Read the following list of home-schooled students. Do you think that home-schooling is a viable option?

Question

ARTISTS:
Leonardo da Vinci
Claude Monet
John Singleton Copley
Andrew Wyeth
Jamie Wyeth
COMPOSERS:
Irving Berlin
Anton Bruckner
Felix Mendelssohn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Francis Poulenc
EDUCATORS:
Frederick Terman
William Samuel Johnson (Columbia University President)
Frank Vandiver (Texas A&M University President)
John Witherspoon (Princeton University President)
GENERALS:
Stonewall Jackson
Robert E. Lee
Douglas MacArthur

Go to www.nheri.org: National Home Education Research Institute.
Buy "Home Educated and Now Adults" by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. 148 pages, paperback with charts and graphs.
also:
"Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling", Facts and Stats on the Benefits of Home School 2005-2006 by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

Thank you Glurpy....
There is a book out about current previously home-educated adults. You can find it at www.nheri.org

http://www.knowledgehouse.info/famous.html

Go to this website to see a lengthy list of famous home-school people. You might recognize some names that you know.

Answer 1

I am a former private school teacher/director of a parochial school. As a youth I attended both private and public school. I was also homeschooled for a season. It was the best thing my parents did for me.

I currently started teaching at a public school and am seeing what really goes on in . I took this job as I am doing research for a book that I am writing on the topic of homeschooling versus "traditional" schooling. I use the term loosely as it should be known that public schooling has only been around in the US for a little under 200 years. Before then public schooling was mandatory for the people in the lower classes as a means of social control.


I wish that others who were singing the praises of public school would know what they were talking about. You have no idea what really happens and the damage that is done to your children in the system. You are never there and you don't know because you are too busy at work or climbing the corporate ladder to really involve yourself.

Don't you know that the system is designed to make your child stupid and uses you as an ATM with unlimited funds? The educational system was designed to keep the masses dependent and of course those dependent on it to provide self-worth are going to scream bloody murder if anyone objects to someone thinking for themselves.

"Social Skills! Social Skills!" cries the proponent of massification. There is a difference between social skills and socialization. Look it up.

Quite frankly, God gave your children to you because he thought you were perfectly qualified to be his/her teacher . If you don't trust that you'll trust anyone who says they can do it better than you.


Homeschooling is a viable option and for many truly enlightened people the only option.

Parents, take heart, you have nothing to lose and Father DOES know best!

Answer 2

Back when these people were alive home schooling was the only option, pretty much. Can't compare something to one thing when the other thing wasn't a viable option for almost everyone.

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I find it quite hilarious that the last answerer would even think that comparing something that existed to something that didn't exist isn't hilarious. Mozart was a virtuoso composing at 4 years old. Home schooling had NOTHING whatsoever to do with that, it was in him from the time he was born. You simply cannot compare a time that doesn't exist anymore to today and say that the only option back then is a better option when there are many options available now that weren't then.

YES we should put our kids out into the real world a lot earlier then we are today. Back when these children were home schooled they were put into social situations much earlier and expected to be independent much younger. Home schooling today is nothing, for the most part, but an excuse to be selfish with our children and keep them immature, irresponsible and dependent on the parent(s). A lot of these parents have an agenda and do not want their kids knowing what else is out there. It is a shield, a bubble, that these kids shouldn't be in.

Remind you of The Waterboy at all.....

'But, my mamma said....." doesn't hold up very well in the real world.

Answer 3

I think that home schooling is a terrible thing. I went to a private school and during SAT times some local homeschool kids would come in to take thier tests. They are the strangest, most socially withdrawn people I have ever met. Its like they are completely disconnected from the real world. I think it is a horrible injustice to kids. I can still spot a homeschooler after hearing them speak 3 sentences. I am not saying these children are not smart. In fact, I believe the opposite. They are just missing most key social elements that will make them a successful individual in our society.

Answer 4

I absolutely believe that home schooling is a viable option. IF (and it is a big IF) the instructor has the level of dedication and the discipline to get the job done. And IF (also a big IF) the student is receptive and responsive to the home instructors methods or has had the desire to learn instilled in them.
It takes a good deal of structure and a true desire on the part of the student to better themselves through knowledge.
I certainly don't believe that the public school systems are getting the job done. No matter how much money we throw at it.

Answer 5

Homeschooling has almost become a necessity in that the public schools are not doing what they are supposed to do - EDUCATE THE CHILDREN!!! As far as social outcasts, don't get me started on all the kids that do attend public school and seem to be afraid of their own shadows. What about the loners who are so sick of their peers, that they threaten or worse, actually go on killing sprees in schools? There is good and bad in every situation. When you are in school, you are "socializing" with your peers, how many jobs in the real world do you only socialize with your age group? You have to learn to deal with young and old alike, which is the one thing homeschoolers learn at a young age. I don't want my kids to be influenced by their immature peers. I want my kids to be able to think for themselves and not be part of the "norm". There are over 1 million children being homeschooled all over the world, stay tuned because that number is on the rise and will continue because homeschooling actually works when you balance their education, extracurricular activities, church and sports.

Answer 6

It has already been a workable option for a outstanding long term. My dad substitute into no longer amused by applying the undesirable outcomes produced by applying the first public college I went to (very extremely around the line from our dwelling house) from ok by using 5, and that i finished up going to a catholic college for 6th, seventh, and 8th grades (the place i substitute into the only non-catholic interior the finished place -- yet I have been given by using it), then a catholic intense college for 4 years (the place approximately 35% of the scholars have been non-catholic -- no longer that it substitute into common to tell...). i've got self belief the guvmint could get out of the college company altogether and leave guidance (no longer indoctrination, that's the customary function of public faculties at the instant) to aggressive (and, sure,commercial) operations. If i substitute into to declare from now on, it would substitute into too plenty greater, so i'm scuffling with right here.

Answer 7

Exactly like the others were saying....those are all from the day when schools were hundreds upon hundreds of miles apart. Now you can't walk 100 yards without finding one. Why would you want to ruin your kids life by home schooling them. Do you think that everyone whos anyone these days were home schooled. + look at the # of loners and outcasts in your list.

Anyone that I have known that has been home schooled has become quite aloof, and is the subject of a parent who just cant let go.

These days teachers go through vigorous tarining in many different areas to be able to teach at maximum capacity and with skill. Some mom who doesn't want their kids to turn out like the rest of the world is being over protective and just securing their childs future as an outcast and failure.

If anything those poor kids just become awkward with no social skills what-so-ever.

Just my opinion.

Answer 8

I find some of the responses absolutely hilarious!

"now that public school is an option everyone can take advantage of, I see no reason for home-schooling "

Public schooling absolved parents of the need to educate their children, to hire tutors or to send them to a school they needed to pay for. It was never that public schooling was supposed to be better than all the others but simply an efficient way to educate the masses according to government-mandated curriculum.

"Back when these people were alive home schooling was the only option, pretty much. Can't compare something to one thing when the other thing wasn't a viable option for almost everyone. "

The point was totally missed: if homeschooling was able to bring productive people into society, including presidents and leaders who definitely had social skills, why is homeschooling less viable today simply because public school is available everywhere?

"No, it only delays the youngster's entrance into the real world."

No, no, we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't help them gain a level of maturity before they start having peers try to influence them. We should start sending them out into the real world when they're born! The earlier the better! (Hope my sarcasm is apparent enough.)

"I have some home school friends and their social skills are way off track - seriously"

Finally somebody with some actual experience. I hope you don't think that means that ALL homeschooled kids are that way. That would be like meeting a couple of gang members from whatever ethnic group you choose and thinking that all people from that ethnic group are like that.

"For instance, they may have been smart, but they lacked social skills "

I do wish people would actually provide examples of the lack of social skills. Which sorts of skills did they not get that they should have? Homeschooling parents would love to know if there's a common lacking skill that they should make sure they take care of in some way.

"public or private school is not just for schooling , it also helps children get ready for the real world and interact with people"

Yes, so does homeschooling. I don't know a single homeschooling parent who does not interact with their child. I also do not know a single homeschooled child who does not interact with others on a regular basis. School is NOT a model of adult living, unless you're an adult student and even then it's still different.

"They are the strangest, most socially withdrawn people I have ever met. Its like they are completely disconnected from the real world."

As I say to my kids, "Can you think of another reason why they would be like that?" Tell me, if you had to go to some stranger's place of work to go do your tests, how would you have been?

"These days teachers go through vigorous tarining in many different areas to be able to teach at maximum capacity and with skill."

This is faulty information. I have teacher training and it wasn't that long ago. It was not that vigorous and has not changed. The education faculty is considered the place to go if you didn't get very good grades in school. You pick a bunch of courses you want to take then you take curriculum courses on how to teach to and assess a group of kids, making sure you stick to the mandated curriculum. I know teachers who are teaching subjects they never even studied in university.

It's a shame some more recent people or some people with truly amazing accomplishments weren't added to the mix: both Roosevelts as well as several other presidents who DID have the option of schooling but either didn't go at all or much, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, current best-selling author, homeschooled teen Christopher Paolini and more.

People can check out current research about modern homeschooled students to learn that on the whole, they do better than schooled kids socially. Not that I expect naysayers to do so because they want to cling to what they believe. I wish I could find a Time article I had a few years back where the author actually COMPLAINED that the homeschooled kids in the group he was observing were more mature than the schooled kids... I guess there just isn't pleasing some people.

Answer 9

Of course home school is a great option and legitimate, but it's all about those social skills. I have some home school friends and their social skills are way off track - seriously; this is not meant to offend. When you're in public school, even though they don't teach you many social skills, you just pick them up. It's just a part of life. I go to public school. You can contact me if you want any more info. On the other hand, I think home school is a way better option in the realm in getting your education. However, many colleges won't accept people who go to home school because they're discriminatory.

Answer 10

My husband has to cousins (both female) who were home-schooled. They are both exceptional college students. They have no social problems at all.

On the other hand, I have a niece who was home-schooled until she was 14. She was so far behind in school that she will be graduating from a high school this year at the age of 20. She also has major social problems.

The success of a home-school student depends on the abilities, resources, dedication, and determination of the parent who is homeschooling the child. Unless you are 100% commited to schooling your child, don't do it.