Help me overcome my prejudice against home schooling

[Anonymous]

I'm the pp with the siblings from Boca Raton that were HS. Just yesterday afternoon I met a couple at our neighborhood park in Alexandria that told me they HS their teenaged daughter, younger son, and plan to with their 2 yo. My DD 3.5yo played with their 2yo and their son walked right up to some boys about his age and started playing with them. Most HS kids, especially those living in a bigger city, are just like every other kid that goes to school.

As for getting access to college, as I said in my other post, that is not a problem. Thousands of HS go to college every year. Parents make out "report cards" and kids fill out applications just like other students.

[Anonymous]

I have not homeschooled my son, but I've given it serious thought, as the schools here are anti-elitist (which means that they don't want to teach anyone more than 1 standard deviation above the mean). We have currently settled on a private school which is adequate, but which we can't really afford, and we'll be looking at home schooling again next year.

I know several adults who were homeschooled. Some were brilliant graduate students, others were moderately retarded and couldn't hold even the lowest level jobs. There didn't seem to be a big difference in success rate for schooled vs. home-schooled, but my sample is too small to generalize from.

My wife and I between us could handle math, science, reading, writing, and art, up through high-school level. The things we saw as challenges were lab access for science and daily practice with native speakers for foreign language (especially as our son is learning Spanish, while we had French and German respectively). We also might have a hard time with history, as it was not a major interest for either of us.

[Anonymous]

I think so much depends upon the family and their ability to manage the schooling. I've heard of homeschoolers who go to Ivy League schools but I also know a family where basically the teenager stays home and reads books and the parents aren't really doing much to guarantee he will be able to manage college.

[Anonymous]

"how do you feel confident that you know all the subject content plus the best teaching strategies without practical experience, ... ?)"

You don't really need to know all the "best teaching practices" because you are teaching one (or two, depending on how many children you are homeschooling). You aren't trying to manage a large classroom of varying abilities, you are interacting with one student. One you know better than anyone else. You know more than you think.

I am not an expert on all the "best teaching strategies" out there. But I am an expert on my own child. For example, she is visual spatial. I was well ahead of her teachers years ago in discovering this learning style and read everything on it I could get my hands on. In that regard, not only could I do a better job than her teachers, I also had the flexibility to custom tailor our homeschool and change and grow along with her needs.

J.

[Anonymous]

OP, I just want to say thank you for posting this question and starting the discussion in the way that you did. I am exactly like you... I have an extreme bias against homeschooling that I would like to be able to overcome in some way, mainly because it's in my husband's family. But that situation is such a diaster that it's hard to believe that it can work in some cases. DH's sister, who barely got out of high school herself, "homeschools" (and I even use the term very loosely, because I question how much schooling is really going on) 6 kids. It's especially bad for the younger ones, who get even less attention/ instruction than the older kids. The whole situation is so depressing that it has really affected my relationship with this SIL and her family. I just can't believe that anyone would knowingly damage their children's future in this way.

But as I say, I am trying....

[Anonymous]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but there are a lot more resources available to families for Online Schooling. It's definitely different - but it means the parents are "guiding" lessons but students are assigned a teacher, enrolled in a "school" and so forth. They just do lessons online from home. There are also hands on and book materials to match.

This is also become more popular for high school students looking for better home school options. It's also a great option to get AP credit courses in if your HS doesn't offer them.

I personally do not think homeschooling is an option for us, but depending on family circumstances and schooling options I can see the desire for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"how do you feel confident that you know all the subject content plus the best teaching strategies without practical experience, ... ?)"

You don't really need to know all the "best teaching practices" because you are teaching one (or two, depending on how many children you are homeschooling). You aren't trying to manage a large classroom of varying abilities, you are interacting with one student. One you know better than anyone else. You know more than you think.

I am not an expert on all the "best teaching strategies" out there. But I am an expert on my own child. For example, she is visual spatial. I was well ahead of her teachers years ago in discovering this learning style and read everything on it I could get my hands on. In that regard, not only could I do a better job than her teachers, I also had the flexibility to custom tailor our homeschool and change and grow along with her needs.

J.

Let me clear up two misconceptions.

First, teaching (instructional) strategies, although definitely not separate from management strategies, serve a bigger purpose, as they help students to develop critical thinking skills in the affective and cognitive domains. One of the skills is listening critically. In a classroom setting, students have the opportunity to develop this skill fully b/c they are surrounded by peers with different perspectives, which helps them to develop a well rounded world view to some extent. Furthermore, your comment - "You know more than you think." - is a slap in the face to educators who have spent years studying brain theory and years practicing to perfect their teaching, which is both an art and a science.

You then mention that your child is visual spatial. If you only teach to her strength, you don't equip her with resources that allow her to partially develop other modalities. (Keep in mind that once she becomes part of the working world, she'll most likely have to collaborate with others who don't share her strengths.) We are not stuck to modality. I, for example, am a combination of linguistic/language and interpersonal. Insofar as doing a "better job than her teachers," please don't put yourself in an educator's category. You are NOT a teacher. Until you can motivate groups of underachievers or enrich academic lessons that push high achievers past their comfort zone, you are - at best - a tutor.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe in home-schooling, but one of my cousins was home-schooled and seems to have turned out ok. Her mom was a former teacher and her dad was a college biology professor, so they at least knew what they were doing. She got into a state college, graduated with good grades and has a career. The one area I think is an issue is that she has trouble relating to guys because she really wasn't exposed to many growing up. (she went from an all girls catholic school to home-schooling to the dance program at her college.) I think she might have been better off going to school with boys from an earlier age.

[Anonymous]

I am not a fan, but I know that it can work. A colleague of mine who is amazingly bright and driven has a partner at home who is home-schooling four kids. Both parents are very educated, liberal -- and LGBT, so not fitting the stereoypical home school family-- and widely traveled. They started home schooling when living abroad with kids who were already speaking English and would have been immersed in a language no one in the family knew. Homeschooling worked, and they just never gave it up. It sounds like it's going well.

Before them, I associated homeschooling with extremely conservative Christians who wanted to keep their kids out of "government schools" because Jesus had been kicked out of them and the gays and liberals had been let in. In fact, a large segment of homeschooling families do fit that mode.

I confess that for me, this motivation for home schooling has definitely colored my opinion of the practice.

I have other concerns, like socialization, diversity, and the critical thinking that comes from being around people with different points of view, but the number one thing is that before this very interesting colleague, all I knew of homeschooling was the stereotype of families who want to "protect" their kids from a more progressive society, which is something that I can't agree with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"how do you feel confident that you know all the subject content plus the best teaching strategies without practical experience, ... ?)"

You don't really need to know all the "best teaching practices" because you are teaching one (or two, depending on how many children you are homeschooling). You aren't trying to manage a large classroom of varying abilities, you are interacting with one student. One you know better than anyone else. You know more than you think.

I am not an expert on all the "best teaching strategies" out there. But I am an expert on my own child. For example, she is visual spatial. I was well ahead of her teachers years ago in discovering this learning style and read everything on it I could get my hands on. In that regard, not only could I do a better job than her teachers, I also had the flexibility to custom tailor our homeschool and change and grow along with her needs.

J.

Let me clear up two misconceptions.

First, teaching (instructional) strategies, although definitely not separate from management strategies, serve a bigger purpose, as they help students to develop critical thinking skills in the affective and cognitive domains. One of the skills is listening critically. In a classroom setting, students have the opportunity to develop this skill fully b/c they are surrounded by peers with different perspectives, which helps them to develop a well rounded world view to some extent. Furthermore, your comment - "You know more than you think." - is a slap in the face to educators who have spent years studying brain theory and years practicing to perfect their teaching, which is both an art and a science.

You then mention that your child is visual spatial. If you only teach to her strength, you don't equip her with resources that allow her to partially develop other modalities. (Keep in mind that once she becomes part of the working world, she'll most likely have to collaborate with others who don't share her strengths.) We are not stuck to modality. I, for example, am a combination of linguistic/language and interpersonal. Insofar as doing a "better job than her teachers," please don't put yourself in an educator's category. You are NOT a teacher. Until you can motivate groups of underachievers or enrich academic lessons that push high achievers past their comfort zone, you are - at best - a tutor.

PP, your post is hugely presumptuous that only people with a teaching degree can be good teachers. I would guess that as an English major from a good university, I could do a better job teaching English, given the same texts as a HS teacher, as the many DC teachers with shaky credentials. Many teachers out there have little more than a "certificate" in teaching, a few classes, aside from their bachelor's degree.

There are as many bad teachers out there as good ones, as in any profession. Most of us have stories about the worst teachers we have had, even in excellent school systems. I am a computer programmer and many of the best people in my field - the ones that are actually inventing programming languages - shocker! don't have computer science degrees at all. They just had an interest they chose to pursue and are better at it than others with degrees.

Even if this person is only an average "teacher", how do you know the child would have a better one - more motivating or more intelligent - if at a school? There is no way of knowing that.

[Anonymous]

This too boring of a topic to read through all of the posts, but my main curiosity is why in the hell does the OP even care? People do things differently, this is what we refrer to as diversity. Pleantly of people get horrible and crappy educations from public school. i'm sure i did, check out my grammar and spelling.

[Anonymous]

I think homeschooling is a great idea and I would love to do it, but can't for the following reasons:

1. I could not give up my job. I would be too insecure about life's curveball's to give up the ability to be financially independent and care for my family as the sole bread winner if that ever did happen.
2. I honestly do not think I have the disposition to focus with such required intensity on my kids for 4-5hrs a day. There is a difference between taking them to parks, playgroups, and the pool vs. following a structured curriculum.

I do see the benefits, especially when you consider how much time is wasted in a traditional classroom. I've heard that HS kids only need a few hours a day to get everything in. Also, it is probably nice being able to vacation off season when the prices are low and crowds low as well. Also all of the great field trips you can take your kids on has got to be much better than what the school can offer. I can imagine learning about our founding fathers and taking a trip to Mt Vernon, Monticello, and Philly...all in one month.

I did take some classes at NoVA community college and there was a girl there, 15yrs old, who was a HS kid taking Spanish and Biology. Pretty impressive for a 15yr old! I'm sure when she entered a 4yr school, she was probably way ahead and well prepared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This too boring of a topic to read through all of the posts, but my main curiosity is why in the hell does the OP even care? People do things differently, this is what we refrer to as diversity. Pleantly of people get horrible and crappy educations from public school. i'm sure i did, check out my grammar and spelling.

OP here - ha ha! Sorry to bore you! Actually, I started this topic when I was a bit bored myself! Anyway, my motivation is that I came across someone who told me they home-schooled and I couldn't help but automatically pidgeon-hole them (in not a very nice way). Then I felt bad and realized I was really against it without really knowing the long-term outcomes. Actually, the responses have been really interesting - thanks PPs!

[Anonymous]

My SIL home schools her 4 children and her BIL's two children. On one level, she would fit the stereotype - conservative Christian, deep south, etc. She has a masters in early childhood education and taught before she had her kids. She is an active participant in a home school group, plans her lessons as diligently as she did when she was a paid teacher, takes the kids on lots of experential field trips, and may do a better job of educating her kids than the fancy private my kids attend. I do worry sometimes about the social factor, but the kids seem to get lots of exposure to other kids through sports and church. Frankly, the biggest handicap these kids have is that the dad is a complete jerk and is doing a fabulous job of teaching the oldest son how to be one, too. We all wish she would divorce him, and I think she will when the kids are older. The dad factor is what is going to cause these kids adult grief, not the home schooling. Having her as a SIL has really taught me a lot of things about assumptions one can make about people. We couldn't be more opposite on paper: she is a SAHM home schooling church-going mom of four; I'm a Yankee FT WOHM of 2 with a fancy high-paying job. Yet we have much more in common than you would think, and I was the one who paid for her to consult the divorce lawyer when DH's dad wouldn't step up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This too boring of a topic to read through all of the posts, but my main curiosity is why in the hell does the OP even care? People do things differently, this is what we refrer to as diversity. Pleantly of people get horrible and crappy educations from public school. i'm sure i did, check out my grammar and spelling.

OP here - ha ha! Sorry to bore you! Actually, I started this topic when I was a bit bored myself! Anyway, my motivation is that I came across someone who told me they home-schooled and I couldn't help but automatically pidgeon-hole them (in not a very nice way). Then I felt bad and realized I was really against it without really knowing the long-term outcomes. Actually, the responses have been really interesting - thanks PPs!

I think it's great that OP is asking about something she doesn't know much about and realized her prejudices had no basis. She may still decide that to her hs is not a good strategy for educating children, but at least she knows a little more about the subject now. What fun is diversity if we are criticized for asking how others do things differently.