The End of School.

Do you remember when you were a child and those were the happiest words? I don't know if anyone ever forgets that feeling--no more school: for the summer, after thirteen years of Kindergarten through High School, or after undergraduate or graduate school... Is it true, though? Is there ever an "end" to "school"?

This week’s topic here on the Front Porch is “the end of school.” This makes me laugh. To me, school and education are synonymous, and education...learning never ends! Even as an adult, I’ve learned new things—I bet most homeschool moms are still in the category of learning computer skills as an adult. (Pretty soon, they will become the minority as homeschool moms become younger and younger and they will have learned computer skills either in public or private school, or as homeschooled students themselves.)

There are whole categories of homeschoolers who fall into various “camps” when it comes to determining the beginning and end of each of their “school years.”  Some will follow the public school format:  when the school down the street is open, they’ll have school; when it is closed, their school will be out also. They take snow days just like the public school also. Others may go year round, feeling that learning happens all year round and in no other segment of the population (other than children and teachers) is there a two to three month break from work. They may take a week of vacation here or there, to be decided as the material ends or gives natural breaks. Or they may take time off when it’s too hot to be outside or too cold. Some will do a modified four semester schedule, while others do a trimester format, varying when they take their breaks. Some will just work three weeks a month and skip the last week, or go for as long as they can, then take a week or two break, starting back up where they left off. It really is up to YOU, the parent, to determine if and when there will be an “end of school.” Sometimes we all have to be reminded that we indeed are the experts and we are in charge of our own homeschools. We may have some requirements placed upon us by the state, and so we may have to modify what we do, but the responsibility lies upon us in what and how we educate our children.

Even with the ultimate “end of school” when our child is finishing their high school studies, even then, we have the responsibility and right to determine what constitutes a high school diploma. For most, it means they check out what their particular state requires for graduation, or what a sampling of colleges and universities expect a high school senior to have taken. For others, they may see the bent of their own child and determine if they are or should be college-bound, or if they need to be an intern or be apprenticed, or if they ought to learn a trade (welding, auto mechanics, aviation mechanics, etc.). The high school curricula for those not attending college might easily look different than those who will be attending a trade school. It is decided by the parents (with their high school junior’s or senior’s input). So the end of homeschooling is determined by the parent also.

So it’s not that simple a topic, this topic of the “end of school.” May there never be a mentality that there is indeed an end of school, for learning happens every day for a lifetime.

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