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What are your thoughts on homeschooling?

1. I've never met a home-schooled person, online or in person, that was not socially crippled.

2. I think most home-schooling is motivated by parents that believe the school system is a conspiracy - for religious reasons or otherwise. I've never seen a home-schooling scenario in which the parents were not attempting to deny accepted science of one form or another.

Please excuse my double negatives, I assure they are not the result of a lack of quality education; it's just because I'm lazy.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
I did it for a bunch of years so obviously I have lots of thoughts, you are going to have to be more specific.
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Do you find your social skills up to par (average)?

Why did your parents choose to do so?
 
ecofarm said:
Do you find your social skills up to par (average)?

Why did your parents choose to do so?
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I taught all three of my kids at one point or another, homeschoooled for 7 years. You gotta understand that my kids lived in a house with two very smart parents and tons of language early and in a culture of excellence...this was always going to be an all inclusive deal. We did a lot of field trips, sometimes with other homeschool parents...all were in scouts, all had to have a sport or dance or music at all times, all had completely full and free access to the internet from early ages....social was never a problem, except especially when we had no car or only one car the time commitment from me to make it happen was extensive.

We did it because we thought that the DODDS schools in Germany sucked, our kids had to get better.
 
Richard Loeb said:
What are your thoughts?
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If you send kids to good private schools it will do the kids more good; send them to the wrong inner city one and they wont. A friend founded a private school to save the kids from the public system in the city they were living. But even having been to the best schools of the land, parents can hardly handle the breadth of information the kids will need for university.
 
joG said:
If you send kids to good private schools it will do the kids more good; send them to the wrong inner city one and they wont. A friend founded a private school to save the kids from the public system in the city they were living. But even having been to the best schools of the land, parents can hardly handle the breadth of information the kids will need for university.
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And yet home schooled children test above their public schooled peers
 
EMNofSeattle said:
And yet home schooled children test above their public schooled peers
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So do the kids at my friend's school. The public school system supplies a free lunch good and the quality you would expect.
 
ecofarm said:
Do you find your social skills up to par (average)?

Why did your parents choose to do so?
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I have known a few parents who have home schooled, and their kids were just as tuned in as any other kid, socially speaking.

I have also seen many kids who were a island among other students in a public school setting.

Maybe your experience is unique in comparison.
 
It depends on how it is done and the competency of the parent doing the teaching. All too often it is done so they can teach things like creationism, but not always. My best friend's wife home schools their daughter. Of course she has a Masters in education, used to teach, and keeps their kid active with other kids.

I do not believe that most parents would be able to do it better than the typical public school, particularly past elementary school.
 
ecofarm said:
1. I've never met a home-schooled person, online or in person, that was not socially crippled.
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I can see that. I also think it's an option families should consider if they want an alternative. 'Tis their right.

I also believe sometimes that option is unfairly thrust upon families that need an alternative but do not have a suitable one.

Anyway, there's some kids that are physically abused and neglected by school staff on a daily basis (no, I am not making this up, and yes, it happens regularly enough) but the parents tend to feel there's no other recourse but to pull their kids out and be forced to consider losing their own employment or housing situation in order to do homeschooling.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
 
EMNofSeattle said:
And yet home schooled children test above their public schooled peers
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but is that actually a valid peer to peer comparison
i would anticipate that the typical homeschooling parent is more involved with their child's academic success than a typical parent whose child attends public school
subscribing to my wife's opinion, after her career as a public school teacher, those students with strong parental guidance in the homes tend to be the superior students on academic achievement tests (and classroom behavior)

if i were a parent whose child was in a weak school district, home schooling would seem to be a better option
given the resources on and inter-connectivity of the internet, the breadth and depth of home schooling subjects should be able to be more comprehensive than in prior generations

were i the parent of a child in an excellent public school system (i was), i would augment at home the education experiences the kids were receiving at that good school (i did)

the good thing about home schooling is you limit your child's access to bad social behaviors
the bad thing about home schooling is that you limit your child's access to good social interactions

i believe home schooled children benefit immensely by participation in local athletic leagues, scouts, church, clubs, and other home schooled children; things that cause them not to miss out on the social side of public school, which is important

there was mention of private schools. like public schools, they can range from awful to excellent. in the limited research i conducted when my children were approaching school age, it seemed that the best private schools were jesuit based programs, while the worst programs - academically - were the evangelical/Christian focused schools
 
Richard Loeb said:
What are your thoughts?
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Not

For

Everyone.

An exceptional student who is driven will do excellent. But a student who is not will flounder. Social skills will be fine...as long as the parents actually take their kids to be around others. My girlfriend was homeschooled and is on her way to a doctorate. Her only social issues are that she is pretty reserved (and that is a family thing and not even that bad).

I had a friend in community college who was also home schooled. She was a social butterfly. Everyone loved her and she was down to try anything new pretty much (skydiving to shooting and preferred the .45acp to the .38 special). Was an interesting young woman.

GF sister tried home school. Smart as a whip and an artist. But she wasn't driven. Same with my GF brother...but he has no drive and really isn't a book person. So it really is kid dependent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
ecofarm said:
1. I've never met a home-schooled person, online or in person, that was not socially crippled.
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Really? I know several who aren't "socially crippled" at all. They're very active with their friends and family in pretty much all things.
 
Richard Loeb said:
What are your thoughts?
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Homeschooling is like everything in life -- it can be absolutely wonderful or absolutely devastating. It all depends on who is in charge and their motivations.
 
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Josie said:
Homeschooling is like everything in life -- it can be absolutely wonderful or absolutely devastating. It all depends on who is in charge and their motivations.
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And how educated they are, ignorant people should never try to teach.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
And how educated they are, ignorant people should never try to teach.
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Being a school teacher doesn't magically make that go away as I am sure you are aware. ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
justabubba said:
but is that actually a valid peer to peer comparison
i would anticipate that the typical homeschooling parent is more involved with their child's academic success than a typical parent whose child attends public school
subscribing to my wife's opinion, after her career as a public school teacher, those students with strong parental guidance in the homes tend to be the superior students on academic achievement tests (and classroom behavior)

if i were a parent whose child was in a weak school district, home schooling would seem to be a better option
given the resources on and inter-connectivity of the internet, the breadth and depth of home schooling subjects should be able to be more comprehensive than in prior generations

were i the parent of a child in an excellent public school system (i was), i would augment at home the education experiences the kids were receiving at that good school (i did)

the good thing about home schooling is you limit your child's access to bad social behaviors
the bad thing about home schooling is that you limit your child's access to good social interactions

i believe home schooled children benefit immensely by participation in local athletic leagues, scouts, church, clubs, and other home schooled children; things that cause them not to miss out on the social side of public school, which is important

there was mention of private schools. like public schools, they can range from awful to excellent. in the limited research i conducted when my children were approaching school age, it seemed that the best private schools were jesuit based programs, while the worst programs - academically - were the evangelical/Christian focused schools
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IMO that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Parents have way more influence in their children's success at school than the teachers and school itself. Sure some schools can be detrimental, but IMO they're the exception, most are more than adequate to the task if they have the support of the parents.
 
blackjack50 said:
Being a school teacher doesn't magically make that go away as I am sure you are aware. ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Universities obsessing on education theories and methods instead of teaching future teachers (or in the cast of masters programs actual teachers) core competence in the fields that they are going to teach has of course been a disaster, one that almost no one will admitt to, and one that never gets fixed.
 
Josie said:
Homeschooling is like everything in life -- it can be absolutely wonderful or absolutely devastating. It all depends on who is in charge and their motivations.
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Yep. I've known some smart dedicated parents who did an outstanding job and others that did their kids a real disservice.
 
Hawkeye10 said:
Universities obsessing on education theories and methods instead of teaching future teachers (or in the cast of masters programs actual teachers) core competence in the fields that they are going to teach has of course been a disaster, one that almost no one will admitt to, and one that never gets fixed.
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I would generally agree, though I think the damage, or rather, the insult to injury, would be lessened if they actually made students read theoretical works instead of giving incredibly poor summation of it.

For all of the preening about it, has anyone been forced to actually read Dewey or Gardner?

The funny thing, though, is that our measurements for the impact of teacher preparation are less than stellar. We are still in a position of not really being able to point to whether either pedagogical instruction or core content areas actually has an impact on student outcomes.

Surely they (or either) can, but we can't quite prove it!

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
 
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