Homeschooling
- Thread starter Tinkerbell
- Start date
MikeyBash
New Member
itsbob said:
By that logic, there are also a lot of public school teachers who have no business teaching. When my kids went to public school, I regularly saw obvious spelling errors on bulletin boards posted by teachers and administrators in the hallways, as well as letters sent home to parents.
RationalRedHead
New Member
Stereotyping
One man made a lovely and important comment that similar stereotypes are used against race, as now are used with homeschoolers. I did a little experiment I took out the word homeschooled in all the posts, positive and negative, and inserted various ugly slang used to describe various racial and religious groups.
It made a powerful statement about the continued need to ridicule or judge people and lifestyles we do not understand, are frightened by, or simple know NOTHING about. Frankly, I think it makes people look pretty stupid.
Seems to me the people in this thread doing the stereotyping...weren't homeschooled....hmmm, go figure.
One man made a lovely and important comment that similar stereotypes are used against race, as now are used with homeschoolers. I did a little experiment I took out the word homeschooled in all the posts, positive and negative, and inserted various ugly slang used to describe various racial and religious groups.
It made a powerful statement about the continued need to ridicule or judge people and lifestyles we do not understand, are frightened by, or simple know NOTHING about. Frankly, I think it makes people look pretty stupid.
Seems to me the people in this thread doing the stereotyping...weren't homeschooled....hmmm, go figure.
There are many, many types of homeschoolers
I find this whole thread very funny. So many times when my kids were in Public School I heard too many parents to count complain about "hellion" kids. In fact my children were never in classrooms where at least 1 child wasn't totally controlling the classroom with behavior problems. Do people think homeschoolers are immune to problem kids? Wouldn't that be great if it were true? Many times when you meet a homeschooled child who acts really badly it's because they were Public School drop outs-that is the Schools were having a hard time handling them. Same with those in Public School now who were homeschooled-these may well be the ones who probably didn't make it as homeschoolers. The vast majority of homeschooled kids that we meet are amazing. And I Really mean that. Luckily because we have those PS dropouts we also are thankfully-I suppose-ha ha-exposed to plenty of difficult kids and adults so our kids learn to deal with nasty people. So saying all of this I can give a snippet of my story: In the year and a half since we began homeschooling my children have been exposed to Hundreds of more children and numerous more adults than they were in Public School. They also have been in more interesting places, learned from many more teachers (and I believe there are many more types of teachers out there than most people are really aware of), and discussed more subjects than they could have been exposed to in all 12 years of public school-and we've only just begun. My kids are no longer only exposed to affluent, middle class students. They no longer struggle to be interested in school. They were already extremely well-behaved but now their natural niceness extends to so many more people. But they now know a lot more about what a "real" friend means. And BTW, it doesn't mean who has the nicest clothes or who's family has a pool. When they were in Public School 90% of what they learned they really learned from me through homework and teaching when the teacher sent more work home. Now they easily learn 50% or more through other sources in person, on-line, and through literature. Every Day that my children are homeschooled they learn more than a week in public school-even when I personally am not teaching them at all. We have taken specialized classes in Baltimore, Annapolis, Community Colleges and throughout Southern Maryland. They do not just meet more people but they routinely meet more diverse people than I was ever able to expose them to when they met with their 35 classmates day after day in school. I got tired of complaining about the system. I chose to change my system instead. I can say without dispute that my children now have the best education I could ever have hoped for them, plus more interesting opportunities than ever before. Think what it means to spend 25 minutes on the playground with people you barely like as compared to 4 hours at the park with all your best friends. Don't forget there are many, many types of homeschoolers. Those who are exclusive-i.e.-don't want to expose their kids to any outside influences-usually highly religious-are Vastly different from those who are inclusive and want to expose their children to More of what life has to offer. Don't confuse the two. We are as different as night and day. It is also important to note that the communities change and update every year as more and more people try homeschooling. More and more opportunities make for more and more diverse experiences. We won't ever make a dent in the population of schooled children and that is perfectly ok. For those that it works for the results are amazing. For the rest that's why we have public and private schools. They are good too and work well for the vast majority of families.
homexec
I find this whole thread very funny. So many times when my kids were in Public School I heard too many parents to count complain about "hellion" kids. In fact my children were never in classrooms where at least 1 child wasn't totally controlling the classroom with behavior problems. Do people think homeschoolers are immune to problem kids? Wouldn't that be great if it were true? Many times when you meet a homeschooled child who acts really badly it's because they were Public School drop outs-that is the Schools were having a hard time handling them. Same with those in Public School now who were homeschooled-these may well be the ones who probably didn't make it as homeschoolers. The vast majority of homeschooled kids that we meet are amazing. And I Really mean that. Luckily because we have those PS dropouts we also are thankfully-I suppose-ha ha-exposed to plenty of difficult kids and adults so our kids learn to deal with nasty people. So saying all of this I can give a snippet of my story: In the year and a half since we began homeschooling my children have been exposed to Hundreds of more children and numerous more adults than they were in Public School. They also have been in more interesting places, learned from many more teachers (and I believe there are many more types of teachers out there than most people are really aware of), and discussed more subjects than they could have been exposed to in all 12 years of public school-and we've only just begun. My kids are no longer only exposed to affluent, middle class students. They no longer struggle to be interested in school. They were already extremely well-behaved but now their natural niceness extends to so many more people. But they now know a lot more about what a "real" friend means. And BTW, it doesn't mean who has the nicest clothes or who's family has a pool. When they were in Public School 90% of what they learned they really learned from me through homework and teaching when the teacher sent more work home. Now they easily learn 50% or more through other sources in person, on-line, and through literature. Every Day that my children are homeschooled they learn more than a week in public school-even when I personally am not teaching them at all. We have taken specialized classes in Baltimore, Annapolis, Community Colleges and throughout Southern Maryland. They do not just meet more people but they routinely meet more diverse people than I was ever able to expose them to when they met with their 35 classmates day after day in school. I got tired of complaining about the system. I chose to change my system instead. I can say without dispute that my children now have the best education I could ever have hoped for them, plus more interesting opportunities than ever before. Think what it means to spend 25 minutes on the playground with people you barely like as compared to 4 hours at the park with all your best friends. Don't forget there are many, many types of homeschoolers. Those who are exclusive-i.e.-don't want to expose their kids to any outside influences-usually highly religious-are Vastly different from those who are inclusive and want to expose their children to More of what life has to offer. Don't confuse the two. We are as different as night and day. It is also important to note that the communities change and update every year as more and more people try homeschooling. More and more opportunities make for more and more diverse experiences. We won't ever make a dent in the population of schooled children and that is perfectly ok. For those that it works for the results are amazing. For the rest that's why we have public and private schools. They are good too and work well for the vast majority of families.
homexec
In discussing this with my spouse a good point came up about the homeschool kids I have meet and dealt with. Many of these parents have pulled their kids out of Public/Private schools because they don't want their kids associating with "bad influences". As such, maybe these parents are telling their kids that they are better than the kids in public/private schools which feeds into their ego/behavior issues. I am not saying that ALL homeschoolers are like this, just seems to be the ones I have meet.
Homexec - I think that it is great that you are homeschooling. As I stated before I could not have done that and I did seriously look at when my son was younger. However, I think that what your kids learn about friends, etc is more a result of you than the fact that you homeschool. What parents teach their kids about the friends, loyality, what is important in life, etc happens whether that kid is in public/private school or not. Homeschooling doesn't give them a leg up on that type of learning - parents do.
I have one question for all the homeschoolers. When you homeschool you tailor the learning to your individual child, their likes and dislikes, how they like to work etc - right? So what happens when they go out in the real world and their boss is not willing to be so flexible? When people are not willing to tailor or cater to them? I am not saying that homeschooling parents intentionally do this but isn't that a result of homeschooling?
Homexec - I think that it is great that you are homeschooling. As I stated before I could not have done that and I did seriously look at when my son was younger. However, I think that what your kids learn about friends, etc is more a result of you than the fact that you homeschool. What parents teach their kids about the friends, loyality, what is important in life, etc happens whether that kid is in public/private school or not. Homeschooling doesn't give them a leg up on that type of learning - parents do.
I have one question for all the homeschoolers. When you homeschool you tailor the learning to your individual child, their likes and dislikes, how they like to work etc - right? So what happens when they go out in the real world and their boss is not willing to be so flexible? When people are not willing to tailor or cater to them? I am not saying that homeschooling parents intentionally do this but isn't that a result of homeschooling?
MikeyBash
New Member
alex said:
Tailoring education to a child's strengths doesn't mean you don't teach them how to be responsible and hardworking. Our kids are required to complete their assignments on time, redo them if they're not up to par, and manage their time so they can get their work done. This is just what they'd encounter in the "real world". Also, work skills aren't only taught in an educational settings -- our kids have chores that they have to do every day, and we inspect and evaluate their work, just like a job.
But it's true that we're more flexible in steering their curriculums towards their individual strengths and interests. This will help them decide what career path they ultimately decide to follow. Schools do this too, but homeschool parents are able to spend more time observing and guiding our kids, because we spend more time with them, and we know them better.
cebasham
New Member
what does tailoring education to the child look like?
Tailoring education to suit the child is another thing that sounds more ominous in theory than it is in practice. Here’s one small example from our house.
My sons hated poetry when we first started homeschooling. Every time I'd pull out our poetry anthology, they'd roll their eyes and clearly shut it out. In "real school", that's how things would continue-boys sitting through poetry and hating it, until they graduated, and then never reading another piece of poetry again.
Then we saw a Simpsons episode based on "The Raven". My kids loved it. They memorized it. They performed it for friends and family. They insisted I pull out my Poe anthology-we read poem after poem, discussing their meaning and style. We then read some of his short stories. We read a biography of Poe. We watched movies based on his life and work. Back to the poems-my boys couldn’t get enough Poe. It led to an interest in communicable diseases (because of the losses Poe suffered of so many women in his life). It also led to one of my son’s poems being published in a children’s magazine- a big thrill, for a 6-year-old.
Later that semester, my oldest son was watching Law & Order; a handsome cop quoted a piece of poetry to charm a girl. We ended up reading many, many poems by Langston Hughes—and I still will hear my sons, on occasion, quietly muttering about how they want "to dig, and be dug in return". Some young girl is going to fall for that, just like she did on Law & Order.
Now, we can go back to that old anthology that had my boys rolling their eyes at the start, and they are willing, even eager to give these pieces of literature a fair chance. They may not like them all, but as a mother (and as a writer with a literature degree) I am very pleased to hear my son say "that’s ok, but I like Langston Hughes a lot better."
We listen to a lot of Weird Al songs-and my boys compose their own impromtu tunes to make fun of their world.
Tailoring doesn’t mean we skip something important. It means we keep hacking at a subject from as many angles as we can, until we find an "in".
I start my school year with a plan-"we’re going to cover XYZ". But I also ask the boys what they want to study. We’ll fit in a lot of that stuff, too. And whatever we don't officially cover, they have the luxury of time to research on their own.
You ask how they’ll deal with less flexible employers in the real world-well, I think that in the real world you don’t need to excel at everything. You go into a career doing something you do well and enjoy.
Yes, I learned algebra and chemistry and such, and I am looking forward to teaching all sorts of subjects to my kids-or finding people better equipped to do that teaching (I really wish I could have found a better chemistry teacher than I had in school, but hey, that's another post). I want my children to have a well-rounded education, so that when they are ready to seek higher education and career their options are as broad as possible. But employers hire me to do what I do best, and hire chemists to do that sort of thing. Nobody forces a chemist to write short stories, and nobody expects me to cure cancer.
Tailoring education to suit the child is another thing that sounds more ominous in theory than it is in practice. Here’s one small example from our house.
My sons hated poetry when we first started homeschooling. Every time I'd pull out our poetry anthology, they'd roll their eyes and clearly shut it out. In "real school", that's how things would continue-boys sitting through poetry and hating it, until they graduated, and then never reading another piece of poetry again.
Then we saw a Simpsons episode based on "The Raven". My kids loved it. They memorized it. They performed it for friends and family. They insisted I pull out my Poe anthology-we read poem after poem, discussing their meaning and style. We then read some of his short stories. We read a biography of Poe. We watched movies based on his life and work. Back to the poems-my boys couldn’t get enough Poe. It led to an interest in communicable diseases (because of the losses Poe suffered of so many women in his life). It also led to one of my son’s poems being published in a children’s magazine- a big thrill, for a 6-year-old.
Later that semester, my oldest son was watching Law & Order; a handsome cop quoted a piece of poetry to charm a girl. We ended up reading many, many poems by Langston Hughes—and I still will hear my sons, on occasion, quietly muttering about how they want "to dig, and be dug in return". Some young girl is going to fall for that, just like she did on Law & Order.
Now, we can go back to that old anthology that had my boys rolling their eyes at the start, and they are willing, even eager to give these pieces of literature a fair chance. They may not like them all, but as a mother (and as a writer with a literature degree) I am very pleased to hear my son say "that’s ok, but I like Langston Hughes a lot better."
We listen to a lot of Weird Al songs-and my boys compose their own impromtu tunes to make fun of their world.
Tailoring doesn’t mean we skip something important. It means we keep hacking at a subject from as many angles as we can, until we find an "in".
I start my school year with a plan-"we’re going to cover XYZ". But I also ask the boys what they want to study. We’ll fit in a lot of that stuff, too. And whatever we don't officially cover, they have the luxury of time to research on their own.
You ask how they’ll deal with less flexible employers in the real world-well, I think that in the real world you don’t need to excel at everything. You go into a career doing something you do well and enjoy.
Yes, I learned algebra and chemistry and such, and I am looking forward to teaching all sorts of subjects to my kids-or finding people better equipped to do that teaching (I really wish I could have found a better chemistry teacher than I had in school, but hey, that's another post). I want my children to have a well-rounded education, so that when they are ready to seek higher education and career their options are as broad as possible. But employers hire me to do what I do best, and hire chemists to do that sort of thing. Nobody forces a chemist to write short stories, and nobody expects me to cure cancer.
Tinkerbell
Baby blues
When I started this thread, I wanted it to be an open and honest discussion between homeschoolers and .... public schoolers (for lack of a better term! 
). Mostly, that is what it has been. Vrai had great (and legitimate) questions. Homeschoolmom really answered them well from her experience and point of view. That's what I was looking for. Homeexec and Cebasham have given us alot of information from their point of views and experiences as well.
For those of you who insist on seeing the negative in this discussion - stop being so sensitive and "politically correct." This thread was done with the intention that I honestly wanted to know about homeschooling from those that do it. I figured that maybe is homeschoolers and public schoolers got together and discussed it like the adults that we are - maybe some "stereotypes" (as you so eloquently put it) could be broken. Maybe misconceptions could be fixed. So let's quit with the silly "oh if you substitute another word for "homeschoolers" it's really mean..."
I'm trying to learn something here so quit hijacking my thread with that nonsense! It isn't stereotyping - it's educating!
). Mostly, that is what it has been. Vrai had great (and legitimate) questions. Homeschoolmom really answered them well from her experience and point of view. That's what I was looking for. Homeexec and Cebasham have given us alot of information from their point of views and experiences as well. For those of you who insist on seeing the negative in this discussion - stop being so sensitive and "politically correct." This thread was done with the intention that I honestly wanted to know about homeschooling from those that do it. I figured that maybe is homeschoolers and public schoolers got together and discussed it like the adults that we are - maybe some "stereotypes" (as you so eloquently put it) could be broken. Maybe misconceptions could be fixed. So let's quit with the silly "oh if you substitute another word for "homeschoolers" it's really mean..."
I'm trying to learn something here so quit hijacking my thread with that nonsense! It isn't stereotyping - it's educating!