The world of home school?

Question

In my Ethics class (udergraduate extra credit), the question that was posed was "does home schooling teach children about the world or does it protect them from it".
Please discuss.
Thank You.

Busy mom thank you for your imput. would you e-mail me and expand on your answer?

Answer 1

Both. Parents home school their kids for different reasons. The only reason I could actually see fit for home schooling is if the child in question was very ill or something like that. I personally do not have any children, yet, but I can't possibly fathom home schooling my kids. Kids will learn their schooling lessons, but they're not going to do well in the social environment that comes with actually going to school.

For instance, if a parent is attempting to protect their child from "the real world", when that child is old enough to actually leave the house, he or she will basically step into a different world with outside scenarios and be completely dumbfounded with the way people really are.

In an attempt to protect their child the parents have only numbed them out to the way civilization actually flows or doesn't flow. All people need outside human contact. School, from daycare to college is a major life experience. Socially, mentally and physically.

Imagine this... Child A. who was home schooled all his life, gets a decent job in the business field and needs to make an oral presentation. How nervous do you think Child A. is going to be? My guess here is he's not going to do too well. Child B. who went to public school is now in the same situation. Child B. is going to do much better in this situation because he's had the experience of giving a speech in front of his classmates from High School to College at least. Sure he may be nervous but he can handle it because he knows what he's doing and how to treat a crowd.

Overall children need to socially interact with peers to become better adults.

Answer 2

I could ask close to the same about public schools.
Dose public school teach children about the word?
Or does it just over expose the hype of a commercialized word?
Or with all it's metal detectors does it over protect them?
In to days word, protecting,over protecting and lack of protecting,is such a fine line.
The truth is, the schools are only suppose to teach basic
subjects. Reading, writing, math,spelling.
It's not their job to teach, religion,word views,or other sure related subjects. That is the job of the "family".
Thus, if the homeschoolinging family does this. Then it is fully
doing it's job as a "homeschool".
Yet if the public school does it. It has over stepped it's bounds.
Honestly with the news on very chanel. And the news paper
on very conner. It's harder then you mite think to so call
"protect" the children from the world.

Answer 3

The answer will be different for each family.
Protecting our children from the world was not our reason for homeschooling them. However, we do protect them from certain things while they are young. For instance, we do not tell them all the details of s*x when they are little. I do know parents whose children have been told very detailed things when in first grade. It is harmful for a child to be hearing these things at such a tender age. So, yes, this family does do some protecting, but we do not hide them away from the world forever. We just do what we can to make it age appropriate so they can grow up securely. A person who has a secure childhood is better able to handle adult life than one who has had an insecure childhood.

Answer 4

Since the children have the opportunity to experience all aspects of daily life by accompanying their parents on all errands, outings, volunteer work, and at times their jobs; we are very confident that they are not protected from, as much as they are being prepared from the beginning to be a active participant in society.
Our children are never age segregated, and therefore are able to communicate, and work with people of all age levels.

Schools provide an artificial environment, not suited for the natural development of children.
Home schooling is therefore a natural extension of what parents have done since the birth of their child, love, nurture, and teach.

Edit:
Without a more detailed question as to what specifically you would like to discuss; I am not sure how to expand on my answer.
I am not sure I understand where this topic would be an issue in an ethics class?

Answer 5

My thoughts on the question "does home schooling teach children about the world or does it protect them from it".

Who knows the average family? Who knows the average homeschool family? "Homeschooling" is now mainstreamed, but this question allows people to explore their own biases. Hopfully, no one assumes that sitting in a desk or looking at a text book, whether at home or in a institution, allows you to learn about the world around you.

Technology throws a wrench in the question. I think television and internet allows us to see more than our great-grandparents could have ever dreamed of seeing! Modern technology opens the doors to the world more so than a classroom - at home or in an institution. If homeschool, private school, and public school children all have cable or internet at home they are probably all equally ignorant and informed about the world.

Homeschooling will provide examples that demonstrate both extremes and those extremes can be found even in families whose children learn in an institution. Wouldn't the answer be different for each family?

I know a homeschool family whose son actually went to live in Africa for awhile. In a place where there are no government schools he was allowed to help teach. He picked up on the language and he now has a different world view than his peers. He will know more about that part of the world than most of us. You and I might only know about it from the news but he has lived with the people.

Homeschooling does allow that freedom to pick up and travel and to not be bound by an institution's schedule.

You could say that homeschooling allows children to engage in community life when their peers are sitting in a classroom. It can also allow a child to enter college early, many homeschoolers start at 16, or to become employed early as they can finish their school-work at home in the evenings.

But again, each family is different and you will find examples of extremes from public, private, and homeschool families.

Just my thoughts!

Answer 6

Well, assuming homeschooling isn't done by the freaks who get on the news, it teaches them about it.

I am missing out on the wildly unrealistic school environment. In school, I would have to put up with things that I would never have to put up with in the real world, and don't.

While most of my social interaction is with other homeschoolers, for most of the day we are completely unsupervised, and out and about in New York City. That gives us the same chance, in fact more chances, to drink, get high, have sex, et cetera, but we don't. We generally just don't act like morons like kids in school tend to. It's not because kids in school are inferior or anything, but they're living basically under a totalitarian regime: the school says to come here now, do this now, do it this way, why? Because it says so. So when they get a chance to rebel, they go overboard.

If the real world that everyone keeps on talking about is anything like a normal, public/private high school experience, suicide is the merciful way to deal.

Answer 7

i'm basically starting up to homeschool my sixth grade son and that i'm very enthusiastic about the possibilibities of it. i imagine homeschooling really is the astounding, because at the same time as all of it comes right down to the information, it fairly does artwork for most, the only on one, the bonding, seeing the real progression your toddler is making at the same time as being knowledgeable, and having the alternative on what form of curriculum your toddler will be getting to draw close makes the version. i'm so drained of colleges no longer preparation little ones, ettiquette and appreciate for others. i don't love the cliques and labeling little ones because all little ones are unique and particular. Be proud that you're a real instructor, a real discern who cares about their toddler, and that you're socially rounded.

Answer 8

I am currently home schooled, but I have been to three different private schools and two different public schools. I have been told by many people that I need to stay in public school to prepare me for the world. The way I look at it, I think that college will do a pretty good job of preparing me for the world. But really, I live in the world, so its kinda hard not to know what goes on. My elder brothers who have been home schooled their whole lives have both gotten wonderful jobs, and actually the two secular colleges they went to told them that one of the main reasons they accepted their applications first was because studies have shown that homeschoolers overall have a much higher percent of scores on SATs and ACTs ect.
I am home schooled because my parents were directed by God to do it. I think that my Heavenly Father should have no problem protecting me in the world that He created.

Answer 9

eth·ics:
1. (used with a singular or plural verb) a system of moral principles: the ethics of a culture.
2. the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics; Christian ethics.
3. moral principles, as of an individual: His ethics forbade betrayal of a confidence.
4. (usually used with a singular verb) that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

I think it depends on the parent. I myself took a culture class while pursuing an Early Childhood Education degree so I tie alot of that into my children's daily life, as well as, schooling. My husband is also in the military so ethics and culture are already a daily part of their lives, as your neighbors are never from the same place as you. I find this to be a plus to my children because they can't say "my mom was raised here and now we live a block away from where she lived when she was a kid." But now on the flip side there are some very closeminded or ignorant people in our world that are homeschoolers. Before everyone starts jumping on my opinion let me explain! By ignorant I mean that maybe they just don't know what life is like somewhere else and so therefore can't enlighten their children. By closeminded I mean just that...they don't care what life is like elsewhere and therefore they choose to raise their children to be closeminded as well. Some are scared of what they don't know and therefore aren't open to learn about others' beliefs and cultures. One more thing.....being in a public school doesn't necessarily mean you will be more ethically experienced than those who never attend a public school. Public schools are taught by teachers who have their own opinion just as parents do so a teacher may spend all of one hour on one cuture but spend days on another. So where does one learn ethics, cultures, beliefs????

Answer 10

Haha, I'm a highschool sophomore and can tell you without thinking hard that you could write volumes ona topic like that.

And my belief is that it depends. If the parent is teaching to hide away from the world or if the parent is teaching them about things going on in the world.

Answer 11

I find that kind of an odd question. Children are taught about the world--about bad strangers--and what to do about it TO protect them. They are taught about the importance of wearing bike helmets TO protect them. They are taught about the dangers of smoking and drugs TO protect them. Teaching about the world and protecting them are not on opposite ends.

So, with that in mind, I say, first of all, it depends on who's doing the homeschooling. Homeschooling in itself doesn't do any one thing. Just like parenting in itself doesn't do any one thing: it's all in how you go about it.

Homeschooling can teach kids about the world IF the parents make it that way. My own children are 6 and 9 and know about drugs and grow-ops and bullies and see the fashions that are out there, etc. There are other parents who would not want their children to even hear about drugs at that age. Unfortunately, despite living in a nice neighbourhood, there was a grow-op down the street and we are quite sure someone else on the street is dealing. This is the world they live in. I am teaching them about it TO protect them.

But this is not the only part of learning about the world that they do. They are in the community probably more than the average school child so they learn about typical social interactions on that level. They participate in activities, just like public school kids, and see how the world operates. They participate in activities with a wide age range and learn about interacting with different ages, and with sometimes a variety of colourful people. ;)

On the flip side, I would say that homeschooling does protect my children to a certain extent, but probably not by what the questioner meant: they are protected from living around certain negative attitudes most of the time, protected from the bulk of materialism displayed by children at school, protected from growing up believing that peer approval is the most important thing... Essentially, my providing a healthier environment does help protect different aspects of their development, just like providing nutritious food helps protect them from disease. And yes, they are protected from being with bullies 35 hours a week--not that they don't experience bullies now and then, but they aren't having to live it so much--and are protected from the mindsets that say that doing drugs, drinking, partying, having sex is cool.

This protection is not total sheltering: they still have their dealings with others, are still exposed to these other things. But it's the difference between being exposed to a cold here and there and being in a room with a bunch of cold sufferers for the bulk of your day.