Schooling

I have three small children. The oldest has just started kindergarten. My wife and I are both fairly libertarian, and we're concerned about the type of indoctrination we expect our children to receive in public schools. I've actually already seen that he's getting some indoctrination. Apparently my son saw a puppet show based on the Wizard of Oz in which the bad witch was throwing garbage everywhere. This isn't necessarily indoctrination I disagree with, but it is indoctrination.

We're also a little bit concerned about what our kids will be learning in school. I'm a firm believer in the three R's. I also think that memorization is an excellent intellectual exercise for children, a good way to develop mental discipline. We live in a good school district, so we shouldn't really have to worry about the academic side. It is awfully friggin' expensive, though.

So we have a few options. We can leave them in public schools and supplement their education in the areas we feel they're lacking. We would also have to spend a fair amount of time correcting the indoctrination they'd be getting through the schools. Alternately, we could find a private school we like and pay for them to go there. This option is less feasible, 'cause it's also pretty friggin' expensive, especially on top of the property taxes we currently pay. It would almost certainly involve moving somewhere cheaper (while somehow miraculously maintaining my current income.) The third option is homeschooling of some sort.

Homeschooling appeals to me. The kids would be getting indoctrination, but at least it would be our indoctrination. I'm more than willing to admit that that is one of the appeals. My libertarian philosophy is morally superior to socialist (or any type of statist) philosophy, and that's the philosophy I want my kids to have.

There's also the appeal that my kids would be learning at their own pace and wouldn't be held back by other kids. (Conversely, my kids wouldn't be holding anybody else back, if that turns out to be the case.)

Of course, homeschooling has its costs. My wife is currently staying home with the kids, but she wants to go back to work at some point. She certainly doesn't want to be the one to stay home and teach the kids. Theoretically, I could get some job where I'm able to work odd hours from home, and I could spend daytime schooling the kids and evening/night-time hours working. That would be a pretty extreme lifestyle, though, and I'd probably get burnt out pretty quickly.

Guh. The realistic option is putting the kids in public school.