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Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

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Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#241

Post by [deleted] »

Aurornis wrote: post #182
nosefurhairdo wrote: post #23

I live in a good area and have friends who work in a few different schools out here. Kids are throwing chairs at teachers. There are elementary school classrooms where ~1/4 students don't speak English. The reading/math skills are so dismal, any student who learns at home is bored as hell. Private schools are outrageously expensive. Homeschooling is becoming the pragmatic choice.

> Kids are throwing chairs at teachers. I don’t know where you live, but kids (plural!) assaulting teachers like that would be very unusual. I have a lot of family and friends in elementary education and management. Stories like that are the kind of thing that get talked about for years if they happen, not something that happens enough to be referred to in the plural.

[deleted]

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#242

Post by pj_mukh »

woodruffw wrote: post #164

> These tech parents are hackers by nature, and I think they’re convinced that in homeschooling they’ve happened on the ultimate life hack: just opt out of being around average people. It's difficult to feel optimistic about a society that thinks this way, much less has a cultural and economic elite that is seemingly emboldened to think this way. "Average" people are the norm, the reality that "not average" people wi…

I think a better question is: How did the median get so much better over 150 years, and why can't it keep getting better?

150 years ago, the average person was illiterate, poorer (in all senses of the word) and less connected to the world around them. Over a 100 year old grind, schooling fixed all that. Why can't it keep going? So the outlier, super special "phenom" today is the median of tomorrow.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#243

Post by knighthack »

Answer to question: because public schooling is becoming a place of indoctrination/brainwashing (particularly of woke mentality), rather than a place of learning. This is very apparent in America, but even happens in outside places like England - kids as young as 7 are being taught and groomed with unnecessary sex and sexual ideas, when that age is meant for innocent play and exploration.

I know a few parents who've taken objection to this. They would rather have their children be properly taught, rather than be taken advantage of for their high impressionableness.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#244

Post by briHass »

syndicatedjelly wrote: post #197
bdangubic wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Average" people are the norm, the reality that "not average" people will have to deal with for the rest of their lives. if by “deal with” you mean serving them fries on their way to a ski trip, perhaps :)

I like to think you mean that the so-called “elites” end up studying some useless degree and only can get jobs as trust-fund burger stand employees, serving fries to the “dummies” who chose to work hard and become wealthy the old-fashioned way

It was a reference to 'Good Will Hunting'. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's first movie.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#245

Post by poulsbohemian »

rayiner wrote: post #214
Terr_ wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> spending so much time learning about native Americans and so little time learning math After a bunch of years overseas, I returned to the US to complete my last two years of high school. I was shocked and dismayed by how much time (and stupid memorization-minutiae) was dedicated solely to the 4 years of the US Civil War.

The remarkable thing is that Americans don’t understand their own civilization. They don’t learn anything substantive about the founding U.S. cultures (big differences between Puritans and Jamestown settlers). They don’t study European history as a required course so they know almost nothing about how the modern world came to be (Westphalian nation states, etc). And they learn almost no world history beyond ancient c…

>The remarkable thing is that Americans don’t understand their own civilization... some supposed connection between the Constitution and some Indian tribe.

The Iroquois Confederacy. Irony.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#246

Post by chii »

woodruffw wrote: post #164

> These tech parents are hackers by nature, and I think they’re convinced that in homeschooling they’ve happened on the ultimate life hack: just opt out of being around average people. It's difficult to feel optimistic about a society that thinks this way, much less has a cultural and economic elite that is seemingly emboldened to think this way. "Average" people are the norm, the reality that "not average" people wi…

> "Average" people are the norm

society has always been this way, from the hunter gatherer days, to middle ages - that's why people want to become part of the elite.

It's only recently that the average people have had the chance to become elites, rather than be born into it. But the desire to be elites, molded by evolutionary/darwinian pressure, is not gone, nor different, than in the past. Another word for it is "the human condition".

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#247

Post by theamk »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #230
TheFreim wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just because you are educated doesn't mean you are a good (pedagogical) educator. This applies equally to paid teachers, along with numerous downsides that don't apply to parents (i.e. being able to tailor education to a single individual, developing a relationship that lasts close to two decades, ability to slow down and speed up course material where necessary, and more). Paid teachers, contrary to semi-popular m…

Great, I'm sure you'll have no problem using the services of a self-taught doctor, lawyer, or engineer then. After all, why would they need to be taught by a professional? Go spend some time in a classroom and get a fucking clue how much more there is to teaching than what your layman's view entails. You, and this disrespect for our educators and the potential of what we could be offering in our public schools is why…

Teaching twenty kids of wildly different levels is always going to be harder that teaching a single kid, so parents have a great advantage by default.

Yes, there are educators who are so great they can teach all 20 kids amazingly well, but those are super rare. Most likely kids who are learn much faster or much slower than the rest will be left behind. If you child is in this group, it's better off to stay away from public school.

(It could have been much better if there were advanced classes, "magnet" schools, etc.. but in many states those programs are being cancelled and everyone is being forced into rigid programs.)

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#248

Post by blackeyeblitzar »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #141

Economics plays into this too. Housing in good school districts is often much more expensive, and private schools are ridiculously expensive. COVID is another factor. Anecdotal of course, but I've only met two home schooled families since moving to our present city 3 years ago, and one of them started out of necessity during the pandemic and found that it worked well and so never went back -- but they're a one income…

In Seattle schools have double the budget compared to the years ago, and spend more than 25K per student each year. The schools are worse than ever, which has convinced me that funding isn’t the problem. This might be a local issue though, with a very ideological school district that has ignored the basics of education.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#249

Post by chii »

croes wrote: post #187
typewithrhythm wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost and timeline to evaluate quality is completely different; I can get multiple opinions for my possessions, and utilities are fairly objective to evaluate (and the cost to do so is small relative to the scale of the operation). Schools are limited for choice, expert evaluation is limited, outcomes are potentially unclear... That's before you get into issues with the politics of a teacher or problem students.

> outcomes are potentially unclear Same is true for home schooling

some people feel better when they think they're in control, despite the fact that the outcome could be even worse. The ability to have control gives the reassurance that the outcome is going to be acceptable (without evidence).

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#250

Post by eduction »

nosefurhairdo wrote: post #236
Aurornis wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Kids are throwing chairs at teachers. I don’t know where you live, but kids (plural!) assaulting teachers like that would be very unusual. I have a lot of family and friends in elementary education and management. Stories like that are the kind of thing that get talked about for years if they happen, not something that happens enough to be referred to in the plural.

Very expensive suburb of Seattle. I was shocked to hear this as well. Reported to me by my friend who is the school counselor and had to deal with these kids (plural) herself.

It’s good they had access to counseling and I hope she was able to help some of them. I don’t imagine most kids are born wanting to throw chairs at people. Something is going on at home.
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