Anonymous wrote:Homeschooling seems to be mostly associated with very religious and conservative parents. I am not religious or conservative and wish it could be more mainstream. I just think my children would really enjoy it. I have the proper education to facilitate a good curriculum that adheres to my state’s learning standards. My children’s current public school has been very disappointing, so I was looking into alternative options. But homeschooling carries a certain stigma. FWIW, this is not a post against religious or conservative families. My sister is both, and homeschooled. Her adult children are super social, independent and successful!

Does anyone else feel this way? Do you wish homeschooling was a more mainstream alternative to education?

Sadly, this bad rap is true.

I was a graduate advisor in a Yale dorm, and I had a student who was homeschooled by fundies come to Yale. I'm sorry to say, he was quite out of touch with reality. I think he did ok in his (engineering) classes, but he was never really open to any new ideas - talking to him was never interesting or educational.

I hope he enjoyed Yale, but I don't think he enjoyed it that much, and I don't think the community benefited much from him.


Now, I think it's possible to homeschool and remain open to the world -- good luck! Make sure your kids have a wide range of experiences and learn a lot about how the world works, incluiding how poor and rich people live.

You are right 21:15 that the community is wonderful but respectfully, HS'ers have that stuff too, it just looks different.

There are homeschool sports leagues, theatre groups etc. You've probably seen groups of homeschoolers doing service work and didn't realize they were HS. Is it a pep rally? No, but if you look around your son's next pep rally I guarantee you'll see pure misery on some kids' faces. It's good that your son loves it but it doesn't mean that every single child there should love it.

It's awesome (truly, no sarcasm at all) that your child is where he is happy and thriving. Other kids are happy and thriving in other places and it's great that we have choices for them.

And when the kids get to a level where they need an experienced teacher, there are many homeschool teachers, community colleges etc. It's really easy now with the internet.

I have a high schooler now, and he would be missing so much if I tried to home school. I am not qualified to teach biology or chemistry.

And the social part is huge. From wearing spirit wear to attending the athletic events to pep rallies, he is enjoying being part of that community. The theater and music programs are more opportunities to get involved and work as a team.

He has been in classes with some of these kids since preschool. There is value in that. I have BFFs from 5th grade and junior high. That is what ho.eschoolers are giving up.

Just from my own personal experience growing up and now as a parent....

I've known parents who homeschool because their kids have needs that were not being met at a traditional school. Usually their kid is extremely intelligent or has some special needs. Or they homeschool because their jobs require travel, and they see the benefit of exposing their kids to different states/countries, and home schooling is easier. These parents don't really talk about homeschooling. It comes up at some point, but it's not really a focus of conversations.

I've also met people who home school for religious reasons or because they think public schools are terrible and their kid could never get a quality education. These parents tend to make the homeschooling topic, or their beliefs for why they homeschool, a center of a lot of conversations.

So the stigma exists because, again in my experience, the outspoken ones carry the negative stereotype so that's what people associate home schooling with.

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Anonymous wrote:I have nothing against homeschooling. However, I am not sure I could handle teaching my kids for 5-6 hours a day.

If you're even vaguely competent, you don't do formal "teaching" for anywhere near 5-6 hours a day. Not unless they have learning disorders and/or special needs anyway (and probably not even then). In the beginning grades it's much lower, more like 1 or maybe 2 hours a day.

It's not until the upper grades that it starts becoming 5-6 hours a day of "academic work" but by then, most of it is done independently by the student so it's not really "teaching" for that long either. Maybe still an hour a day of actual teaching from you plus a bit more of grading and admin.

This can't be true!
1-2 hours of teaching a day??!
I don't believe you.
Homeschoolers are trying to fight the stigma, and this, well, sums up society's fears about it. Lol

If it makes you feel better, my oldest is a couple of years ahead. (We work from the standard textbooks.) Youngest is also ahead but too young to really say by how far.

BTW you're totally delusional if you seriously think kids in public school get more than 1-2 hours a day of good quality instruction anyway. Between incompetent teachers, teachers needing to deal with behavioral issues, class admin time, transitions between classes, kids mucking around, class breaks, etc, it's probably way less than that.

I honestly don't know, I have my kids in a small private school. It's a 6.5 hour day with an hour for lunch/recess/snack break.
The remaining 5.5 hours is pretty devoted to either academic lessons or art, music, computer, PE classes, which rotate on alternate days.

1-2 hour of active teaching really worries me.

It’s been well researched. When you subtract lunch, recess, specials, movement between classes, and transitions within the classroom itself, it amounts to about 2.5 hours of time on task. I’ll look for the research later and try to post. And that’s for a class if 20 students. Reading time is often small groups so with s 45 minute time frame, your child might be working with the teacher for a third of that. Teaching a few Homeschoolers at a time is a very different structure. You might read to/with them and discuss books for a full hour. Phonics or spelling might take 15 minutes. Math might only take 30 minutes. Writing might take 15-45 min depending on age.

Most schools have at least an hour to a 90 minute reading block and a an hour long math block.

I am judgmental about home-schooled kids at first. If I find out it's not for religious reasons, then I stop judging.

OP, I don't think it has all that much of a stigma. People have their opinions about everything. Competitive colleges and private high schools take homeschoolers. If you do it right, no one is going to stigmatize or reject your child.

Let me backtrack... there are many people homeschooling who really do not have the temperament or the education to do it properly. There are also a great many who are giving their kid a much better education than they could get at most schools. Just be one of the latter.

I care a lot about what my children are learning, have higher degrees, love to teach, and am more than happy to delegate the teaching when I think someone else can do a better job than I. I know my kids are getting a good education and that matters more to me than whatever stigma remains.

No stigma. If you can swing it and have the bandwidth to do it, go for it. You will be able to do a much better job if you have the expertise.

- Mother of a kids in MCPS magnet school.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have nothing against homeschooling. However, I am not sure I could handle teaching my kids for 5-6 hours a day.

If you're even vaguely competent, you don't do formal "teaching" for anywhere near 5-6 hours a day. Not unless they have learning disorders and/or special needs anyway (and probably not even then). In the beginning grades it's much lower, more like 1 or maybe 2 hours a day.

It's not until the upper grades that it starts becoming 5-6 hours a day of "academic work" but by then, most of it is done independently by the student so it's not really "teaching" for that long either. Maybe still an hour a day of actual teaching from you plus a bit more of grading and admin.

This can't be true!
1-2 hours of teaching a day??!
I don't believe you.
Homeschoolers are trying to fight the stigma, and this, well, sums up society's fears about it. Lol

If it makes you feel better, my oldest is a couple of years ahead. (We work from the standard textbooks.) Youngest is also ahead but too young to really say by how far.

BTW you're totally delusional if you seriously think kids in public school get more than 1-2 hours a day of good quality instruction anyway. Between incompetent teachers, teachers needing to deal with behavioral issues, class admin time, transitions between classes, kids mucking around, class breaks, etc, it's probably way less than that.

I honestly don't know, I have my kids in a small private school. It's a 6.5 hour day with an hour for lunch/recess/snack break.
The remaining 5.5 hours is pretty devoted to either academic lessons or art, music, computer, PE classes, which rotate on alternate days.

1-2 hour of active teaching really worries me.

It’s been well researched. When you subtract lunch, recess, specials, movement between classes, and transitions within the classroom itself, it amounts to about 2.5 hours of time on task. I’ll look for the research later and try to post. And that’s for a class if 20 students. Reading time is often small groups so with s 45 minute time frame, your child might be working with the teacher for a third of that. Teaching a few Homeschoolers at a time is a very different structure. You might read to/with them and discuss books for a full hour. Phonics or spelling might take 15 minutes. Math might only take 30 minutes. Writing might take 15-45 min depending on age.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP and I also wouldn't consider art, computer or PE to be "academic work". That's just called every day fun around here!

No, I wouldn't consider it academic work either, but still part of a well-rounded education.

You guys sound like great teachers, but I'm just trying to give feedback on why there's a stigma against homeschoolers...

I'm the PP and I also wouldn't consider art, computer or PE to be "academic work". That's just called every day fun around here!

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have nothing against homeschooling. However, I am not sure I could handle teaching my kids for 5-6 hours a day.

If you're even vaguely competent, you don't do formal "teaching" for anywhere near 5-6 hours a day. Not unless they have learning disorders and/or special needs anyway (and probably not even then). In the beginning grades it's much lower, more like 1 or maybe 2 hours a day.

It's not until the upper grades that it starts becoming 5-6 hours a day of "academic work" but by then, most of it is done independently by the student so it's not really "teaching" for that long either. Maybe still an hour a day of actual teaching from you plus a bit more of grading and admin.

This can't be true!
1-2 hours of teaching a day??!
I don't believe you.
Homeschoolers are trying to fight the stigma, and this, well, sums up society's fears about it. Lol

If it makes you feel better, my oldest is a couple of years ahead. (We work from the standard textbooks.) Youngest is also ahead but too young to really say by how far.

BTW you're totally delusional if you seriously think kids in public school get more than 1-2 hours a day of good quality instruction anyway. Between incompetent teachers, teachers needing to deal with behavioral issues, class admin time, transitions between classes, kids mucking around, class breaks, etc, it's probably way less than that.

I honestly don't know, I have my kids in a small private school. It's a 6.5 hour day with an hour for lunch/recess/snack break.
The remaining 5.5 hours is pretty devoted to either academic lessons or art, music, computer, PE classes, which rotate on alternate days.

1-2 hour of active teaching really worries me.

I promise you that your kids are not getting more than 1-2 hours of instruction per day that's tailored specifically to them (i.e. explaining exactly at what they need to learn the material in the exact form they need to best learn it) even at a private school.

For anyone interested, this homeschool mom (who has had a lot of experience including at least one child graduating already) explains it better than I can and I think said roughly the same thing as I said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEfZMlt8i8E (Note: she is very religious, but many homeschoolers including myself are not religious at all.)

Of course you need to consider your child, goals, etc. We have very high academic standards (both of us have grad degrees from well respected institutions) but we also have highly capable kids. Others may have lower academic standards and students who might struggle more. If you have high standards, are shooting for your kids to get excellent SAT scores and get into a great college but they aren't naturally talented at all of the material or aren't intrinsically motivated then obviously you'll need to put in more time.

I think you also need to consider your interests and abilities. My kids are still young, but I'm really looking forward to the older grades. Advanced math is the type of thing I consider fun, and I'm also looking forward to filling in some of the gaps I have when it comes to subjects I don't have as strong a background in like history etc, if that's where their interests lie. But some people enjoy and are better suited to the lower grades and they may 'outsource' some teaching of the older grades. So much of it is dependent your particular family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have nothing against homeschooling. However, I am not sure I could handle teaching my kids for 5-6 hours a day.

If you're even vaguely competent, you don't do formal "teaching" for anywhere near 5-6 hours a day. Not unless they have learning disorders and/or special needs anyway (and probably not even then). In the beginning grades it's much lower, more like 1 or maybe 2 hours a day.

It's not until the upper grades that it starts becoming 5-6 hours a day of "academic work" but by then, most of it is done independently by the student so it's not really "teaching" for that long either. Maybe still an hour a day of actual teaching from you plus a bit more of grading and admin.

This can't be true!
1-2 hours of teaching a day??!
I don't believe you.
Homeschoolers are trying to fight the stigma, and this, well, sums up society's fears about it. Lol

If it makes you feel better, my oldest is a couple of years ahead. (We work from the standard textbooks.) Youngest is also ahead but too young to really say by how far.

BTW you're totally delusional if you seriously think kids in public school get more than 1-2 hours a day of good quality instruction anyway. Between incompetent teachers, teachers needing to deal with behavioral issues, class admin time, transitions between classes, kids mucking around, class breaks, etc, it's probably way less than that.

I honestly don't know, I have my kids in a small private school. It's a 6.5 hour day with an hour for lunch/recess/snack break.
The remaining 5.5 hours is pretty devoted to either academic lessons or art, music, computer, PE classes, which rotate on alternate days.

1-2 hour of active teaching really worries me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have nothing against homeschooling. However, I am not sure I could handle teaching my kids for 5-6 hours a day.

If you're even vaguely competent, you don't do formal "teaching" for anywhere near 5-6 hours a day. Not unless they have learning disorders and/or special needs anyway (and probably not even then). In the beginning grades it's much lower, more like 1 or maybe 2 hours a day.

It's not until the upper grades that it starts becoming 5-6 hours a day of "academic work" but by then, most of it is done independently by the student so it's not really "teaching" for that long either. Maybe still an hour a day of actual teaching from you plus a bit more of grading and admin.

This can't be true!
1-2 hours of teaching a day??!
I don't believe you.
Homeschoolers are trying to fight the stigma, and this, well, sums up society's fears about it. Lol

If it makes you feel better, my oldest is a couple of years ahead. (We work from the standard textbooks.) Youngest is also ahead but too young to really say by how far.

BTW you're totally delusional if you seriously think kids in public school get more than 1-2 hours a day of good quality instruction anyway. Between incompetent teachers, teachers needing to deal with behavioral issues, class admin time, transitions between classes, kids mucking around, class breaks, etc, it's probably way less than that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have nothing against homeschooling. However, I am not sure I could handle teaching my kids for 5-6 hours a day.

If you're even vaguely competent, you don't do formal "teaching" for anywhere near 5-6 hours a day. Not unless they have learning disorders and/or special needs anyway (and probably not even then). In the beginning grades it's much lower, more like 1 or maybe 2 hours a day.

It's not until the upper grades that it starts becoming 5-6 hours a day of "academic work" but by then, most of it is done independently by the student so it's not really "teaching" for that long either. Maybe still an hour a day of actual teaching from you plus a bit more of grading and admin.

This can't be true!
1-2 hours of teaching a day??!
I don't believe you.
Homeschoolers are trying to fight the stigma, and this, well, sums up society's fears about it. Lol

If it makes you feel better, my oldest is a couple of years ahead. (We work from the standard textbooks.) Youngest is also ahead but too young to really say by how far.