As of the writing of this post (about a month in advance of publication), I've just completed the "book" prereading I've set myself for the upcoming book! There's a lot more research and thought to be done, but the foundation is there. This post is the first one dealing specifically with my target audience, neurodiverse Christian homeschoolers. The fundamental question I am asking and (hopefully) answering: what should a father read to prepare for this venture?
Neurovidersity in Adulthood
One key term in this discussion is neurodiversity--originated in the 1990s or a bit earlier by high-functioning autistics (think Asperger syndrome as an approximation). The intent was to de-stigmatize autism and enable those in society to be more aware of the strengths of an autistic brain. A more recent term, intended to be both broader and more accommodating of the possibility that autism may be much more common than previously thought, is neurominority. According to Ortega 2009 and Griffin & Pollak 2009), the most common conditions classified as neurominority are ADHD, autism, developmental coordination disorder, and dyslexia.
Notice anything familiar about those conditions? They're all diagnosable in childhood and less visible in adulthood. However, people don't outgrow any of these conditions--they're based on structural and functional differences in the brain that can be compensated for but cannot be permanently reversed.
I've noted in the past that, between the two of us, the Bibliovore and I have approximately 2 cases of (late-diagnosed) autism and 1 case of (childhood-diagnosed) inattentive-type ADHD. This means that we are genetically predisposed to have children who are neurodiverse as well. As our family grows, that will affect our dynamics and routines.
In this post, I want to describe how our neurodiversity plays out in our relationship to each other. In next week's parallel post (for moms!), I'll explore the work aspects. Aspects I want to highlight this week are core values/moral compasses, verbal communication, and preferred living environment.
Core Values
One characteristic typical of many high-functioning autistic adults is an unchanging set of moral values, whatever type of morals those are. They recognize when the world around them changes because they themselves do not change. Both of us have the same core values in the areas of faith, self-education, sexual ethics, and personal responsibility. We have close enough values in other areas that we rarely disagree on anything.
Verbal Communication
Another characteristic is clear and direct verbal communication style. When we were dating, we both thought of each other as very indirect communicators (I more so, being less on the spectrum than he is). However, compared to neurotypical coworkers, students, and friends, we come across as excessively direct sometimes. We also naturally speak at a higher reading level than most--though this I attribute to our insatiable reading habits.
Environmental Preferences
Sensory sensitivities are another defining feature of autism--autistic people feel certain modes of sensation more intensely than non-autistics because the attentional filter is different. For the Bibliovore, the random thumping of Child practicing broad jumps on the kitchen floor will produce an overstimulating effect as he tries to work in the basement office. For me, clothing or hair arranged not just-so rapidly becomes unbearable. Thus, we arrange our environments and routines to minimize exposure to things that will easily overstimulate us, so that we can both serve each other and our family with a fuller cup.
Brief History of Homeschooling
My sources for this section are informal (Responsible Homeschooling; Busy Homeschool Days) and scholarly (Dwyer & Peters 2019; Davis 2011; Jolly & Matthews 2018).
Pre-1960s
Little data exist on how many and how children were home educated before the mid-1960s. However, it is likely that families whose children could not attend school did provide education for them. It all depends on how far back into history one goes, and whether one looks overseas rather than at just the United States. Davis outlines when education was compulsory in various cultures, including the US (1647ff). Parents generally had to have some qualification to educate their children through a compulsory age range.
1970s Resurgence
After spending time trying to reform the public school system away from an industrial model and toward sustaining children's curiosity, John Holt is widely credited as the instigator for a surge in homeschooling (the "unschooling" model). Raymond and Dorothy Moore are two other big names in this decade, with key publications in 1974 and 1981 that recommended formal schooling be delayed until 8-9 years old for most children for developmental reasons.
At this time, homeschooling was legal in all 50 states. There was generally more regulation on parental qualifications than there is today. The "typical" homeschooler was white, middle-class, and (though Christian) withdrawing children from public school for pedagogical reasons.
In the 1980s, an influx of American Evangelical and fundamentalist Christian homeschoolers meant that the dominant reasons for homeschooling were religious. Legislative efforts were less grassroots and more state-level, with an unfortunate "fight" metaphor prevalent in this decade. (Jolly & Matthews identify these two reasons, pedagogical and religious, as making up a binary model for homeschooling rationales, since revised.)
By the 1990s, when I was homeschooled, the movement had fractured. The Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSDLA) positioned itself at the center, and the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) was founded in 1994. The "fight" metaphor developed into the "Christian homeschoolers transforming culture" metaphor in large segments of the community. In some fundamentalist circles, this meant prohibiting women's higher education and return to Old Testament laws. (I won't comment on the severe exegetical issues with this position.)
Present Day
Currently, around 3-4% of school-age children in the United States are homeschooled. They tend to be more diverse in background than in earlier decades, with a wide variety of rationales and curricular options. The Responsible Homeschooling source notes that pragmatic reasons are also common now--e.g., bullying, inadequate special education services for children with disabilities.
From a curricular standpoint, Davis's article implies an equally wide array of educational philosophies (p. 32):
"There are a number of methodologies that parents adopt in their teaching methods, including trivium classical education, quadrivium classical education, Charlotte Mason, school-at-home, Thomas Jefferson education, multiple intelligences, constructivism, unschooling, radical unschooling, and Montessori. Many parents opt for a blended approach and use a number of sources to develop their curriculum. Seventy-eight percent utilize a public library, 77% utilize a homeschooling publisher or individual specialist, 68% utilize retail book stores, 60% utilize a nonhomeschooling education publisher, 50% utilized homeschooling organization, 37% utilized curriculum from religious institution, 23% from the local public school district, 41% utilized distance learning, 20% utilized media in television, video, or radio, 19% utilized eLearning, and 15% utilized distance education through homeschooling correspondence course by mail (Bauman 2001)."
Fathers' Roles and Preparation
Depending on your life background and worldview, you may find striking differences in this section between my opinions and yours. However, I hope that we find enough common ground for you to glean something valuable.
Roles
In most 2-parent homeschooling families, traditional gender roles are more or less the norm. Because it is rare (though possible) for both parents to work full-time, the family adjusts to a single income or one full- and one part-time income. The father tends to be an adjunct educator and breadwinner. Per the qualitative studies of Vigilant et al. 2014 and 2013, Christian homeschooling fathers play several additional roles as heads of households:
- Nurturing a cocoon-like quality of the home to protect inputs to their children
- Helping their children develop a moral compass
- Managing the emotional strain in their wives caused by being full-time mother-teachers
All told, these interpersonal roles are arguably at least as important as maintaining positive cash flow for the household.
Preparation: Reading
The necessary (or at least salutary) reading I would recommend for neurodiverse Christian fathers considering homeschooling for their families fall into a few categories.
- Philosophy:
- You need to know the basics of Western philosophy, as well as a brief history. From what I've read, this means selected Platonic dialogues (at minimum, and Aristotle if you have time) and Craig Evan's History of Western Philosophy--this book flows extremely well and is a surprisingly quick read.
- If you're the more science-y parent, you should be the one to read Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. For me, it flowed better in an audiobook version.
- Theology:
- Go back to the roots of your particular theological tradition and read them, twice if possible. Examples
- On a daily basis, start getting your child(ren) used to the Daily Office (for Anglicans, in the Book of Common Prayer).
- On cultural engagement and home education, read Christ and Culture followed by The Benedict Option. (We gravitate toward Christ-against-culture, but that is by no means the confirmed only correct model. Also, given the fact of speech oddities, voting proclivities, and having 1-2 autistic children we suspect that Dreher is likely himself autistic.)
- Neurodiversity:
- Get to know your own condition(s) primarily from Christian authors and researchers who have the condition(s) themselves. For those with autism, I got the Bibliovore Neurotribes and On the Spectrum for his birthday. Also, anything by Simon Baron-Cohen.
Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
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