Reasons I am glad we homeschool: Humiliation

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

21 Feb 2009 11:17 AM

I just read an article by the education blogger about a family who felt humiliation might be the key to get their child to try harder in school. The family punished their kids for bad grades by making him stand on a corner for six hours with a placard announcing his bad grades and that his "future=shaky".

As homeschoolers we also have times when we feel a child is not putting forth his or her best effort academically. The thing is that lack of academic effort is usually a symptom of a bigger problem.

As parents we must ask ourselves:

Is my child having an emotional disconnect?

Is there a physiological issue we are not seeing?

Is the child not getting enough sleep?

Is the child's schedule over loaded?

Is the child seeking attention?

Is there an undiagnosed learning disorder.

I am sure there are other questions that could be asked, but in most cases of poor grades, there is an underlying issue that must be dealt with. Now, there are some children just decide that they don't value education and so are not going to participate. Punishment could be necessary to get them to do what you know they need to do even if they disagree. Humiliation however, no matter how clever will only have a short term effect. It will also be remembered for decades and over time the child can build more and more resentment toward the parents to gave the humiliation punishment.

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Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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