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Outschooling

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Re: Outschooling

#101

Post by notacoward »

burfog wrote: post #96
notacoward wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're insisting on an equivalent education, which would mean teaching with that same bias. Please learn what "equivalent" means. Maybe get some help at your local public school. It doesn't mean "identical" with the same biases etc. It's entirely possible to define what would constitute an equivalent education even in a subject such as history (never mind neutral subjects such as math which you seem unwilling to ta…

You want to talk about math now? OK... My coworker's wife was a math major. She volunteered to help at her child's public school. (kind of surprised that this is allowed, actually) The teacher gave a math problem, "BLANK - 9 = 9", accepting both 9 and 0 as the only valid answers. My coworker's wife tried to correct this, claiming that 18 should be the only valid answer. The teacher insisted that 18 was incorrect beca…

That seems like a pretty big topic jump, doesn't it?

Re: Outschooling

#102

Post by winchling »

iambateman wrote: post #83
up_and_up wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife was from a very competitive school district which forced overachievement and I got beat up by bullies in a small town school. Besides the personal anecdotes, 1. we felt like time was passing too quickly and wanted to have them around, we wanted to be together basically. 2. with 3 kids my wife hasnt been able to work (her line of work is not well paying), so it made sense to start homeschooling vs private scho…

I was homeschooled for 8 years and this schedule sounds very familiar, except it was surfing and working a part time job for me. School does not need to take 8 hours to be effective. As far as socialization, I’ve been asked this a hundred times: “so...like...how do you talk to people when you’re at home?” Now, I understand they mean well. But for someone who just implied their superior social capabilities, they sure…

It's also worth pointing out that the social environment within most schools is far from ideal.

Re: Outschooling

#103

Post by somethoughts »

amirnathoo wrote: post #50
somethoughts wrote: post #26

The one I would be interested in would be "home-after-schooling". I would love to have more resources to help support K-8 students learn how to do original research for science fairs, MOOCs for non-math subjects and programming. Basically Khan Academy type courses that can enable teaching economics, literature, philosophy to a 12 year old. The interesting non-math stuff for Khan Academy doesn't start until 9-12th gra…

It's a matter of focus. We'd love there to be more self-study content available for kids also. But MOOCs have a famously low completion rate and it's hard to stay motivated without interaction. So we're focused on connecting learners and teachers and having them interact over video chat.

Cool - Thanks for the reply! Will definitely be checking outschool in more detail.

I think the benefit of the pre-recorded sessions like from Coursera and Khan Academy, is that one concern is unsupervised teacher-learner interaction could be problematic if its unclear how the teacher has been screened.

For instance is the teacher in live mode going to do anything inappropriate or try to initiate in person contact with the learner, etc.

Re: Outschooling

#104

Post by ekianjo »

winchling wrote: post #102
iambateman wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was homeschooled for 8 years and this schedule sounds very familiar, except it was surfing and working a part time job for me. School does not need to take 8 hours to be effective. As far as socialization, I’ve been asked this a hundred times: “so...like...how do you talk to people when you’re at home?” Now, I understand they mean well. But for someone who just implied their superior social capabilities, they sure…

It's also worth pointing out that the social environment within most schools is far from ideal.

Most schools are just like jails: you are forced to be there, and forced to be there with people who don't want to be there either. A good recipe for disaster as soon as the group becomes large enough. And don't expect the guardians/educators to do anything when someone picks up on you.

Re: Outschooling

#105

Post by rayiner »

burfog wrote: post #96
notacoward wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're insisting on an equivalent education, which would mean teaching with that same bias. Please learn what "equivalent" means. Maybe get some help at your local public school. It doesn't mean "identical" with the same biases etc. It's entirely possible to define what would constitute an equivalent education even in a subject such as history (never mind neutral subjects such as math which you seem unwilling to ta…

You want to talk about math now? OK... My coworker's wife was a math major. She volunteered to help at her child's public school. (kind of surprised that this is allowed, actually) The teacher gave a math problem, "BLANK - 9 = 9", accepting both 9 and 0 as the only valid answers. My coworker's wife tried to correct this, claiming that 18 should be the only valid answer. The teacher insisted that 18 was incorrect beca…

My story. Our “science” teacher in sixth grade was trying to teach us how to convert between Celsius and Fahrenheit. She taught us: “the freezing point of water is 0C and 32F. So what is the boiling point?” She called on me, and I answered: “212F.” She says “no, 132F!” Class laughed. My ears burned and I mumbled something about getting it mixed up with the melting point of lead.

I’ve never been able to forget that one. Okay, so people make mistakes. But temperatures are like a basic fact of everyday life. Do you really think water boils at 30 degrees hotter than it gets in a hot day? And do you trust these same people to teach your kids about World War II, the Constitution, evolution, climate change, etc?

Re: Outschooling

#106

Post by master-litty »

I interviewed with Outschool a few months ago, happy to see them here!

They're a wonderful team. I've never seen a group of people with so much positive chemistry before; I've started asking more culture-centered questions in my interviews since then, now that I think about it.

I think it's the best kind of team to front an educational endeavour and it's one big reason I believe in them. It's easier to have a healthy classroom environment if the providing workplace is healthy too.

Re: Outschooling

#107

Post by linuxftw »

jpm_sd wrote: post #91

Students can also access "real time group classes taught largely by very experienced K12 teachers" by... going to school.

Opportunity cost can't justify public school. Seems to be a large waste of time, super authoritative, and mentally damaging to many.

Re: Outschooling

#108

Post by thrower123 »

burfog wrote: post #96
notacoward wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You're insisting on an equivalent education, which would mean teaching with that same bias. Please learn what "equivalent" means. Maybe get some help at your local public school. It doesn't mean "identical" with the same biases etc. It's entirely possible to define what would constitute an equivalent education even in a subject such as history (never mind neutral subjects such as math which you seem unwilling to ta…

You want to talk about math now? OK... My coworker's wife was a math major. She volunteered to help at her child's public school. (kind of surprised that this is allowed, actually) The teacher gave a math problem, "BLANK - 9 = 9", accepting both 9 and 0 as the only valid answers. My coworker's wife tried to correct this, claiming that 18 should be the only valid answer. The teacher insisted that 18 was incorrect beca…

What? That's a doozy. But I think most of us here have probably seen the same kind of thing. It's always fun when you realize that the person you are obligated to respect and are purportedly supposed to be learning from is dumber than a bag of hammers.

Most of them get nasty when they are proven incorrect as well.

Re: Outschooling

#109

Post by seregine »

jonny_eh wrote: post #94
up_and_up wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of random extracurriculars like: "Travel to Paris" "Viking Art and History" "Waldorf Form drawing" "The History of Halloween" They also get to see the instructor and interact with them and other kids.

> "Travel to Paris" Dumb question: Is that a field trip or just a "learn about Paris" lesson?

We do have some virtual field trips, like this one: https://outschool.com/classes/lets-go-to-france-Lsi6B9gk#usv...

Re: Outschooling

#110

Post by geomark »

droithomme wrote: post #100
amirnathoo wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of focus. We'd love there to be more self-study content available for kids also. But MOOCs have a famously low completion rate and it's hard to stay motivated without interaction. So we're focused on connecting learners and teachers and having them interact over video chat.

> low completion rate Most people who sign up don't actually want a certificate and aren't trying to complete. They are interested in the subject, watching some videos, move on. When you have class sizes with 1000-30,000 students, it's OK if 90% don't complete the certificate since many more did than in a brick and mortar school, yet it cost much less per student to deliver the class. In online classes where you need…

This. Low completion rate of those who enrolled for free is, in a way, actually a positive indicator because it shows a lot more people getting a chance to "taste" a subject. Many decide it isn't for them or they learned what they wanted and are not interested in the certificate at the end. Something not possible with in-class courses.
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