What do you think about homeschoolers? Are they getting the education they need?

Question

people say they are smarter than people that go to public schools. is that true?

Answer 1

Homeschooling done well can be - if not better than public education, at least not worse. But it isn't always done well.

And studies show that if you compare the socio-economic demographics of homeschooled kids with kids in public schools of the same socio-economic level - they are about the same.

Homeschool kids perform better because they tend to come from higher income homes w/ college educated parents. Kids from the same background tend to perform well in public schools as well.

And "smarter" and school performance/achievement are not the same. Being smart - i.e. your IQ - has more to do with genetics. How well that is tapped into and utilized - that has to do with oppurtunities and exposure (you education). Not all kids that are "smart" perform well because they have not been exposed to the right educational oppurtunites. And kids that have a lot of educational support, but are not naturally "smart" can learn strategies to compensate.

What Homeschooling does give you is control and can allow you to perhaps push your child to learn more than they would have in school. But you can't "make" your kids smart.

Answer 2

It's going to completely depend on the students and how the parents homeschool.

Some homeschooled kids are special needs and not getting the attention they need in school. They are getting a better education at home than they would in school, but that doesn't mean that they are smarter than everybody who goes to public school.

Many homeschooled kids do get ahead and very easily. It only makes sense: the public school structure (and even the private school's to a certain extent) is designed so that everybody with average intelligence can pass. That means the material is delivered as slowly as it can to ensure that everybody can pass (although this doesn't necessarily mean that they will).

At home, a student who has finished a page of math in 15 minutes can do another page of math instead of sitting around, like in public school, reading to finish off the class. Having tutorial learning also means that the student doesn't move on until the material is sufficiently mastered. The better the basics are mastered, the easier the higher level things are and the faster they go through it all.

However, not every child is homeschooled that way. Some homeschooled students are not academically ahead and their parents are not necessarily bothered by that. Many would prefer to have their children develop a strong character and sense of self and focus on their interests than a focus on academics. Not that the children don't learn to read and write and all that, just that they're not particularly concerned about having their children be like everyone else.

Answer 3

Absolutely! Mainly because of the one-on-one instructional time they are given. It's hard to make sure a kid "gets it" in public school because you've got to teach 20-30 kids at a time. Public school could benefit from smaller class sizes. They keep trying to incorporate that but politics and public opinion get in the way. Homeschoolers don't have those constraints.

Answer 4

It entirely depends on the kid and the parents. If they work at it, and aren't doing it for religious reasons (and thus concentrating on the bible and ignoring science), they can move much faster than regular students. But my mother had two masters degrees, and I wouldn't have trusted her to teach me math after junior high. I'm getting a Ph.D, but I wouldn't homeschool my kids - I don't know anything about history and don't speak any other languages. No matter how much I know about one or two subjects, it won't replace public schools.

Answer 5

I don't believe homeschooled kids are getting the education they need, because there's more than book smarts. Most of them have no idea on how to function in the outside world. I've seen this happen with my younger cousin.

Answer 6

Well I've had 2 students (2nd grade) who were homeschooled and were very intelligent but flat out couldn't read. Had no phonics skills, couldn't spell, etc. It took a whole year to get them to read simple books and write simple sentences. I am sure some parents are excellent teachers but many have no idea how to teach a child to read.

Answer 7

it depends on who their teacher is. my three cousins who are 16, 15 and 14 have been homeschooled thier whole lives. the 16 year old just scored a 31 on his act (36 is a perfect score. average is 18) i think they are incredibly smart. part of that comes from the one on one attention they get but the parent also needs to be incredibly involved and smart themselves. my aunt teaches them. she used to be a teacher in schools before she had her children.

Answer 8

Sometimes, but home schooling can go both ways depending upon the parent.