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Homeschooling hits record numbers

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Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#751

Post by bell-cot »

lanyard-textile wrote: post #710
bell-cot wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Per HN's Comment Guidelines, I'd assume that Josh meant sorting students by both physical age and subject skill levels. The physical/emotional differences between 2nd graders and HS kids are obvious enough. OTOH, one of my grandmothers spent her education career in a one room school house, teaching all subjects to grades 1-8. With the right social context , it can work very well.

It seems like a great way to foster a sense of community. Our peers are more than people our age. They are the people older and younger than us too.

> It seems like a great way...

It was a small town, in the early 1900's. Everybody knew everybody, including the kids - who freely roamed the town when not doing chores or such.

I'd agree that it was very good for the kids' social development...but "foster a sense of community", in the present-day context, sounds like an express ticket to expecting far too much from it.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#752

Post by [deleted] »

simgt wrote: post #720

As someone from a country where public school is the norm, private school less so and homeschooling the absolute exception, these threads are always wild to read. It really shows how deeply individualistic and polarized the USA is. Sure, let's make homeschooling the norm, problematic kids will be the only ones who fill the ranks of public schools, gifted kids or the ones from religious zealots will all live in their…

[deleted]

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#754

Post by edoceo »

vlovich123 wrote: post #696
edoceo wrote: post #654

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under 18, the mind is closer to those +/- a few years from you, developmentally (and generally speaking). At least, that's what the know-it-alls were telling me when I was listening. Both pro and con home-school "zealots". Age peers is a thing

Peers in what sense? There are clearly examples of kids that are both erudite many years beyond their age and kids that excel in technical subjects well beyond their years. Clearly a distribution exists and it’s wider than +/- a few years even if that covers 1 or even 2 standard deviations. For what it’s worth I’ve even met adults who can’t regulate and control their emotional reactions. They often have a prison back…

Age. I said "age peers"

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#755

Post by spwa4 »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #69
spwa4 wrote: post #57

Well here is what the result was of public school for my 3 kids: 1 kid: one year behind but doing very well 1 kid: two years behind and not doing so well (in fact can't continue to academia unless things change drastically, in other words, will lose at least 1-2 more years if she does go to academia) 1 kid: two years behind and doing pretty well This is the result of 9-11 years of public schooling. I feel like all 3…

I know a teacher who said one of their colleagues adamantly believes the moon landing was faked. >So if someone can please suggest what is the suggestion here? Keep working with public school? To be honest, the damage was done by their previous public school where the situation deteriorated to the point I had a fight with the principal, and their current school (since 1.5 years) is actually undoing part of the damage…

I've already used some "adult" exams where someone fucked up and forgot to set minimum ages and got my kids through them perfectly fine. The kids are not the problem, or at least, having them pass the normal exams at the normal age for those exams is possible. The schools simply aren't doing it.

The issue with that approach is that it's a lot of work, and I would love an alternative. But I don't have an alternative.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#756

Post by sarchertech »

hackable_sand wrote: post #698
sarchertech wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not against public schools, but pretending the social pressures are anywhere near similar is wrong. Kids are assholes in a way that would get most adults fired or imprisoned. There are social pressures to conform, but you don’t get called names for wearing off brand shoes the way kids were when I was in grade school.

They are the same pressures. They occur in the same proportions. Children are just really bad at it so it is extremely obvious. The rituals do not disappear when you turn 18. They do not disappear when you turn 98.

If “the rituals” are so subtle that I don’t notice them then it’s not the same pressure then is it?

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#757

Post by MarsIronPI »

ecshafer wrote: post #244
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #147

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…

> But I do think its possible to get good socialization exposure while homeschooling.

Absolutely. I was homeschooled and in my state (Illinois) the laws work out such that homeschool students can enroll in public school classes if the school has space for them. That's how I socialized. So I got at least a modicrum of socialization (especially once I started band) but wasn't dragged down by the mediocre education at our local public schools.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#758

Post by next_xibalba »

hooskerdu wrote: post #639
next_xibalba wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bullshit. You know how I know? People should be able to bypass public schools if they want.

I don’t disagree with your final statement, but they’re also not wrong. Growing up it was well-known that homeschool kids were strange, intelligent in some ways, and completely inept in most ways that mattered. People who desire to completely shield their children are just as detrimental to their children’s development as those who over-expose. However, in my purely anecdotal experience, the ones who were over-expose…

Where were you and others encountering these homeschooled kids if they were locked up in their cosseted homes in which they were apparently never socialized?

As another reply pointed out, maybe these kids are “weird” in some way, maybe they are not. We don’t have more than anecdotes here. More importantly, and to the point of my first reply, we don’t know the motives of their parents. The GP was engaged in mind reading. Certainly, the motives are manifold. One motive may be, “I’m going to home school my kid because he’s weird and won’t do well in a public school.” We don’t know which way the causal arrow points.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#759

Post by afpx »

kochikame wrote: post #26
nvahalik wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All kids are indoctrinated. As parents do you want to have control of that or not? With that attitude you might as well just tell parents that they shouldn't participate in society!

I think the point is that part of having a functioning society (civic life, engagement, tolerance of others) is having people mix together. School is one of the prime places where that happens. If you allow a lot of people to pull away from that "forced" engagement with others then you start to stress a lot of societal bonds.

The best functioning society that I experienced was when 90% of the people were (presbyterian) Christians. We replaced that with something very, very disfunctional.

Re: Homeschooling hits record numbers

#760

Post by vel0city »

synecdoche wrote: post #695
vel0city wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What leads you to believe the reason parents are willing to dedicate huge amounts of their time and money to homeschool their children is racism? A lot of the people I know who do homeschool (the extreme majority of families I know) have openly said the reasons why they're choosing to homeschool is because they don't want their kids exposed to the other "cultures" in their area whether that be immigrants, other rel…

> they don't want their kids exposed to the other "cultures" in their area whether that be immigrants, other religions, or LGBT people. Culture is distinct from race. Some cultures advocate for the destruction of others. Some don't.

I agree its not always "racism", but ultimately the main reason is still largely the same. They don't think their kids should mingle with the "others". Its the exact same logic of black school segregation during Jim Crow.
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