its about time you were honest?

Question

i'm sick of hearing this argument from "anti-homeschooling" people that home schooled kids don't get a taste of the real world and they are socially retarded, and don't know how to act around a crowd, this is a stupid comment, do you think we lock our kids up in a cave or something, mine spend a max of 4 broken up hours per day on study and the rest they have social commitments. Its blatantly obvious your point about socialization is ridiculous so can anyone bring themselves to be honest once and for all and tell the real reason for not agreeing with homeschooling

thankyou for your honesty puppylumpa, you raise a very interesting arguement, one i actually agree with, about the religions, thankfully here in australia and in our community there are a wide range of different religions, im not religious myself so i dont put this on my children, i teach them that there are many different veiws on this and that they need to make their own desicion on this when they have enough information to do so.

Answer 1

Oh these people have no idea what they are talking about. They have to make these things up because they are uneducated about what homeschooling is really about. If they spent the 8 hours a day in the classrooms with their kids and then also get to spend 8 hours a day in a homeschoolers life they would soon realize that it is their kids that are missing out on the "real world".

Answer 2

I wasn't homeschooled, I attend private school my entire academic career. But my hat is off to all parents that do homeschool. Just reading through some of the comments here, the parents seem to be very well spoken persons that are hopefully producing equally as intelligent children. My thoughts are that persons who present an argument against it are groundless as you could very well present the same arguments against Catholic, Lutheran or any other denomination.

To ZCT:
To say that the public school classroom (or any other, for that matter) is a better representation of the 'real world' because it offers a cross-section of the good and bad of society is inane. How can being contained in one building for the better part of six hours a day be representative of real life? True, you do get to interact with all kinds of cultures which translates to various upbringings, personalities, opinions, etc. However, what makes that a more rich experience than HS'd children going into real world situations with their parents (as many here have commented)?
I don't have any children yet but the prospect of homeschooling looks better and better, especially when I turn on the news and learn of yet another school shooting.

To littleangelfire81:
You can be a devout Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, etc. WITHOUT being radically prejudiced against all others. As a Christian, I have respect for all other world religions but it doesn't affect my relationship with God or my church. In fact, isn't prejudice against all other religions the very thing that drives the suicide bombers to do what they do? Be careful with that line of thinking.

Answer 3

I wasn't going to answer, because you have so many good answers already. But I had to laugh when I read FreeThink...'s answer. I was public schooled all the way through. When I had my first job after college, I thought I had to get permission to go to the bathroom. I was an adult, and a professional, but I was brought up that you had to have a hall pass to pee! LOL

I think that because the media focuses on the homeschooling families that are either religious zealots or otherwise "strange", people automatically assume ALL HSers are that way. I know my kids spend about3-4 hours doing "formal" school work, then the rest of the time with social things as well.

One thing I'm going to make sure my kids learn (because I didn't in public school) is how to balance a checkbook, budget and STAY AWAY from credit cards! Plus, my kids will learn about WORLD religions, not just christianity. They will learn about world cultures, not just US and Mexico's culture. And they will learn all the scientific and religious theories about how the world began. We aren't religious people, but I want my children to be able to make an INFORMED decision. Not the one laid out by the public school.

Answer 4

I, too, tire of hearing completely untrue remarks regarding homeschooling. If these people would only do a little research they would see they don't have a leg to stand on with those particular arguments. As for the religious part of the issue, it is true that people believing strongly in their religion are more likely to homeschool their kids to limit the influence of others on their beliefs. Um...yeah! That's the point. To the person who says homeschoolers are more prejudiced of other religions, I say if you aren't prejudiced against religions other than yours, you don't truly believe in yours. If you don't think what you believe in is the absolute and the right way, then why do you bother believing in it? I don't think anyone should be persecuted for their religious beliefs, and the Bible I believe in says to be around non-believers, to mingle with them. But I'm an adult. Kids are more impressionable, and form their lifelong opinions during those formative years, and I'll be darned if I'm going to let some stranger be the one instilling those.
As for not teaching other theories of how the earth came to be, I would want my child to realize what some other people believe, but he would be taught that God created it.
The socialization issue is, you're right, completely ridiculous! Between homeschool co-ops, elective courses, sports and commitments, there's no shortage of social interaction on a daily basis for smart families. Also, since when is a classroom anything like the real world? Homeschooled kids get into the real world everytime they go somewhere with their parents, while their public school counterparts sit in one building all day.

I'm not a strict homeschool only person, I believe you go with what each particular child needs, but as a parent, I must lean towards homeschooling as I believe my child deserves the one-on-one attention he can only get at home, and the activity level he can only get at home.

Answer 5

Speaking as someone homeschooled from fifth grade on, and most certainly got the wrong side of the phenomenon, I feel I should point out that homeschooling has very real dangers.

It sounds as if your kids are doing well, but my parents were exceedingly lazy about my education and actually did the equivalent of locking me up in a cave. They moved to the middle of nowhere and left a shy kid to his own devices. I was terrified of mathematics, girls, and being relied upon for anything important until I was 22.

It has to be remembered that some parents are even less motivated and disciplined than their children.

Answer 6

i was home schooled until i was 5 - you are supposed to enter school when you are 3 but my mum held it back and i could read then anyway, i was cleverer than all the other kids my age in my class and the school actually held me back until the rest of the class caught up

at secondary school i was held back as well in some lessons, the teacher didnt used to like it when i used to tell them they were wrong - i actually had an argument about spelling my name right once and got detention. if you are gonna try and teach least u can do is get my name right.people dont like a know it all for some reason ;o)

home schooling is not encouraged because it gives poor kids an advantage over rich kids, especially in poor areas where your local catchment school is not very good

i would agree also that at school your children pick things up that you would not want them to pick up, there are 3 parents in every household these days and it is important to remember that the hird parent is tv

the media is affecting your childrens behaviour and influencing them, you should limit kids tv time

Answer 7

I'm addressing the comments about religious faith being a reason to disagree with homeschooling.....

We are not religious but we are christians. For those of you that understand my comment; GREAT! Others, sorry but that's for another forum.

Anyway, I have NO issue whatsoever with parents teaching their own children within their own beliefs. So what -- if a Jewish family teaches their children the Jewish traditions? So what -- if a Catholic family teaches their children the Catholic system of beliefs? So what if Ultra-right-wing radicals teach their children their political views? SO WHAT!!!!!?????? So what if Bill Clinton and Al Gore followers teach their children all about their views? So what????? We are not a dictatorship style country where all the underlings are required to bow to the same god of gov't schools.

So what????

The point of education is to have an academic foothold in all areas of life: politics, economics, industry, science, etc...... We don't need to be ALL the same to have a strong structure. If anything it is by far better to have a variety of strengths in all areas of life.

Home-education is a very worthwhile means to an education. If people don't think it is good -- then be happy and content in your thoughts because according to you these students will not be future competition for YOUR job or career.

But watch them closely -- I mean, watch the home-educated. They may very well become an intregal part of your future. Or little may you realize but they are already everywhere around you. They will be your co-workers, your bosses, your employees, your pastors, your missionaries, your mayors, civil workers, white collar and blue collar workers, professors, teachers, veterinarians, doctors, lawyers, scientists, grocery store clerks, computer programmers, army, airforce, navy, marines, coast-guard, etc. etc. etc. And many of them are already your neighbors. You see them in EVERY walk of life --- from street sweepers to presidents of companies. What is funny is that you will never KNOW which people come from public school or home school unless you ask.

Answer 8

Hmm... I really had a good laugh reading some of the above posted responses, especially the ones who were so against and fearful of parents who shove their religion down their children's throats. While I, too, am tired of people referring to my children (who are homeschooled) as socially inept or even worse, as social retards, I really never worry myself about ignorant insinuations or assumptions. My oldest daughter is in college, and she has done wonderfully in both aspects... academicly and socially. In fact, she has shocked many people, professors and fellow students, when she has told them that she was homeschooled. Therefore, I only concern myself with how my children really are, not what some person that has never met them, stereo-types them... too bad that people wouldn't concern themselves with how their children actually act. (Hint: I'm talking to the parents of both homeschooled and public schooled children who are impolite, partying, drinking, borderline criminals. Sadly, we have children in both camps that really need our attention... not the so-called socailly inept who usually keep to themselves and are labeled as such since they refuse to participate in the aforementioned list.)

Now, to my next rant... I wonder what these parents, who complain about "religious" parents, teach their children??? Do they allow their children to decide what they want to believe??? Do they teach them that possibly the Earth and everything else was created... and didn't just happen to come into existence through evolution??? I know that some of the homeschoolers that live in this area teach both theories to their children. In fact, their children, including mine, could probably define evolution and its processes better than most public schooled children. Further, many "religious" fanatics, that are viewed as such, also teach their children about all the different religions... not just the ones around them, but all the various religions throughout history. Do secular public schools or secular homeschoolers do that? Why not? Do they fear that their children might become "believers" in a certain doctrine? Further, do they put a spin on how they teach them about religion? If they were to honestly answer this question, the answer would be a resounding "YES". We all do that! We try to instill our beliefs on others because we feel passionately about our point of view, and we want to share that view with others. Therefore, to say that "religious" homeschoolers are horrible for forcing their views upon their children is really ironic since that is exactly what is done in the reverse by "non-religious" parents. While they say that they allow their children to choose their views, they still influence their views through comments like the ones above, which in reality, are no different that comments made by "religious" parents. Thus, we are ALL guilty of influencing our children and their views, and in my opinion, that is one aspect of being a parent... guiding our children the best that we know how and teaching them what we believe and why we believe it.

Answer 9

[applause]

In all honesty, I believe that those who are against homeschooling--this includes those who had bad experiences homeschooling--have a very narrow view and are simply unable to step out of it. They don't see it as obvious that kids are well socialized because they are unable to get their conception of homeschooling out of their heads and learn that most homeschoolers do provide suitable social time for their kids. It doesn't matter how much we tell them otherwise--sticking to what they believe is psychologically more important to them than possibly trusting others to know what they are talking about.

Many will have other underlying emotional things going on: they feel like you are judging their choice of education so react by judging, or feel like you are judging the education they received; they have underlying issues with their own parents and families and simply don't trust any parent to do as is needed for their children; probably others.

In summary, their reasons for being against homeschooling are either unconscious or due to ignorance.

Answer 10

I personally have never been home schooled. I have met some people who were. They were fairly well educated and then some that had no clue as to what an education was. I guess it is all up to how they were taught. If you teach your children they can get a good education being home schooled. If you just let your children teach themselves they won't learn a thing. So I guess it all depends on how the child is home schooled. I am sure the way you are doing it your children will grow up to be well rounded citizens and learn a lot as well as being socially active.