Raphael's Homeschooling Dream

[MariaRegina]

In Louisiana it is a joke.

But the reason for home school is not just because the public schools are so bad, it is also because many Catholic schools are way to secular than they should be and they do not even teach the basics well enough. How many times have you heard someone who left the Church say, "I went to Catholic schools all my life." The faith is just NOT being taught properly.

Fr. Robert Fox has a ministry he has committed himself to, to make parents and grandparents aware that we can not leave it up to someone else, a CCD teacher or a catholic school to teach the faith, we must do it ourselves and it is our duty to teach the faith to our kids.

But what I would like say about the socialization issue is it is a false argument because there is nothing that any of us experienced in schools that was a benefit to us as a adult. I am sorry but when I look back and see the things that I put up with from other kids did not do me a darn bit of good now on how to interact with people toady, if anything it made me distrust people and have bitterness in my heart which now I have to work on changing. It is a myth that we need to have our kids interact with other kids or they won’t know how to relate. They can play with kids in their neighborhood and if they have siblings they interact with them, one does not need school to learn how to act.

The child psychologist Stanley Greenspan has written a book called Playground Politics that shows how kids treat one another and how to train your child to handle it. I think that is ridiculous, there in nothing to benefit from having a child learn how to put up with the meanness of another kid.

My 2 cents.

I agree completely, MIchelle.

I wanted to teach my child his Catholic faith throughout all his course work: math, science, literature, history, art, reading, writing, etc. Seton offered a holistic course that is well balanced. This was my ultimate reason.

Yours in Christ,
Elizabeth

 

[princess_ballet]

Everyone keeps saying "they kids can be around family, siblings, other homeschooled kids, etc." But don't you realize that eventually they are going to step into reality and not everyone is going to agree with them? When they go to college they won't know what the heck to think!

 

[Miss Shelby]

This is a very interesting study that debunks the myth that homeschoolers aren't being socialized.

I agree that homeschooled children are socialized and can turn out just as functionally adequate as other children. What I disagree with is the premise that public schools are bad due to the threat of bullies.

Michelle

 

[Benedicta00]

Everyone keeps saying "they kids can be around family, siblings, other homeschooled kids, etc." But don't you realize that eventually they are going to step into reality and not everyone is going to agree with them? When they go to college they won't know what the heck to think!

Think about it, they won't be bringing a lot of baggage in with them that they don't need.

Please tell me how enduring rudeness and for some poor kids, out right harassment is going to benefit them? Being treated rudely only teaches them to treat others rudely but lets say the child’s parents whom is is around more often now treats people in adults situations that way we are supposed to, what is the kid leaning? How to treat people correctly, not how to mistreat and that is what they learn I am sorry to say more so than not in school. This is what they will take to collage with them, the correct way on how to treat people , not the personal bitterness that they may have for being the object of some kids mistreatment. They go to collage with their esteem in tact, not one that has undergone a major set back and study after study proves this more and more, they do better because of this in their academics.

You realize all those issues parents have to deal with, all those pieces that parents have to pick up from a shatter self image is eliminated. Kids can grow up with a firm grasp of reality on how to treat people with out having to be hurt as a child.

Adults have laws to keep them from being harassed, if we can not handle it as adults what makes you think a little kid can.

As a 36 year old grown woman i can look back and honestly say none of the socializing I learned in school has benefited me, at all.

You learn either to become just as mean and catty to fit in and that does your soul a lot of good, or you learn to not let the harassment bother you, and kids emotionally can not do that, it takes a toll, it does not make them better people, we are talking about kids here, not adults.

Think about all you put up with in school, lets say you never experienced that, do you think you would be better off or worse off?

 

[Miss Shelby]

You learn either to become just as mean and catty to fit in and that does your soul a lot of good, or you learn to not let the harassment bother you, and kids emotionally can not do that, it takes a toll, it does not make them better people, we are talking about kids here, not adults.

I think this is a broad sweeping generalization that doesn't fit all situations. Personally I learned to be catty and self defending because of what I learned at home, not at school.

Michelle

 

[Benedicta00]

I think this is a broad sweeping generalization that doesn't fit all situations. Personally I learned to be catty and self defending because of what I learned at home, not at school.

Michelle

Agreed, I am generalizing more the children who are ideally raised in Catholic/Christian/morally religious homes will be better off but for the ones who are not lucky enough to be raised in a ideal environment they still don’t need school to learn how to act poorly or well. That is my diagreement, school does not teach us one way or the other how to act and deal with reality. That is so false.

 

[MariaRegina]

Personally I learned to be catty and self defending because of what I learned at home, not at school.

Michelle

I agree. I came from a large strict Irish Catholic family, where my siblings teased me unmercifully. You learn to fend for yourself in a hurry.

Kind of reminds me of the true story made into a movie based on the Beardsley family: "Yours, mine and ours" where they had close to 22 children and the younger children were lucky to get any food at all.

I think socialization primarily occurred at home and at church where he was involved with the altar boy society and the youth club. Since we belonged to a home school network, which I highly recommend, we had weekly classes conducted in a coop manner. He learned to use the computer and participated in classes in photography, fine arts cooking, organizational skills, first aid, math, Spanish, English,Bible studies and physical education. They also went on many field trips: historical sites, aquariums, museums, zoos, ghost towns, schools for training dogs for the blind, fire stations, Chinatown, Alvarado Street, etc. My son has never had any problems relating with adults nor children of his own age.

Yours in Christ,
Elizabeth