73 replies to this topic

[Sweeney]

Ok.

[Turnip]

Don't homeschool your child. You're not a trained teacher. You're not even a trained parent.
Every parent thinks they know what's best for their child, but the overwhelming majority of them don't.
Would you take your child to an untrained doctor when they were sick?
Then why would you entrust someone who has next to no idea what they're doing teach your child in her most formative years?

I see your point, but homeschooling when the child is young isn't all that bad o.o
You know, teaching simple maths, reading, writing, all that fun stuff~ They're going to be doing a lot of learning at home anyways, whether they're at Kindergarten or not
But yeah, later on in life homeschooling isn't exactly the best option (since you really do need a professional to teach your kids all that difficult stuff for exams and be able to help them if they need it).

If you get the right books/activities and things, it can go pretty smoothly!!
Have a look around on this site Maeghan :3 http://www.teachers-tools.com/

[Kauvara]

I just don't want my daughter coming home from school rapping to eminem or pit bull at 7 years old, kwim?

My boyfriend's little brothers (and their friends) both listen to shit like Soulja Boy and Wiz Khalifa....it was pretty revolting to hear one of them singing "Black N Yellow" at dinner the other night. They're 8 and 9 by the way, lol.
The 8 year old also was just suspended (for the second time) for getting in a fight with two other kids.

They were never like this before they moved out here, I can't tell you if it's the shitty public school system's fault or just what kids are into now a days.
They get into an overwhelming amount of trouble and their only children, it makes me kinda sad.

I just immediately thought of this thread after hearing more of his nonsense, lol.

Edited by Jabberwock, 16 February 2012 - 08:22 AM.

[lonewolf]

Theres's nothing wrong with home schooling in my opinion. I mean you don't learn much in preschool/primary anyways, but they DO give you the basics needed, and plus you will have nore social schools if you went to a public school. If you do not know how to prperly teach your child, you should take them to a primary shcool, as it is the easiest and safest choice

[Tachyon]

I was home-schooled from 5th to 8th grade and I really enjoyed it. I learned far more being home-schooled than I ever would have in public school. When I went back to public school as a freshman, I was ranked first in my class. The only major problem I found with being home-schooled was the fact that once I returned to high school I had problems socializing with my classmates. This made me sort of an outcast until my junior and senior years when I finally got used to being around people my own age.

If I were you I would look at your local education program. If there are no major problems with the system I would let your kids go to public school. However, if the system is messed up like it is here, I would at least home school your kids until fourth grade. But whatever you do, try to let them choose whether or not they want to attend high school. They should be given the opportunity to attend high school because it will give them a good transitional period before college. The home-schooled kids that I have seen go directly to college did not turn out well to say the least....

[lonewolf]

I was home-schooled from 5th to 8th grade and I really enjoyed it. I learned far more being home-schooled than I ever would have in public school. When I went back to public school as a freshman, I was ranked first in my class. The only major problem I found with being home-schooled was the fact that once I returned to high school I had problems socializing with my classmates. This made me sort of an outcast until my junior and senior years when I finally got used to being around people my own age.

If I were you I would look at your local education program. If there are no major problems with the system I would let your kids go to public school. However, if the system is messed up like it is here, I would at least home school your kids until fourth grade. But whatever you do, try to let them choose whether or not they want to attend high school. They should be given the opportunity to attend high school because it will give them a good transitional period before college. The home-schooled kids that I have seen go directly to college did not turn out well to say the least....

This bascically sums it up. Your child will learn more if homeschooled, , but would lose some of their social skills. So basically, it depends on how you want to raise your child

[Sweeney]

Your child will learn more if homeschooled

Assuming you're mentally competent enough to teach them. Which is far, far from a valid assumption.

[Ladida]

My best friend went to public elementary in Edmonton, but when her father got a job in Saskatchewan, the parents decided to homeschool the children instead of putting them in a new school there. What happened with their case is that they used a homeschooling service, where a tutor from the service would come to the house and teach the children. So they got a teacher, without the negative impact of bullying/other school drama. Their mother was always there while the tutor was in their home, and was able to keep an eye on the tutor. They were homeschooled all through junior and high school. Two out of the three children are in Med School, and the third is a Computer Scientist. They're doing fine interacting in their place of tertiary education, and have made friends, and are socializing. Perhaps because they weren't homeschooled right from the beginning, they learnt how to socialize with their peers. Theirs is a close family as well, so perhaps that helped to some degree, as they had each other while they were homeschooled.

[Camper]

A good private school with small numbers of students in a class is best.

[Adam]

I've known 3 homeschooled people thus far in my life, and all 3 of them are socially inept. I agree with homeschooling up until probably middle school and in a stretch up until high school. Kids/Teenagers will probably not know how to interact with others their age if homeschooled any time after this. Maybe I'm biased to this homeschooling thing but my step-sister, whom I hate with a passion, looks like and acts like a freaking hunchback troll. I blame her unfortunate ugliness on having no interaction with the outside world.
Mind you I'm sure this is not true for every homeschooling experience, but it is just what I have noticed so far.

Edited by Adam, 21 February 2012 - 08:54 AM.

[Sweeney]

I don't really consider hiring a private tutor for one to one schooling as being true "homeschooling". I mean, sure, it's at home, but it's really just extravagantly expensive private school. Without the extracurricular benefits.

"Homeschooling", for me, is parents tutoring the child.

[zandra]

Personal Opinion, i feel that homeschooling allows more bonding between parent and child.

This is an issue over here in Singapore where typically, we are not brought up by our parents but either domestic workers or grandparents. Of course the issue would be the amount of contribution time required from the parents. The education workload over here is also extremely heavy and fast-paced, homeschooling the child until grade 4 would help in tailoring an education which would suit their needs. However, i do feel that unless you are a professional educator, that is also the point where homeschooling should be stopped. Advantages such as less distraction and peer influences does not seem to outweigh the need of teens to learn how to socialise, competitive advantage loss due to parents being slightly out-to-date or lack understanding of certain subjects.

I do have friends that are home-schooled, most of them seems better mannered and are on scholarships in top UK universities.

So yeah say what you want but if I have kids in the future, i would homeschool them for the first bit, cos it just sounds that great.

[Fireball]

Over summer, I babysat three children who are homeschooled. I believe those kids are far from social and educational expectations for their age, but I think a kid can be socially and educational fit when it comes to homeschooling; it depends on how the parent(s) teach and keep them socially interactive.
My friend's whole family goes to a private school, and they are all above their academic level and they are all social people. But this is a very costly thing, or at least their school is expensive. If you have the money to dish out, then this is doable, but I think public schools are better.
I go to a public school, and I'd say I'm on my academic level, if not above, as well as a social person. It depends on the teacher though, I think. You could get a great teacher, or a shitty one. I've come across the shitty teachers, and that's where I took the initiative to take the classes online (which pretty much means I'm teaching myself).

Summary for myself:
Home School - I'd be dumb if my parents attempted to teach me.
Private School - My parents split when I was younger, so private school was not an option on one income.
Public School - I'd say this is the best choice of the three, although I guess I'd be considered homeschooled to some extent since I have the online schooling.

I think it'd be better for your daughter to decide on which schooling style she has later on in her education. But just pick one for her now and see how it goes. Hopefully this reply is useful.

[Frizzle]

Homeschooling is possibly the worst idea I've ever heard off.

[Tachyon]

I would like to add something I had forgotten to before. When I was home-schooled, my family traveled a lot so I was usually in contact with a lot of people. Even though they were not my age I still socialized with them. This made me a more prominent speaker to adults instead of kids. I am still told today by older adults that I 'talk on their level' more than any other person my age.

The point I'm trying to make here is that if you do it right, you can still get your kid to socialize while homeschooling them. If you get them active in your local community at a young age they can socialize with adults and kids their age in activities other than schooling. I'm sure all of you know kids that actually attend school yet are still socially inept. I believe this is because socialization takes more than just being around your peers in school.

[namida]

private school=the best education
public school= best real life lesson/education
home school= lead to weird little kids...should only be done if there is no other choice ....like if you live very isolated or have some handicap that prevents you from going to the other schools

i went to public...didn't learn much of anything ...but at least I made some very good friends

[Mishatu]

I have attended a private Catholic institution for 12 years, and when I got to college, a lot of my new-found friends thought that I led a rather sheltered life.

This may or may not be true of other private schools, but my high school seemed to have two main extremes: students focused on doing really well in life and getting to a good college, and druggies. I would assume that the parents of the druggies wished to eradicate that part of their personalities or some such silliness.

I honestly wish I had a chance to be homeschooled, because I would have had the chance to get so much further in my studies during those years. However, I am one of those unusual people who can learn pretty well with simply a lesson book. I missed some really good opportunities in the schools I attended, and I just have to look at one of my classmates to see what I could have done if there had been a more proactive approach towards the more intelligent students.

I hope that one day I can homeschool my own children, at least enough to give them a step up in the subjects that they are particularly gifted in. I don't want them to have to go through what I did. Too many "if only" statements went through my mind throughout junior high and high school.

[MarvelGirl]

I was home schooled in Alaska where I am from until 11th grade. I can honestly say that when it was time to integrate me into social education settings without my mom I felt all kinds of awkward and fucked up.

1. My opinions and views were that of my mom and dad only since that is who I was around 24-7. I never had a chance to be around a group of kids my own age in non-home school environments to learn social norms of my generation not my moms Gen X old shit.

2. I got teased hard when I arrived in a classroom environment and pretty much was a noob when it came to participation in group activities.

3. Growing up home schooled meant "outings" with other home schooled kids. I never got to play or interact with kids who attended pubic school.

I guess I am just saying if you do homeschool, let your child have access to some of the outside world. Take them to parks with all kinds of children in all kinds of learning environments. It will help immensely when it is time to hit the dorm rooms and your not around to supervise what she is learning.

Interaction with others is major. I feel like I missed out on so many fun things in school like pep rallies, getting to be a cheerleader, playing school sports, dances, friendships and all that junk that kids look forward to in high school.

[luvsmyncis]

If you homeschool your kids, they actually get to eat the special lunch you prepared for them, including the carrots cut into heart shapes.

[Sweeney]

Why not have all of them?

Because children only have one childhood each.

[Nymh]

If you homeschool your kids, they actually get to eat the special lunch you prepared for them, including the carrots cut into heart shapes.

I'm still pissed about that. Those carrots were cut with love.

I've tried to get Joe to homeschool our kids, since he's all qualified, but he said that he would end up killing them so I think they'd be safer in a school.

[NapisaurusRex]

A child can go to more than 1 school in a childhood

I don't know how I feel about this.

I homeschool our kids, but they're still pretty young. Yung's sister thinks I should quit around middle school and send them to public school, but that feels weird in my head. I've also read about people putting their kids in school to learn to read (or some other hard thing they don't feel like teaching) and then pulling them back out, but that also feels kinda weird. (Also, if I just keep them out, there isn't any paperwork, but to go back and forth there's tons.)

[Sweeney]

A child can go to more than 1 school in a childhood

Consistency is important in education.
The three things can be wildly different, and putting a child through all three is unnecessary and foolish.

[Frizzle]

I went to four. Not a good idea.

[Sweeney]

It really depends on the child in question. Maybe they are most suited for public school only in high school, and should get homeschooled elementary years and go to a private school in the middle school years to get prepared. But yeah going to all 3 probably doesn't suit most people.

That seems very unlikely to me.