Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can discount the findings however you want, but in the introduction, the author references several other studies that point to off-task behavior being around 25-30%.

When figuring out how much of the day was instructional, I took out time for lunch, recess, and specials, plus transitions, because like I said, most parents do this outside of the 2-3 hours of academic work.

Are you really arguing that 2-3 hours of one on one (or even one to three) instruction is really less than 4-5 hours of instruction with 25 kids, esp. When kids are coming and going to ESOL, Special Education, instrumental music practice, etc?

I've taught in the classroom, homeschooled, and had my child in public and for us it's definitely more efficient homeschooling.

Plus I can teach with a glass of wine.

Im not discounting the findings. Im quoting from her findings that 70% of the kids were on task. Why would you take out time for specials as being non instructive? Thats ridiculous. I'm saying that:

1. You are far underestimating instructional time in school.

2. There are almost always gaps in a home schooled kids learning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can discount the findings however you want, but in the introduction, the author references several other studies that point to off-task behavior being around 25-30%.

When figuring out how much of the day was instructional, I took out time for lunch, recess, and specials, plus transitions, because like I said, most parents do this outside of the 2-3 hours of academic work.

Are you really arguing that 2-3 hours of one on one (or even one to three) instruction is really less than 4-5 hours of instruction with 25 kids, esp. When kids are coming and going to ESOL, Special Education, instrumental music practice, etc?

I've taught in the classroom, homeschooled, and had my child in public and for us it's definitely more efficient homeschooling.

Plus I can teach with a glass of wine.

Im not discounting the findings. Im quoting from her findings that 70% of the kids were on task. Why would you take out time for specials as being non instructive? Thats ridiculous. I'm saying that:

1. You are far underestimating instructional time in school.

2. There are almost always gaps in a home schooled kids learning.

Anonymous wrote:You can discount the findings however you want, but in the introduction, the author references several other studies that point to off-task behavior being around 25-30%.

When figuring out how much of the day was instructional, I took out time for lunch, recess, and specials, plus transitions, because like I said, most parents do this outside of the 2-3 hours of academic work.

Are you really arguing that 2-3 hours of one on one (or even one to three) instruction is really less than 4-5 hours of instruction with 25 kids, esp. When kids are coming and going to ESOL, Special Education, instrumental music practice, etc?

I've taught in the classroom, homeschooled, and had my child in public and for us it's definitely more efficient homeschooling.

Plus I can teach with a glass of wine.

Anonymous wrote:You can discount the findings however you want, but in the introduction, the author references several other studies that point to off-task behavior being around 25-30%.

When figuring out how much of the day was instructional, I took out time for lunch, recess, and specials, plus transitions, because like I said, most parents do this outside of the 2-3 hours of academic work.

Are you really arguing that 2-3 hours of one on one (or even one to three) instruction is really less than 4-5 hours of instruction with 25 kids, esp. When kids are coming and going to ESOL, Special Education, instrumental music practice, etc?

I've taught in the classroom, homeschooled, and had my child in public and for us it's definitely more efficient homeschooling.

Plus I can teach with a glass of wine.

Anonymous wrote:time in school is lots of unecessary repetition (for teh kdis that didn't get it yet, and sometimes, yours will be one who needs the repetition but many times not) and lost time spent time off task (getting 20 kids coats on for recess can take forever). Do you guys not remember school? Lost fo waiting and repetition. Do you really think your kids are getting 6 hours of meaningfull elaning in a day at school. It is a babysitting service with 2-3 hours of actaul learning. Homeschoolers I know have 2-3 hours of instruction and then reading or trips out or socializingtime with other homeschoolers.

I thought I might homeschool but now see it isn't for me. But my best friend does and is doing a fabulous job.

Anonymous wrote:time in school is lots of unecessary repetition (for teh kdis that didn't get it yet, and sometimes, yours will be one who needs the repetition but many times not) and lost time spent time off task (getting 20 kids coats on for recess can take forever[u]). Do you guys not remember school? Lost fo waiting and repetition. Do you really think your kids are getting 6 hours of meaningfull elaning in a day at school. It is a babysitting service with 2-3 hours of actaul learning. Homeschoolers I know have 2-3 hours of instruction and then reading or trips out or socializingtime with other homeschoolers.

I thought I might homeschool but now see it isn't for me. But my best friend does and is doing a fabulous job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't completely disagree with the study, but even so, only about half of that time is attributable to being in a classroom environment verses being home. Even if say 15-20% of a child's day is filled with distractions that wouldn't happen at home, out of 4.5 hours, that's over 3.5 hours of efficient academic work a day. Not 1-2 hours per day or academic work.

Again, the study said that of the 4 hours (from different days/times) observed, 7 out of 10 kids were on task, as they define 'on task.' So that means that it is far more than 3.5 hours of efficient work time. Additionally, are we to seriously think that a child who is homeschooled doesn't pick at his clothes or itch and then he/she would also be 'off task?' If I'm itching my leg and listening at the same time, I don't necessarily consider that off task.

Anonymous wrote:I don't completely disagree with the study, but even so, only about half of that time is attributable to being in a classroom environment verses being home. Even if say 15-20% of a child's day is filled with distractions that wouldn't happen at home, out of 4.5 hours, that's over 3.5 hours of efficient academic work a day. Not 1-2 hours per day or academic work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's estimated that something like 30% of your child's day is spent in time off task. So if your school runs 6 hours of which 4 hours of that is spent in reading/writing/and math and almost a third of that is spent in time off task, that gives an individual kid in a room with 25 other kids somewhere around 2.75 hours of on task learning for reading and language arts.

Source?

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2014/05/on_task_attention.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's estimated that something like 30% of your child's day is spent in time off task. So if your school runs 6 hours of which 4 hours of that is spent in reading/writing/and math and almost a third of that is spent in time off task, that gives an individual kid in a room with 25 other kids somewhere around 2.75 hours of on task learning for reading and language arts.

Source?

Anonymous wrote:Homeschool kids score higher on ACT/SAT, get higher grades in college, graduate at a higher percentage , have more college credits prior to freshman year and are more likely to vote and participate in community service as adults.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-homeschoolers-do-well-in-college/


Why wouldn't people who care about their kids homeschool?

Anonymous wrote:It's estimated that something like 30% of your child's day is spent in time off task. So if your school runs 6 hours of which 4 hours of that is spent in reading/writing/and math and almost a third of that is spent in time off task, that gives an individual kid in a room with 25 other kids somewhere around 2.75 hours of on task learning for reading and language arts.

Many homeschooling families do the more academic reading, writing, and math activities during those two hours in the morning and use classes, field trips, etc, for science, social studies, art, pe, and music classes that they are not counting into the two hours of schoolwork.

As for whether or not parents are qualified to teach their own child. There are obviously data points on both ends- some parents shouldn't be homeschooling their children for a variety of reasons, but there are also some teachers that shouldn't be teaching anyone either. There really isn't a ton of specialized knowledge that elementary teachers magically get by going to college and studying education that a parent who knows how to access information isn't capable of doing him or herself.

As for the original questions, I can see a parent wanting to homeschool their young boys for the first couple of grades for a variety of reasons - many kindergartens are not developmentally appropriate learning environments, parent may value more exposure to content knowledge at an early age, there may be religious reasons, they may have very slight special needs that aren't being addressed by the schools, there may have been bullied even if their neighborhood schools are considered good.