first baby. We looked at studies showing what developmentally appropriate education is for young children and how that contrasts with traditional schooling. We looked at studies showing how homeschool kids actually are socialized and what their lives looked like after finishing high school. </p><p>We decided then that our child would not attend a traditional school at least through early elementary school. In the years since, we are both quite adamant that she never attends a public school. </p><p>Does this mean we are individualist monsters who hate public education and any children who go to public schools? Of course not, and we both are dedicated to fighting for public schools and for children who attend them. A quality, safe education is a right and all people should have access to that. However it is not our child&#39;s responsibility to suffer public schools in their current state as some sort of martyr or symbol that her parents are real anarchists and the only anarchist thing to do is public school.</p><p>Since our child was born we have found many wonderful homeschooling groups and programs. She is so young and has a social group as large as mine ever was and more diverse ethnically, racially, economically, etc than I had ever had by the time I went to a university. She interacts with children from a much wider age range than she would in a public school. Her education is built around her interests, play and exploration. Her education is by teachers, her parents, parents of friends and community members. At her supplement school, there are students who are openly trans and she sees them accepted by everyone in our community. She sees nothing even abnormal about queer relationships. She compares her nail art with the boys she hangs out with and nobody is teased for it.</p><p>But the reality is that this is a lot of work. Work I will gladly do and that I can do, but especially as she gets older, this isn&#39;t going to be cheap. We live in a rural area and spend a LOT of time driving to activities and lessons. Which means I need constant access to a safe, reliable vehicle. It takes so much time to put together schedules and make sure she is getting everything she needs. I love that I get to be so involved in her education and the education of other kids around us, but it&#39;s a lot. Not everyone can do this. </p><p>However, homeschool co-ops and supplement programs can help make things a lot easier. Time when your child is educated by other adults, in a regularly scheduled setting where they are around kids and having academic needs met is huge. As these grow and become more organized, they can become an actual alternative to traditional education that is truly run by a community, by the families (including the kids!) and educators and include families of all backgrounds regardless of income. They can provide opportunities for parents to continue working. They can truly be a dual power solution to crumbling public education. </p><p>We can fight to save public education while also helping to make sure our children get the education that is their right even if we lose that fight.</p>