How to Get an Education at Home by Pat Farenga, written for John Taylor Gatto’s book, The Exhausted School, and presented by Patrick Farenga at Carnegie Hall, New York City, on October 25, 1991. Pat begins his essay with the observation that “There is a revolution going on in education, but it is not happening in schools. It is happening in the homes of American families in every state. It is happening every time a family decides to help its children learn at home instead of sending them to school.”
He continues pointing out the sensible points in favor of homeschooling, and how any family who wishes to follow this path of learning can do so. A few of his very quotable points:
It is impossible to generalize about the “typical” homeschooling family anymore than you can about the “typical” family whose children attend schools.
Learning is supposed to take place in special buildings called schools, and living takes place outside of school. But from the moment children are born they learn from everything they have access to, not just from special teachers and places.
Homeschooling allows children to participate and learn in the real world. It allows them to mix with much younger and much older people…
Homeschooling works because schooling is not the same thing as education.
Read this entire piece, a homeschooling classic, at Pat Farenga’s blog.
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