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Homeschooling hits record numbers

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431–440 of 878 posts

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pushing borderline indoctrination of controversial, left-ish values Which values? I haven't gone to school in a long time.

Lots of examples, gender identity and requiring ethnic studies (focusing on white male privilege, settler/colonial, putting groups into binary oppressor/oppressed). Also issues with requiring those classes vs not.

Literally nobody forces groups into a good/bad binary more than conservatives. What an embarrassing lack of self awareness

(source: I went to a conservative christian school)

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, it would be crazy if people were allowed to raise their own children with their own values. we can’t have that.

Is this not possible while exposing children to a variety of view points from different sources or does it require that children are not exposed to certain perspectives at all? The original comment makes a very bold claim of "indoctrination" of an entirely undefined set of values. There has been no evidence that exposing children to this (undefined and buzzwordy) set of values means that they can't be raised accordin…

> Define the values. Cite sources that this is "indoctrination" and not simply exposing viewpoints. Then maybe we can have a productive discussion.

They're never going to do this, because it's not actually happening, at least not to a significant degree. They will keep their wording vague, not show examples, and basically just repeat variations of "Trust me, bro.. this indoctrination is happening. It's clear as day. You need to see the real world, bro."

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#433
post #346
post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Conservative part of my social group, the main one applicable here is pushing elementary school kids to identify as trans. Because young children are very impressionable, and it is forbidden for staff to push back on on it at all, despite the science saying "there is absolutely no such thing as trans before age 12, and much possibility of social trauma from attempting it". Left-ish people tend to say "this d…

Why age 12?

Age 12 happens to be the cutoff used in the scientific studies.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#434
post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are certainly tradeoffs, but it's not all negative. In my experience, what it boils down to is that home-schooled kids tend to have more experience with adults and less experience dealing with a wide variety of other kids, particularly assholes. When I was a kid in public school, there was no shortage of assholes and I definitely would have preferred to not have to deal with them. OTOH, I don't doubt that there…

What happens to asshole kids? Do they become regular adults or asshole adults? Do they become soldiers or prisonners never to be seen again by normies? Do they even reach adulthood? Are they even a stable group or were we all asshole kids to some other kids?

Dunno, maybe all of the above? Believe it or not, I didn't really keep in touch with them.

My point was that kids are disproportionately likely to treat other kids badly, especially when adults aren't around. That kind of situation is common at school, but much less common at home, unless the parents choose to allow it.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#435
post #360

I am an advocate of homeschooling but also know the importance of social contact for kids, so always wondering how hard would it be to create local clubs for kids where they learn mainly about economy, liberty and social relations sprinkled with some astronomy, history, biology, math and whatever personal interest of their parents like sports or arts? I'd be happy to pay for a private institution like that

I'm pretty sure you just described a public school

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#436

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 c…

There is no such thing as “the neighborhood kids” anymore. Having any kind of social circle for your children is going to require your facilitation and effort… a lot of it. It’ll be extra hard without the common bond of shared activity.

Not knocking what sounds like your choice to homeschool, just sharing something that has changed from my youth.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#437
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point. I know of one home-schooling family—and the wife quit her career to homeschool. Is this family well off financially? Of course they are. I suspect the data on homeschoolers is going to reflect a generally affluent slant.

Anecdotally, I know of one child who was homeschooled recently. The mother is a single mother, of modest middle-class means. There was a homeschooling group nearby with a few volunteer mothers handling most of the logistics and teaching. This particular mother did not have to give up her job. It does stretch the definition of "homeschooling" a bit when it's a neighbor teaching in a neighbor's home, but they made it w…

Yea, that does stretch it. At some point, it becomes less "homeschooling" and more "an unlicensed private school." Uber for Schools?

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you saying that's a lot or a little? Tuition for most (non-religious) competitive private schools in San Francisco is easily twice that amount.

"Tuition for most (non-religious) competitive private schools in San Francisco is easily twice that amount." No it's not 'easily twice that amount'. For each of the grades K-12, here is the % of non-religious private schools in San Francisco that charge $56k or more: K: 0% 1: 0% 2: 0% 3: 0% 4: 0% 5: 0% 6: 3% 7: 3% 8: 3% 9: 71% 10: 71% 11: 71% 12: 71%

cost per student is higher for high school students. So if you take an average across all grades for public schools and then compare that to specific cost per grade at private schools, of course private schools are going to look relatively cheaper for younger students.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#440
post #386

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 was homeschooled until high school. I couldn’t agree with you more. The value that the socialization the public school offers is underestimated. Learning activities with other homeschooled kids is ok but not enough. A tight-knit neighborhood of friends is huge, but not enough. You need to develop a thick skin and a sense of self-assurance. I have no counterfactual of course, but I think much of the social anxiety I…

As someone else who was homeschooled except the last three grades, I also agree. Additionally, the effect is multiplied if the kid in question lives in a rural or semi-rural area rather than a suburb or city.

For the majority of my adult life I’ve been playing catchup. Even now, barreling towards 40, there’s aspects of social capabilities where I come up quite short relative to my peers.

If I’m ever to be a parent, I won’t homeschool. Depending the circumstances I might not send my kids to public school, but their schooling situation will at minimum involve social exposure comparable to that of public school.

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