Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education • Hacker News Board

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

#431

Post by escapedmoose » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:20 PM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #406

ARandumGuy wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be true, but way more kids get sent to school then are home schooled, so that doesn't mean much on its own. The issue is that when a kid's at school, there are many people who may notice something's wrong. From teachers, school nurses, school administrators, and even other kids. This is by no means perfect, and many, many cases of abuse slip through the cracks. But it is something, which is more then many ho…

Homeschooling requires some degree of investment in the child, even just to keep them occupied or tolerate their presence. School provides free childcare for long periods of time. I don't think the majority of abusive parents will ever homeschool their children, because most are not believers in teaching an abusive ideology but rather have simple personality disorders. "Homeschool makes it easier to hide abuse" presu…

Unfortunately, of the 4 people I know personally who were homeschooled, it was a vehicle for abuse for 3 of them.

One friend’s mom wouldn’t teach him the curriculum for months, and then when she knew a test was coming up she would make him study with her for 14 hours a day to try to cram it in. Then when he naturally performed poorly on state exams he was punished (often physically) for not trying hard enough. She regularly woke him up for classes when she wanted to be awake at 2 or 3 am, then later after her afternoon nap at 6 or 8pm. He grew up constantly tired, without a regular schedule of meals, and never made it to the group outings because he felt sick all the time.

Another friend’s mom just couldn’t be bothered to teach and just took her out on “learning” hikes with other homeschooling moms, never taught her anything, and wound up sending her back to public school with severely (I mean severely) underdeveloped skills after being held back for several years.

Neither of these parents I’m sure “planned” to abuse their children in this way. They just weren’t up for the task of teaching in the way that a child requires, and their own personal issues turned that into a larger problem. But my friends suffered for it.

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

#432

Post by WalterBright » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:21 PM UTC

I had a good time in public schools. All my friends were there, and we had a lot of fun.

Didn't learn much of anything, though, which became apparent during the disastrous first week of college.

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

#433

Post by BobaFloutist » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:22 PM UTC

darigo wrote: post #257

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…

>it is possible to have plenty of "socialization" with other kids. I agree. Public school is not a great place for socialization, and it's not hard to create something better. Nothing socializes kids like sitting next to each other motionless in silence for several hours lol

The advantage of public school isn't that the socialization is super high quality, but that it's going to be broader spectrum than pretty much any alternative.

It's not about getting your kids to form the best relationships possible, it's about teaching them to be comfortable with and learn to handle a huge swathe of people that are different from themselves.

And, possibly more importantly than that, it's about teaching kids to do this without the immediate presence of their parents.

Are public schools a perfectly diverse cross section of the population? Of course not. Are they a whole lot closer than very nearly any private school or home school? Absolutely.

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

#434

Post by FireBeyond » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:22 PM UTC

AlbertCory wrote: post #387

FireBeyond wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's more: "if you homeschool, you, and we are free to not even have to worry about this as an issue, versus us trying with varying degrees of success to lock it out of your kids school". The two can be entirely compatible.

I don't even understand this. FL officials are encouraging homeschooling? That's silly, given that the majority of kids will still go to public schools.

It's ideology. If you're invested in taking those things out of education, and that's your motivator, then you have a couple of options: encourage homeschooling, where it can't be mandated, or work to remove it from public schools. Who is to say you can't do both? After all, either achieves your ideological aims.

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

#435

Post by CaptWillard » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:23 PM UTC

drw3 wrote: post #361

xyzelement wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

// other aspects of homeschooling were just a fig leaf over a whole lot of religious indoctrination I was raised totally secular but I now understand that religion is about fundamentally aligning yourself to the highest aspirations ("what kind of man does G-d want me to be?") and even w/o actual faith, I am starting to think that's preferable to the current mode of "anything goes, you can be whatever you feel like an…

[deleted]

// It’s a refuge for indoctrination, meaning you aren’t allowed to truly question.

The idea that religion has any kind of market cornered on THAT concept in the last 7-10 years is a non-starter.

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

#436

Post by vel0city » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:24 PM UTC

CaptWillard wrote: post #430

jandrese wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 be…

// other aspects of homeschooling were just a fig leaf over a whole lot of religious indoctrination. While this may technically fit the definition of "indoctrination", that's a pretty loaded way to describe what parents teach their own children. // they thought the public schools were too secular and were teaching "sinful" sciences like evolution. Really? In 2021, the hot-button issue among religious parents was evol…

I personally know multiple people who homeschooled their kids to avoid discussing evolution. There's even been debate at state board of education levels about how evolution is taught in public schools. There's absolutely a lot of people who want to teach their kids humans and dinos existed at the same time.

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

#437

Post by poorlyknit » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:25 PM UTC

biomcgary wrote: post #170

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…

Did you notice that the article highlights the rise of homeschooling co-ops? This is intentional on the part of the homeschooling movement. It improves both socialization and educational opportunities (e.g., shared lab equipment). Rather than pearl clutching about individual anecdotes or doubling down on government control, I think states should provide direct funding to homeschool co-ops in addition to direct fundin…

Isn't that just a private school where the parents are the teachers?

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

#438

Post by FireBeyond » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:25 PM UTC

akira2501 wrote: post #244

cycomanic wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> > The underlying problem is the completely unregulated nature. > I didn't need your permission to give birth to my children, why do I need your permission when deciding how I educate them? Because your children are not your property, they are your responsibility and we as society have decided that we want to make sure that the education is to a certain standard. As a side note I find it fascinating how people who f…

> Because your children are not your property, they are your responsibility I am their _guardian_. > and we as society have decided that we want to make sure that the education is to a certain standard. And what is that standard? Passing standardized tests? How do you account for the poor performance of American schools in general? How do you account for the differential performance across the country, let alone, wil…

> If something happens to my children and I'm even just negligent then I will pay the ultimate price. You cannot ensconce in me this responsibility and then deny my authority to exercise control over them to maintain it.

That's demonstrably false.

You can do plenty of neglectful or negligent things to your children and face zero consequences.

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

#439

Post by sbuttgereit » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:26 PM UTC

alexvoda wrote: post #205

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 single opinion that is valid of all those different forms together: it (home schooling) will increase inequality in society in terms of amplitude, spread and flavors.

The notion that you should sacrifice your children on the alter of some notion of egalitarianism is something I find deeply immoral.

If I have a duty to my child it is too ensure that he has the best opportunity to lead a happy, fulfilling life.

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

#440

Post by BobaFloutist » Tue, Oct 31, 2023, 9:27 PM UTC

kbelder wrote: post #306

alexvoda wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a single opinion that is valid of all those different forms together: it (home schooling) will increase inequality in society in terms of amplitude, spread and flavors.

I'm doing everything I can to raise my children unequally.

As, understandably, is everyone.

Everyone would do a better job with their taxes than the government is.

Everyone drives better than the average driver.

We need some structural limitations to keep things sorta ok for everyone.