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

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

#251

Post by zozbot234 »

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…

> 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.

Funny how this argument always comes out wrt. voluntary homeschooling, and not about shelter-in-place policies impacting K-12 and college students...

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

#252

Post by tomtheelder »

verisimilidude wrote: post #104
voisin wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swim lessons, camp, girl guides, soccer, art class, music lessons, part time jobs, church, etc etc etc etc etc. are you really so unimaginative as to believe that only school provides access to non-family members? Give your head a shake.

Swim lessons? Get out of here. Church? I did imagine that. Try reading. And anyway, schooled kids do all of those things as well. Where's the advantage? There's a reason I don't consider those activities when talking about school socialization. All of the activities you mentioned are part-time and/or self-selected. School is full-time and you don't get to choose your kids' peers. You can't pull them out easily if you…

> Swim lessons? Get out of here. Church? I did imagine that. Try reading.

I think we agree on this subject, but as a 3rd party in this back and forth I have to say that this is not appropriate discourse for this site. Please try to interpret others comments as charitably as possible. There is never a justification for saying something snarky and rude like "Get out of here" or "Try reading".

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

#253

Post by simonw »

zozbot234 wrote: post #251
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…

> 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. Funny how this argument always comes out wrt. voluntary homeschooling, and not about shelter-in-place policies impacting K-12 and college students...

I heard this argument non-stop from the very start of shelter-in-place.

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

#254

Post by jimmygrapes »

kennywinker wrote: post #138
ComradePhil wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

That is an insane thing to say. Qanon level insanity. Trans activism is big pharma selling HRT to kids? First off, HRT is expensive, but not that expensive. Whatever made up narrative you have for them convincing kids to support trans people would be entirely too expensive to justify. Second, trans people have existed for MUCH MUCH longer than pharmaceutical companies have existed. Edit: oh, this poster thinks hitler…

So what explanation do YOU have for trans activism? It certainly isn't just "we have always had this many of them but now it's ok to acknowledge". From my experiences (which are many) it is vastly due to cultural identitarianism with a hefty side helping of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse. But I still want to hear your explanation.

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

#255

Post by scarface74 »

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.

Don’t you think having those skills are important for when you are working and also forced to be around people?

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

#256

Post by kennywinker »

concinds wrote: post #183
bobthepanda wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we have enough psychologists in the US to systematically test all children? And does insurance cover it?

No you don't; but it would be a worthwhile investment due to the incredibly positive repercussions. See this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_theory#Crime See also a link between insecure attachment and addiction: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.0072... This policy would have incredibly positive repercussions throughout society; in that sense, it would be very cheap.

I’ve got nothing against attachment theory - but there is absolutely no amount of attachment theory treatment that can solve the american system. Poverty is baked into the system - it has never existed without it and it can’t exist without it. Poverty will beget harmful upbringings and damaged attachment.

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

#257

Post by kube-system »

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.

A lot of child comments are pointing out that school kids are often terrible peers and experiences there are not great, and I have had my share of similar experiences, but.. that is part of social growth too.

Making social mistakes, learning the consequences of those mistakes, and experiencing hurt when others make mistakes in interacting with you are all important life lessons.

Part of the reason “the real world” after school is so much better is because those people have already made mistakes and learned their lessons earlier in life. Of course, school isn’t the only way to learn these lessons, and many well adjusted homeschooled kids are those who are exposed to social situations in other ways.

There are many social situations that would never happen in the home, and kids have to learn about them somehow. i.e developing new relationships, dealing with unexpected conflict, meeting someone new, romance, etc.

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

#258

Post by codingdave »

I have one child who thrived learning remotely during the pandemic, and two who did not. No matter what platforms are set up, there are simply some people who work well independently/remotely and some who do not. Same as the rest of us - some of us love remote work, some never want to do it again.

My recommendation is to put some focus into helping parents identify which camp their children fall into before trying it out, to avoid kids crashing and burning as they discover it is not for them.

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

#259

Post by [deleted] »

JJMcJ wrote: post #192
scifibestfi wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Public school socialization. Humiliated by teachers. Bullied by some people. Small circle of friends. Adults as the enemy. All the homeschooled kids I've met seem pleasant, polite, comfortable around other kids and around adults. Of course this is Northern California so elsewhere the story may be different. Oh, and homeschooling is forbidden in Germany, under a 1938 law. 1938. Get it? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, elbow…

[deleted]

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

#260

Post by tomtheelder »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #48
hprotagonist wrote: post #14

What stops me is that the socialization and peer-group relationship skills that are obtained rapidly in a public school context are not replicatable at home. Neither are the skills learned in dealing with non-family adults, independence of task skills away from home, and much else besides in that vein. I would rather -- and do -- support the public school system in my (medium sized) city.

I personally have never found the "socialization" argument persuasive. Public school is, in fact, a highly artificial and non-representative environment. You have a group of kids, all within 12 months of the same age, and an authority figure to boss them around. As far as I know, that kind of "society" is not replicated anywhere , with the possible exception of military boot camp. Real societies have a mixture of peo…

I broadly agree that it's a bit of an odd environment, and definitely not one that is optimized for socialization, but there are two reasons I feel that it "works."

Firstly I think that simple exposure is very important. Going to school tends to just force you to interact with a lot of different people. That could probably be replicated in other environments, just with more difficulty.

Second, I think that one of the most important facets of socialization is shared experience. Even if traditional schooling isn't an ideal setting for socialization, it is still what most experience. I think removing a child from that sets them up for a significantly more challenging time when it comes to relating to others.

So yeah I think I agree that school isn't really ideal for socialization, but I'm not sure there is a better option out there at the moment.

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