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Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

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Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#261

Post by haizhung »

Am I the only one thinking that home schooling is the wrong solution to the underlying problem?

The problem is that the public education sector has been - for years - continuously squeezed dry of any funding. Teachers are quitting left and right, and schools are in a terrible state. Instead of fixing THAT problem, now people homeschool.

Ok; I guess. At least homeschooling is something that the individual can control, public funding not so much.

But it boggles my mind how people can assume, with a straight face, that they are equipped to educate their child alone - something which is normally a profession for which you have to study O(years) (and even then most people aren’t really good at). What gives parents this confidence? And what gives parents the right to squander the future of their children on a whim?

I have two kids, would consider myself very well educated (have a PhD, etc), and I habe absolutely 0 confidence in myself schooling my kids.

Finally, public schooling is obviously an attempt at leveling the playing field between children from different backgrounds. By removing your kid from that, I think it further contributes to the segregation of our society.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#262

Post by FireBeyond »

merpnderp wrote: post #216
lapetitejort wrote: post #137

I was home-schooled until high school. Long story short, it was a disaster. I bordered on having no education at all, on top of no socialization. I'm so fortunate I got at least four years of public school. I still think I suffer to this day. For parents who are thinking of home schooling your kids: best of luck to you. If you succeed, maybe your kids will be smarter. If you fail, you could be setting your kids up fo…

I’m sorry for you bad experience, but statistically kids do better when homeschooled. It’s not like public school as some minimal level they’re assured to bring kids up to.

Citation needed.

Beyond studies by the National Home Education Research Institute, that is. The three leading studies by homeschooling advocates looked at "homeschooled students who went to college" and how they did at school versus public schooled students at college, and ignored the fact that the percentage of homeschooled students who went to college was much smaller (why?) than for public schools.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#263

Post by low_common »

torial wrote: post #198
jawns wrote: post #150

People talk about homeschooling as if it's one single concept, but it's actually a whole bunch of very dissimilar things. There are people who homeschool because they don't agree with the government's viewpoints, people who homeschool because the public school system has failed their kids, people who homeschool because it just happens to fit their lifestyle. Those are all very different motivations. Likewise, there a…

100% agree with this. Also, with the right community, it is possible to have plenty of "socialization" with other kids. My family participates in a parent-led co-op that allows kids to benefit from different strengths in different parents and to have lots of friends. As my kids are neurodivergent, I think this environment has been safer for them and allows them to focus on their passions. There is still some peer pre…

What the heck is neurodivergence?

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#264

Post by jandrese »

jawns wrote: post #150

People talk about homeschooling as if it's one single concept, but it's actually a whole bunch of very dissimilar things. There are people who homeschool because they don't agree with the government's viewpoints, people who homeschool because the public school system has failed their kids, people who homeschool because it just happens to fit their lifestyle. Those are all very different motivations. Likewise, there a…

There is a huge spectrum, but back when we homeschooled (my wife wasn't yet comfortable sending the kids back to the classroom in 2021) we did a few events where local homeschool kids got together for various activities. Tree identification/nature trail at the park, visits to historic sites, stuff like that.

Of the parents I met there was some variety, but 9 times out of 10 it seemed like they were mostly doing it because they thought the public schools were too secular and were teaching "sinful" sciences like evolution. They were all polite about it, but it started making me wonder if all of these other aspects of homeschooling were just a fig leaf over a whole lot of religious indoctrination. Maybe those kids are fine, I didn't quiz them, but it did raise an eyebrow.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#265

Post by geocrasher »

jawns wrote: post #150

People talk about homeschooling as if it's one single concept, but it's actually a whole bunch of very dissimilar things. There are people who homeschool because they don't agree with the government's viewpoints, people who homeschool because the public school system has failed their kids, people who homeschool because it just happens to fit their lifestyle. Those are all very different motivations. Likewise, there a…

^^^^^^^^^^ This.

We unschooled our kids. Worked beautifully. They're both as much of a success or failure as if they had gone to public school. Had more to do with their idiot gene donor's DNA than their schooling.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#266

Post by giantg2 »

lapetitejort wrote: post #225
SoftTalker wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You write pretty well based on these few sentences. I have found that nothing improved my writing more than reading authors I liked and being aware of (in some cases adopting or imitating elements of) their writing styles. Did you read a lot on your own?

Pretty much everything I know I picked up in community college about six years after graduating high school with a 2.6 GPA. I like to think I'm a smart and empathetic person. I would love to meet the person who got to use those innate skills at a young age instead of having to dredge up whatever remained after a decade of neglect.

I think this is a highly individualized question depending on the circumstances.

I'd qualify as smart depending on the metric. I actually went to a private school (the public schools in the area were complete garbage and out of control - bomb threats, drugs, etc at the middle school level). It really wasn't that challenging and most of my useful knowledge beyond the basic read/write/math is self taught. Most of the stuff I learned in college was never used. Using those innate skills at a young age produced nothing tangible. I won't achieve any real success in life even though I checked all the boxes when I was younger - smart, good grades, extracurriculars, family, religion, went to college, etc.

Really all any good school or parent can do that is helpful is teach their kids to want to learn and how to self-teach. Most schools are terrible at this and just want to hit test scores and follow procedures/regulations (learning environment can be atrocious). I'd say most parents are average at this.

The real question is, what do you think would be different and why can't you achieve that now?

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#267

Post by jwells89 »

lapetitejort wrote: post #137

I was home-schooled until high school. Long story short, it was a disaster. I bordered on having no education at all, on top of no socialization. I'm so fortunate I got at least four years of public school. I still think I suffer to this day. For parents who are thinking of home schooling your kids: best of luck to you. If you succeed, maybe your kids will be smarter. If you fail, you could be setting your kids up fo…

The majority of my schooling was at home as well, and while education was mostly ok (with some notable highs and lows) my parents found it difficult to make the scheduling work for socialization (in part due to my semi-rural hometown — any activities meant a considerable drive), and so that was largely absent.

I’ve done alright for myself and have even managed to rank among top achievers in my family, but it’s felt like I’ve been stuck playing catchup in various ways throughout my adult life. Now in my mid-30s, in some aspects I feel that I’m where I should’ve been in my mid-20s.

With that in mind I wouldn’t say I’m against homeschooling necessarily, but I think it’s crucial for parents to consider if they really have the time available to make it as complete as it needs to be. If there’s any doubt at all it might not be a great idea.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#268

Post by nickthegreek »

goalonetwo wrote: post #117
nickthegreek wrote: post #100

John Oliver did a great segment on the issues with home schooling in the modern age a few weeks ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzsZP9o7SlI

Ah yes, John Oliver. Probably one of the most biased formats you can find. Mixing comedy with pseudo-facts and personal opinions to push an agenda/narrative. I wish we could only see what he produces as comedy but way too often people love to share his clips/narrative as a semi-reliable source of information.

If you have any specific issues with this segment, I would be interesting in hearing them.

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#269

Post by lamp987 »

low_common wrote: post #263
torial wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree with this. Also, with the right community, it is possible to have plenty of "socialization" with other kids. My family participates in a parent-led co-op that allows kids to benefit from different strengths in different parents and to have lots of friends. As my kids are neurodivergent, I think this environment has been safer for them and allows them to focus on their passions. There is still some peer pre…

What the heck is neurodivergence?

[flagged]

Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

#270

Post by wizofaus »

merpnderp wrote: post #216
lapetitejort wrote: post #137

I was home-schooled until high school. Long story short, it was a disaster. I bordered on having no education at all, on top of no socialization. I'm so fortunate I got at least four years of public school. I still think I suffer to this day. For parents who are thinking of home schooling your kids: best of luck to you. If you succeed, maybe your kids will be smarter. If you fail, you could be setting your kids up fo…

I’m sorry for you bad experience, but statistically kids do better when homeschooled. It’s not like public school as some minimal level they’re assured to bring kids up to.

I was curious to know what sort of studies had been done in that regard, I didn't notice anything mentioned by the article, though admittedly I only skimmed the 2nd half. FWIW I don't think I've ever met or known of anyone being home schooled in Australia, though I'm sure it must happen.
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