# Public vs. private vs. homeschooling **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vs-private-vs-homeschooling/380753 "2006-11-16T23:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vs-private-vs-homeschooling/380753/141 "2006-12-08T22:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=Foxy40] The children pick what they want to learn. One of her children hates math, he is 10, and knows nothing but basic counting and addition but this is “okay” because he “excels” at other things. The kids choose each day what they want to do. Apparently “nothing” is not an option, however, basket weaving or painting is. [/QUOTE] Sounds a bit like [Montessori.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori) ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vs-private-vs-homeschooling/380753/142 "2006-12-08T23:09:14Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] Tell that to **DSYoungEsq** , who said this: “Homeschooled children generally fare much poorer in terms of actual education than their public school taught peers.” My point is that people here are bringing up anecdotes about fundies who homeschool their kids and deprive them of education. And I’m sure some do. However, this ignores the fact that no education system is perfect. Public schools fail to educate many kids, too. So if they are going to be so dismissive of home schooling because a few kids they know don’t do well, then they should be as equally dismissive of public schools. [/QUOTE] Sorry about that, I meant to quote part of his post as well since they both went with what I was saying. Didn’t mean to imply that you felt that way as well. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vs-private-vs-homeschooling/380753/143 "2006-12-08T23:10:31Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Homeschooled children generally fare much poorer in terms of actual education than their public school taught peers. Of the three main reasons for home-schooling, the reason that seems to correspond best with a good outcome is a desire to provide a more challenging curriculum. Those who home school because of specific religious reasons or fears about the “moral environment” at public schools, and those who home school in order to avoid action against their child by the public school system (e.g.: expulsion), do not fare as well in academic achievement on the average. [/QUOTE] Do you have a cite that breaks it down in this way? In our district, test scores correlate with the percentage of students who get free or reduced price lunches. On the whole, the higher the income the greater the enrichment at home and the better the scores. I’d expect that in general someone who wants to home school would also provide an enriching environment. It’s possible this is not true for those who school for religious reasons (or the enrichment is not the sort that helps test scores) but some data would be nice. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vs-private-vs-homeschooling/380753/144 "2006-12-09T20:39:19Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Do you have a cite that breaks it down in this way? In our district, test scores correlate with the percentage of students who get free or reduced price lunches. On the whole, the higher the income the greater the enrichment at home and the better the scores. I’d expect that in general someone who wants to home school would also provide an enriching environment. It’s possible this is not true for those who school for religious reasons (or the enrichment is not the sort that helps test scores) but some data would be nice. [/QUOTE] I’ll address this when I’m done with final exams. We addressed it in my Organization of Education in American Society class. That will await Thursday, sorry, but Educational Psychology and Discrete Mathematics (among other things) have my almost undivided attention. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-vs-private-vs-homeschooling/380753.md?page=7)