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Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

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Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#901

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

plussed_reader wrote: post #776
Scubabear68 wrote: post #623

So we chose private school over home schooling, for both time reasons, educational reasons, and social reasons. But the important thing is we choose to take our kids out of public school. The trigger was Covid, but what really happened was suddenly millions of parents could directly see what their schools and teachers were like because we watched our kids work remotely all day for a year. We did not like what we saw.…

"The trigger was Covid, but what really happened was suddenly millions of parents could directly see what their schools and teachers were like because we watched our kids work remotely all day for a year." This kind of myopyic outlook that conflates the then-traditional instruction period to the remote instruction paradigm greatly cheapens every other point of your argument. None of the teaching staff that had to ada…

"I haven't been trained" is the refrain of the incompetent

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#902

Post by cryptonector »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #390
cryptonector wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Masking children was fucking cruel.

Not really. If you've grown up in Asia you're used to wearing a mask whenever you are feeling unwell or have a cold. We do that out of courtesy to others, and it makes a lot of sense (which is why the practice has continued at hospitals since COVID). My kids were both in elementary school during COVID and got used to it quickly and were just fine.

All the assholes who chose to force masking -without evidence!- on children don't get to cry now when parents choose homeschooling.

(There was never any evidence of masking working. Fauci himself had written a paper about how masking didn't work in the Spanish Flu pandemic and instead caused problems. Today it's understood that masking never worked. There is no reputable science that shows masking working in any significant way, and certainly not enough to justify forcing captive audiences to wear the fucking mask. Never again.)

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#903

Post by readdit »

rayiner wrote: post #498
readdit wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe early grade schools should be relatively broad in the subjects they teach. Not every child will be interested in math or science. And there's nothing wrong with that. I feel many parents don't agree, especially those from a technical background. A healthy society should have a diverse set of skills across many disciplines. Though I do believe if children are interested in furthering their study on a particu…

It’s shameful to not be interested in math and science—that’s like saying you’re not interested in reading. But putting that aside, the other subjects should be educational. I remember what triggered my mom was us spending an inordinate amount of time making clay models of Native American villages. American kids shouldn’t graduate high school knowing more about the shapes of Native American houses than the conceptual…

I believe there's value in learning about such topics such us how historical village buildings are created from a child's perspective. Regardless whether it's Native American, European, or African, etc. It allows us to reflect on what was built before and to understand what to avoid or improve in future development. Not to teach them the exact technical details, but to light a spark to those children inclined. We need people who are interested in such things to study it so future generations can understand where we have come from and how far we have gone. I believe it also allows us to appreciate that there are many peoples and countries today that still live this way and allow us to be empathetic or humbled by their way of living.

I believe math and science should be invested in but if I had a choice between a broad learning curriculum and a focused one, ill choose broad.

If you've ever watched a movie or listened to music, you'll be surprised to know not all of the artists are well versed in math or science. You may be surprised that many of the people, experiences, entertainment, and sports you absorb may not be math inclined either. I personally find value in that.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#904

Post by raincole »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #238
nosefurhairdo wrote: post #23

I live in a good area and have friends who work in a few different schools out here. Kids are throwing chairs at teachers. There are elementary school classrooms where ~1/4 students don't speak English. The reading/math skills are so dismal, any student who learns at home is bored as hell. Private schools are outrageously expensive. Homeschooling is becoming the pragmatic choice.

>There are elementary school classrooms where ~1/4 students don't speak English. This really gets my hackles up, because my kids grew up in schools with a 50% Spanish speaking population and my partner is a dual-language teacher in a district where Spanish, Russian, and I believe Vietnamese are all taught as first-languages in specialized classrooms. Your assertion around English is misguided. This isn't to say that…

Perhaps you shouldn't have a knee jerk reaction of getting yourself irritated then. The GP clearly said 1/4 students don't speak English, not 1/4 students speak one more language besides English.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#906

Post by programjames »

aalimov_ wrote: post #849
ToDougie wrote: post #809

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want my children to have to learn at the pace of the bottom quintile. Obviously average and less-than-average people exist. But I will _not_ be hamstringing my kids to placate the whims of the state or some "modern" moral standard. I know how harmful it is because I went through it.

Your perspective is valid, but I think its worth reconsidering some of the assumptions youre making. Assuming your child is above average may not always reflect reality. Being above average at a thing does not make you above average at all things. The public education system provides resources like gifted programs, AP courses, and extracurricular activities to challenge / engage students at all levels of above/below…

It's generally safe to assume your child will be above the bottom quintile for anything they care about. I went to a decent public school, and gifted programs, AP courses and extracurricular activities are lacking. Most students do not care about learning. I've talked to some people from Lexington High School (often considered the best public school in the US), and they had the same sentiment.

"I thought you guys usually have a bunch of olympiad medalists though; don't students care about academics at your school?"

"No, there's only really 10–15 of us who try, and hold up the rest of the school's reputation."

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#907

Post by programjames »

ErigmolCt wrote: post #347
woodruffw wrote: post #164

> These tech parents are hackers by nature, and I think they’re convinced that in homeschooling they’ve happened on the ultimate life hack: just opt out of being around average people. It's difficult to feel optimistic about a society that thinks this way, much less has a cultural and economic elite that is seemingly emboldened to think this way. "Average" people are the norm, the reality that "not average" people wi…

Not to forget that "Average" people are, in many ways, the foundation of any functioning society.

Not since the industrial revolution.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#908

Post by insane_dreamer »

cryptonector wrote: post #902
insane_dreamer wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. If you've grown up in Asia you're used to wearing a mask whenever you are feeling unwell or have a cold. We do that out of courtesy to others, and it makes a lot of sense (which is why the practice has continued at hospitals since COVID). My kids were both in elementary school during COVID and got used to it quickly and were just fine.

All the assholes who chose to force masking -without evidence!- on children don't get to cry now when parents choose homeschooling. (There was never any evidence of masking working. Fauci himself had written a paper about how masking didn't work in the Spanish Flu pandemic and instead caused problems. Today it's understood that masking never worked. There is no reputable science that shows masking working in any sign…

Like I said, it wasn't such a big deal for the kids. Were your kids traumatized by having to wear a mask, or are you just generally pissed off for no particular reason?

> without evidence

Of course there's evidence that masks prevent the spread of airborne diseases -- it's not that it protects the wearer from viruses penetrating the mask, but it greatly reduces the amount of viral load that is spewed out by a sick person, which in turn reduces the amount of viral load that others are exposed to especially in confined settings. This isn't specific to COVID.

> Today it's understood that masking never worked.

Not true. Masks can't fully protect you or prevent COVID but they do reduce the amount of viral load you're exposed to depending on the environment.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#909

Post by programjames »

pj_mukh wrote: post #242
woodruffw wrote: post #164

> These tech parents are hackers by nature, and I think they’re convinced that in homeschooling they’ve happened on the ultimate life hack: just opt out of being around average people. It's difficult to feel optimistic about a society that thinks this way, much less has a cultural and economic elite that is seemingly emboldened to think this way. "Average" people are the norm, the reality that "not average" people wi…

I think a better question is: How did the median get so much better over 150 years, and why can't it keep getting better? 150 years ago, the average person was illiterate, poorer (in all senses of the word) and less connected to the world around them. Over a 100 year old grind, schooling fixed all that. Why can't it keep going? So the outlier, super special "phenom" today is the median of tomorrow.

You are attacking a strawman. I think most people would agree that public schools 30 years ago were better than public schools 150 years ago. I find it much harder to believe that public schools today are better than they were 5, 10, 15, or 20 years ago.

Re: Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable?

#910

Post by insane_dreamer »

cryptonector wrote: post #873
insane_dreamer wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. If you've grown up in Asia you're used to wearing a mask whenever you are feeling unwell or have a cold. We do that out of courtesy to others, and it makes a lot of sense (which is why the practice has continued at hospitals since COVID). My kids were both in elementary school during COVID and got used to it quickly and were just fine.

Many American parents did not consider masking their children to be OK. If you want to know one reason many more are homeschooling now: that's one reason. There's other related reasons too. All the covid reasons to homeschool: - schools were closed for too long - remote learning wasn't working - forced masking of children when schools reopened, both against the children's and parents' will - politicization of all thi…

> remote learning wasn't working

I agree with this one.

> schools were closed for too long

Probably, but what you're not factoring in is teachers being afraid of going "back to the office" (like most other people were at the time). Unless you're going to force them or fire them (and then where do you get new teachers from?).

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