What are your ideas on homeschooling.?

Question

Good and Bad
please suuport you answer

you can answer in the view of a child or parent

Answer 1

I love homeschooling my kids. I get to be with them, be the one to raise them.

We get to do all kinds of great things together at home or around town because they're not stuck in school all day during the week. They get to have some quality time with their dad in the evening because they're not stuck doing homework.

My kids get to meet kids from all over the city and even from outside the city at homeschooling social activities. Because they are meeting strangers all the time, it's not a big deal to them and they're not shy about meeting other kids, whatever the age, at all. They have also developed some special friendships from homeschooling activities and see these kids regularly during the school year. They're approaching the age where they could even email with them in between visits. When we're out, I see the difference in social skills among the homeschooled kids and the public schooled kids in our city. If you want to talk who's got better social skills, even at the elementary level, it's the homeschooled kids generally. But it's only natural because they don't have same-age peers as behaviour models and they're going to get more feedback from adults on social skills than public schooled kids will and don't develop certain bad habits that are rampant in our schools here.

They also have an education tailored to their abilities, being able to go ahead in one subject while perhaps staying behind in another. As I mentioned in another answer in the homeschooling section, this is how it used to be. People were educated at their own pace in the past, not thrown into a group based on age and stuck with them for their entire schooling. They often had time to and were encouraged to study personal interests. My kids get this type of education, an education where they are able to devote some of their time to personal interests, an education that is for some reason reserved for high school and college level students.

Because they're not in a school situation, they are not having to deal with bullies, listen to sexual talk at a young age, hear and adopt bad attitudes towards school and a multitude of other things that go on in the social interactions at school. They have no need to be like how other kids are, like what other kids like, dress how other kids dress, etc. They know very well what they like and that's that. They don't know what's in style in terms of music or clothes and that's fine by me.

There are other great things about homeschooling but I hope that will be enough. I will add that I'm saddened that public school, which originally started as being something available to others, is now seen as absolutely mandatory and that it's also seen that people are choosing homeschooling instead of public school. It's not an instead, it's one option among many for a child's education.

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In response to other posters:

3 hours of work is about all that gets done in school. Truly. There is so much wasted time trying to get 30 kids ready for a lesson and changing lessons and getting them ready to listen to this and listen to that. The whole format is set up for group work, not individual. Teachers have to be able to reach a wide variety of kids and it takes way more time to do that than to just reach one or a few children. If you had one-on-one tutoring at school, don't you think you'd get all your work done in 3 hours? And think about it, to get a group of 30 kids to read one short story together takes FOREVER. Trust me. I've done it. How long does it take to have my daughter read a short story to me? Maybe 5 to 10 minutes. There is so much less wasted time at home.

While I know some people who get up late, definitely not all do. My kids and I are early risers and we've usually started our work around 8. But I have to add that the work doesn't really end 3 hours later because they still spend time reading and playing music and doing phys. ed. activities and going on field trips and doing art and science experiments and a lot of stuff in the afternoons. It's just the actual book work that's in the morning, other than the reading. Their learning is not done even if their book work is.

About parents not being fully accredited teachers, teachers in the past had no training but still were fine teachers. Teachers are trained how to teach groups of children, how to keep them all in line, keep them all interested, assess them, report that assessment to parents, tons of stuff that a homeschooling parent essentially providing full-time tutoring to their child doesn't need to do.

People in the past also did fine, if not better than today, without today's style of dating, heartbreaks, etc. Kids can be well versed about drugs at home without having to be in situations where they won't have to decide what to do because they still are not mature enough to really stick with what they know is right. I'm frankly surprised that an anthropologist would not be better versed in the history of human behaviour.

Answer 2

I was homeschool through middle and high school. I did go to a public elementary school. Was it bad for me? No. I met lots of friends through homeschooling and I was constantly busy. Because of homeschooling I was able to spend more time with my parents. It was a great experience and if I'm able I will do the same for my children. Now onto the negative. A friend of mine was also homeschooling. And she is everything the bad side of homeschooling presents. Anti-social, doesn't do the work. Not to say she isn't smart or nice, but her mother never made her do the work or go out and interact with others. It really depends on the parents. If you don't lay down the rules about the schoolwork, then yes your child will fall behind. If you don't encourage you child, in sports, dance, etc.. then they may not have all the social experience you want. It also depends on the school, if you don't want your child to be taught certain things or if the school is overcrowded ( as my high school was. 7,000 students in a 3,000 student building) then homeschooling or private may be a good option. Some people say that just because you don't agree with what the school teaches is not a good enough reason. But when the evolution theory is being taught as fact ( and is a theory as they haven't been able to prove it. A good theory but still a theory. ) and you want it taught as a theory it may not be the school for you.
I'm currently in my freshman year at American Intercontinental University in London studying International Business. I have to admit that right before I left anyone who had told me my parents were making a mistake by homeschooling me, it was nice to see the looks on their face when they relised that I had proved them wrong. I gained a lot from homeschooling. My mom is one of my best friends, I have so many great friends ( not all homeschooled ) and am now in an amazing city receiving a great education. Homeschooling really depends on the parnets.
I would say go for it.

Answer 3

"New studies show that, contrary to popular mythology.....the average home-schooled child has no problem 'socializing' with other children......as long as he remembers to use smaller words and shorter sentences."


What most people don't realize is that homeschool means home-based education. Homeschool kids are NOT kept locked away from society. They enjoy a multitude of activities such as scouts, campfire kids, church groups, 4-H, dance classes, karate classes, fencing classes, homeschool bands, homeschool co-ops, chess clubs, homeschool sports teams (yes,we have homeschool football, basketball, softball, track, swim and soccer teams).

Homeschool students also participate in homeschool book clubs, spelling bees, science fairs, talent shows, field trips, prom, and graduation ceremonies.

The idea of homeschool students being friendless social misfits who are missing out on important social opportunities is completely off base.

As far whether homeschoolers are receiving a decent education, yes, they are. The average homeschooler is leaving the average public school student in the dust when it comes to ACT and SAT scores.

They're not only being accepted into many major colleges and universities, they're also being recruited by many schools.

One more thing, not to be rude, but if you're going to insist that public schools are better than homeschool, use the spell check feature. A pro-public school post full of misspelled words and bad grammar provides a wonderful example of why parents should homeschool.

Answer 4

I was home schooled for a while in Jr. High while waiting to get into the public school I wanted. (it's a long story) While homeschooling was preferable to attending the Jr. High I was supposed to go to, I didn't enjoy it much. I was soooooo bored most of the time. There's no social aspect to homeschooling unless you have siblings but then your social life shouldn't be limited to your family. One good thing I can say about it is that I could speed through most of the work at my pace instead of being held up by other kids in my class.

I now have a couple friends who were home schooled up until college. Both wish that they had attended regular schools- public or private. They said that they were initially very awkward going into college. Both said that it was a huge adjustment to have to learn how to deal with so many people directly or indirectly all the time.

Answer 5

I am all for homeschooling. People always say a child will not have socialization but they can always join a sport, clubs or youth groups. I went to public school and I feel that I was held back...I couldn't reach my potential because there were too many kids, kids that didn't like to pay attention, and teachers who were incompetent and lazy. Admittedly, there are some teachers who try but they can only teach what they are told. If you want your child to have a broad spectrum of learning and to not be held back then you should really consider homeschooling.

Answer 6

You already have a bunch of great answers up above and a few not so great. So, mostly, I'm going to relate our personal experience. My son is currently in 9th by the way. We started homeschooling later than many (middle school). The first year, having formerly been a teacher, I was bound and determined to do at least as well as any public school could. So... I went so far as to go to our State Dept. of Ed. and download the Standards of Learning for my son's grade level. I used it as a checklist. I made darn sure he mastered every single thing on the SOLs (yep, that is the acronym) plus some. Now... as a teacher, I know that teachers do not cover all of the standards of learning for every single subject and I know that students don't master all of them. But, like I said, I felt that we had something to prove - even if just to ourselves. We were structured! We started and ended on a schedule. Everything on a schedule. By the end of that first year, we were quite burned out. We have relaxed a lot since then and the actual learning and accomplishment has sky-rocketed. The enjoyment of learning is back. Bottom-line, at least for us, the rigid structure actually dampened the learning and most certainly the enthusiasm and pure joy of discovery and learning that everyone has until it is suppressed. My advice: follow your mom's lead for now. I say this for several reasons: 1) she is in charge and responsible; 2) she is taking this approach because she wants to do a great job for you; 3) she sounds like a very smart person and she will come around! Don't listen to the "you'll never get into college" comments. That is simply untrue.

Answer 7

We like it. I have two sons and this will be our 4th year homeschooling. They are 11 and 13 and the only problem I have is I wish I had done it from the beginning. It is amazing. Both of my sons do not want to go back. They even do educational things during the summer without realizing it all on their own. They seem to love learning now. By and far the home school kids I meet are nicer, smarter, and more socially adept. Most of the Doctors I know home school their kids.

Answer 8

It really depends on the child I think. For instance, although I was home-schooled throughout high school, I really didn't miss out on the social aspect of actually being there. I had a pretty decent group of people that I hung out with along with my close friends. I also managed to finish a year early and hold a steady job in the process. I am sure that there are plenty of people who have enjoyed the same success with it that I have. So depending on the child's personality and if they have a couple of kids that they already hang out with, I would completely embrace the idea of homeschooling them.

Answer 9

Homeschooling is only truly needed if you live in a terrible neighborhood or your child has a disability that other kids will make fun of. Homeschooling, in my experience, is the excuse that kids and parents use to get them out of doing hard work. All the kids and adults that homeschool are lazy. They get up at 10 in the morning, work for 3 hours and stop. The other bunch of homeschoolers are the super-psycho controlling type parents. They want to control every aspect of their kids lives. Unfortunately for them, once their kids go to college, get a job, live life away from them, they will see what they were shielded from (both good and bad). I knew a kid who parents were like this and once he went to college he started smoking and drinking heavily. He OD'ed. Seriously.

Answer 10

My wife was homeschooled.
She loved in when she did it but she now realizes that she's in Graduate school that she was stunted.
She homeschooled for high school and she is very lacking in her knowledge of history and literature. However, she's a whiz at mathematics.
Additionally, she knows she was socially stunted and regrets not having gone to prom or any normal high school functions.
We've talked extensively about what we plan to do with our own child. We would like to homeschool since she received a much better specialized education than I(public school) but we would like our son to be socially "normal".
Personally, I wish public education weren't so rigid. If my child wants to study quantum physics at high school, I'm sure they'd be able to but because of high school; they'll be required to take home economics or something else akin to that.

Answer 11

I feel homeschooling lacks the kind of social challege that kids will be required to cope with later on. If I learned from a tutor or my parents for 18 years I'd find it hard and overwhelming in dealing with college where the enviroment is much different and very competitive.