Is there any resources for home schooling? Even without home schooling, I would like "top up" my son's school education, not necessarily give him extra work, but if I find the teaching in school is lacking in some aspects, I would like to make up for it.
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
#752Thank you, Prussia, for Germany‘s “Schulpflicht“.
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#753Earlier quoted context omitted.
The one thing I'd observe about near to all religions is that the values suggested tend to be about optimizing the overall outcome of a society. The most controversial topics are ones related to sexuality. But there's an utterly trivial, and even perfectly reasonable, explanation for why so many different religions look down on any form of sex except man+woman+babies. As one looks back in the past, the 'effective fer…
I glazed over on the math but I agree with your statement. And I think the cause and effect are enmeshed... Do religious people have more kids? Yes. Do the kinds of people who are willing to take on the serious work of having many kids more likely to also take on other responsibility (ie be religious)? I think also yes. And on the flip side, secular society prides itself on how smart, objective, no "sky daddy" fantas…
Exactly. But I want to also quickly clarify the math, because I realize I put lots of numbers out there - but it's all pretty straight forward and very helpful for modeling and understanding where things are headed. There are two main components to the math:
1) An effectively fertility rate of "N" will result in the next generation being N/2 times as large. So a fertility of 2 means the next generation will be exactly the same size (2 people, having 2 kids who have 2 kids...) while a fertility rate of 4 would result in a doubling of size, and a fertility rate of 1 would result in the next generation being half as large.
2) To reverse the multiplication of some value by "X", you simply multiply by 1/X. So if our population increases by 1.5 in a generation, then to reverse that and get from the new population, back to where we started, we'd multiply by 1/1.5 or 0.66. So for instance 100 * 1.5 = 150. And 150 * 0.66 = 100.
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So taking the most complex example. Fertility rate of 2.5 = a population increasing factor of 1.25. Reversing that means multiplying by 0.8
So if our parent's generation had a fertility rate of 2.5, that would mean that their population would be 0.8 times the size of our population, which I take as the global population which is about 8 billion. And if their parents also had a fertility rate of 2.5, then the exact same would follow for another multiplication of 0.8. So if we go back "N" generations, we'd end up with a population, for that generation, of 8 billion * 0.8^N.
So going back 70 generations with a fertility rate of 2.5, we finally get the original formula: 8 billion * 0.8^70 = world population 70 generations ago. You end up with this problem that if you don't have a really low effective fertility rate, the population approaches 0 far too quickly, and that's only going back 2100 years!
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#754Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
No one needs religion to lead a moral life. That's not the argument. But without the transcendent, without a higher power, we have no grounding for our morality. Everything becomes subjective and "post-modern". Actions then become "justifiable" - if there is such a thing - by whatever criteria suits us: the greater good, the good of the nation, whatever. But essentially self-interest takes over completely. The more w…
Wait, we don't need religion for morality but without it, it has no grounding? Perhaps for you and others indoctrinated to think in such a manner, but for others we do just fine.
> The more we move away from God the worse our societies will become.
Whose God? How well is it working in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan?
The Bard makes an excellent point: "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose." We could find countless "justifiable" actions that are based on "God told me to", so ignoring that aspect is dishonest.
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#755Earlier 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…
As someone who was raised in religious communities, that "higher aspirations" is only the position "in principle" in reality working with people in the religious community was just scams and moral self justification of despicable behavior hidden behind soft language and terrible behavior. So much contention, so much gossip, so much backbiting behavior and hidden evils against children so that communities wouldn't "lo…
> I know so many poorly educated homeschoolers whose lives have been destroyed with no hope of recovery by the complete lack of skills their hyper religious parents imparted them with, in jail, broke, unable to hack it in college and too lacking in common sense to make it in the trades or professional work, with living standards insanely far below their parents.
In pretty much all studies, homeschooled children on average fare the same or better than kids who go to normal schools.
While it's certainly the case that people with fringe views are more eager to homeschool their children, anti-homeschooling sentiments are really not backed by anything of substance.
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#756Earlier quoted context omitted.
I went to a violent high school. There were shootings and stabbings. Socialization is overrated.
sir this is a thread about privilege that possibility isn’t even in the range here the choices are good school district, decent private school, or a home school concept
Oh, so because not everyone can do it, nobody should be allowed to? We should all strive for the lowest common denominator? That makes strong communities?
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#757Earlier quoted context omitted.
May I ask if your son is an only child? I’ve thought about online homeschooling my son when he’s old enough (he’s still a baby), but I wonder if he would be lonely if he turns out to be our one-and-done. You mentioned your son’s beloved jiu-jitsu; does he have other outlets for meeting friends and socializing?
Almost all only children say that they were lonely. There is something special that happens sleeping in the same house as siblings.
On the other hand, many of the only children I know (I'm close friends with 4, all from different backgrounds - one a non-US childhood) are all quite creative and independent people. Sometimes being allowed to be bored is excellent.
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#758I 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…
People socialised for thousands, in fact hundreds of thousands of years before schools were invented. I went to school and got beat up, colour me sceptical about school as a mechanism for socialisation.
People lived in tribes, close knit towns, or cities with public areas.
Now a very large portion of us live in detached homes, far away from any groups of children.
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#759Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who was raised in religious communities, that "higher aspirations" is only the position "in principle" in reality working with people in the religious community was just scams and moral self justification of despicable behavior hidden behind soft language and terrible behavior. So much contention, so much gossip, so much backbiting behavior and hidden evils against children so that communities wouldn't "lo…
> I know so many poorly educated homeschoolers whose lives have been destroyed with no hope of recovery by the complete lack of skills their hyper religious parents imparted them with, in jail, broke, unable to hack it in college and too lacking in common sense to make it in the trades or professional work, with living standards insanely far below their parents. As long as we're trading samples from a single observer…
I’ll add my anecdote. One of my relatives homeschools their two children. They are part of a commonwealth(?), and follow the Thomas Jefferson method which I think is kind of popular? One of their children who is 8 cannot read. The other is 6 and is far behind in all disciplines. My relative loves their children and wants the best for them, but is failing. Won’t send their kids to school for religious reasons. I’d like to know the chances of a single adult being a good teacher vs. at least one of multiple trained adults being a good teacher. I’d also like to see the downside of lack of socialization.
Re: Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education
#760To add my two cents to the HN community scratching their head about this: my wife and I are the products of public school, we have the means to send our kids to private school, and I am actively lining up the people and resources to home school our two toddlers. For us, it comes down to the belief that we can provide better moral education, values education, and intellectual rigor than the majority of public and priv…
You talk about a moral education, but performatively your plan is "an individual solution to a social problem".
Irony aside, in other words, when homeschooling is the (rational) response of a parent doing their best by their children, then Margaret Thatcher has won: There is no society.