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Homeschooling hits record numbers

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Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#241

Post by 7thaccount »

nlavezzo wrote: post #222
swannodette wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can afford it! "Grass-roots segregation hits records numbers" would be an equally fitting title.

What leads you to believe the reason parents are willing to dedicate huge amounts of their time and money to homeschool their children is racism? Maybe it's: - the terrible educational state of the school system? - the fact that device and social media addiction is a prevalent and growing problem that they don't want their kids brains rotted by? - they want to provide their kids an education based on experiential and…

Not sure why you're being down voted. I'm sure there are some folks homeschooling because of things like racism, but that has always existed just like evangelical christians have always been big into homeschooling.

If there is a big uptake, it's likely due to the ever present threat of school shootings coupled with all the things you said above. I have to teach my kid a lot outside of school and they go to what is considered a good one. The only reason I send them is my spouse and I work and my kid needs to learn social skills. If I won the lottery, I'd homeschool them myself and do it for a few other families as well so that my kid can get the social aspect too.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#242

Post by jcpst »

We tried homeschooling a few times. We were honest with ourselves and determined we were not that great at it. Sure, we could improve. But one of the primary factors in where we chose to live was the school district. Fortunately it has worked out well. Of course there’s always something to deal with- you have to advocate for your kids.

It’s basically public daycare for a lot of people. Including us.

The social aspect is important for us. The idea of having to find other people with kids for activities sounds exhausting. We’re a gang of neuro-spicy introverts. My social circle is comprised of people I’ve been friends with for 25+ years. All from my school days.

I dealt with a lot of bullshit at school. But overall a net gain.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#243

Post by BeetleB »

jeffbee wrote: post #219
BeetleB wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was homeschooled and it affected me terribly. Please don’t do it. Any idea how many were affected terribly in school? I'm in touch with my high school classmates. Almost half of them blame the school experience to lifelong problems.

Everyone from my public high school class is now rich and happy. My anecdote is just as good as yours.

And just as good/bad as the top level comment, which is my point.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#244

Post by ecshafer »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #147

I can't say my public school experience was great, I was bullied and didn't really click with the popular kids, but being around a cross section of actual American kids in my age group (my school district mixed middle class with lower class neighborhoods) helped me shape my worldview and learn to deal with people who didn't look or talk like me. I frequently saw fights, so I learned that you just stay away and watch…

My kids are not school age yet, and I am not sure on if I will home school or not. But I do think its possible to get good socialization exposure while homeschooling. There is the neighborhood kids, you have sports and clubs kids can join, religious groups.

Plus not all homeschooling is just a student staying at home all day. Some people "homeschooling" I know are groups of parents getting together to educate their children together in small groups of ~5 kids to share the responsibility, and hiring a tutor to fill in the gaps. Monday they go John's house, his mom has a philosophy degree and teaches them. tuesday they go to Janes house, her dad is a Mathematician and teaches them. etc.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#245

Post by tristor »

As somebody that suffered through public school as a gifted kid, I wish I had been homeschooled. Almost everything positive that happened in my education was because of family, not due to the school. School was hell on earth for me, and I imagine it's the same for most other "neurodivergent" kids who are high IQ. Given what I know from my own kid, there's no surprise to me why more people are opting to home school. For my daughter we kept her in public school because the district we moved to had magnet programs, and that's what she wanted so she could be with her friends from the neighborhood, but not every school district cares about gifted kids and will happily put a child with a 150 IQ trying to read 6-8 grade levels above their peers in the same room with a child with an 80 IQ child who has a violence problem and consider that an acceptable outcome as long as nobody calls the police.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#246

Post by zdragnar »

gred wrote: post #178
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #147

I can't say my public school experience was great, I was bullied and didn't really click with the popular kids, but being around a cross section of actual American kids in my age group (my school district mixed middle class with lower class neighborhoods) helped me shape my worldview and learn to deal with people who didn't look or talk like me. I frequently saw fights, so I learned that you just stay away and watch…

> I learned that the BS American value of "popularity" doesn't translate into successful futures. Popularity is not an exclusively American concept. Just as public school broadened your horizons, so will traveling (or living) abroad.

Too many CO2 emissions for that to be practical for the billions of people who don't have public transit access to another nation.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#247

Post by thewebguyd »

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…

> Phones, social media, etc. what a terrible environment we adults have created for kids to learn both educationally and socially.

And this is only just now being investigated as a cause of harm. When I went to public high school, the bullying happened at school and stayed there. Kids now, their bullies follow them home, and since most of the social interaction now happens online instead of in-person, it's way more damaging to mental health than the classic caricature of a schoolyard bully. The most I had to compare myself to were my peers in my school, not the entire globe of influencers and fake instagram.

There has been a complete erosion of boundaries. The threat is constant, you can't escape it, and kids are in a state of hyper-vigilance, always online or else they miss a crucial social interaction in group chat, or need to constantly check if a damaging photo, post, or rumor gets publicly posted to the internet while they were asleep.

Not only that, teens are losing the ability to read human emotion, so misunderstandings escalate rapidly. In person communication now becomes too intense, and only increases anxiety and isolation, despite being hyperconnected.

And that's just barely touching the surface.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#248

Post by andrewmcwatters »

SoftTalker wrote: post #118
biophysboy wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 the…

[dead]

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#249

Post by valar_m »

Redster wrote: post #191
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #147

I can't say my public school experience was great, I was bullied and didn't really click with the popular kids, but being around a cross section of actual American kids in my age group (my school district mixed middle class with lower class neighborhoods) helped me shape my worldview and learn to deal with people who didn't look or talk like me. I frequently saw fights, so I learned that you just stay away and watch…

The positives you experienced are very possible for a homeschooled student as well, and this seems to be a common boogieman. Other factors seem to play a much larger factor in the things you are (rightfully!) concerned about. As long as the parents have "the will to have nice things" (to refer to Patrick McKenzie's concept), then these are very surmountable problems. Respectfully, A grateful dad who was homeschooled…

>The positives you experienced are very possible for a homeschooled student as well, and this seems to be a common boogieman.

How do you do that? Seems like it would be impossible to replicate the experience of learning to navigate daily social interactions in a mixed group of people, especially when it comes to dealing with conflict.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#250

Post by SauntSolaire »

brewdad wrote: post #224
Brendinooo wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that true of public school kids who do/don't take the ACT as well?

My Title 1 school made the ACT available to all students for free (on one specific date). A lot of kids who were unprepared for the ACT took it because, why not?

We didn't have that at my school. Unless it's super widespread, it's probably not what's behind the different test results.
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