Homeschooling

[hartlandcat]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I saw a poll in the Christian Teens forum a few months ago about homeschooling, and was extremely surprised to see that about half of the respondents to the poll (almost exclusively Americans) said that they were homeschooled. I live in Britain and I've never come across anyone in real life who is/was homeschooled, nor heard it seriously defended. To be honest, I don't think that many British parents even realise that it's an option.

What are your views on homeschooling? If you're a parent who homeschools your child(ren), what made you choose that option and do you believe that it's always superior to conventional schooling, or just more appropriate in certain circumstances?

 

[Rae]

What are your views on homeschooling?

It can be a good thing, particularly if the schools in your area are substandard/dangerous or your child is being constantly abused in them. I wish I'd been homeschooled during junior high, at least, rather than being forced into public school where I was regularly insulted and hit by my "peers."

 

[Chajara]

I'm majoring in Elementary Education, so once I have children I'll probably homeschool them while they're young. I may send them to a private school if I can find one I like though.

 

[hartlandcat]

The only thing that bothers me about homeschooling is that it allows parents to brainwash their children and be able to have very strict control over the people with whom they interact. I realise that this is probably not what happens in most cases, but I'm sure that it must happen sometimes.

 

[Rae]

The only thing that bothers me about homeschooling is that it allows parents to brainwash their children and be able to have very strict control over the people with whom they interact.

Things like that can happen in public school, too. Kids can be just as controlling as parents, and most kids don't interact with most other kids in school, but just with their own cliques. If they're forced to interact with other kids, they will, but then they go back to their friends in the end.

 

[mnphysicist]

In my experience, I only am aware of one instances out of many hundreds of extreme succcesses. Well worth the risk from my standpoint. However, homeschooling is still quite rare.

Ron

 

[feral]

I think homeschooling is a good option if the parent(s) who homeschool are extremely well educated and are consistently following a recognised curriculum, and if they give their homeschooled children ample time for social interraction. Homeschooling seems like a good way to really focus on a child's education, but I have heard stories of people using a very restricted or limited curriculum; giving very slanted bible lessons while avoiding sciences, arts, history, etc that aren't considered appropriate, so I think homeschooled students should be regularly evaluated by the state to make sure they are getting a well rounded education, even if the parent primarily wants to focus on specific areas like religious education, civics, art, etc. I also don't think homeschooling should be used as a means of sheltering children from society and keeping them in the dark about other people and ways of thinking. Homeschooled children should be able to get a lot of social time with other kids, such as in sports or music lessons, camps, classes, social groups like girl scouts, etc, so that part of them develops as well. It seems children should have some options in it too and shouldn't be forced to remain homeschooled after trying it for a year or so. I've known some people who were primarily homeschooled but took part time courses at public or private schools, which helped bridge the gap between home life and society for them.

 

[""]

I have a friend who has her master's in education. When she had children, she made up her mind to home school them in the early years. Her children are very bright, personable, and well behaved. They have quite a few friends who are also home schooled, as the parents who home school will often do outside activities in units, including gymnastics, dance, and physical education. They go to museums, travel to other states, attend science exhibits, and participate in educational competitions. She had them tested for entrance into public school when one of them was in 4th grade, but the child tested far beyond her peers, and her mother felt that she would be bored. So they're going to continue with home schooling until high school, at which time she says they'll likely attend a private school, unless they prefer to test out and begin to take some higher education courses. One of them is so intelligent, that I could see her testing out and going right into college in her mid-teens, but there is something to be said for the social experiences that public school can offer during those teen years too.

 

[Abbadon]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I saw a poll in the Christian Teens forum a few months ago about homeschooling, and was extremely surprised to see that about half of the respondents to the poll (almost exclusively Americans) said that they were homeschooled.

Don't be surprised if that were actually a percentage (and I'm not talking %0.000000000000000001) of the homeschooled persons in America. While there are more homeschooled over here, it could be because we've got more people over here.

Everyone I've met that was homeschooled was... well... not a good arguement for homeschooling. Then again I live in the Bible belt (actually in the southern end of it, so does that mean I live in the Bible crotch? Or is that Florida?), so even the public schools have the "we ain't gonna let them @#%$ satanist illuminati keep us from prayin in school!" types.

I don't have a very high opinion of home schooling, except when the parents are educated (I'm sorry, how's the kid going to learn if the parent "wanna lurn them kids sumthin reel good"). I don't have a problem with religious homeschooling (it makes the Amish happy), but when home schooling is used because prayer supposedly isn't allowed in schools (when it infact IS), then the parent is obviously not smart enough to teach the kid and is just depriving them of a good education.

But again, if the parent is educated, I don't have a problem.

 

[Electric Sceptic]

Homeschooling would be a great idea...if you knew your children would never actually have to interact with the real world.

 

[Lycaenidae]

Homeschooling should be subject to a minumum amount of regulation; that is, it should somehow be determined that the parent(s) are capable of giving their child a quality education.

 

[Electric Sceptic]

Homeschooling should be subject to a minumum amount of regulation; that is, it should somehow be determined that the parent(s) are capable of giving their child a quality education.

I don't believe they can, because one of the most important parts of an education is being forced to interact with others for around 30-40 hours a week...vital training for when the child hits university/work age.

 

[feo]

I think that homeschooling deprives children of learning stuff that isnt found in a textbook... I know quite a few homeschooler's, and quite honestly almost every one of 'em has not made it beyond their first year at a community college. On the other hand, most of my friends from highschool are finishing up here at the university.

I will be the first to admit it.. that my middle and highschool did *NOT* prepare me properly for college- Arizona has one of the worst public schools in the entire country! But when you have children being sheltered their entire life; and then shoved in a situation where they WILL be confronted, where their faith WILL have to be questioned, and where they'll have to stand up for what they believe in... it is possible they just might crumble. And these situations extend even beyond 2ndary education; and go into the workforce...

I guess its just a matter of choosing the lesser evil, and in my opinion: I think the emotional IQ our public education teaches is more important than a slightly better education at home.

 

[Illuminatus]

I was homeschooled for about a year and a half. Religion had nothing to do with it, we had to move to another city for my dad's job, and the schools there were complete crap. My mom did a great job. I came out several years ahead in a lot of areas, and she made sure we got some outside interaction through a tutoring service and extracurriculars. Are there some things that you miss out on? Yes. Primarily social interaction, because no matter how many outside activities you do, you're not going to have the same involvement with other kids of the same age. But at the same time, I went into grade 7, years ahead in things like writing, math, and science. A lot of it depends on the reason for homeschooling.

 

[Velo Princesse]

Wow... so much to respond to!

Okay, I am a homeschool mom. I have 2 children, a 6 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. Currently my daughter, who is supposed to be in 1st grade, is finishing second and my son, who is supposed to be in pre k because of when his birthday falls, is finishing first.

My children are wonderfully socialized, although probably not according to any one here's standards. They have limited interaction w/ children their own age. Mostly, they are only around them during soccer practice and games and when my friends w/ kids their ages come over. A huge part of that is because the kids I've met who are my childrens ages are not exactly commercials for good behavior. Because my kids aren't around them, they do not have the horrible influences that come with those friendships. However, I consider them well socialized because true socialization is not about being with 28 other people who are your same age and come from the same basic area you come from. My kids have 'friends' who are much older than them who they spend quality time with. They learn from many generations of people and as a result can interact quite nicely w/ everyone. They also very often are with people of varying races and religions, something that schools in the woods of Texas simply can't offer.

I started homeschooling because my daughter attended kindergarten last year and I was not happy with the results. We are in a relatively highly ranked school district and Brianne had one of the best teachers I have ever met so, it wasn't as simple as an education deficiancy. The big thing re: education was that I could do better. Because I don't have to deal w/ 30 kids, our time is more wisely spent. Another issue I had w/ sending her to school was that my husband and I spent 5 years trying to teach her how to behave and within a week of being raised by peers most of what we tried to instill was gone. Luckily, recovery didn't take long!

I don't think school is good training for the real world. An example: in the real world if someone is mistreating you or bullying you, you can press charges or otherwise disassociate w/ them. In school, if you go to authorities little to nothing will happen. At best, that person will be expelled and then come back a week or two later to have your head.

Ultimately, I thought it best to raise my own children.

To respond to another post- I am not considered well educated. Not at all in fact. However, I've been teaching them for 6 years and I'm good at it. Everything they've learned, they learned from me. I get nothing but compliments on their intelligence and behavior and see no reason to suddenly believe that I'm not educated enough to continue.

I intend to home school them until they graduate, which should be at the age of 16. At that point, they will go into the secondary training of their choice. At the age of 18 both of my children will be fully functioning members of society who are capable of taking care of themselves on so many levels, as opposed to the adult sized child I was at that age.

I figure, what good have I done in this life if I can't help my children become better than I am?

 

[Electric Sceptic]

Wow... so much to respond to!

Okay, I am a homeschool mom. I have 2 children, a 6 year old girl and a 5 year old boy. Currently my daughter, who is supposed to be in 1st grade, is finishing second and my son, who is supposed to be in pre k because of when his birthday falls, is finishing first.

My children are wonderfully socialized, although probably not according to any one here's standards. They have limited interaction w/ children their own age. Mostly, they are only around them during soccer practice and games and when my friends w/ kids their ages come over. A huge part of that is because the kids I've met who are my childrens ages are not exactly commercials for good behavior. Because my kids aren't around them, they do not have the horrible influences that come with those friendships. However, I consider them well socialized because true socialization is not about being with 28 other people who are your same age and come from the same basic area you come from. My kids have 'friends' who are much older than them who they spend quality time with. They learn from many generations of people and as a result can interact quite nicely w/ everyone. They also very often are with people of varying races and religions, something that schools in the woods of Texas simply can't offer.

I started homeschooling because my daughter attended kindergarten last year and I was not happy with the results. We are in a relatively highly ranked school district and Brianne had one of the best teachers I have ever met so, it wasn't as simple as an education deficiancy. The big thing re: education was that I could do better. Because I don't have to deal w/ 30 kids, our time is more wisely spent. Another issue I had w/ sending her to school was that my husband and I spent 5 years trying to teach her how to behave and within a week of being raised by peers most of what we tried to instill was gone. Luckily, recovery didn't take long!

I don't think school is good training for the real world. An example: in the real world if someone is mistreating you or bullying you, you can press charges or otherwise disassociate w/ them. In school, if you go to authorities little to nothing will happen. At best, that person will be expelled and then come back a week or two later to have your head.

Ultimately, I thought it best to raise my own children.

To respond to another post- I am not considered well educated. Not at all in fact. However, I've been teaching them for 6 years and I'm good at it. Everything they've learned, they learned from me. I get nothing but compliments on their intelligence and behavior and see no reason to suddenly believe that I'm not educated enough to continue.

I intend to home school them until they graduate, which should be at the age of 16. At that point, they will go into the secondary training of their choice.

At the age of 18 both of my children will be fully functioning members of society who are capable of taking care of themselves on so many levels, as opposed to the adult sized child I was at that age.

The last paragraph remains to be seen, and I would bet long odds against it.

 

[Velo Princesse]

The last paragraph remains to be seen, and I would bet long odds against it.

Very kind of you...

 

[Velo Princesse]

<H4>

<H4>Major findings: Achievement</H4>

• Almost 25% of home school students are enrolled one or more grades above their age-level peers in public and private schools.
• Home school student achievement test scores are exceptionally high. The median scores for every subtest at every grade (typically in the 70th to 80th percentile) are well above those of public and Catholic/Private school students.
• On average, home school students in grades 1 to 4 perform one grade level above their age-level public/private school peers on achievement tests.
• The achievement test score gap between home school students and public/private school students starts to widen in grade 5.
• Students who have been home schooled their entire academic life have higher scholastic achievement test scores than students who have also attended other educational programs.
• There are no meaningful differences in achievement by gender, whether the student is enrolled in a full-service curriculum, or whether a parent holds a state issued teaching certificate.
• There are significant achievement differences among home school students when classified by amount of money spent on education, family income, parent education, and television viewing.

</H4>
That info was taken from here.

 

[Electric Sceptic]

<H4> </H4>
That info was taken from here.

The info wasn't in doubt; I have no qualms about the usual outcome of homeschooling regarding academic performance. The improved teacher-student relationship (one-on-one or one-on-two rather than one-on-thirty or fortysomething) is of immense assistance there. My problems are with the social aspect, hence my previous comment.

 

[Velo Princesse]

The info wasn't in doubt; I have no qualms about the usual outcome of homeschooling regarding academic performance. The improved teacher-student relationship (one-on-one or one-on-two rather than one-on-thirty or fortysomething) is of immense assistance there. My problems are with the social aspect, hence my previous comment.

I was posting that more for general knowledge than for you in particular.

Can you explain why you are so concerned w/ the social aspect? I ask only because socializing w/ people of many different backrounds, ages, races, religions, ect. seems much more well-rounded to me than socializing only w/ other people your own age. Where I live, most people are the same race and relgion also.

Also, your earlier comment was simply rude. I didn't deserve it, and my children sure as hell didn't.