Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

781–790 of 1001 posts

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

#781

Post by graemep »

jandrese wrote: post #264
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…

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…

Very American problem, probably regional even there. Definitely not the case here in the UK where home education is also growing rapidly.

Also, the growth probably comes from a more representative cross section of society.

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

#782

Post by graemep »

ninkendo wrote: post #599
jeffrallen wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your children's future classmates wish you wouldn't keep your children from enriching their shared classroom. You might be just the kind of parent that the school needs to maintain a critical mass of involved parents.

Underrated viewpoint. Public schools are the only option for most people. Most people don’t have the financial ability to spend their time teaching their kids when they’re already working as much as they can to make ends meet. Heck, for a huge segment of the population, public school is the only place where their kids can even get a decent meal. If every parent that does have the time to invest in their child’s futur…

SO you want parents to give their kids a worse education in the hope it will help other kids? As a father (and a single parent home educator) not bloody likely.

Also, my kids would not have done as well at school - they would have been a lot more like the the other kids, so would not have improved all that much.

Not in the US, but some things are the same here in the UK, and in Sri Lanka where we lived for much of my kid's lives.

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

#783

Post by graemep »

torial wrote: post #198
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…

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 very possible (if not usual) to have better socialisation home educated.

IMO meeting lots of different people, of a mix of ages, in multiple different places is better socialisation than going to the same place with the same people every day.

I have had many years of compliments from people about how good my children's social skills are.

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

#784

Post by clausok »

justhereforthe wrote: post #519
clausok wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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?

He has a younger sister. As for other outlets for making friends and socializing, team sports are indispensable. Also great, and surprisingly underutilized -- in my observation -- are playgrounds.

With playgrounds you get the best part of school, recess, without the rest of it.

If parents would look up from their phones for a minute and watch what's going on in playgrounds they'd be amazed.

Recently I saw about 20 kids, across a wide age range, hold a spontaneous, well-organized game of Among Us.

You won't just make friends there; you'll run in Draco Malfoys too; and that's also valuable.

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

#785

Post by Jensson »

graemep wrote: post #780
glitchc wrote: post #642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 tur…

If you look at more detailed studies you will see that many of them correct for parental education and income etc. and home educated kids still do better on average. This is true across multiple countries - I know of studies in the US, the UK, and Australia.

Last time I looked home educated kids didn't do better on average when you corrected for parents. They even did worse than average in STEM fields, but of course since they were on average equal they did better on average on non-STEM subjects. This makes sense since it is mostly moms that home school and women are often weak at STEM themselves.

Can look at some links about this:

https://www.nheri.org/home-school-researcher-the-impact-of-h...

https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/the-homeschool-math-gap...

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

#786

Post by collaborative »

sweeter wrote: post #382
collaborative wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You are right, the problem isn't 100% on the schools or the politicians, it's probably both. And I agree that no public money should go to private schools, nor the press for that matter. At the end of the day power resides in the politicians, so they are the ones most at fault (+voters). A hard problem to fix when you have to vote for option A or option B

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

#787

Post by graemep »

kelnos wrote: post #515
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…

I was raised very Catholic (and decided by my early teens that I didn't believe in any of it), and I completely disagree with your conclusion. Organized religion (at least Christianity) absolutely is about deep fear. "Do this or you'll go to hell!" "Believe this or you'll go to hell!" Repeat ad infinitum. I won't deny that some churches (as in, specific people, not the system as a whole) can do good in the world; one…

Not my experience at all, and I know a lot of Catholics in two countries (two continents, in fact).

I suspect it is an American, and possibly Irish thing - the guilt thing is a stereotype in the UK too (but not true in practice).

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

#788

Post by MrRolleyes »

keiferski wrote: post #8

This is a fundamental change of life, and it’s astonishing that it’s so persistent. It is pretty misleading for this article to talk about homeschooling being a “fundamental change” without mentioning that homeschooling was the default practice for most of human history. If anything, this is just a return to a long-established practice, not a fringe movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling

[dead]

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

#790

Post by legitjhol »

Server6 wrote: post #658
mikrotikker wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in my country the homeschooling is ballooning as parents don't want the LGBT stuff and DQST forced on their kids but also don't want to be accussed of being a bigot when they raise issue with it.

Guy, this is a made up problem.

[dead]
Post reply on HN