Home Schooling

[Socrates]

[quote name='photosynthesis' date='Dec 14 2005, 06:54 PM']I am not married and I don't have any kids, but if I were, I don't think I'd homeschool my kids.  Why?  Because I want my children to get a GOOD education.  I'm sure I could teach elementary school subjects well, and I know I could teach high school literature, history, social studies, religion, music theory etc.  But I barely got through Math for Plants this semester.  I want my kids to get a good education, and part of that education would involve things I don't even know, much less feel confident teaching to my kids.  I want my children to have the opportunity to study physics, calculus, trigonometry, etc.  I did well in high school chem but by no means would I teach it to my children!  I took a few years in Spanish but I'd want my children to learn whatever foreign language they wanted.  In my opinion, the school environment, while it can be hostile and competitive, is the place where children have the most opportunities to study subjects from teachers who actually know what they're doing.

It's very possible for homeschoolers to learn social skills.  There's Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, youth groups, church choir, CCD, community sports teams, etc.  But I know that if I didn't grow up in public school I probably wouldn't have developed interests different from that of my mother.  My mom always said she never expected me to get into singing and theatre like I did.  It was because it was part of the public school curriculum that I had the opportunity to be in school plays and choral performances.  I'd be very sad if I didn't have that in my life now

I think I'd probably send my kids to an orthodox Catholic school where they wouldn't have to learn garbage, but they also would have the chance to do things like theatre, dance, music, art, foreign languages, and sports.

also I'm really glad I didn't homeschool because I never got along with my family so it would have been torture to be with them all the time.  but I see how it works for people with normal families
[right][snapback]825850[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
Many homeschoolers network to have classes which would be taught by a parent expert in a particular area in highschool. Others take community college math or science courses in highschool (which are often better than many high-school courses and can earn college credit).

[Guest Rick777]

yah a lot of cults were also homeschooling in the 70's early 80's

[missionseeker]

[quote]But I know that if I didn't grow up in public school I probably wouldn't have developed interests different from that of my mother.  My mom always said she never expected me to get into singing and theatre like I did.  It was because it was part of the public school curriculum that I had the opportunity to be in school plays and choral performances.  I'd be very sad if I didn't have that in my life now[/quote]


I have more oppurtunities to do this stuff out of public school than in it. Granted, here the schools are very very small.

You can develope interests different from your parents' while homeschooling as long as your parents let you.

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='dicallidra' date='Dec 14 2005, 11:32 PM']Hi Photo,
I am bothered that you believe homeschoolers cannot get a "good" education. The vast amount of resources available to homeschooling parents is astounding. So much of it is tailored to the parent who isn't an "expert" on the material. (btw, i believe someone pointed out earlier that homeschoolers typically do better than their peers on college entrance exams, state tests...etc.) However, if you don't feel you can teach your kids highschool material, why not through junior highschool?
I don't know about other states, but here homeschoolers can participate in extracurricular school activities. My sister played sports for the highschool, i played in the junior high band, as did my brother. Perhaps it isn't possible where you are from, but there are church choirs and community choirs if thats what you really want your kids to do
And how far are you going to have to send them to find a good orthodox Catholic school? If they were abounding i believe it would solve many problems for Catholics, however, the fact is there are not many. Plus the financial burden can be impossible for some families.
[right][snapback]826172[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
I wasn't saying that homeschooling isn't a good education. I agree with Socrates that it's what you make of it, whether it's public school, private school or homeschool. But I don't think I'd be doing my children a service if I homeschooled them.

Some people just don't have a God-given gift for teaching. My mom was definitely one of those people. Heck, she couldn't even teach me how to drive a car if she tried. Although I'm sure she couldn't even homeschool me if she wanted to because homeschooling doesn't work for single moms. Homeschooling works for families with two parents and enough money to survive on one income, which I see as a luxury.

I know of many good Catholic schools where I live. Opus Dei runs wonderful schools, and we have a school run by the Nashville Dominicans around here too. My parish runs an orthodox elementary school as well. I think that if I sent my kids to an orthodox Catholic school they'd get a better education than if I homeschooled because honestly, I don't think teaching is one of those gifts God's given me. I'd rather leave it up to people who are actually gifted at it so that I could focus on using the gifts God [i]has[/i] blessed me with.

[quote name='missionseeker' date='Dec 15 2005, 01:04 AM']I have more oppurtunities to do this stuff out of public school than in it. Granted, here the schools are very very small.

You can develope interests different from your parents' while homeschooling as long as your parents let you. 
[right][snapback]826342[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
I don't think it's an issue of your parents letting you develop other interests. I'm sure my mom would have allowed me to do theatre, singing, etc. It's not something she would have thought about, though.

[photosynthesis]

oh, and Iacobus, Grinnell sounds exactly like my alma mater, Goucher College... although I'm happy to be leaving the land of liberal BS and PC garbage

[Iacobus]

[quote name='photosynthesis' date='Dec 15 2005, 02:11 AM']oh, and Iacobus, Grinnell sounds exactly like my alma mater, Goucher College...  although I'm happy to be leaving the land of liberal BS and PC garbage
[right][snapback]826513[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

I love Grinnell and while it is liberal I don't think it is putting any ideolgoical line in the way of a full and fair education. The "coolest" prof on campus teachs poli sci and enjoys ripping apart the students who bring in some ideolgoical stance. Everyone thinks that he is a die-hard Republican... except he has a life size poster of Bobby Kennedy in his office and loves the Democratic party. Almost as playing a devils advocate. That is how a lot of my profs behave in their class, it is rather intresting.

[photosynthesis]

I don't know any conservative professors here... except one, she is Catholic, too. and she teaches music. all of the journalism and poli sci professors are liberal

[Matty_boy]

[quote name='Era Might' date='Dec 13 2005, 05:34 PM']I didn't say they were locked in the room.

Rather, I said that the social experience of a real school is something unique. It's something that is separate from home life in a way that social activities are not. Six hours a day, for most of the year, your life is at school. It's a microcosm of the real world, and teaches valuable social skills. The process of going to school, getting through the year with your classmates, with your friends, communicates a certain independence from your home life, and from your parents.

I have no doubt home school kids can be sociable and well-adjusted. Personally, however, I feel a real school is a more effective option to that end.
[right][snapback]824078[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

Getting struck by lightening is something unique too, but I don't want to experience that.

In my experience, public school kids are more likely to be the drunks in college and the ones into premarital sex etc. I don't think I've ever met a homeschooler like that. (I'm not saying all public schoolers or even most public schoolers. Just that you don't see a whole lot of homeschoolers doing that sort of thing.)

[Era Might]

[quote name='Matty_boy' date='Dec 16 2005, 12:12 PM']Getting struck by lightening is something unique too, but I don't want to experience that. 

In my experience, public school kids are more likely to be the drunks in college and the ones into premarital sex etc.  I don't think I've ever met a homeschooler like that.  (I'm not saying all public schoolers or even most public schoolers.  Just that you don't see a whole lot of homeschoolers doing that sort of thing.)
[right][snapback]828094[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

That's because homeschooled kids often come from a family of faith (not always, as homeschoolmom pointed out, but often). Public school kids are, more often than not, like the general population: godless.

Like I said, I would prefer a good Catholic school to anything. But if a principled life is not valued at home, it doesn't matter where your child goes to school, even if he is homeschooled. It's the same thing with CCD. The problem is not with CCD itself (well, unless the parish is loopy), the problem is that parents don't reinforce the catechesis at home.

Someone said you get out of homeschool what you put into it. Well, you get out of public (or parochial) school what you put into it as well.

ps: I used to know a pair of homeschooled kids when I lived in Florida. They lived in my apartment complex. They were just as "adventurous" with sex, drugs and alcohol as any public school kid. They weren't Christian homeschoolers. They were also socially awkward. Again, not that all homeschoolers should be stereotyped that way, but they were.

Edited December 16, 2005 by Era Might

[Matty_boy]

[quote name='Iacobus' date='Dec 13 2005, 07:30 PM']I am going to send my kids to an elite private school with tutition costs over 20,000 dollars a year to express my socialist side.

Yeah, sure.

I don't support homeschooling for a number of reasons. One is acadmic. While a parent can easily teach one advanced subject or can teach all the subjects at an early age, it is more likely to be of greater depth if the teacher really cares about the subject and is trained extensively in that subject (:cough: Bio majors SHOULD NOT be teaching chemistry or physics, pet pev :cough:). The advantage of a formal school is that they have to hire these "trained" people for each subject and you are more likely to get someone well versed in that field teaching your child. I would much rather have E.O. Wilson teaching Little Iacoba (who is a Periodic Table and my daughter... long story) then, say, Robert Kaplan. With Dr. Wilson they are more likely to fully explore the subject and also I can rest assued that their tutor fully understands that subject he is teaching.

Social reasons are the secondary reason I don't support home schooling. I have meet a number of people who have turned out rather well from home schooling, I have meet an disprop. number, when compered to formally educated students, that lack a number of social schools. They often lack clarity and brevity in speech and writing and have a decided lack of articulateness. There is often an odd air around them in a number of their behaviors.

While many homeschoolers are moving into community based learn things, they are often still found lacking. They are often not exposed to radically opposing ideas and if the reason they are being homeschooled is to avoid these ideas, then, my friends, lets not kid ourselves and call it an education but rather by its real name, indoctrination.
[right][snapback]824171[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

My parents sent me to a co-op homeschooling science class through 8th grade then on to community college in high school for science and foreign languages.

As far as social concerns, what is this "odd air" about homeschooling kids. They don't like to go out and drink and have sex at 13 years old like so many public schoolers so they don't have a disordered state of mind? Is that the "odd air" that is being mentioned?

I would think that if anyone is "indoctrinating", it would be the public schools which don't allow God, don't allow anything but evolution, teach global warming, don't hurt anyones feelings EVER(it's okay if they can't read in high school, just don't hurt their feelings), don't say anything that could ever be misconstrued or interpreted as offensive to anyone, if you're gonna have sex, use a condom or birth control but don't tell your parents if you get pregnant just go to PP.

[Matty_boy]

[quote name='Era Might' date='Dec 16 2005, 10:26 AM']ps: I used to know a pair of homeschooled kids when I lived in Florida. They lived in my apartment complex. They were just as "adventurous" with sex, drugs and alcohol as any public school kid. They weren't Christian homeschoolers. They were also socially awkward. Again, not that all homeschoolers should be stereotyped that way, but they were.
[right][snapback]828106[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just that most people whom I've met were homeschooled for the right reasons by faithful parents.

[Theoketos]

Actually Matt Most of the Home Schoolers at our school were drunkereds...I can think of three that got women pregnant outside of marriage...certainly when they were friends with me, my life was extra full of drama.

However, it does seem that other home schoolers are models of virtue.

[homeschoolmom]

I guess you might conclude that homeschoolers fall into that catagory known as "human" with faults, foibles and talents just like the rest in that catagory...

[Theoketos]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Dec 19 2005, 11:16 AM']I guess you might conclude that homeschoolers fall into that catagory known as "human" with faults, foibles and talents just like the rest in that catagory...
[right][snapback]830583[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

Amen...

[Sojourner]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='Dec 19 2005, 01:16 PM']I guess you might conclude that homeschoolers fall into that catagory known as "human" with faults, foibles and talents just like the rest in that catagory...
[right][snapback]830583[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
What? Homeschoolers are human?