Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 424 posts

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#201

Post by JJMcJ »

aaronchall wrote: post #90

I homeschooled in 8th grade and I loved it. - No commute to middle school, which returned me an hour of my day right there. - No bullying from the soon-to-be dropouts. - No gross school lunches or having to tote around a smelly lunchbag/box/cooler. - No carrying a pile of books everywhere because the administration banned bookbags (drugs or weapons or something like that...), and no dealing with the worst students wh…

> finished my BS at the same time I finished high school

I suspect a high %age of people here on HN could say the same thing.

There's the Big Bang Theory effect, to portray all intellectually gifted people as neurotic social basket cases. I think that's done in many schools as well.

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#202

Post by anon291 »

superb-owl wrote: post #3

I'm curious if there are legal hurdles to doing something between homeschooling and private schooling. E.g. is it possible for me and a few other neighborhood families hire a private tutor for our kids?

I don't think so. My wife was 'homeschooled'. Her mother didn't like some of her classes in public school so pulled her out of them, such that she wasn't spending the required amount of time in the public school. Thus, my mother registered her as a homeschooler, so my wife didn't need to be in the classroom.

Of course, the public schools here have to take your child if you drop them off.

My wife is well-socialized, extremely well-educated, and way better off than her peers, so it worked.

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#203

Post by a-user-you-like »

I’ve heard from some that it’s Multifaceted:

* To ensure their values live on

* To take their kids out of a racist environment

* To protect their kids from the high number of sexual assaults from government teachers

* To protect their kids from bullying

* To spend more time with their kids

* Flexibility in scheduling and curriculum

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#204

Post by troupe »

wyager wrote: post #171
kennywinker wrote: post #12

In 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…

I'd rather have the median homeschool parent influencing students than the median K-8 schoolteacher. I also don't buy your notion that neuroses are directly transferable by contact. If anything, your kid will probably be so annoyed by them that they'll be exactly the opposite.

While I know some incredible public school teachers, the average homeschool parent I know is going to be much better for their kids than the average public school teacher.

Fortunately if you are homeschooling you can seek out specific teachers to help expand on things and choose those that are excellent. (Many homeschooler start taking community college classes in highschool if there are good options available.)

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#205

Post by somethoughts »

actfrench wrote: post #87
somethoughts wrote: post #69

I'd welcome more tools to enable home after -schooling and home summer schooling. A lot of the after school/summer school in person offerings are pretty expensive and usually pretty sports centric. Full home schooling I feel could easily burn out even the most hard working parent - as there's little time for getting groceries, etc. done. And lack of socialization in the childs cohort is an issue. I think more online…

Thank you for these great thoughts and questions somethoughts. Awesome handle, btw Actually I think about homeschooling more as a movement and ideology of greater involvement in education than a replacement to school. In fact, I call it “modular learning” where families can choose a variety of modules to compose their child’s education including school ! The burnout factor is real but I think that when you give yours…

As some one interested in the space - I definitely feel providing tools to parents for home after schooling is a much, much larger total addressable market size and likely more profitable.

The average after school math tutor probably nets $90-$120 per hour, where the average school teacher probably nets $50 per hour.

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#206

Post by monk_e_boy »

hgomersall wrote: post #179
ElijahLynn wrote: post #108

Social 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…

This so much. I've met quite a few homeschooled children and almost without fail they lack some pretty fundamental social skills. Things like an apparent inability to interact with children of their own age, or behaving obnoxiously to others in ways that would be rapidly stamped out by peers.

I work in educating young men and women, ages 16 up to around 60. Homeschooled kids almost never make a year in "normal" education. They fail to adjust to a small college, they are no longer the center of attention. They have to wait for others to catch up. They are not team players. It's really hard to watch.

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#207

Post by viach »

scifibestfi wrote: post #189
ElijahLynn wrote: post #108

Social 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…

I went to public school and would argue it's a terrible place to be socialized. You are socialized by kids your age in an environment that's more akin to prison than the real world.

The "real world" view pretty much depends on the glasses you wear and the observation point.

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#208

Post by kanzure »

wussboy wrote: post #159
poulsbohemian wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ac…

> 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.

How much socialization do kids really get in school anyway?

They get 5 minute hallway breaks (if they are lucky) between 7 to 9 periods of classes per day. Maybe the bus ride in/out for 20-30 minutes. Lunch or recess. So how much time is that, again?

Maybe 2-3 hours/day?

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#209

Post by DennisP »

monk_e_boy wrote: post #206
hgomersall wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This so much. I've met quite a few homeschooled children and almost without fail they lack some pretty fundamental social skills. Things like an apparent inability to interact with children of their own age, or behaving obnoxiously to others in ways that would be rapidly stamped out by peers.

I work in educating young men and women, ages 16 up to around 60. Homeschooled kids almost never make a year in "normal" education. They fail to adjust to a small college, they are no longer the center of attention. They have to wait for others to catch up. They are not team players. It's really hard to watch.

The rest sounds bad but "they have to wait for others to catch up" sounds like a win for homeschooling.

Re: Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stopping you?

#210

Post by missedthecue »

scifibestfi wrote: post #189
ElijahLynn wrote: post #108

Social 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…

I went to public school and would argue it's a terrible place to be socialized. You are socialized by kids your age in an environment that's more akin to prison than the real world.

In public school you get in trouble for socializing
Post reply on HN