Roland Hulme

I've met an awful lot of parents who homeschool their kids. This seems dumb to me for several reasons:

1: You only got a GED. Who the hell are you to teach your children anything?
2: Half of school is learning to interact with other kids. Tough to do when your only classmate is your sister.
3: So you homeschool for religious reasons? Great. Pleased to know your kid'll be raised believing the world was created in seven days and Jesus invented the second amendment.
4: Seriously. Who the hell are you to teach your kids anything?
5: Working in high school academics for four years, I did see an extremely high level of education in kids from the North East. Public schools aren't that bad in America. I'd say they're better than British comprehensives (mine, anyway.)
6: SERIOUSLY, DUDE! How can you teach your kid when you don't know the difference between 'your' and you're' ???!?!?!

Duncan Roberts

It can be very good if the regular schools around you are crap, you move around a lot, you want more control of the things your kids learn or have issues that prevent you going to a mainstream school. All homeschooling is also not the same, there are a lot of different programs. I do agree on the interaction though.

another bloody yank

Speak for yourself, Roland...


Seriously, I am constantly teaching my kids. About war, about life, about death, about the woods, about the cities, about other countries... Why do you assume that I as a parent couldn't teach them the things they traditionally learn in a classroom as well? Or my wife, anyway. I was never much good at math.

Where's Redlippie? You should ask her...

Roland Hulme

Probably 60% of what kids learn comes from their parents.

But considering high school teachers have to study to be proficient in teaching one particular subject, how can a parent with no specific training consider themselves qualified to teach their children in EVERY subject?

Barring parents who are teachers/professors/certified geniuses themselves, I think that's a VERY valid point.

Octang Frye

With all the teacher-student sex going on these days - I'd rather not be home-schooled; unless you're into keeping it in the family...

another bloody yank

Have you compared standardized test scores? Homeshcooled vs. traditionally schooled? That should give you an idea how the two compare on paper anyway.

chicagojlo

I tended to feel the same way. Then I met one of my assistant's girlfriends, she was maybe 22 and teaching the final year of GCSE something or other. I can't imagine that she knew very much more about the world than I would as the parent of a 16 year old. She knew how to teach the kids to read out of a book, and how to structure a lesson, but I felt like maybe that wasn't enough.
And then there was our smoking hot PE teacher, 22 and fresh out of teacher training college, he was so new to it that he had his first class of 15 year old girls calling him by his first name, oh the good old days...

danfan

I sometimes think the same, Roland. I meet so many parents who homeschool, I was pretty shocked at first. I've met great kids who seem to benefit a lot from it though - 1:2 teaching versus 1:26. They are done by noon everyday then off on "field trips" etc. Our local YMCA even has daytime classes for drama, fitness etc just for kids who are homeschooled so that can socialise together.

I couldn't do it. I'd go nuts for one thing, but I do also believe kids needs more social interaction. Not only that, but even subjects I excel in, I cannot teach to save my life. I'm just not cut out to explain in 6 different ways how to do long division. It's hard enough trying to do it 2 hours a night for homework without having a nervous breakdown.

neil

I think it probably can be done successfully, but it would involve a lot of work and I'm sure a lot of parents who do it don't give it enough thought. There are homeschool groups where they get together with other homeschooled kids and other activities can give the social aspect.

If done properly, why couldn't one on one time with a personal tutor (a parent) be more productive than getting overlooked in a class of 20 or 30 kids?

Would I do it? No, but I would be constantly teaching my children; reviewing their school work, giving them extra lessons, broadening their knowledge beyond what they learn in the classroom where possible.

Edit to add: I used to be a maths teacher so do have an education background but still wouldn't take my kids away from a school environment.

Duncan Roberts

You're assuming that all the teaching is done by the parents with no guidance. There are many ways to homeschool.

Roland Hulme

I googled this! All by myself:

In among a stack of routine reports was a report from the state home school office indicating that about 3 out of 10 Arkansas home schoolers failed to take the state-mandated test. When questioned by the Board, State Education Director Dr. Ken James pointed out that his office did not have adequate funding or enough staff to manage the increased number of home schoolers that are required to test and that they hoped to do better in 2007.

And then:

Although there are studies that conclude that homeschooled students on average do well on standardized tests,[51] these studies generally compare voluntary homeschool testing with mandatory public-school testing. The study organizers cannot require testing. Homeschooled students are not subject to the testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. Some states require testing for homeschooled students and some do not; many that do require testing let homeschooling parents choose from more than one evaluation method. Since testing is not required, homeschoolers taking the tests are self-selected, which biases the statistical results. Therefore, the progress of homeschooled students cannot be compared with that of students in public schools.

I admit, starting this thread I didn't realise that there were strict curriculems parents had to follow. I figured parents just 'taught 'em themselves.' So it's not as bad as I made out.

But the statistics seems pretty funky. Sure, the 30% of kids who do comparitive testing do about 30% better than regular public school kids - but 70% of them don't get tested, so nobody knows.

do you get a tax break for homeschooling? Otherwise I don't know why parents would pay all that property tax and then not use the local school.

paddingtongreen

You learn Roland, you learn.

Many parents of home schoolers, arrange regular group activity.

Based on Your requirement of formal higher ed. for the teacher, then some of the people who taught me when I was a pupil, would not be qualified. In fact, if I extend your logic, no one who qualified through the "school of hard knocks" would be qualified for anything more than, dustman or shop assistant.

On reflection; is a "dustman", now a "binman"?

neil

binperson

Duncan Roberts

It may also surprise you that a lot of programs are run by teachers and the parents really only supervise. Also, some people hire professional tutors to teach the courses. As for a tax break, I don't think so. However some programs are publicly funded. The organization who runs the program claims payment from the school district based on various factors. It's usually a lot cheaper than going to a private school.

paddingtongreen

Oops.

So now I have to sing, "My old parent's a binperson, they wore binperson's 'at".
It don't scan.