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View Poll Results: Is home schooling a good idea?
There's nothing wrong with it if done properly 11 100.00%
no, leave it to the professionals 0 0%
don't know, don't care 0 0%
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Old 02-14-2004, 12:36 PM   #1
plthijinx
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Home schooling vs. Conventional Schooling

this came up at work the other day. myself and 3 or so other co-workers were talking about home schooling vs. public/private schools. one guy (we'll call him "Bob") was so adament that home schooling was a bad idea that he almost started yelling! then again the guy he was talking to just kept egging him on. i am neither against it or for it. if one decides to do home schooling i think one should be qualified. Bob's argument was that if the chldren were home schooled they would not have a fair chance in society and therefore fail in life or for another reason, so they could focus on their sports. almost like the parents were "growing professional atheletes" as he put it. i went to both private and public schools and given the choice and finances i would love to send my boy to private school. hell, i even have the one picked out. as for home schooling, the only home schooling i would do and actually do from time to time is aviation ground school.
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Old 02-14-2004, 01:10 PM   #2
Skunks
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I was sort of half-unschooled. Up until last summer, I spent maybe a sum total of four years as a full-time student, with a handful of credit and noncredit courses at the local community college. I now have my GED, having avoided highschool entirely, and am a freshman at <a href="http://www.uoregon.edu/">UO</a>. Everybody who I've mentioned this to around here has said something to the effect of, "yeah, highschool's a waste of time." One guy at the bus stop compared it in unfavorable terms to a blowjob; I'm not sure what he was getting at, but none the less he didn't seem terribly enamored with the state of public schools in Oregon.

I think there are a lot of misconceptions with "home schooling", because it conjures up the idea of a school where there's one pupil, two part-time teachers, and a lot of books and set curriculum. For me, it was never really like that. Until we got the internet, I just entertained myself with books and stuff. Afterwards, it was programming, porn, and games. I can't say it'll work for everyone, or even that it worked for me, or would have worked without the various odd circumstances of my life (my dad being an actor/writer who never really had a job until I was 15, rich grandparents, etc). I can tell you, though, that nobody who actively attend(s/ed) them and talks to me about such things thinks public school is about learning. An interesting take on why school doesn't work is described in a book by A.S. Neill, "<a href="http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/">Summerhill</a>".

To answer the question, though: It's like anything else in life. At some point you should ask yourself what it is that you're trying to accomplish. If you want a daycare for your kids up through their 18th birthday, yeah, public school might be the way to go. If you want them to learn, it might be worth looking into the alternatives.
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Old 02-14-2004, 01:43 PM   #3
elSicomoro
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I went to parochial (Catholic) school for 13 years. It wasn't always puppy dogs and ice cream, but I learned a lot, they laid off the heavy Catholic doctrine after 9th grade and when I hit college, I seemed so much better off than my public counterparts. Now granted, I'm a smart motherfucker to begin with, and the schools I attended weren't exactly flush with money. But I really learned.

But that shit costs money...my parents were always two steps from the poorhouse. There were several times where I'd get pulled into the principal's office, and I'd be advised that if my parents didn't pay my tuition by such-and-such date, I'd get the boot. This continued until January of my senior year of high school.

And of course, it's not for everybody. It worked for me, but not for my brother. It just didn't hold his interest...he was always getting in trouble. Then my parents put him in St. Louis's magnet school program beginning in 6th grade...and he flourished. He's now a well-adjusted (more or less...look at who he has for a big brother ) 22-year old certified EMT, taking classes at St. Louis Community College.

One of the biggest beefs against home schooling is the lack of social interaction for a child. And while I agree that social interaction is necessary, kids can be so ungodly cruel to each other...why put a kid through that shit every day for 9 months each year?

As long as the parent is qualified enough to teach the basics, I see nothing wrong with home-schooling. I know if I had children, I sure as hell wouldn't put them in Philadelphia's public school system.
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Old 02-14-2004, 01:48 PM   #4
jinx
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I would homeschool long before I'd consider public school. I'd totally suck at it though, so I'm really glad to have an awsome private school 15 minutes away.
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Old 02-14-2004, 02:04 PM   #5
wolf
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I've given this issue a lot of thought.

Most of my opinions had been formed before I ever met any homeschooled children.

I believed most of the conventional wisdom regarding home-schooled children, undersocialized, isolated, etc.

That turns out not to be the case. Unlike the kids we see yearly on the National Spelling Bee (who can forget the little girl who hoarsely shouted her responses and clapped in a bizarre manner so accurately parodied by South Park), the homeschooled children I have interacted with tend to be bright, inquisitive, more highly achieving and better socialized than their conventionally schooled peers.

I'm interested to see what happens with the kids I know now as elementary school age children when they reach high school age.

People homeschool for a lot of different reasons. I know that the right-fringe is seen to be big into homeschooling, largely because of their stand on religious instruction, as well as the apparent agenda on the part of the NEA and other organizations/agencies that control the curriculum in the schools. I can't say as I disagree. The public school system has a lot of faults, both with respect to the 'indoctrination rather than education' issue, as well as the safety and security of our most precious assets.

I've also started to meet/converse with pagan homeschoolers ... they are out there.

I'm for it, so long as the parents are willing to invest the time and attention that is required to do it right.
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Old 02-14-2004, 02:35 PM   #6
plthijinx
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Quote:
Originally posted by sycamore
I know if I had children, I sure as hell wouldn't put them in Philadelphia's public school system.
that's one of the reasons that i posted this. HISD (Houston) sucks. almost every day there is a shooting/stabbing etc....not to mention their curriculum or lack there of. it seems to me that they are only interested in herding the kids through with "passing" grades to get their state and federal funing(s). granted T is only 2-1/2 but i'm still trying to think of ways to get the best education for him. hopefully by the time he's ready for school my office will be a boeing 737 or better so i can afford the school that i would like to send him to.
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Old 02-14-2004, 05:46 PM   #7
Troubleshooter
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Something that one of the homeschooling groups in Baton Rouge used to do is trade kids. That way the kids dealt with other adults. Also they would do field trips and such together on weekends.

The only real issue for me is socialization. I decided a long time ago that the teachers in public schools around here are not qualified to teach my child. And some of the private school are so far left I'm afraid that they'll taint my child with far left, warm-fuzzy, feel good, it's not your fault, bull shit that I'd end up having to burn the place down.
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Old 02-16-2004, 09:04 AM   #8
Whit
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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Homeschooling, not just for religious nuts anymore.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Let's face it, public schools suck. I think most of us are familiar with the why's and how's they suck, as well as the reasons they aren't really getting better. Homeschooling is all about how hard (and smart) the parents are willing to work. A clear advantage if you have a parent that can stay home to work with the kids. Most of us don't have that opportunity though. We have to work to make ends meet. Private schools are somewhere in the middle. More money than public schools, comes from the parents pockets.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To me the clear solution is to not have kids in the first place. Of course, birth control ain't 100% effective, so it's a risk. Trust me on this ... and don't point this thread out to my kids...
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Old 02-16-2004, 10:00 AM   #9
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A little caveat - public schools don't make up for bad parenting. An unmotivated student will not do well in a public school. But a student who is willing to work, and has parents who encourage him/her will get a lot out of it.

I and my three siblings all went through the DC public school system. Granted, it was some of the better schools in that system, but we had our share of bad teachers. There was a lot of room for improvement, but three of us got into excellent schools (one is still in high school) - Carnegie Mellon, St. Johns (not the basketball one), and MIT.

I guess my point is that the success of all schooling is based on how hard the parent is willing to work, and the experience of actually going to school is a learning experience in and of itself.
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