Alright, friends, let’s have a real talk over a cup of coffee, because I’ve been stewing on something for a while. You know that nagging feeling you get when you realize something is fundamentally broken, but no one seems to want to fix it? That’s how I feel every time I think about the public education system in this country.
Look, we don’t homeschool our kids. Both the Mister and I work off the farm, and he feels strongly about the kids being socialized. Fair point. But that doesn’t mean we just hand them off to the system and call it a day. Oh no. Around here, we do what I like to call supplemental homeschooling. Evenings, weekends, holidays—it’s all fair game for learning about the things that actually matter.
Animal anatomy during butchering? Check. Life cycles and nature cycles? Absolutely. Math while cooking and canning? You bet. We’ve turned teamwork into an art form with farm chores, and recognizing patterns? That’s practically a daily activity out here. And honestly, I’ve started to wonder: why is this kind of learning the exception instead of the rule?
Let’s be blunt: the public school system isn’t about raising critical thinkers. It’s about compliance. Sit still, memorize this, regurgitate it on a test, repeat. And for what? To churn out great little 9-to-5 robots who can sit at desks and follow orders.
Did you know the public school system was designed to suppress dissent and create obedient workers? Yep, you read that right. The public school system wasn’t built to inspire; it was built to control. (Here’s the link if you want a deep dive into that rabbit hole: History of Public Schools.)
And it’s not just the why—it’s the how. Eight hours a day sitting still, staring at a chalkboard (or a screen), and then coming home to another hour or more of homework. Snow day? Forget the sledding and hot cocoa; it’s time to log into virtual class. Seriously? That’s not childhood—it’s a boot camp for burnout.
Here’s an interesting fact: homeschooling has skyrocketed since the pandemic. According to a study from NewsNation, more parents are opting out of the traditional school system than ever before. Homeschooling rates have doubled since 2020, with many families citing dissatisfaction with public schools, the quality of education, and the toll of rigid schedules on their kids’ well-being. (Source)
And honestly? I get it. When the world hit pause during the pandemic, families got a good, hard look at how the school system operates. They saw their kids burned out, stressed out, and checked out. And for many, that was the wake-up call they needed to take back control of their children’s education.
Now, I’m not saying homeschooling is the magic solution for everyone. It’s not easy, and it’s not always feasible. But you know what it does offer? Freedom. Freedom to teach kids in ways that respect their natural curiosity and creativity. Freedom to show them how to think, not just what to think.
Take our farm, for example. Out here, every day is a learning opportunity. The kids learn science from the soil, math from measuring feed, and responsibility from taking care of animals. They learn that actions have consequences, like when you forget to lock the chicken coop and lose a hen to a predator. It’s real, it’s raw, and it’s more valuable than anything they’ll ever learn from a textbook.
And let’s talk about socialization, because that’s the big argument people throw at homeschooling parents. Newsflash: sitting in a room with 30 kids your exact age, all following the same script, isn’t natural socialization. Working as a team to stack hay bales? That’s socialization. Learning to negotiate who gets the last apple in the basket? That’s socialization. Real-life problem-solving teaches way more about human interaction than being told to “line up quietly” ever will.
Public schools aren’t just setting kids up to fail; they’re setting them up to settle. To accept the status quo. To believe that the path laid out for them—graduate, get a job, clock in, clock out, repeat—is the only path. But the world is changing, and the skills kids need to thrive aren’t coming out of a standardized test.
Kids need to learn how to adapt, how to think critically, and how to create opportunities, not just wait for someone to hand them one. And that’s where homeschooling—or at least supplemental learning—comes in. It’s not about shielding kids from the world; it’s about preparing them for it in a way that schools simply don’t.
So, here’s my challenge to you: whether you homeschool, unschool, or send your kids to public school, don’t leave their education solely in the hands of a system that treats them like factory outputs. Teach them to cook, to build, to grow, to think. Show them how to question, how to create, and how to care for the world around them.
And if you’re already doing this, pat yourself on the back, my friend. You’re giving your kids a gift that no school district ever could—the gift of real learning, real connection, and real life skills.
Until next time,
Traci
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