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Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

#11
I can only speak as someone who was homeschooled, as I haven't had a chance to practice it from the other side yet, but:

I wouldn't have traded it for the world. However I was very lucky to grow up in an area with an exceptionally bad school system so there were quite a few other homeschooled families around. I learned math at my friend David's house from his dad who was a 3D visualization software engineer. I learned electronics from the neighborhood "elmer" who helped us all get our ham radio licenses. We did art and history at a bunch of places, and we did "field trips" with our friends to all sorts of places.

I've spent my whole life fighting the "ahh, an ill-mannered anti-social homeschooler eh?!" stereotype, but I have to admit that I've met my share of them too. This is my biggest concern with eventually homeschooling my own kids. Having people around, having a group, learning to get along with people, are all critical. Nevermind the fact that we learned all sorts of things that we weren't ourselves interested in because one of our friends was interested. Would I ever have gone on a field trip to learn to ride horses? No, but the neighbors wanted to, so we did! And they learned about hydroelectric dams when I wanted to go to those. I think I would've turned out a lot worse if I hadn't had that diversity of exposure.

I started community college at age 16 (paid for by the local high school) and was well prepared for it. (Except for chemistry. I still don't grok chemistry.) Neither of my parents ever went to college, and they've told me that they had the same concerns about being able to effectively teach. Kids are curious, and the resources to learn are out there. Don't get too hung up on following a curriculum and being an expert at everything yourself, get them with other kids and encourage curiosity. Learning how to learn is THE critical factor, and in my observation one of the things that public schools fail ridiculously at. (But I'm rather biased.)

Look into homeschooling groups in your area, or the newer related phenomena of "co-op schooling". (Essentially what I got.) Try and meet some of the parents in those group and see what it's like for their kids. If you've got any sort of support system around like that you'll do just fine!

Re: Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

#13
I live in a college town in upstate New York. Almost everyone I know with a child homeschools their child. Almost all of these kids are part of homeschool collectives. These kids are remarkably bright, socially well-adjusted, and most of their programs involve a strong environmental component.

If I ever have a kid, I will absolutely homeschool them.

Re: Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

#16

[flagged]

I don't know why people downvote this. Am I missing something or everyone agrees that there are no gender related or ideology issues in modern schools at all?

There are ideology issues in every stream of education. I went to a religious high school where the majority of students came out of it as atheist/agnostic despite their parents or teachers intentions. I think that’s more valuable than reaching the same conclusion because your parents told you to.

Re: Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

#17
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why people downvote this. Am I missing something or everyone agrees that there are no gender related or ideology issues in modern schools at all?

There are ideology issues in every stream of education. I went to a religious high school where the majority of students came out of it as atheist/agnostic despite their parents or teachers intentions. I think that’s more valuable than reaching the same conclusion because your parents told you to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

I don't think pointing to other ideologies really absolves the issue of unneeded political ideologies pushed on kids.

I think the point would be to strive for less ideology, not justify more using the existence of others.

Re: Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

#18
I don't have kids of my own, but was homeschooled all the way through and it was a great experience for me. My parents barely needed to be involved for the high school years except to get me resources I needed or to check my work. For subjects that my parents couldn't teach, they either enrolled me in co-op classes that I would attend a couple times a week or a video-led course that was offered by an instructor that I could contact if needed. This offered tremendous flexibility in terms of scheduling, thus I could take extra time to sort through difficult topics. Co-op classes can be substituted for part-time enrollment in public schools.

The socialization aspect was solved by a combination of things: - Regular involvement in a homeschool group that had meetups and educational field trips. - Extracurricular groups. For me, that was Scouts and Volunteering, but anything that builds skills, involves responsibilities, and is fun will do. - Sports were not my favorite, but there's lots of ways to pull them off. Many larger homeschool groups and co-ops have their own options, and I believe that part-time public school also allows for participation. - The freedom I had in scheduling allowed me to hold a part time day job, which was a whole class of social and life skill building that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

Re: Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

#19

[flagged]

We are planning to have kids soon and I am seriously considering homeschooling for this reason.

I also had a terrible experience with school growing up myself. It managed to make me hate learning for a long time, and I had to undo a lot of it. I really don’t want my kids to have that same experience.

Seems like a confluence of factors that are making homeschool appealing.

Re: Ask HN: Do you homeschool?

#20
MY wife and I have homeschooled our two kids through high school. It's been a positive experience for everyone. MY response to concerns that you might not have the skills, I bet whatever skills you lack can be more than made up for by teaching at a ratio of 1:1 and being able to tailor things. If you need help my wife has a homeschool blog with a lot of resources to help you get going: organizedhomeschooler.com
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