Since Halloween is coming up, we wanted to share this fun trivia. Did you know…? The first homeschool family on national television was the Addams Family!
You’re probably aware that the Addams Family is not your typical American family. They take delight in things of which most normal people would be terrified – while thinking other people are weird! Nevertheless, they are an extremely loving close-knit family.
From IMDB, a user review by Chrissie:
“The Addams Family was, in its own strange way, the healthiest TV family ever presented. The mother and father are utterly smitten with one another. They dote on their children and pay meticulous attention to their upbringing. The children, for their part, are respectful of their elders but brim-full of curiosity and mischief. The grandmother and uncle are loved and respected. Extended family members are admired and included. The butler shows great devotion to his employers, who repay him by providing a loving family. Thing (whatever it is) is appreciated for his omnipresent helpfulness. And visitors are always welcome and treated with the utmost courtesy. The macabre touches are fun, and provide the fish-out-of-water running gag of outsiders trying to cope with the Addams’ ghoulish world, but it’s the relationships that make The Addams Family tick.”
I couldn’t have said it better!
In “The Addams Family Goes to School,” the original episode that aired on September 18, 1964, a truant officer arrives at the Addams family house to investigate the fact that Wednesday, 6, and Pugsley, 8, have never been to school. Mr. Addams is appalled at the idea of regimented schooling.
Truant Officer: “But they’ve got to go to school, everybody sends their kids to school.”
Mr. Addams: “That’s ridiculous! Why have children just to get rid of them? I’m opposed to the whole nonsense.”
Truant Officer: “This isn’t my idea. The Board of Education…”
Mr. Addams: “We have our own Board of Education. Mama tutors the children in all of the fine arts: music, painting, ballet.”
Although still not convinced, Gomez gives in when Morticia thinks it may be good for the children to meet other kids their age. But Gomez and Morticia are horrified when Wednesday comes home traumatized. They learn that the students are reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales, stories in which the bad witches, giants, and dragons are killed.
Morticia then decides to keep the children home from school because she won’t allow them to learn such things, and Gomez demands that those books be removed from the curriculum before he’ll allow his children to return to school. (If you’re looking for the original grittier, more gruesome tales from the brothers Grimm, read the First Edition.)
You can watch the Addams Family episode below. Enjoy!