Jews have always embraced the idea of a customized education. A small trailblazer is now taking it to the next level.
What is the purpose of Jewish education? Perhaps to raise the next generation of knowledgeable and dedicated Jews. Ironically, the cost of a Jewish education is the most effective method of contraception for many Jewish families.
According to Nishma’s late 2021 study, the cost of Jewish education is a major financial stress for Jewish families in America. There is a clear correlation between higher incomes and more children. Among those earning less than $100,000 a year, he has three or more children, where he is only 37%, but among those earning more than $300,000, he rises to 75%.
Nishma’s survey is also a window into the educational choices of observant Jewish families, with 96% of modern Orthodox families sending their children to Orthodox day schools (87%) or Pluralistic Jewish schools (more 9%) and 97% of the Haredi family to Yeshiva. Less than half consider their families to be financially sound, and less than half are satisfied with having enough money to retire.
Given this economic stress, you might think there is some movement towards educational innovation and out-of-the-box thinking in the Jewish world. Unfortunately not.
Homeschooling is booming among non-Jews, with at least 10% of American children living in homeschooled households. Rates have increased dramatically across COVID amid school closures, unstable schedules caused by quarantine rules, and mask mandates. The increased interest in homeschooling has not yet replicated, at least among Jewish families.
Benefits Homeschooling Brings to Our Family
My family is in the middle of its fourth year of homeschooling, and nothing has changed for our five children under the age of nine. She has three children of school age this year. My daughter is in 3rd grade, my son is in 2nd grade, and my son is in kindergarten. Our kindergartener and her 3 year old are enrolled in a very part-time preschool setting (12 hours per week) with another local Jewish homeschooling family. Allow younger pairs to have more age-appropriate activities and experiences.
It’s much easier for 5- and 3-year-olds to take a math class or visit a museum without stealing our attention or threatening to crash into a painting. And if I’m being honest, having someone else make crafts with my 3-year-old is a lot more fun for everyone involved.
Recently, a friend of mine, who now works as the principal of a Jewish boys’ school, read an article I wrote for the SAPIR Journal that advocated that more Jews consider homeschooling, and that my family’s own Jewish I thought about people’s homeschooling. The schools are pretty subpar in a myriad of ways. But I think most of those schools will stay open. The tuition fee is the cost of admission to meritocracy. What you are doing is actual education. That is the beauty of it.
He continued, “What you’re doing with homeschooling is a much more Jewish form of education. It’s actually the embodiment of the Hebrew language.”chinucciA phrase that has always been buzzed about in Jewish education is “Teach your child your way” from the Book of Proverbs. .”
A friend of mine, in his 10 years of experience as an educator, felt that the separation of home and school was becoming more and more prominent and problematic in Jewish education, and further explained: did. “Chinook It’s a comprehensive family effort.talking about children chinucci, talk about what your child has learned at home or at school.One of the real weaknesses of the Jewish school system is that these two things are often disconnected from each other… I think he was an educator for seven years, but Jewish schools [instead] Focus on climbing the meritocracy ladder. ”
It’s a tempting accusation. new york times made Orthodox Jewish education in the news, accusing New York-area schools of ignoring it. Contributing to The Washington Examiner (disclosure: husband Seth is editor-in-chief), Jason Bedrick and Jay P. Green said: Times piece. Two Heritage Foundation education experts explain that yesivas are not “chock-filled” with public funds. Yeshiva hardly falls in the bucket compared to public schools. The New York Times also curated test data and made inappropriate comparisons, blaming Yeshiva as an academic failure.
Even though I chose to homeschool myself, Times Hit Job’s attempt at Jewish education was far from my personal critique of the system. I’m here. My fear is that the entire mass education system is flawed. We put our children in the factory system. A long day, with no clear purpose or goal in the end.
Reflecting on the same phrase from PJ Media in 2015, “Educate your child your way,” Avner Zarmi explained his views on how it is reflected in the current system of educating young people. did.
But this is more of a teacher’s (or parent’s) education than a student, and we are taught that “we must educate him according to his circumstances and disposition.” There is no ‘conventional’ approach to education that can work, and no substitute for knowing your students, or even your child. A wise teacher recognizes differences in their personalities and life circumstances and tailors instruction to achieve the best results and to ensure that the lessons penetrate and take root in the child’s soul.
This requires special emphasis in this era of mass education and the impersonal standards and tests generated at the federal and even state level. I live Certainly, we need to set a range of materials to be imparted, and we need a standard of expected performance expressed as a range. But how to get there should be as personal as possible. Education as a totalitarian bondage is worse than useless.
How you get there should be as personal as possible. Education as a totalitarian bondage is worse than useless.
true goal
In one of six books on education, Charlotte Mason, the visionary behind our and countless other homeschooler philosophies, tells us what the true goals of education should be. Here’s how I explain what I’m thinking: Do you know? When he finishes his education — but how much does he care? And how many orders does he care? What is the life ahead of him? ”
What does Charlotte Mason step into the room mean? In short, have children been exposed to the best of life: poetry, art, literature, craftsmanship, music? How many schools, both yeshiva and public schools, are ensuring that their children receive this feast of human experience on a daily or even weekly basis?
At our homeschool, this is the focus, as well as secular studies such as math and Jewish subjects such as the Five Books of Moses. Mathematics is taught on a one-to-one basis, with a user-friendly curriculum that emphasizes understanding rather than rote memorization. I’m only working on one of her kids at a time, so I can fast forward or slow down as much as I need to make sure I’m on top of the material. Despite being homeschooled, we take advantage of myriad group learning opportunities both online and offline. However, offline group classes include Irish dance, taekwondo, sewing, art, pottery, horseback riding, violin and swimming.
Given the huge list of all our activities, we do not answer the most popular question we receive as Jewish homeschoolers: “What about socialization?”
Instead, answer the following frequently asked questions. “How does it work legally?” The answer to that question depends entirely on where you live. ), and some states have much stricter regulations (like New York and Pennsylvania). Other states, like my own Maryland, fall somewhere in between.
Here in Maryland, you have two options for legally homeschooling. You can submit yourself for a biannual review with the county to certify that you are providing regular and adequate instruction, or you can submit a review to the homeschooling umbrella. I choose the latter route because there are several options for the religious Judaism umbrella. Anyone can find out exactly what is required from their state by looking up the regulations at the Homeschooling Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a homeschooling advocacy group.
The greatest benefit of homeschooling is the gift of time and the stress relief it brings.
The greatest benefit of homeschooling is the gift of time and the stress relief it brings.
We spend time with our children and our children spend time with each other. In answering the ever-present socialization question, I constantly remind people that they have far more control over negative influences from their peers. Not with the other kids who happen to be in the same school, but with us and each other.
Set your own daily and yearly schedules. School can start at 10am or catch up on Sunday. Also, he can take a week whenever he likes to take advantage of off-season travel opportunities. My children have their own time to learn, at their own pace, according to their interests. In practice, that means hours of reading and listening to audiobooks while my oldest colors. I’m here.
Many parents say that spending the day with their children is less stressful than sending them, as their daily experience with their children consists of walking out the door, dinner time, homework time, and crushes at bedtime. Incredible I say. They go to school all day long. Here are the differences: We set our own schedule and as a result we don’t have to rush too much.
We don’t start our day at dawn and end at dusk, desperately trying to be on time. School starts at 9:30, breaks at 11:00, and finishes in the late afternoon if there is still work to do. Or save the unfinished ones for another day. Taskmaster does not say that a math lesson should be finished if my child gets the point without doing the game or worksheet associated with that lesson. The nature of homeschooling is free, and the experience we can participate in is the same learning activity as a math class.
My kids are walking into a big room, as Charlotte Mason claimed. They are caring and devoted Jews, and we have the gift of a large family, and we don’t have the time or the money for her educational trip to Colonial Williamsburg. get the chance to step in. Because they were enrolled in a traditional Jewish school. We consider ourselves lucky to have this opportunity, and perhaps if we find more people interested in taking lesser-traveled paths, our Jewish I look forward to the day when the world of homeschooling grows.
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