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

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

#381

Post by Zelphyr »

clausok wrote: post #371
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…

We started homeschooling by happenstance when it turned out that kindergarten was going to conflict with our son's beloved jiu-jitsu class. The class was a bit of a drive and we weren't going to be able to get there in time for his favorite part: the 30 minutes of horsing around on the mats before class started. We thought, "Well, it's only kindergarten". It worked out well enough (knock on wood) that we just kept go…

> the 30 minutes of horsing around on the mats before class started

Followed by the collective groan about how they're too tired to do the warmups.

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

#382

Post by sweeter »

collaborative wrote: post #291
sweeter wrote: post #249

I mean its obvious. There has been a concerted effort to de-fund public schools and center the conversation about "right to choose" education, alongside a handout of vouchers to attend private religious schools AND the implementation of new laws that allow tax payer dollars to go to funding those privately owned religious schools (seriously). The intent imo is to make schools seem "scary" and push parents to put thei…

I find it a bit far fetched to suggest that these private religious schools have enough influence to change laws and get tax dollars The much simpler explanation is that having influence over private schools is very tempting for the govt and the easiest tool is via giving or retaining funding which they don't personally have to pay. They just want to secure votes and influence

You'd be partially correct in saying that private schools alone dont have the influence to do this, its more so politicians who endorse these schools and own stake in these schools that are at the root of the issue. With the goal of moving taxpayer money into private monied interests, instead of public services. Its a tail as old as time in the US.

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

#383

Post by goalonetwo »

nickthegreek wrote: post #268
goalonetwo wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, John Oliver. Probably one of the most biased formats you can find. Mixing comedy with pseudo-facts and personal opinions to push an agenda/narrative. I wish we could only see what he produces as comedy but way too often people love to share his clips/narrative as a semi-reliable source of information.

If you have any specific issues with this segment, I would be interesting in hearing them.

Let's start with this thread:

https://twitter.com/wanyeburkett/status/1715586174658441404

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

#384

Post by bigstrat2003 »

gemstones wrote: post #312
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…

For real. It's telling that the kids don't jump in here to defend the practice, hardly ever (also homeschooled, education was great, socialization was absolutely problematic despite doing all the homeschool group things.)

> It's telling that the kids don't jump in here to defend the practice, hardly ever...

Homeschooled kids are a minority, and therefore formerly-homeschooled adults are a minority too. More of a minority, even (since the rate of homeschooling was lower when we were growing up). It's not "telling", it's simply the fact that not a ton of people exist to give a defense.

For my part I was homeschooled and had a great experience. My parents were able to challenge me in ways that the local public school wasn't willing to, and they made consistent efforts to make sure I had social exposure to other kids. I don't believe I am lacking in any way because my parents homeschooled me - in fact, if anything I believe it was the better option for me.

And I think you need to remember that the other side of the coin exists too. My wife went to public school, and was bullied by other kids. She has social anxiety and other issues to this day (she's 42 years old) as a result. That doesn't mean public schools are all bad, of course, but people need to stop ignoring the downsides of public school when they compare the two paradigms.

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

#385

Post by soperj »

ARandomerDude wrote: post #353
jjav wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> indoctrination is a given. Indoctrination is not a given and should never be acceptable in education. What is indoctrination? Here's one dictionary definition: indoctrination: the process of repeating an idea or belief to someone until they accept it without criticism or question Note "accept it without criticism or question". This is the polar opposite of what education should be, which is to encourage investigati…

> what education should be…with a scientific method Does the scientific method tell you this? It couldn’t have, because this is a philosophical belief not a scientific one. Very likely, you were indoctrinated to believe this. Not all “doctrine” (teaching) is wrong and not all indoctrination is wrong. But everyone undergoes some form of indoctrination.

Would you believe the paper that said that teaching by encouraging research with the scientific method is better? Would be very ironic if it said that it wasn't.

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

#386

Post by vrc »

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

Do you really think kids in school sit silently and motionless in class for several hours? I’d invite you to sample any classroom to test that hypothesis. There are many reasons to suppose schools aren’t the best for socialization, but that’s not it.

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

#387

Post by AlbertCory »

FireBeyond wrote: post #315
AlbertCory wrote: post #208

I kept waiting for the ideology, which is mostly absent from this, but here it is: >Of the 10 districts with the most home-schooled kids in The Post database, nine are in Florida. That’s partly because of the state’s large school districts, but also because its elected officials have grown friendlier to home education as they saddle public schools with politically charged restrictions on what can be taught about race…

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.

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

#388

Post by FredPret »

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]

We should start a new, more useful religion

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

#389

Post by chaostheory »

xyzelement wrote: post #329
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 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…

> I used to think religion was about deep fear, now I see it more as about deep care.

As someone who has grown up in a religious, conservative household, I strongly disagree. Sure, there are many good values that a religious conservative household can foster such as independence and self accountability. However, you cannot its ignore downside either. The same culture promotes fear of the “other” ie different religion, different ethnicity / race, different political ideology, et al. Whether or not these fears are justified is beside the point. I’m just pointing out that they exist which runs counter to your very short and limited personal experience. (I’m also not saying that the other side is free of any fault either.)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-...

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/liberals-are-f...

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