Home-schooling?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

It appears more parents are Homeschooling, is it a good idea?
Are the kids really getting a good, quality education. How many of these parents were teachers, and just decided to Home-School.

The two mothers in Texas - Home-Schooled their children, now look at them, The Mothers killed their children. Kids are dead and the mothers are/or will be prisoned for life or put to death.

Now I know, they’re might be Mental Illness involved, but I know I couldn’t Home-School my daughter. She needs extra things than I could not give her. I know that Public Schools have problems, and Private/Parocial Schools are expensive, but is Home-Schooling really the Answer.

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#2

I think it varies widely according to the individual family! This question cannot be answered either “Yes- for everyone” or “No- for everyone.”

Now, how many families homeschool their children and never murder them? And how many murdered children were never homeschooled? It is not fair to link homeschooling and murder.

#3

Just questioning the appeal, is it so great. And if the Home-Schooling could be too much for some people and could cause them to snap.

#4

Yes, there are a lot of nutjobs who homeschool their kids because they’re nutty.

But there are also a lot of dedicated, hard working parents who homeschool their kids and do a superb job. There is a large, mostly unknown social infrastructure for competent homeschooling, believe it or not.

#5

Maybe kids who are home schooled at least learn about the appropriate use of capitalization.

#6

Home-Schooling is not “the answer”, but it can be AN answer. It varies widely in how wise it would be based upon individual circumstances. In the case of the mentally ill or those children with special needs the parents are unable to meet I’d guess it could backfire. I, and four of my siblings, was homeschooled as a child(in Texas) and none of us ended up drowned in the bathtub or with our heads bashed in with rocks.

YMMV

Enjoy,
Steven

#7

If trying to teach your own child causes you to snap, wouldn’t you do it when the child is a screeching baby? Why wait until they are school age?

Any unfortunate parent who eventually “snaps” might go over the edge for myriad of reasons.

I enjoy the closeness of having my son with me during the day instead of having him off at some sterile high-school. YMMV.

#8

When I was a college professor, I taught some home-schooled students. One of them is on my all-time short list of favorite students, ever, even though she was a liberal-arts major, and I taught math. And the others were certainly no worse, on average, than my other students.

There are lots of stresses in life that could ‘cause someone to snap’. I agree with sugaree that it’s not fair to link homeschooling and murder.

#9

Brilliant OP. I mean, NOBODY who sends his/her kids to PUBLIC schools ever mistreats them!

#10

Gee, Intaglio, maybe the brush you’re painting this picture with is a little too broad? I certainly don’t see a connection between homeschooling your kids and killing them. Now, I’ve been tempted to kill my teenager a time or two (grin), but no more often since I started homeschooling her than when she went to public school! We decided to homeschool because we thought that it was the best answer for us and our kids. It’s certainly not right for every family. I’m glad there are so many choices available that homeschooling is an option.

#11

And of course, homeschooling can also turn out wonderful over-achievers such as America’s new sweetheart, Blair Hornstine :wink:

#12

Yeah, I was homeschooled for a year. My parents never mistreated me, and they aren’t fanatics of any sort. I will warn you, if you are in a small town, your kids will get lonely in homeschool. I had almost no contact with anyone I knew. If you’re in a big city, you’ll have better luck. There’s a massive network out there dedicated to homeschool activities that most parents know nothing about. YMMV.

#13

I’m not sure I’d put Ms Hornstine in the category of “home-schooled”. From what I can see her parents claim she suffers from a disorder which required her to remain at home and be privately tutored part-time. She went to public school the rest of the time. She seems to be a unique combination of educational systems/philosophies. To hold her as an example of a homeschooled individual seems, well… odd.

I realize you were joking Istara, but I felt a little more background on the situation would be helpful.

Enjoy,
Steven

#14

Cite???

ouch - ouch - ouch I’m kidding!!!

#15

So, of the posters who have commented in this thread that either homeschool their children or were homeschooled themselves, how was/is it?

I always wonder if the kids get enough social exposure. Half the fun of high school for me was getting to see my crush, gossip with friends at lunchtime, write notes back and forth, that kind of stuff. I can’t imagine you could enjoy those things being stuck at home with a parent all day. I’d also imagine that there wouldn’t be much opprotunity to hear other student’s opinions about what you’re learning in school, ect. I know that there are sports teams and such, but what about students that aren’t into sports? I certainly wasn’t. What other social outlets are there for homeschooled kids?

I’m genuinely curious about this.

#16

I’m currently homeschooled. I’m actually <more> social now than I was when I went to public school. It’s been stressed already, but I feel I must stress it again. Homeschooling does NOT teach kids to be homocidal maniacs, nor does it cause most parents to become them. I can understand linking the two, given that some wackos DO indeed choose to homeschool their kids, but the majority aren’t wackos, and aren’t going to kill their kids. Just like the majority of kids aren’t going to bring a gun to school and attempt to kill other students and teachers. Some seeds are bad, regardless of where they’re planted.

And lezlers: I am not particularly sport driven, more the intellectual sort, but I <could> be involved with the county sports (football, soccer, etc). My friends call me all the time, or IM me online, we are all still close. I could go to prom, if I chose, as a few friends invited me. Still very social. I tend to be friends with people older than me, college students and whatnot, so I have people to talk to during the day if I’m lonely. I tend to be naturally self-dependent, though fully competent socially, I prefer to work by myself. I went to public school, up to this year, and honestly, I think it’s safe to say I spend more time both learning, AND socializing now.

http://www.home-school.com/ is a good source of basic information.

One of the main reasons I wanted to be homeschooled, was I hated how my entire life became controlled by the school. I would be so exhausted by the end of the day, but my day ended at 3! There is much, much more out there than there is at a public school, and I knew I was missing out on it.

That being noted, I’m rather laid back and <not> gossipy. I probably could still gossip if I so chose, but since it bothered me the way people did that in HS, I have no intention of carrying on the tradition now that I’m free. My friends and I still get together and chat, go to the bookstore and discuss boring things, just like we did when I was in public school. I’m weird though… so I don’t know how good of a measuring stick I am.

#17

Well, we were a pretty social bunch. Even way back in the olden days when I was being homeschooled there were homeschool associations and things like joint field trips. We lived in the city so we made friends with many of our neighbors and met even more people through community recreation centers(at the pool mostly) and the like. I was never a very athletic child, bicycling was about my limit. Most sports held no interest for me although I did enjoy the occasional game of basketball. I had to find my social outlets in other areas.

Being part of a large family(eight children total) meant social skills were pretty much a necessity. We had La Leche League meetings where the kids all got to play together while the moms chatted. Some of those friendships continue today. My parents were part of a food co-op which ordered things like natural peanut butter in bulk and then distributed it among each of the co-op members. My wife and I do that occasionally ourselves. A fresh-fruit co-op is active in our area and for a few bucks a month we can get fresh, organically grown fruits from a local farmer. Each member rotates picking up the multiple boxes of fruits and taking on the duties of taking them home and sorting them out into each individuals share. Sometimes another couple of members would come over to help with the sorting and all the kids get to play together while the adults sort the food and chat. If the member elects to do all the sorting themselves there is still opportunity to socialize and chat when it is time to take delivery of the items.

Church groups, local youth sports, karate classes, youth choirs, volunteer community service, etc. We were pretty busy kids. The opportunities are there, but it is a backbreaker for the parents to handle all the organizing and transporting. No school busses to take them to the field trip, you gotta do that yourself. Who calls ahead and makes sure the tickets are purchased? Mom and Dad. Who has to keep their own calendars and prioritize between kid A’s soccer game and kid B’s scout troop meeting? Mom and Dad. It is quite a chore sometimes. Overall I’d say I had a fair bit more exposure to the outside world than most of my publicly educated peers.

Being involved with a broader age spectrum was another major difference. Field trips weren’t with 30 other 2nd graders, they were with ten other kids from grades K-12. The broad range of maturity levels that I interacted with on a daily basis showed me that not everyone thought flicking boogers was funny. Some of my “peers” found that demonstration of static electricity fascinating and talked about while some of the younger kids listened with rapt attention and yet others giggled incessantly at the funny things that happened to the hair of the volunteers. Overall it increased my exposure to the variety of life around me. I believe it was a good environment to grow up in, but I’m not going to say it would be good for everyone or even for anyone other than me. Keeping an open mind to all the possibilities and considering the childs welfare above most other concerns should be the guiding factor.

Enjoy,
Steven

#18

My boyfriend and his brother were homeschooled for a good long time, though before I knew either of them. I’m told that one of the administrators in their local school system made a comment along the lines of, “Oh, social skills. You’ll be able to socialise them, we’d love to be able to do that!” They both, I believe, returned to the school system for high school at a school with a special academic program; my boyfriend has told me that he was told that his history (I believe) wasn’t up to grade level, and he spent a week or two reading up on the subject and retested.

My boyfriend is perfectly sociable, though with the stereotypical obliviousness of the engineer. :wink: I don’t know his brother well (we’ve only met twice) but I get the impression that he’s extroverted, makes friends readily and easily, and is a generally goodnatured fellow.

I’d say both of them were helped academically by not having to plow through the public school system (my boyfriend is getting his PhD in the next year if we’re lucky; his brother just entered law school). However, their father was a college professor and their mother is very devoted to their welfare.

#19

In the US, the homeschooling networks in most states are well established and it’s fairly easy to hook into them.

Where I live, the majority of homeschoolers are fundamentalist Christians (I’m on a mailing list for local homeschoolers and it’s a scary scary place).

My kid is socially isolated and it is an issue for me. But he was socially isolated and learning nothing in school as well. I’m not overly impressed by the social skills of the boys he plays with who do attend school though. It’s not like school equals impeccable social skills. He does better as he’s happier and not depressed.

Why’s this in the pit in the first place? Did Intaglio really feel the need to rant at homeschoolers? Weird.

#20

I think this was misplaced, so I’m moving it.

Lynn