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Homeschooling hits record numbers

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Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#111

Post by albedoa »

Brendinooo wrote: post #91
mcphage wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It says something about a system dedicated to teaching children when parents think they can do as well or better. 6% of American think they can beat a grizzly bear in a fight. That says absolutely nothing about the bear, and says a lot about how misinformed people are.

This is why it's useful to look up stats when we have them. For example, homeschooled students do better on the ACT than public school kids. https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/Info... Obviously the schooling venue itself isn't the only factor here, but if you think homeschooling a kid is worth an analogy to fighting grizzlies, might be worth a reframe.

This is some fascinating insight. Do you think that the things being compared are [homeschooling] and [fighting grizzlies]?

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#112

Post by SauntSolaire »

triceratops wrote: post #106
rahimnathwani wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Education is expensive and underfunded. Expensive yes. Underfunded depends on where you are. San Francisco's school district has an annual operating budget that equates to $28k per student. I've heard people in San Francisco say that schools here are underfunded. When I ask them how much we spend per student per year, their guess is usually less than half of the actual amount.

$28k doesn't go as far in San Francisco because of the insane cost of housing and everything else.

How does housing cost affect the cost for a school to educate a student? Are you saying it's the cost of paying for the school's real-estate?

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#113

Post by indecisive_user »

Voultapher wrote: post #58
jmathai wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we could teach them as well as the school does. And more importantly, we can provide a better environment for them to mature socially.

> And more importantly, we can provide a better environment for them to mature socially. Citation needed. Every perspective I've heard personally - and mirrored in comments here as well - from the non parent side of things, is quite negative in terms of learning how to behave and socialize with your peers. To you the children might seem polite and servile, and you might see this as something positive - as you state i…

>but you are likely setting them up for life of social awkwardness and ostracization.

Citation needed.

If you put your kids in homeschooling and provide no other outlet for socialization then sure, they'll be socially awkward.

My brother and I were homeschooled, but we were also heavily involved in our community. We were at the local park playing sports 3-4 times per week, we did various summer camps, we had a few other homeschool families that we'd setup playdates with. Our parents would sometimes joke that we barely ever home! And, unsurprisingly, we had no problems with socializing or making friends later in life.

Was it the same kind of socialization you get from going to public school? No, but I consider that a feature :)

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#114

Post by dkhenry »

When I recently switched jobs, one of my requirements was I had to remain remote, for at least the next few years, so I could remain at home and help with my children's education. I don't think there is enough money in the world to convince me to change back to public education. Aside from the benefits everyone mentions like a much better education, having so much extra time with my children is a priceless gift that I wish we as a society could give everyone.

Also its given me the chance to learn things that I missed during my primary and secondary educations. Going through each proof in Euclid's Elements again has been a lot of fun, and its been long enough that I have forgotten most of them, so the thrill of discovery is real for me too.

If you can make it work, you should make it work, even if that means moving to a lower CoL area, there are a lot of small towns in the US that have excellent amenities, and are great places to raise a family.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#116

Post by nradov »

rich_sasha wrote: post #52
jmathai wrote: post #3

I do think Covid forced people to ask questions they hadn’t before. We have sent our kids to private, poor quality and top rated schools. We saw a stark difference between the poor quality and higher cost options. No surprise. But the reason we are considering home schooling our younger kids was surprising. It says something about a system dedicated to teaching children when parents think they can do as well or bette…

I suppose there are few talented, hard working people who want to teach, and they command a premium. Education is expensive and underfunded. As a parent/carer you probably are much more motivated than an underpaid teacher who wanted to do something else anyway, and you don't have to motivate yourself with money. By extension, IME, motivated and talented teachers in any school (good or bad) can do wonders. There just…

Education should be well funded but in many school districts the problem is waste and inefficiency rather than lack of funding. Huge amounts are paid to administrators and consultants who do nothing to improve student outcomes, or even make them worse. Generally there is little correlation between funding per student and results.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#117

Post by SauntSolaire »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #110
jmathai wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having put 2 kids (10th and 8th grade now) through a couple school options…the socialization in schools is pretty bad. Kids from home schooling families we know are as polite or substantially more polite than those in the school system.

I've always thought that learning how to deal with people who are not as polite, and even kids that are downright scary, is an important aspect of socialization. They'll have to deal with those folks when they hit the real world too.

Hopefully they learn how to deal with them instead of picking up their communication style.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#118

Post by SoftTalker »

biophysboy wrote: post #39
csense wrote: post #7

Anecdotally, two factors at work here: - Schools have stopped educating in favor of test metrics, making sure the worst students pass, and pushing borderline indoctrination of controversial, left-ish values. - With remote education during the pandemic, people have more visibility into their school's day-to-day teaching. It's hard to fix the US education system by political means. If you have the ability to do so, it'…

Parents side with their kids all the time in pass/fail battles; they're not objective. Name the left values; don't beat around the bush. Observing remote education is not good visibility into pre-covid teaching. I think we have a responsibility to have educated citizens.

> Parents side with their kids all the time in pass/fail battles; they're not objective.

I'm thinking this is fairly new. When I was in school, if I got bad grades or got in trouble at school, I got in trouble at home too. My parents were absolutely not calling the teachers complaining about grades. When I had trouble learning multiplication facts, they sat me down with flash cards every night until I had learned them, they didn't blame the teacher. This was in the 1970s/80s. This seemed pretty normal based on what I remember. When/why did it change?

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#119

Post by Mountain_Skies »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #81
jmathai wrote: post #3

I do think Covid forced people to ask questions they hadn’t before. We have sent our kids to private, poor quality and top rated schools. We saw a stark difference between the poor quality and higher cost options. No surprise. But the reason we are considering home schooling our younger kids was surprising. It says something about a system dedicated to teaching children when parents think they can do as well or bette…

Is there an answer for athletics, music, robotics, and all the other after school teams? How does that work?

I went to public schools but still did that sort of thing through the YMCA and our church. At the middle school level and lower, most of those types of activities are community based rather than centered around the school, though that varies by area.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#120

Post by 5f3cfa1a »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #15
jmathai wrote: post #3

I do think Covid forced people to ask questions they hadn’t before. We have sent our kids to private, poor quality and top rated schools. We saw a stark difference between the poor quality and higher cost options. No surprise. But the reason we are considering home schooling our younger kids was surprising. It says something about a system dedicated to teaching children when parents think they can do as well or bette…

One of the key issues in school is classroom size. A teacher with 30 kids is handicapped as a teacher compared to one with a smaller class. Let's say your family has four kids. As a family, that's large. But as a classroom size, it's really small . That gives you an advantage as a homeschooler over a public school teacher.

Grade retention ('holding kids back') has additionally dropped significantly since the average HNer has gone to school. I remember going to school where one of my peers went to sixth grade with his brother two years older than him. But now, we give out social promotions.

That might've worked if we funded schools & gave students who fell behind significant interventions & 1x1 attention, but that's not what happened. One of my friends has a very bright and talented fifth grader in a class with multiple students who can barely read or write. Guess who gets the most attention from educators? Which group the teachers structure the class for?

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