Homeschooling

[Inkachu]

Just from my experience with the very small private school, it was like public and homeschooling put together. I loved it. Going to public schools after that was ...traumatic to say the least.

Agreed. I went to a tiny, exclusive private school from 2nd-6th grade. The small classes were like a second family, and learning was encouraged and cherished. I blossomed like nobody's business while I was there. School was about learning, it wasn't about socializing, though we were all friends (more like brothers and sisters, it was awesome). Unfortunately, the school closed and I was forced into public school, which was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. I went from an environment of respect and education to one of lazy, shallow, rude, and frankly, stupid people all around me. I can only imagine how much better an education I could've gotten. I didn't learn much at all in those final years of school. Even when I went back into private school for 11th-12th grade, the school was a complete joke and I learned next to nothing.

 

[Markus6]

I'm a new teacher in a charter school (recently featured on Oprah - $1 million thank you very much) and my tuppence would be that traditional school room teaching can and should be a better option than homeschooling. Not everyone is a great teacher but if those who have the gift are employed as teachers and they set up the lessons in a way which allows the kids to help each other learn then I think it would be better than everyone having their parent teach them. It also allows parents to work in the way they are more suited. Homeschooling as a emergency solution to a lack of good schools I definitely support.

 

[marlowe007]

If homeschoolers get to take a "parent knows best" approach and ignore rules as they see fit, you will end up with some subculture of parents teaching kids that the earth is flat, fossils are the work of the devil, and Black people are genetically inferior to White. If a teacher tries to do the same in the classroom, they'll be fired. If a parent does it, and homeschooling parents aren't subject to rules as to how their job is done, no one can stop them.

A flat earth? I've only known one individual adhering to such a doctrine with a straight-face - he posted on CF quite recently - and I don't see him spreading his genes any time soon.

Contrary to popular belief, no Christian has ever taught that fossils were the devil's work, even as they were first being discovered.

And fortunately, Phillipe Rushtons are few and far between, so hardly any threat of a subculture there.

 

[razzelflabben]

I'm a new teacher in a charter school (recently featured on Oprah - $1 million thank you very much) and my tuppence would be that traditional school room teaching can and should be a better option than homeschooling. Not everyone is a great teacher but if those who have the gift are employed as teachers and they set up the lessons in a way which allows the kids to help each other learn then I think it would be better than everyone having their parent teach them. It also allows parents to work in the way they are more suited. Homeschooling as a emergency solution to a lack of good schools I definitely support.

That is to assume that gifted teachers are in the classroom. My eyes were opened wide after I graduated from college and began looking for a teaching job. In fact, without changing topic and getting into how schools hire, I had a principal tell me point blank that I was the most qualified person to enter the classroom, but I wouldn't get the job and then he told me why...what I found is those people whom he said would get the jobs, got them every single time, and others I talked to saw the same thing. Unfortunately he also told me that even though they thought they could teach, they couldn't. Now this is not to say that every teacher is incapable of teaching, but rather it is to say that you are making some huge assumptions that evidence would suggest dare not be made.

and btw, even education acknowledges that small, more individualized classrooms are one of the best things we can do to improve educational skills, and that is exactly what happens with homeschool

 

[MacFall]

Not all that homeschool are ineffective, but many are at least in my area. I think that is just as wrong and as damaging as an ineffective public school.

Very true. The difference, though, is that while in both cases you can have students who fail to learn and teachers who fail to teach, with institutional education the quality tends toward the lowest common denominator, which means that there is more opportunity for excellence in homeschooling.

BTW, for the sake of clarity, I'm not for forcing any parent to homeschool their children. You do what you want, but keep your stinkin' laws away from my children.

 

[razzelflabben]

Very true. The difference, though, is that while in both cases you can have students who fail to learn and teachers who fail to teach, with institutional education the quality tends toward the lowest common denominator, which means that there is more opportunity for excellence in homeschooling.

BTW, for the sake of clarity, I'm not for forcing any parent to homeschool their children. You do what you want, but keep your stinkin' laws away from my children.

percentage is also a factor, if you have one student behind in homeschool, it's 100%, in public school, it wouldn't mean a whole lot, which is why one on one is helpful, because the one falling behind isn't overlooked in homeschool. I mean I agree it should be choice, but there are advantages and when we deny that, we are doing dishonor to both.

 

[sweetlambofgod]

I'm not against it, but I wouldn't do it.

 

[Mayzoo]

Probably not what the OP was referring to, but I home school my daughter. She has special needs I do not feel the school is adequately prepared to deal with. The "professionals" told me she would never read, have a sense of humor, or engage in pretend play. Her official IQ test came out 49, but her intelligence is clearly not represented by a standardized IQ test since she has an expressive verbal delay that made answering the testers questions difficult at best.

She is currently reading one year behind her official grade level, and she has a fabulous sense of humor and imagination.

 

[Apollo Celestio]

It's a luxury, you know. There's good and bad in both of it..still thinking it through.

 

[MacFall]

Probably not what the OP was referring to, but I home school my daughter. She has special needs I do not feel the school is adequately prepared to deal with. The "professionals" told me she would never read, have a sense of humor, or engage in pretend play. Her official IQ test came out 49, but her intelligence is clearly not represented by a standardized IQ test since she has an expressive verbal delay that made answering the testers questions difficult at best.

She is currently reading one year behind her official grade level, and she has a fabulous sense of humor and imagination.

That's a very encouraging story.

 

[K9_Trainer]

I am all for homeschooling as long as it doesn't involve indoctrinating the children or brainwashing them and sheltering them. That's sad.

If I have kids, they will either be sent to a private school, or homeschooled. Whichever has the best curriculum or learning environment. Something that will actually challenge them and get them to learn, not baby them like expecting a first grader to not be able to read. The government has turned the public school system into absolute crap and its not the kind of environment I would want my kids in.

 

[SpiritualAntiseptic]

Homeschooling is a way for radicals to shield their children from "un-american" ideas and indoctrinate them with their own twisted ideology instead. If I could ban it, I would without hesitation.

The only time I could see homeschooling as an option would be really remote areas of the US where there isn't enough people to build a school. But even then, it's usually not much of a drive to a proper school.

Children need socialization which a proper school provides, they need that interaction with people their own age (yes, even a bit of bullying...how else will they learn to deal with difficult people?), they need to establish a camaraderie based on communal learning in order to eventually grow up to be fully-developed adults.

Yes, because what government schools provide isn't doctrine.

 

[Spirit_Star]

I don’t have kids but if I ever do have them I would consider home schooling. Might bring in a tutor as well, to help out. I would have to do some research into it. I know of this girl whose 15 and she goes to some online school which could be another option. I recently learned of a home schooling called “Unschooling” from my understanding it basically allows child(ren) to learn what they are interested in.
If not they’d probably go to public school or a charter school.

Finding a homeschooling group for field trips, socialization etc would be a must if I did it. There are other ways kids can socialize, joining the local YMCA and singing them up for classes, some community sports team or club, girl scouts or boy scouts, Church etc.

 

[Rhye]

I'm a new teacher in a charter school (recently featured on Oprah - $1 million thank you very much) and my tuppence would be that traditional school room teaching can and should be a better option than homeschooling. Not everyone is a great teacher but if those who have the gift are employed as teachers and they set up the lessons in a way which allows the kids to help each other learn then I think it would be better than everyone having their parent teach them. It also allows parents to work in the way they are more suited. Homeschooling as a emergency solution to a lack of good schools I definitely support.

This is why I am a huge fan of charter schools.

 

[Markus6]

That is to assume that gifted teachers are in the classroom. My eyes were opened wide after I graduated from college and began looking for a teaching job. In fact, without changing topic and getting into how schools hire, I had a principal tell me point blank that I was the most qualified person to enter the classroom, but I wouldn't get the job and then he told me why...what I found is those people whom he said would get the jobs, got them every single time, and others I talked to saw the same thing. Unfortunately he also told me that even though they thought they could teach, they couldn't. Now this is not to say that every teacher is incapable of teaching, but rather it is to say that you are making some huge assumptions that evidence would suggest dare not be made.

and btw, even education acknowledges that small, more individualized classrooms are one of the best things we can do to improve educational skills, and that is exactly what happens with homeschool

I wasn't making any assumptions. I'm well aware that there are a lot of bad teachers in the profession and a lot of people who would make very good teachers who aren't motivated to pursue it as a career. I'm also aware that right now homeschooling is definitely the best option some parents have. I was just presenting an ideal (and not an unobtainable one - I hope) and in the ideal situation I do not think that homeschooling would be best option.

I also think that in terms of trying to improve the education system (I'm thinking mainly in the US but also the UK), homeschooling does not help much.

 

[MacFall]

To some of us, the fact that there is an education system is the problem, and circumvention is the best remedy.

I'm a fan of unschooling personally, but I realize that some people need more guidance and instruction than others. To me, having a system implies that some people are going to be forced into a pedagogy that isn't the best for them, because if that isn't the case then what we have isn't a system at all, but any number of different systems that integrate and compete as necessary to provide each person with the type of education that is right for him or her as an individual. If some people need classrooms, there will be classrooms. But not everyone will, and those who do not need them should neither be forced to fill them, nor fund them.

 

[Sunset2009]

All children learn differently and have different learning styles. But in public and private schools, they are generally taught one way. That's why you have kids in schools who do very well, and others who do very poorly. The kids who do poorly are NOT dumb, not at all! But the school system has not, and can not accommodate their particular learning style. Also, kids in public/private schools are taught to memorize things, not learn. Academically speaking, public and private schools can be crippling to a child's intellect, as well as to the child's natural desire to learn and discover.

Socially, kids suffer in government-run schools. The kids they're forced into a classroom with are all 1) their same age and 2) at the same level (more than likely) intellectually. (Come on, they've all been taught exactly the same thing at exactly the same pace.) How does a kid really LEARN in that kind of environment? Really GROW mentally, academically, socially, spiritually? All of their peers, the people they're with more hours in the day than with their own family, are JUST AS DUMB AS THEY ARE.

I didn't gain social skills or learn how to actually make friends until I got homeschooled and had to step out of my little box and reach out to someone and actually make an effort. In school, friends are sitting in front of your face all day long. How is does that fall under anything remotely skillful, socially speaking?

 

[K9_Trainer]

I completely agree with how all children being the same age/on the same level in a classroom is not beneficial. This is why I don't think that kids are being challenged enough. There's nothing to stimulate them to think on their own. They can't hear what an older, more developed kid says or knows and think about it and how it applies to them or what it means to them, how it lines up with other things they've learned.

I also think that kids are being harmed by a lack of involvement from the parents in their learning. Like, I find it absolutely pathetic that kids are 5 and 6 years old and are JUST learning how to read in kindergarten. I could read by the time I was 3, 4 years old, and thats because my mom worked with me and read to me and played games with me that involved reading. She incorporated reading into my every day life. She got me curious about words and "what does it say?!". I didn't have to learn it the hard way by trying to consciously associate letter combinations with phonics. They got associated naturally just from being exposed to reading experiences daily. My mom didn't sit there and sound things out for me and try to explain what sound "ch" makes. Needless to say, when I was put into kindergarten at age 4 turning 5, and all my classmates were 5 turning 6, they were just learning how to read, and I was already at a 2nd grade level.

The parents will have a lot more impact on the child than a teacher every will.

 

[Aino]

I admire people who'd home school their kids and especially if they know how to do it well, however I'm afraid I'd go nuts if I did and that my kids wouldn't come out all too great if I did. I could think of putting them in a school and teaching them some extra stuff where I'd think the kids would benefit from it.

 

[razzelflabben]

If homeschoolers get to take a "parent knows best" approach and ignore rules as they see fit, you will end up with some subculture of parents teaching kids that the earth is flat, fossils are the work of the devil, and Black people are genetically inferior to White. If a teacher tries to do the same in the classroom, they'll be fired. If a parent does it, and homeschooling parents aren't subject to rules as to how their job is done, no one can stop them.

Absolving the requirement to meet guidelines and regulations will defeat the purpose of education.

seems to me there is a lot of inflating about who home schools. Also seems to me that many are willing to give up freedom way to easily and why, because of their own prejudices.