# How is Home Schooling monitored and evaluated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926 "2018-01-18T22:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/81 "2018-01-24T20:44:12Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Although homeschooling is really a luxury of the middle class. To homeschool in an organized fashion successfully, you need to have a stay at home parent. You need to be able to access resources - I spent a thousand dollars on good textbooks, including - for Math - the teachers edition. If you are going to get your kid past eighth grade, you need some sort of academic grounding yourself. You are going to want to supplement your own abilities - in our case, guitar lessons and a sculpture class (and, had I done it for longer with a kid who was college bound, I would have had to find another way to teach a foreign language) > > Yeah, you can use the internet, but its really inadequate for MOST kids on its own. We used Khan Academy for Geometry - but I still needed to be able to explain it a second or third way for my son. The internet is not going to grade a composition and tell you if its written at an appropriate level for a college bound high schooler. The parent has to do that - and if you don’t know, you can’t do it. The internet is going to show you a physics experiment, but you really want to get out the pully and ropes and ramps yourself. You really should dissect that fetal pig on your kitchen table. > > For parents who barely got through high school on their own, who have to have two incomes - or are single parents with one income, homeschooling in any sort of responsible fashion is out of reach past. Yet, more and more [Black Families are also choosing to Homeschool.](http://www.blackenterprise.com/more-black-families-are-choosing-to-homeschool/) Now I agree its harder to do when you are poor. Some families work in co-ops. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/82 "2018-01-24T21:53:51Z")
How is a homeschooling co-op any different from, well, a school? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/83 "2018-01-24T22:05:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How is a homeschooling co-op any different from, well, a school? They are generally a lot smaller and parent led. I was part of an informal co-op with a couple of other families. The mother with a strong science background taught science. I taught history because I love history. It was fun for the kids to study and do the experiments and projects together once a week. The rest of the week we were doing math, reading, writing, etc. on our own with our own kids. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/84 "2018-01-25T02:06:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m an introverted weirdo, too, and I’m in a line of work that’s all about interacting with other people. Socialization isn’t about learning to be an extrovert; it’s about learning how to deal with society even as an introvert. Socialization comes up a lot, and my first question is always to ask what people mean by it. If your definition is “learning to deal with society”, it’s not clear why you’d think school is any better or worse at that than homeschooling, especially since the way school operates doesn’t look like much of the rest of life. But there’s an empirical answer, just look at your coworkers - I’ll bet some of them do great socially, some okay, and some are just awful…and most or all of them came through public school. I don’t actually think school does very much to affect how you interact with society - I think it’s mostly the peers you end up with, plus some parental input, and more than a dash of genetics. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/85 "2018-01-25T02:08:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How is a homeschooling co-op any different from, well, a school? Ours meets once a week, and gives longer-term assignments every week. Class size is 6-8, which I’m guessing is smaller than most schools. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/86 "2018-01-25T13:45:55Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Socialization comes up a lot, and my first question is always to ask what people mean by it. If your definition is “learning to deal with society”, it’s not clear why you’d think school is any better or worse at that than homeschooling, especially since the way school operates doesn’t look like much of the rest of life. > > But there’s an empirical answer, just look at your coworkers - I’ll bet some of them do great socially, some okay, and some are just awful…and most or all of them came through public school. I don’t actually think school does very much to affect how you interact with society - I think it’s mostly the peers you end up with, plus some parental input, and more than a dash of genetics. Perhaps the simplest answer is - it depends on the parent. It depends on siblings. Etc. If little Johnny or Suzy is the center of attention, gets heard when the want things, or worst, gets whatever they want as mommy’s little angel - then they do not grow up well-adjusted. Out in the real world, children discover that some others are smarter, some dumber, some are helpful, some are compulsive liars or snitches, some are accommodating and some are just a\*\*holes - adults as well as children. (Or the opposite - paranoid mama teaches their kid that everyone outside the house could be a pedophilic serial killer just waiting to snatch them away…) I suppose it depends to some extent on what other interactions the children have with the world. If they socialize in other situations, maybe school is not needed to teach that lesson. The quality of people in the real world is just a demonstration that not everyone in public school learns their socialization lesson properly either. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/87 "2018-01-25T14:01:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Not always, certainly, but in this case, it is. Homeschooled students who follow an organized curriculum do as well or better than public-schooled students on standardized tests ([cite](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232544669_The_Impact_of_Schooling_on_Academic_Achievement_Evidence_From_Homeschooled_and_Traditionally_Schooled_Students), [cite](https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ893891)). > > So, in general, monitoring home schooled students is a solution in search of a problem. This horrid California case notwithstanding, home schoolers are as well or better prepared academically, as well or better socialized, etc., so it is very difficult to make a case for more controls on home-schooling based solely on academics. > > Regards, > Shodan I noticed the large caveat in the description **who follow an organized curriculum** - what percentage of homeschoolers do? I also notice your second cite **only counted homeschoolers who entered a “medium sized doctoral institution in the midwest”** - it’s not representative as it doesn’t count all the students who don’t go on to higher education. Or go to other types of facilities. Huge selection bias. First link didn’t load, but I’m at work, so may be blocked. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/88 "2018-01-25T15:24:55Z")
Yes, I’m aware of the practical differences between a homeschool co-op and a standard school. I meant more in terms of legal and regulatory status: The law might have exceptions to allow someone not qualified as a teacher to teach their own kids, but when we have people teaching others’ kids, how are they allowed to not be licensed? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/89 "2018-01-25T17:20:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yes, I’m aware of the practical differences between a homeschool co-op and a standard school. I meant more in terms of legal and regulatory status: The law might have exceptions to allow someone not qualified as a teacher to teach their own kids, but when we have people teaching others’ kids, how are they allowed to not be licensed? Well, absence of remuneration would be the big difference. States require licensing for everything from tax preparers to house painters, but I can also do those things myself as long as I’m not running a business. Co-ops are set up, as, well, co-ops, not businesses…and any teacher who didn’t know their stuff would quickly find their classes unsubscribed. Not responding to your question, but some upthread, I’ll also point out that most homeschoolers I know dual-enroll for higher-level math and science courses, so for example my son took a couple of econ courses, and a couple of stats classes, through the local CC. A lot of kids do that for foreign language as well. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/90 "2018-01-25T17:22:29Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > What some on this board do not realize is some people really have no choice but to homeschool. Not everyone lives in a good public school district or can afford private schools. And yet, the Australians went quite a different route to solve the Problems of "out of the way " farms: workbooks sent by mail, each day fixed hours to talk with teacher + other “classmates” by Radio. At least, this ensures that Kids learn Basic Facts. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/91 "2018-01-25T17:25:32Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who are sufficiently knowledgeable enough about the various subjects to adequately homeschool past, say, the 6th grade. Lack of knowledge could be compensated for by well-prepared homeschool books + worksheets - not the BEKA books or other ideological alternative Facts ones, but properly written, to fill a pre-approved Curriculum. (But then, the US Fails that in public Schools, too.) Lack of proper pedagogic Approach is hard to compensate for. Lack of proper social contact, lack of way to get help in case of abuse, is impossible to compensate for, except with oversight; which is however somehow against the rights of the parents. (And since US never signed or ratified UN children’s rights convention, the right of parents trump the right of Kids to get an education). ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/92 "2018-01-25T17:28:50Z")
Here’s the Basic on Australia’s solution to rural lack of Schools: [School of the Air - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_the_Air) Another possibility are of course Boarding Schools, unless the Kids (illegally) work on the farm. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/93 "2018-01-25T17:36:49Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Lack of knowledge could be compensated for by well-prepared homeschool books + worksheets - not the BEKA books or other ideological alternative Facts ones, but properly written, to fill a pre-approved Curriculum. (But then, the US Fails that in public Schools, too.) We have to get our ed plan approved every year, I wonder what would have happened if we’d used something like BEKA? That reminds me of when I was shopping for a physics curriculum and had samples of about a dozen textbooks, maybe half of them right-wing Christian. I was completely surprised when I got to the Bob Jones University textbook, which was unexpectedly very good pedagogically…unfortunately it was also interspersed with a bunch of nonsense about physics revealing the glory of God, etc, so hard pass. But I was indeed surprised. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/94 "2018-01-25T21:46:58Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Well, absence of remuneration would be the big difference. States require licensing for everything from tax preparers to house painters, but I can also do those things myself as long as I’m not running a business. Co-ops are set up, as, well, co-ops, not businesses…and any teacher who didn’t know their stuff would quickly find their classes unsubscribed. > . I know of a family in Atlanta. They lived in an area with bad public schools so several families got together and hired a teacher and I think also rented out an area for a classroom. So this solution is somewhere in the gray area between a co-op and a private school. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2018, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/95 "2018-01-25T23:06:53Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I know of a family in Atlanta. They lived in an area with bad public schools so several families got together and hired a teacher and I think also rented out an area for a classroom. So this solution is somewhere in the gray area between a co-op and a private school. Come to think of it, I don’t think you have to be licensed to be a tutor either, unless you’re teaching in a school. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/96 "2018-01-26T01:23:19Z")
I’ve certainly never needed a license to tutor in Ohio. I had to pass a background check, but that was just for the particular company I work through, and only after a prospective student requested it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/97 "2018-01-26T15:47:50Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Yet, more and more [Black Families are also choosing to Homeschool.](http://www.blackenterprise.com/more-black-families-are-choosing-to-homeschool/) > > Now I agree its harder to do when you are poor. Some families work in co-ops. Are black and poor synonyms? Or maybe you think black and poorly educated are synonyms? Because I made no comments at all on race. My son is a person of color. One of the reasons I homeschooled him was that as a person of color (he’s Asian, but that doesn’t mean the same thing when Asian is usually second generation Hmong as it does when Asian usually means Chinese). One of the reasons we homeschooled him is that he fell into a bad crowd. Of white kids. And then when the administration needed a kid to take the fall - he was the one who got in trouble. The white kids (also caught with weed) got off scott free. The kid of color was the obvious ringleader. If I had black kids in public school and could afford to pull them, I probably would. They don’t get treated fairly. But the point is that you need to be able to afford to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/98 "2018-01-26T15:54:29Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Lack of knowledge could be compensated for by well-prepared homeschool books + worksheets - not the BEKA books or other ideological alternative Facts ones, but properly written, to fill a pre-approved Curriculum. (But then, the US Fails that in public Schools, too.) > > Lack of proper pedagogic Approach is hard to compensate for. Lack of proper social contact, lack of way to get help in case of abuse, is impossible to compensate for, except with oversight; which is however somehow against the rights of the parents. (And since US never signed or ratified UN children’s rights convention, the right of parents trump the right of Kids to get an education). My experience is that its REALLY had to do this with just materials if you don’t have the background. A well prepared book is not the same of having someone work Algebra problems with you. A internet Spanish course will not give you proper feedback on your pronunciation or conjugation. There is no way to get feedback from a book on the analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird you wrote. Most people will need someone who is qualified to evaluate the output of the work, and to explain to you what you are doing wrong when you don’t get it. Most parents are not going to be equipped to do that beyond elementary school. The material can be gotten from books, and if you limit testing to multiple choice tests prepared by experts, you can evaluate understanding. But you can’t get to the gap without knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926/99 "2018-01-26T23:16:29Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > To be honest, how much more have you ever needed in life? Most math things are basic arithmetic. > > Yeah, it was nice to learn calculus and geometry. But I’ve never used it. You’re not helping, man. > [@running\_coach](#): > > I find it hard to believe that there are that many people who are sufficiently knowledgeable enough about the various subjects to adequately homeschool past, say, the 6th grade. > [@Dangerosa](#): > > Most people will need someone who is qualified to evaluate the output of the work, and to explain to you what you are doing wrong when you don’t get it. Most parents are not going to be equipped to do that beyond elementary school. If these are true, it’s a pretty harsh indictment of our public schooling system, since about 70% of the current generation of parents graduated HS. I don’t really believe it, though my observations are anecdotal across only 70 or 80 kids. But bear in mind that all those kids are getting pretty individualized attention. One thing I’d add here as well, when the local CC came and pitched dual-enrollment to our area’s homeschoolers, the (nearly-college-aged) kids in our group passed the “AccuPlacer” test for both math and English. So somehow they’re getting through the work at more than an elementary level. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-home-schooling-monitored-and-evaluated/806926.md?page=4)