Anonymous wrote:I work in an elementary school and I totally agree with the teacher ^^.

You only need trained teachers if the education model is 15-30 kids in a class. Any reasonably smart, caring, educated and motivated parent could homeschool effectively.

However...I have known some homeschoolers who are quite odd people and not in a good way. Like they refuse to teach their kids about stuff everyone needs to know. They won't let their kids read a variety of books. They don't take their kids on valuable field trips. In cases like these the kids would have been better off in school. Mainly so they could see how normal people act and learn a more varied curriculum.

I'm the PP you're responding to, and I know those homeschool parents too! But I've also known of schools that don't meet kids' basic needs. Neither system is perfect.

I work in an elementary school and I totally agree with the teacher ^^.

You only need trained teachers if the education model is 15-30 kids in a class. Any reasonably smart, caring, educated and motivated parent could homeschool effectively.

However...I have known some homeschoolers who are quite odd people and not in a good way. Like they refuse to teach their kids about stuff everyone needs to know. They won't let their kids read a variety of books. They don't take their kids on valuable field trips. In cases like these the kids would have been better off in school. Mainly so they could see how normal people act and learn a more varied curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:How is it allowed for anyone to homeschool their kids. I have seen multiple people recently start homeschooling and it drives me nuts. You wouldn’t have a random person preform surgery at home, how are you going to have someone with no credentials teach? Just raising an uneducated society this way. I see friends from HS who barely graduated do this HS do this. No way they are qualified. There needs to be better requirements in place.

I'm a certified, experienced teacher, currently on leave and homeschooling one of my kids.

While I'm flattered you think I'm like a doctor, the analogy falls flat. The complicated part of teaching, the part that requires my degree and my experience, is the juggling piece. It's how to keep 25 kids on task, while running small groups, differentiating up and down, and keeping data.

As a homeschooler, I don't do any of that. I have the luxury of time and of having an ideal student:teacher ratio. I can pick curriculum that's a match for my kid, and not have to constantly modify something the district picked to fit.

Don't get me wrong, I work hard at my homeschool program. Emotionally, it's harder because there is no break and I'm way more invested in the student! I also work hard to provide enrichment and interest led learning. But if I didn't, and I just followed the teacher's guide, I'd still do right by my kid, and be able to equal what the public schools have to offer. I know many parents with varying education who do that, and their kids learn and develop as they should.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The point is that some people who are homeschooling children never even finished school themselves. This boggles my mind.

And many teachers are terrible. Should school be illegal?

But there is actually a process in place to deal with ineffective teachers. Not all schools follow it but the process is there and if the parents voices are loud enough, trust me, a teacher will be removed. Whereas you can have a totally incompetent parent alleging their kid is being taught a variety of things, when literally, they could have them parked in front of the t.v. most of the day, isolated from other children, yet claiming they are homeschooling. There is so much room for abuse, improper time management, indoctrination of weird beliefs that are consistent with integration with the general population and for a parents laziness and lack of motivation not to work to be taken out on their poor kid, who would RATHER BE WITH OTHER KIDS. Ask any normal kid whether they would rather be couped up in the house with their parents all day or at school, learning with and playing with their friends and they will pick school. A NORMAL kid would but once you take them out of school, they lose any sense of independence and having their own opinion. That is why it is illegal in most advanced societies such as Sweden and Germany. Illegal. Do you understand that? It's such a bad idea that people are banned from doing it.

Anonymous wrote:The point is that some people who are homeschooling children never even finished school themselves. This boggles my mind.

And many teachers are terrible. Should school be illegal?

I just started homeschooling my 3rd and 5th graders. There are plenty of homeschoolers who unschool, but there are a substantial number of homeschoolers who decided to pull their kids out of school because of the lack of rigor in some public schools. my oldest is advanced academically and s quiet well-behaved kid. There is no gifted/honors/accelerated program at his school. He is usually forgotten except when the teachers have to seat him next to out of control kids because as his teacher told me, "I use him as a positive peer model because he is so well behaved, polite, and good at explaining to other kids how to do the work". He was not offered accelerated work, instead he was supposed to go around helping others when he quickly finished. He started hating school and developing stomach aches because he felt responsible for major behavior problem kids or was afraid he was going to get pushed, kicked, hit, or even spit upon when he would nicely ask the problem kid to stop scribbling on his paper or shoving his desk.

Homeschooling has been fantastic. He is using accelerated curriculum like Aops pre-Algebra, Caesars English, writing with Skill, etc. He wakes up happy with a smile on his face.

Anonymous wrote:The point is that some people who are homeschooling children never even finished school themselves. This boggles my mind.

That's not your concern.

The point is that some people who are homeschooling children never even finished school themselves. This boggles my mind.

OP may be trying to start a fight but I actually agree with her. I think the requirements should be much higher.

I live in VA, which is sort of in-between state, neither the most demanding nor the most permissive. We have to show evidence of progress, which some states don't. Still, I consider it ridiculously easy.

Then again, there are a lot of educational standards in schools that are also disappointingly low.

FWIW, OP all the homeschooling parents I know have advanced degrees--all of them. Their kids are getting impressive educations, with enriching experiences that other kids have no time for. They're school time is much more efficient and thus they have more time for music, more time to be in nature, more time to explore a favorite topic independently.

In some circles, that's what homeschooling looks like.

Anonymous wrote:How is it allowed for anyone to homeschool their kids. I have seen multiple people recently start homeschooling and it drives me nuts. You wouldn’t have a random person preform surgery at home, how are you going to have someone with no credentials teach? Just raising an uneducated society this way. I see friends from HS who barely graduated do this HS do this. No way they are qualified. There needs to be better requirements in place.

The First Amendment. Next?

Are you considering homeschooling, op? You sound pretty into it.

OP many - if not all - homeschoolers use a curriculum that they buy or subscribe to that has been designed by teachers and educators. Except for the people who "unschool" their kids, everyone else is basically using a system designed by professional educators.

Homeschooling isn't for me, but I don't have a problem if others want to do it.

Anonymous wrote:How is it allowed for anyone to homeschool their kids. I have seen multiple people recently start homeschooling and it drives me nuts. You wouldn’t have a random person preform surgery at home, how are you going to have someone with no credentials teach? Just raising an uneducated society this way. I see friends from HS who barely graduated do this HS do this. No way they are qualified. There needs to be better requirements in place.

Good news OP. In homeschooling "random" people do not educate the child. It's the parents; the same people whp have been found qualified to birth and raise the children every single day.

Hope this helps clear things up for you!

Anonymous wrote:How is it allowed for anyone to homeschool their kids. I have seen multiple people recently start homeschooling and it drives me nuts. You wouldn’t have a random person preform surgery at home, how are you going to have someone with no credentials teach? Just raising an uneducated society this way. I see friends from HS who barely graduated do this HS do this. No way they are qualified. There needs to be better requirements in place.

If you are arguing that what teachers do is akin to surgery, I certainly hope you are advocating for much higher teacher salaries.

How is it allowed for anyone to homeschool their kids. I have seen multiple people recently start homeschooling and it drives me nuts. You wouldn’t have a random person preform surgery at home, how are you going to have someone with no credentials teach? Just raising an uneducated society this way. I see friends from HS who barely graduated do this HS do this. No way they are qualified. There needs to be better requirements in place.