My advice? Read the book titled "Homeschooling the Right: How Conservative Education Activism Erodes the State" by Heath Brown so you realize what you're jumping into, eyes open. It probably isn't what you think it is. And it has tremendous regional variation. In particular, get ready for parents who want to very carefully control what their kids are exposed to.
Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
151–160 of 424 posts
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#152Socialization. Going to school is not only about absorbing academical knowledge. It's about interacting with a broader group of people, learning how to behave, how to avoid common problems, etc. I would not be able to provide this to my kids. On top of that, the language we speak at home is not the language used by the school, or the rest of the country. There are a million problems that come with this: they would fo…
Socialization is important, on that we agree. Socialization at school is not always positive or even effective. There are many ways to socialize and jamming people of the same age in a room for 6-7 hours at a time is far less effective, in my opinion, than being part of extracurricular programs, clubs, etc that often mingle kids of different ages, backgrounds, neighbourhoods, and cultures far better than any school.…
> jamming people of the same age in a room for 6-7 hours at a time is far less effective...
This may be true, if one is raising a philosopher-king or something. In life I'm thrown into situations where I'm jammed together with people in an "ineffective" manner all the time. If extra-curricular programs are more effective they can deal with both environments. Personally I had some effective, good teachers in school as well as some ineffective team coaches.
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#153In my experience, both direct and indirect, homeschooling has the effect of concentrating a parent’s influence on their children’s lives / brain development / psychology, etc. Take that, and think about it, before you start. If you have unexamined issues like anger problems, fixations, avoidances, fears - those will have an impact on your child, and a bigger impact if you homeschool your child - purely on the basis o…
While more self-awareness and self-knowledge is always better, I think the main test for this should be "Ainsworth's Strange Situation". It's a test of your child's attachment style is; which is a good reflection of the child's (and your) emotional health. For homeschoolers, it's probably a good idea to check if your child displays secure attachment first (since insecure attachment in the child is generally caused by…
Do we have enough psychologists in the US to systematically test all children? And does insurance cover it?
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#154Well since I am not an American it's not really that common in the Netherlands. Plus as @ElijahLynn mentions: Scocial needs.
I read "The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do" by Judith Rich Harris (highly recommend doing so before starting with kids). And it contains a nice example of a boy that is home-schooled by two teachers. The kids is brilliant and and 21 becomes the youngest University teacher. He writes a book on model trains that is considered to be the most boring book that exists and he offs himself. At least this is what I remember of the book. I think the example says it all...
Edit: I do understand the need for home-schooling with the school shootings and all. Maybe that is why it is not that common in other countries?
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who was homeschooled for the majority of my childhood, I fully agree. I was able to somewhat overcome the resulting lack of social development in late high school (which wasn’t at home) and uni, but it wouldn’t be until some time between my mid 20s and early 30s that I felt like a mostly socially functional adult, and I still feel inadequacies in that department even now. Additionally, I don’t know that I’…
I went to normal school and university, and despite this I still feel socially ackward. I always blamed my dad, and my raising for my problems. My problems started being solved when I forgave my dad, and all the people that hurt me in the past. I had to take responsibility and stop blaming others for my problems. For homeschooled people I believe it is very tempting to blame homeschooling for their problems. It is to…
what's your process for forgiving someone?
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you're saying that it's bad to have morals and a religion? That sounds very dogmatic.
No, the commenter is not saying that. And you probably know that? The context is right there in the comment: > It sounds like you were successfully sheltered from secular and liberal ideas by traditional and conservative parents It is better to read the whole comment in context and reply charitably. See HN guidelines.
That comment blatantly implies that secularl and liberal ideas are incompatible with valuing tradition, morality and spirituality. It makes unquantified assumptions about how the person was raised and their life experiences.
There's nothing charitable about it at all.
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#157Needing to work mostly. I have the skill set to teach and considered becoming an elementary school teacher at one point in my life. I know socialization is a big factor but I feel like that can be accounted for with lots of extra curricular group programs and an active effort to introduce them to kids their own age to make social plans with.
I’m mostly interested because of the fact that private tutoring performs at roughly the 98th percentile compared to classroom teaching. I think that’s a big enough gap that I consider education an unsolved problem. Plenty of kids would be capable of going to university at sixteen instead of nineteen if they got an individually tailored education instead of being put through one-size fits all programs.
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#158Need for daycare (with busy parents) and socialization (in the absence of neighborhood friends).
When working from home, it is difficult to do serious, thoughtful work when your young children are running and playing around the house.
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#159Social needs. Children need to learn how to be in relationship with others, it is the most fundamental need we have and is so important for the future of our planet. If I were to homeschool, it isn't about the learning, that is easy, it is about providing an environment where children can learn to co-exist with others. That can still be done with homeschool, but it will need to be intentional with daily activities th…
We probably agree more than we disagree, but I'll just add my own daughters as data points. When they stayed home during covid, the oldest (not a good student) did better academically with the lack of peer / social pressures. My youngest (an exceptional student) did better academically too, which has since allowed her to jump way ahead in her studies and finally be recognized by teachers as an academic prodigy, where…
I think you're confused as to the point of school. We often believe the point of school is the academics, but I would argue it's the social. Studies indicate social skills are more important to future success than academics.
A hurriedly-googled link: https://www.tcscholars.org/social-success/
And I would also argue you need excellent social skills to reach your potential academically.
So, yes, your kids did better academically when they were at home, and that's great. But that's not the point of school.
Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?
#160Socialization. Going to school is not only about absorbing academical knowledge. It's about interacting with a broader group of people, learning how to behave, how to avoid common problems, etc. I would not be able to provide this to my kids. On top of that, the language we speak at home is not the language used by the school, or the rest of the country. There are a million problems that come with this: they would fo…
I would go further. Education is a secondary concern for grade school children. The main point of elementary school is 1. Figuring how to socialize/interact with peers 2. Starting to prepare children for responsibilities/solving problems without parental guidance. Education is important, but it’s mainly a way to give children these skills.