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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

#641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am of the firm opinion that there is no substitute for a formal education. Homeschooling is great if one or both parents are teachers or come from a teaching background. Homeschooling is a disaster if neither parent has much of a formal education, or lack teaching acumen, but still feel that they are qualified to teach their kids. Between those two extremes is a huge range of variability. Exams are going to become…

The facts don't line up with your opinion. A 2016 study by the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) indicates homeschoolers scored between 15 and 30 percentage points higher on standardized academic achievement tests and usually scored higher on the SAT/ACT. https://www.nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/

> Homeschooling is guaranteed to increase inequality, not decrease it.

Your statistics support the previous claim. If you have a group out performing the public school by 15 to 30% there will be more spread in educational outcomes. Many would see that as a good thing when some kids get closer to reaching their potential, but not everyone wants that.

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

#642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am of the firm opinion that there is no substitute for a formal education. Homeschooling is great if one or both parents are teachers or come from a teaching background. Homeschooling is a disaster if neither parent has much of a formal education, or lack teaching acumen, but still feel that they are qualified to teach their kids. Between those two extremes is a huge range of variability. Exams are going to become…

The facts don't line up with your opinion. A 2016 study by the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) indicates homeschoolers scored between 15 and 30 percentage points higher on standardized academic achievement tests and usually scored higher on the SAT/ACT. https://www.nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/

No, that's not a fact. It's an observation that shows how people with training and resources can do a better job than the public school system. But as more affluent kids move out of the school system, funding will decrease, leaving the kids belonging to poor or uneducated parents stranded, until they too are forced to homeschool.

It's funny how people will gut the foundation of public education over decades, then turn around and point saying "Look, it's shaky." Of course it's shaky. It's chronically underfunded, teachers have no say over student behaviour and no control over the curriculum.

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

#643

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you notice that the article highlights the rise of homeschooling co-ops? This is intentional on the part of the homeschooling movement. It improves both socialization and educational opportunities (e.g., shared lab equipment). Rather than pearl clutching about individual anecdotes or doubling down on government control, I think states should provide direct funding to homeschool co-ops in addition to direct fundin…

I don't agree about the funding. UBI is a great idea because the conditions are clear: you have to be a person to get this money. Government funded homeschool co-ops or government funded homeschool families... Not so much. As someone who pays taxes under the expectation that the government will do its best to use the money to provide a consistent education for all, I have a limited set of options when it comes to inf…

So, in your view of UBI "you have to be a person to get this money" would extend to children? If so, that would be a great way to fund homeschooling.

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

#644
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…

> Beyond that, there are parents who are well equipped to homeschool and parents who are not. And there is a small but hard-to-ignore percentage who claim to homeschool but really neglect their kids. There's such a disparity between states. States like mine require homeschooled kids to occasionally attend actual school for check in or certain classes, and participate in the same testing (regardless of your opinion of…

> And there is a small but hard-to-ignore percentage who claim to homeschool but really neglect their kids.

That is true in the public school as well. Local churches used to organize breakfast in some of the parks during the summer for kids whose parents just wouldn't get around to feeding them. Statistically speaking, a child getting sent to the public school is more likely to be in that category than a homeschooled child.

Most parents who don't want to deal with their kids, welcome sending them to have someone else watch them.

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

#645
post #611

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…

> anything goes, you can be whatever you feel like and there's no judgement of any of your actions Wow, what a terrible take. If anyone needs religion to live a moral life, I'm glad they have found it and hope they never lose it. I'm judged by my peers, my family, my community, and my country. But even if I wasn't, I would know what's right and what's wrong. Moreover, I guess it's good that amoral people can find eth…

Yeah, secular vs religious is not any basis for judging a value system. We've certainly seen horrible things done by fundamentalists of all stripes, religious or not! There is a lot of very beautiful religious thought over the millenia, and its very beauty is what enables its abuse by bad actors. We must always judge people as individuals by their actions in context, and never allow any form of ideology (whether religious or not) to be used as a shield against individual scrutiny. Morality is unfortunately not black and white, and the moment we try to make it so, we open the door to the greatest evils.

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

#646

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was (non-religiously) home schooled and very much benefited from it. I was able to spend a lot more time reading books than I would have in school. I was able to learn about computers, programming, etc. I did get some socialization through other kids in my neighborhood and events with other home school families. I started in back in school around high school and, although it was a bit of a transition, I enjoyed it…

Or so you think. I don't know you, but every home school kids I've met shows the lack of meeting republicans/democrats/jews/blacks. None of them see that in themselves though.

In many public schools you have the exact same thing depending on where you are.

There are also a lot of adults who show the lack of meeting a diverse set of homeschool families as well. They don't usually see that in themselves either.

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

#647
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…

that definition applies perfectly to modern leftism

My experience with modern leftists is that they will over-analyze political concepts and expend all their energy debating with other leftists. That doesn't sound "without criticism or question".

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

#648
post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

> I know you just said “religion,” but I can only speak about Christianity as I’m deeply familiar with it. I believe you when you speak of the bad experiences you had, but you seem to think that what you've seen is the only (or at least the typical) manifestation of Christianity. But that isn't true, and if you do indeed believe it's true I respectfully suggest you aren't deeply familiar with Christianity the way you…

>Scientists, theologians, and philosophers have all found that their faith still makes perfect sense in the context of their intellectual pursuits.

Because their is a simple trick: God made it so. But most of the time they ignore the flaws of their believe of god's characteristics like Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Omniscience etc.

The world is in pretty bad shape if it's created by an omnipotent omniscient deity. Greek mythology would be a more fitting explanation.

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

#649
post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be skipping over all of the comments on this thread where homeschooled kids do exactly that. Hi. I was homeschooled. I graduated university top of my class, have a high-skill high-paying job, think more critically (about everything including religion) than most people that I know, and overall I enjoy my life very much. I'm homeschooling my kids.

Pretty similar background here. Maybe successfully homeschooled adults are just hesitant to dive into this sort of discussion anecdote first?

You should be hesitant.

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

#650
post #640

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…

>"what kind of man does G-d want me to be?" I just remember how religious people fought against gay marriage as if it would ban straight marriages. God seems to want those people be hateful people. >anything goes, you can be whatever you feel like and there's no judgement of any of your actions. First of all, there is judgement as soon as you actions hurt others. Beside that you can be and feel like you want. And I r…

Statistically, the US prison population is mostly made up of religious people.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/234653/religious-affilia...

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