What do you guys think about home schooling children?

Iceman · Jun 27, 2007

Got into a little disagreement with a few other "home school" parents lately as I don't believe in it. I do not have kids so maybe I don't know what I am talking about but the couples I know with home school children are no way putting their kids through a 30 hour school week. One of the parents works and I have overheard her joke about how her kids sleeps all morning.

Not to mention I think isolating a kid stunts their social development. My GF's sister (a former teacher) home schools her 6 year old son as she feels she can do a better job teaching her son than the schools BUT he takes off a ton of time to go here and there. Also the kid is somewhat a wussy (IMO). He is fairly sharp but from what I have noticed he seems a little behind kids in his age goup when it comes to socailizing. Kind of feel bad for him being cooped up with his mother all day for his whole childhood. Not my place to bring this up though.

RobFunk · Jun 27, 2007

This has been debated in the politics forum.

I will say that I agree with some of what you say. The social interaction is just as important as anything. Kids need to learn to make friends and play sports or join clubs.

I wasnt a very good student, but what I learned about people and friends was invaluable. More important than anything I could have learned couped up in my house while my mom or dad trys to teach me about the French and Indian War or whatever.

docmercer · Jun 27, 2007

I made a crack a while back about how that spelling bee kid was a good argument against home schooling and suddenly every home school advocate in the world was up in arms.

With that being said - its all about the parent. It's a major commitment and a lot of parents don't realize what they are getting into.

I have extended family that home school but put the kids in regular phys-ed and sports and that seems more than enough to pick up the social aspect of things.

Iceman · Jun 27, 2007

Agree RF. The #1 thing that shaped me the way I am today is the people I grew up with. I have a buddy who was sheltered as a kid and he struggles in the real world today in so many of his realtionships (male and female).

G.MONEY · Jun 27, 2007

Ice...Let me give you my experiance...Let me start off by saying my wife has her masters in Teaching...My wife taught for 4 years and said that she wanted to teach and not Babysit in the classroom. When my 3 children were ready for school we/she taught them all at home right thru H.S.

My oldest who is 22 went to college for a year and then got a job offer from a large jewlery store chain and is making 6 figures as a store manager. My son is in his second year of college at UIC in Buisness..and my youngest just started College, (has been taking classes at a JR college for 1 year as she finished H.S, and plans on Medical school.

As far as the social thing is concerned, it is all what the parents put in to the child, My oldest figure Skated competivaly all around the Mid-west, My son played baseball and My youngest shows Horses. It is all what a parent puts into a child that makes the child.

Every family is different, and I would say my Wife having a teaching degree made it easier for us.

RobFunk · Jun 27, 2007

School is where you learn to size people up, you develop your sense of humor, you learn who to trust, you figure out what kind of people you fit in with. You learn a lot about girls. Hopefully you learn some respect for your elders and one another's feelings. And I'm sure I'm missing a few things.

Rev_Al · Jun 27, 2007

"I made a crack a while back about how that spelling bee kid was a good argument against home schooling and suddenly every home school advocate in the world was up in arms."

EXACTLY MY POINT

bigtendominator · Jun 27, 2007

The question is what are you gaining from home schooling. It is similiar to kids skipping grades. Why do it, what are you gaining. You always see stories of some who should be in the 9th grade in college. But why are they are schools like Wayne State. Why not Harvard, Yale ect.

G Money- you can answer this. How did your kids date in high school, prom, etc. I am sure you and your wife did a great job, but what makes school fun is the interaction with different people, same reason I advocate going to big state school if you aren't going to an Ivy or a very prestigious school.

Also, what happens to students who parents aren't former teachers like gmoney

G.MONEY · Jun 27, 2007

bigtendominator said:
The question is what are you gaining from home schooling. It is similiar to kids skipping grades. Why do it, what are you gaining. You always see stories of some who should be in the 9th grade in college. But why are they are schools like Wayne State. Why not Harvard, Yale ect.

G Money- you can answer this. How did your kids date in high school, prom, etc. I am sure you and your wife did a great job, but what makes school fun is the interaction with different people, same reason I advocate going to big state school if you aren't going to an Ivy or a very prestigious school.

Also, what happens to students who parents aren't former teachers like gmoney

Well My Son and Daughters all went to the H.S proms, because they had friends who went to the local H.S. There was a large homeschool group in the area that my wife and a friend started and it had approx 40 familys involved in it, so they had many friends just like Jr high or H.S that were taught the same way...So the interaction thing does really not hold water for me. But I can also say just like anything else, there are familys that should NOT BE homeschooling and are doing there children no good. Each state has different requirements to home school, some are very tough and others are way to easy.

BadCo · Jun 27, 2007

How are these kids going to figure out which gang they should affiliate with if they are not interacting?

RobFunk · Jun 27, 2007

BadCo said:
How are these kids going to figure out which gang they should affiliate with if they are not interacting?

Not every kid goes to a run down school in the inner city.

billsfan · Jun 27, 2007

As a school social worker, I run into this sort of thing quite often. Although, the parents that I come into contact with decide to "homeschool" their children for the wrong reasons. Its usually because their child has severe attendance problems (of course the attendance problems are due to lack of parenting, primarily in the elementary years). There are repercussions in the State of Florida if your child has truancy issues (parent can go to jail).....So, the parent (usually a single mother) attempts to escape the truancy problems that they got their child into in the first place, and say they are going to "homeschool" their kid. Most of these parents can't add 2 plus 2. Its a simple procedure to homeschool your children in the state of Florida. To make a long story short, six months later, the kid is back in public schools and trailing way behind his peers academically.....Homeschooling should only be for parents that are of average intelligence, and who are not degenerate parents

red007 · Jun 27, 2007

against it

mr21 · Jun 27, 2007

private schools are the way to go - especially in SoCal

TheRightSide · Jun 27, 2007

Well home schooling would not be needed if we abolished private school as we know it. All schools should be charter schools that have to COMPETE for the students. The more students they get the more money they get.

Step 1 Abolish all public schools
Step 2 Tell the teachers union they are no longer needed. They would have to be just like you and me and compete for a job. (they would make more) Better teachers at said school would mean more kids going there.
Step 3 All the gov money that goes to all these anchors on the system follows the kids. Each kid has a set amount that he gets for schools. The parents have the FREE choice of where the kids goes.

Step 3 Have many different kinds of school 11th and 12th grades you can transfer to say a Auto tech schools of a computer schools how about a music and art school.

This would benefit ALL students. You would see brand new schools going up everywhere. Compete for the kids and make them bring standards up for all kids. Not just the rich kids. The teachers union has not helped the kids that they claim to want to help.

hey thats just my idea to fix the problem.

NO TENURE FOR SHITTY TEACHERS.

Railbird · Jun 27, 2007

For home school, keep them away from pornography, gangs, drugs, lying teaqchers and lying admin.

JohnnyB · Jun 27, 2007

bigtendominator said:
How did your kids date in high school, prom, etc.

G backed the cars into the driveway and hung a disco ball in the garage. His son was the prom king and his daughter was the queen...

:missingte

LargeMouthBass · Jun 27, 2007

Home schooling sucks for the kid. I would have hated to be home schooled. Heck, all boys school is just as bad. I'm very thankful that I went to a public school with a lot of tramps...

VaultedTreehouse · Jun 27, 2007

RobFunk said:
This has been debated in the politics forum.

I will say that I agree with some of what you say. The social interaction is just as important as anything. Kids need to learn to make friends and play sports or join clubs.

I wasnt a very good student, but what I learned about people and friends was invaluable. More important than anything I could have learned couped up in my house while my mom or dad trys to teach me about the French and Indian War or whatever.

Let me say I agree with both Rob and Dsethi on this...As a teacher I've always felt the social interaction is just as important as the academics. You will have to deal with people the rest of your life, many of which you won't care for much. I try to teach real world things in the latter half of the year like how to interview for a job and how to write a business plan...G Money believes he took care of the social end of the matter and he may well have. But remember you had to put the kids in that situation, kind of like a forced socialization. Public school or private school take care of that. Kids are bright and need to learn to fend for themselves even in conflict situations. That's what they grow from...As Dsethi writes there are certain parents who can pull it off. I believe it can be done, but not that many parents are as effective as the top teachers....But those who are surely can give it a shot. I've met well adjusted home school kids, and home school kids who come home from college in a heartbeat needing therapy b/c they aren't prepared for that kind of socialization...It's a roll of the dice.

MrJ · Jun 27, 2007

LargeMouthBass said:
Home schooling sucks for the kid. I would have hated to be home schooled. Heck, all boys school is just as bad. I'm very thankful that I went to a public school with a lot of tramps...

You only miss the aesthetics (which is a big drawback). You're crazy if you think guys at male-only schools get any less. Probably half the schools in my city are single sex and it makes everyone more sex-crazed. Sure you get more awkward people who don't know how to interact with the opposite sex, but that only matters if you're one of them. And girls tend to be more giggly (bad).

I went to a male only school for high school (yr 7- yr 12, we don't have middle school) until year 11 (when I just stopped turning up). The only difference was we didn't have girls in the room during class. We would go outside school for lunch (there were a couple of girls schools in the area and we were in the city anyway, plenty of girls running around whether it's excursions or skipping school etc). The best part about it was the train ride home. Girls from 30 different schools, most of them single sex. Amazing selection and you can build up a much larger network than if you go to a public school.

I would probably want my kids to go to a co-ed school, but I'm definitely making them take a good train ride to get there.