What do people think about home schooling children rather than sending them to state schools?

Question

The education that I had at school was substandard and there was a lot of bullying by teachers and other students. I sometimes think that school crushes children's spirits and forces them to stick to an unflexible curriculum aimed at passing exams. I think education should be about personal development and that children should not be so constricted. It is certainly something that I am thinking about. Any opinions or experiences please?

I agree that social interaction is crucial to development. However I think that this could be achieved by getting together with other parents who were home schooling and having group lessons, as well as allowing the child to engage in after school activities and play with local children. I just think that there is a lot wrong with state schools, and it isn't necesarrilly the best option.

Answer 1

I understand why people homeschool their kids. However, the vast majority of students in this country attend public schools, and public schools are far from perfect. This means that most of the people entering the workforce are going to be coming from a background of public education. Seeing the problems with the system, parents might opt to remove their children from the system entirely. Great for the kid, but he or she is still going to enter an adult world full of public school graduates.

Whether you home school your kids or not, public education is funded with your tax dollars. What that means, most importantly, is that you have a say in how public schools are run. If you really believe that the public system is so bad and ineffective, your withdrawl from that system is an endorsement of that system. It's a simple civics lesson. If you have a say, but don't say anything, you have effectively endorsed the status quo.

So to answer the question...homeschooling is probably a good move if you want your child to have an immersive, engaging education that allows much room for critical thought. Another way to achieve that is to establish a public school curriculum that is immersive, engaging, and conducive to critical thought, and then send your child to public school.

Either way your child ends up fine, but the latter option creates a better world, one in which your child will find both like minds and numerous applications for his or her skills. But that's the whole point of state funded education in the first place. An educated public is a productive public, a public in control of its own fate. If we think it's failing (or if any of our government systems are failing, for that matter), we should, as citizens, act to make it right. "Public" education means the schools belong to us.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, the public school system has turned into nothing but an institution for people to stick their kids to get them out of the hair. Almost all public schools shove kids through as fast as possible, teaching them only what's needed to pass state-required exams, before passing them whether they've gotten a hold on what they were taught or not. Children aren't treated like individuals, and teachers don't care what happens to them until they think the child is misbehaving. People claim that homeschooled kids don't acquire social skills? Look at the children in public schools who are forced by other students to exist alone on the playground/campus because they aren't wearing the 'right' thing, or because they don't fit in with whatever the current idea is of cool. If a child has any kind of special needs (for positive OR negative things), they're ostracised.

Homeschooled children tend to be more intelligent and they enter the 'real world' more easily. They aren't hindered by 30 other children in the classroom acting up and distracting them from their work. There is no basis to the "homeschooled children don't have social interaction" argument. That argument could only go for parents/guardians who purposefully hide their children away and keep them from interacting with anyone. Any good homeschooling parent will include some type of social interaction for their child- whether it's an activity group with other homeschooled kids or some kind of sport or group thing in the community. Also, it is a fact that if a college has to choose between a public school student and a homeschool student, they will choose the homeschool student for entrance. Same goes for the doling out of scholarships. Just ask any honest person on a scholarship committee.

Answer 3

I homeschool my own children. I used to teach elementary school and my dh has taught junior high for many years now. We see what the schools are like and don't want that for our children. They can have a much better environment growing up at home and out in the community than stuck in a school 35 hours a week and then doing whatever homework they need to do on top of that.

And frankly, I don't see what sitting in a desk most of the day, unable to talk to your colleagues except when given permission, unable to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water without permission, changing job tasks every 30-60 minutes, and so on, have to do with real life once an adult.

I encourage you to keep thinking about homeschooling and to get to know people in your community who homeschool. You already have the heart of a homeschooler from what I can tell.

Answer 4

The most important lesson a child can learn at school is social interaction. In fact, there are some schools of thought which believe that reading and writing should not be taught until a child is around 6/7 years old in order to give them more time to develop socially.

Whilst bullying does exist at all schools (state and otherwise), I have yet to work somewhere where it hasn't also happened in some shape or form - dealing with unpleasant people is as useful a skill as learning about glacial moraine or proper nouns.

I never felt unduly constricted by my schooling experience at a UK state school and there is no reason why you can't still encourage and nurture a child's creative development as an addition to their regular schooling (or equally just let them have fun growing up).

Answer 5

I have two thoughts on the matter. One, the current structure used in state school systems doesn't prepare our children very well if they wish to start and run their own businesses. It's mainly based on turning out people qualified to work for corporate industries, but not as entrepenuers. A private school or home schooling could result in a better education in this case.

My second thought is along the lines of social interaction. This is important, lessons are learned from dealing with bullies as well. However, there are such things as home-schooling groups, were groups of families will band together to school their children. In such cases, different subjects are taught by different people within the group. The children still get social interaction amongst themselves, sometimes including organized sporting events. However, it is done on a smaller level with more attention being applied per student, resulting in a better education.

Answer 6

I was home schooled my entire life. I will forever thank my mother for taking time to educate me on a one-on-one basis. I do not feel I was socially deprived. I feel I was spared from all the negative peer pressure that is sure to be at any school.

No matter how great the teacher, if they're teaching from a public school, they cannot provide one-on-one. I mean, homeschooling is like having a personal tutor for your child.

Besides the family values. I have a really hard time understanding how a mother can send her child to daycare/school/whatever it may be where someone they don't know is molding their child into the person they'll be someday.

Back to the "socially deprived" part of homeschooling: As has been said, there are homeschool groups. Start looking, I'm sure you can find one somewhere nearby. And they're tons of fun!!

Being "sheltered" is a major plus! now, you can't shelter your child from the real world and what life is like, or they won't be able to survive. But you can shelter them from sex, drugs, alcohol and all of the other "wonderful" things that school has to offer.

Again, THANK YOU to my mother for homeschooling me! And if you can homeschool your child PLEASE DO!!!

Answer 7

I would be tempted because I feel that my children are always encouraged to team players. Anything they excel at is therefore, squished. The bottom feeders are always the ones to benefit. It annoys the hell out of me.
But I want my girls to have a different social group, outside of the family.
If you can mix the 2 then go for it. Just make sure you teach all the subjects on the National Curriculum so they can pass the state exams. You have to conform to those, I feel.

Answer 8

Home schooling works.

It has been proven over and over again.

You will find tens of thousands of success stories by looking for support groups in your community, county, state, and online.

Check into the statistics and results of years of study at www.NHERI.org Dr. Brian Ray is a renowned research specialist. He travels the world giving presentations on home-schooling to government entities and in court cases.

Also, find out the law in each area through www.HSLDA.org. You can also find home-school friendly organizations through HSLDA.

Home school students come in every ethnic background and in every social structure. Some are in rich families and some are in poor families. With the proper books, time and attention they can all succeed to the best of their own ability.

Each child is unique and will have his/her independent strengths. The beauty of home education is that it will enhance each students natural learning process.

My students use a self-teaching method. We bought the Robinson Curriculum. It gives them a basic structure and plan of learning --- they progress each day with a lesson of math (striving for 100% accuracy), a page of writing -- to be checked and corrected, and a minimum of 2 hours of reading. They do the same basic outline everyday but each day is unique in that the material changes. Math is incremental. Writing improves with practice. And reading covers ALL areas of interest.

Answer 9

I totally agree with you,public schools are SO messed up,its sad.I'm 14,and have been home schooled my entire life.My parents understood that public schools are messed up,so they never sent me to one,which I am thankful so much for.And socialization isn't a problem,I have friends,and even though I don't see them everyday,that's what instant messaging,email,and cellphones are for.I think that home schooling is the best way to educate kids,and I hope to home school mine when the day comes.

Answer 10

like u sed, personal development is very important, and this can be gained much more efficiently at state schools by interacting with the people and environment there and they gain much more than just education. even tho school teaching may be substandard in certain schools if the child really wants to succeed they can, with help from home and various other texts available at bookstores...remember schooling is not jst bout schools and teachers its bout the individual pupil too, i dont think ne1 should be witheld from public schooling, as its an essential part of development