Question: Homeschooling? Pro's/Cons and overall do you think the pro's outway the cons?
- Thread starter Bamabuzzard
- Start date
It ain't just you...I can't get to any other forum, except by clicking on the latest post.
we home school and my kids are far more socialized than I am now or was at their age. We have 1 day a week at a home school center and 4 days a week at home.
At the home school center we have a mix of really qualified parents teaching (my daughters math teacher is working on her masters in math and has kids in the group as well) and non-parents who are contracted for classes. Our Spanish teacher is a mom with older kids who tutors after school for public/private school kids and teaches a class or two for us, we have a kid who is a music major at a local college that teaches music, that sort of thing. All in all it works out great. We are required to do standardized testing at certain intervals and my kids are testing through the roof, so I am thrilled with it.
On the socialization side I can hear my kids and 4 of their home schooled friends upstairs right now. My kids have afternoon playgroups just about everyday with other HS kids. They also do field trips constantly, at least once a month to the local museums, science centers, aquariums etc. More and more these type of places are having home school days and Disney even does a home school week now where they take a few classes and do the more traditional Disney activities.
As far as the comment of HS kids being "weird" yes they can be. IMO however this is a really, really good thing. It's funny to me. I hear so many people constantly worried about "how bad kids are nowadays" how they do this and that and how wrong it all is. But then the same parents send their kids off to public school, let them watch the same "bad" shows and become exactly what they say is wrong about the next generation because they are terrified that their kids may be "weird". I am all for weird, your normal freaks me out
J
At the home school center we have a mix of really qualified parents teaching (my daughters math teacher is working on her masters in math and has kids in the group as well) and non-parents who are contracted for classes. Our Spanish teacher is a mom with older kids who tutors after school for public/private school kids and teaches a class or two for us, we have a kid who is a music major at a local college that teaches music, that sort of thing. All in all it works out great. We are required to do standardized testing at certain intervals and my kids are testing through the roof, so I am thrilled with it.
On the socialization side I can hear my kids and 4 of their home schooled friends upstairs right now. My kids have afternoon playgroups just about everyday with other HS kids. They also do field trips constantly, at least once a month to the local museums, science centers, aquariums etc. More and more these type of places are having home school days and Disney even does a home school week now where they take a few classes and do the more traditional Disney activities.
As far as the comment of HS kids being "weird" yes they can be. IMO however this is a really, really good thing. It's funny to me. I hear so many people constantly worried about "how bad kids are nowadays" how they do this and that and how wrong it all is. But then the same parents send their kids off to public school, let them watch the same "bad" shows and become exactly what they say is wrong about the next generation because they are terrified that their kids may be "weird". I am all for weird, your normal freaks me out
J
I think it's semantics - I don't think of "home school center" when I think of "home schooled". The "home school center" ain't really your "home", so that's somewhat of a misnomer. I think maybe "community school" might be more appropriate, I don't know; but I think of "home schooled" as being taught by parents, at home, only.
Several of my friends homeschool their kids. They have a home school basketball team and baseball team that competes against junior high and high school teams. As for the socialization, that's always been a concern of mine. Most families that do homeschool do it for 1) religious reasons (admitted or not); or 2) socio-political reasons.
We homeschooled our kids up until recently. We pulled my daughter out of school during kindergarden when we realized she had a problem (turned out to be dyslexia) and was not getting any attention. We put them back into school when my two oldest were 5th grade.
The reality is that homeschooling is just like any other situation. It can be great or terrible depending on how its executed. I do not believe it is inherently good, nor do I believe you have to have a teachers certificate to do a great job. The amount of material available now, especially with the internet, makes teaching extremely easy (hard work, but not complicated). The benefit to homeschooling is that you give your kids direct attention the entire time. Regardless of their strenghts or weaknesses, you can focus on that.
One of the impacts, I won't say negatives, is that homeschooled kids are socialized completely different than school kids. Depending on who you are, you will view this negatively or positively. However, for some people, this is a strength of homeschooling and one of the reasons they do it. It isn't that they don't have social skills. The people who are homeschooled that aren't social would be just as anti-social if they were public schooled. It is just that they don't experience the same enviornment. Homeschooled kids interact with adults (not just parents) much more often than school kids. School kids mostly interact with adults as authority figures and they learn their responses to that from other children. Homeschooled don't have the experience of school, where the teacher has 30 kids, the principal has the school full, the PE teacher teaches 5 classes, and in each of those cases, and they don't have time to build "friend" relationships with every kid. Homeschooled kids build those relationships with adults and don't develop the stand off that a school kids gets. This is not an issue for many, and by they time you reach adulthood, the differences are not a problem, but when they mix while young, it can be noticable.
Homeschooling is a ton of work, and you have to dedicate yourself to do it. On the other hand, it can address a long list of issues that matter a good bit to many people. (political, religious, culteral, or environmental) We liked homeschooling. We chose to move back into schools because of several factors, one of which was that we moved into a very good school system. Our older children requested to try school, and they like it. (another benefit of homeschooling, my younger children were not homeschooled, and they hate school)
Just realize that being a homeschooler does not mean your kids are smarter, nor does it automatically make them more educated. It also doesn't mean the kids are automatically anti-social. Every homeschooler I know whose kids are not social, its because the parents chose to live that way and the kids are given a controlled environment on purpose. Comparing the two, having done both, there are a lot of cases where I wonder if they aren't right.
The reality is that homeschooling is just like any other situation. It can be great or terrible depending on how its executed. I do not believe it is inherently good, nor do I believe you have to have a teachers certificate to do a great job. The amount of material available now, especially with the internet, makes teaching extremely easy (hard work, but not complicated). The benefit to homeschooling is that you give your kids direct attention the entire time. Regardless of their strenghts or weaknesses, you can focus on that.
One of the impacts, I won't say negatives, is that homeschooled kids are socialized completely different than school kids. Depending on who you are, you will view this negatively or positively. However, for some people, this is a strength of homeschooling and one of the reasons they do it. It isn't that they don't have social skills. The people who are homeschooled that aren't social would be just as anti-social if they were public schooled. It is just that they don't experience the same enviornment. Homeschooled kids interact with adults (not just parents) much more often than school kids. School kids mostly interact with adults as authority figures and they learn their responses to that from other children. Homeschooled don't have the experience of school, where the teacher has 30 kids, the principal has the school full, the PE teacher teaches 5 classes, and in each of those cases, and they don't have time to build "friend" relationships with every kid. Homeschooled kids build those relationships with adults and don't develop the stand off that a school kids gets. This is not an issue for many, and by they time you reach adulthood, the differences are not a problem, but when they mix while young, it can be noticable.
Homeschooling is a ton of work, and you have to dedicate yourself to do it. On the other hand, it can address a long list of issues that matter a good bit to many people. (political, religious, culteral, or environmental) We liked homeschooling. We chose to move back into schools because of several factors, one of which was that we moved into a very good school system. Our older children requested to try school, and they like it. (another benefit of homeschooling, my younger children were not homeschooled, and they hate school)
Just realize that being a homeschooler does not mean your kids are smarter, nor does it automatically make them more educated. It also doesn't mean the kids are automatically anti-social. Every homeschooler I know whose kids are not social, its because the parents chose to live that way and the kids are given a controlled environment on purpose. Comparing the two, having done both, there are a lot of cases where I wonder if they aren't right.
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At what point does keeping you child in a failing public school system just for the social experience become to much of a price to pay? I get what you guys are saying about the social aspect of schools but, I want my kids to graduate and know how to read. Who cares if they know how to get along well with other kids if they are dumb as bricks? My oldest will not start school until fall 2013 so we still have some time to figure things out but, home schooling is on the table. I do not want my kids in the Montgomery Public School system (I use to work for them and have seen first hand how bad it can be) and we can't afford private schools. What are concerned parents suppose to do, watch their kids suffer through the pathetic American public school system, just to have a social experience?
not most families I know that Home School. Most that I know simply want a better education. IMO HS provides this. Where I live we have a couple of choices outside of Home School. Private religious, not an option for us as Atheists. Private Secular, around here that means super expensive snob factory and having hung out with those kids in high school I am not interested in my kids growing up with kids with lots of money, an "i'm better than everyone mentality" and tons of free time. Hippy/granola private schools, super expensive too granola for us. Public Schools, no interest in our kids being "normal". So we Home School.
There is no reason other than being able to afford nothing else to send your kids to a failing public school.
My wife is a product of homeschooling and I see no issue with her, other than the fact she married me 8), but we are considering it for our kids. It has nothing to do with religous or political agendas. Where we just moved from the homeschool associations were huge. One of them had close to 400 kids and they got together throughout the week for activities which provided the social outlet. Where we live now in Chapel Hill they also have a large association. The benefit of the association is sometimes they will meet at one place for their class because a parent is well edcucated to teach that specialty. Maybe a higher science or math. A area where some parents struggle with homeschooling because it is not a strong area of theirs. Also here their are traveling teachers that will set up shop in different locations for classes. One I know of is a traveling science lab.
Another interesting thing in NC, not sure about other states, but here if the parent pays state taxes which fund the school system they have access to the school. Meaning for PE classes, music, art, or other things like that they are allowed to particpate in their school district at that school. Not saying many do because I have found many of the homeschoolers like to control the social environment their child is in, but I do know a few that use this resource. The interesting fight now taking place in NC is with NCHSAA. Currently homeschoolers can only participate in intrascholatic or athletic events, but they are trying to change it so that homeschoolers can compete with the athletic teams. It will be interesting if this happens.
For us the option of homeschooling has more to do with EOG(end of grade testing). Once the child hits 3rd grade they have to take EOGs to get to the next grade. I understand the value of making sure the child is ready but EOGs are tied to state funding. Meaning the test results determine annual funding. So what they do is teach the children new material in the first semester and then spend the 2nd semester preping for the EOG. Just looking at a elementry claender thay have scheduled 5 field testing weeks prior to the actual EOG. So basically the child only learns info half the time they are in school. The rest is spent scrambling to get the highest test scores. A product of leave no child left behind.
The problem is let educators determine what is best for children not politicians and as long as the politicians are involved homeschooling will continue to grow.
Another interesting thing in NC, not sure about other states, but here if the parent pays state taxes which fund the school system they have access to the school. Meaning for PE classes, music, art, or other things like that they are allowed to particpate in their school district at that school. Not saying many do because I have found many of the homeschoolers like to control the social environment their child is in, but I do know a few that use this resource. The interesting fight now taking place in NC is with NCHSAA. Currently homeschoolers can only participate in intrascholatic or athletic events, but they are trying to change it so that homeschoolers can compete with the athletic teams. It will be interesting if this happens.
For us the option of homeschooling has more to do with EOG(end of grade testing). Once the child hits 3rd grade they have to take EOGs to get to the next grade. I understand the value of making sure the child is ready but EOGs are tied to state funding. Meaning the test results determine annual funding. So what they do is teach the children new material in the first semester and then spend the 2nd semester preping for the EOG. Just looking at a elementry claender thay have scheduled 5 field testing weeks prior to the actual EOG. So basically the child only learns info half the time they are in school. The rest is spent scrambling to get the highest test scores. A product of leave no child left behind.
The problem is let educators determine what is best for children not politicians and as long as the politicians are involved homeschooling will continue to grow.
There are ALWAYS better options than homeschooling. Always.
I had a student whose parents both dropped out of high school. They are now "homeschooling" him. The fact that there isn't even a basic test that parents who wish to homeschool must pass is mind boggling. I'm a fan of completely doing away with compulsory attendance, but if we are going to have it, we may as well make it consistent instead of having any idiot being able to "teach" their child.
There are two skills that homeschooling cannot teach, and they are "doing what the boss says" and "politicking to get ahead," both of which are necessary to succeed in today's world.
I had a student whose parents both dropped out of high school. They are now "homeschooling" him. The fact that there isn't even a basic test that parents who wish to homeschool must pass is mind boggling. I'm a fan of completely doing away with compulsory attendance, but if we are going to have it, we may as well make it consistent instead of having any idiot being able to "teach" their child.
There are two skills that homeschooling cannot teach, and they are "doing what the boss says" and "politicking to get ahead," both of which are necessary to succeed in today's world.
I'm having problems as well. i can't get to any of the forums, just the occasional individual post
It's either the recent solar storms, or God is punishing us even before tomorrow's primaries...:wink:
we are considering montessori for our little one. the public schools on the south side of atlanta (and most of the rest of the state for that matter) are horrid. they are doing more charter schools now and we live near one so that may be an option, but i don't think their survival is a given.
we haven't seriously considered home schooling.
we haven't seriously considered home schooling.
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