charlottegelin said:

I know sweetie just messin'

Snap said:

Hey, I never said that. A kid can very well acquire social skills without the misery and nonsense of school.

My sister in law home schools here 4 children ages 10-4. She lives in an area where the schools are not the greatest. When she started home schooling she was married to a Dr and she gave up her career being a dr to stay home and school the kids. She is really great at it, she keeps them on a strict schedule and they are way more advanced in reading and writing then other kids their age. Recently her husband left her for his secretary so she is stuck because she gave up her career to home school.
Sad story
I only hope that the kids turn out alright. The entire family has been concerned since the beginning regarding social skills. We are most concerned about the oldest, he is a boy but he is very immature in some ways. He has been surrounded by girls and never had a father figure really. They do attend church regularly and have lots of friends in the community. She is planning on moving south to Florida to be near us and get away from the small town where here husband practices. So, I am still undecided about home schooling. I guess I need to wait and see how these kids turn out.
All I know is it is a tough job and bless her for doing it.

I only know one person who's been homeschooled. She's a friggin' mess

I think it's all about the home environment, the parents, WHY the child is being homeschooled, lots of factors...

all 3 of my brothers were home schooled and right now they are stand up very social young men, and will continue to be that way,for those of you who are not familliar with home school, it was My mother who fought for Home schooling to be legal in the state of NY. and she got it done the problem is there's 30 kids in a class to one instructor.most need a one to one interraction in order to grasp the lessons. so i would not knock home schooling if you dont have kids period.

There's alot of great resources nowdays for homeschooling, and I'm sure in some cases certain kids would be better off with it.

What bothers me are maniuplative parents who aren't qualified to teach their kids, that use homeschooling as a means of forcing questionable beliefs and values on them.

You can't teach someone social skills through homeschooling.

I know a girl who was home schooled along with her little brother. It didnt turn out well for them. She started working at 17,she's 20 now with a baby on the way and all she can get is part time job.
I THINK she got her GED.Here in Texas you to take the TASP test for college, she didnt pass the test. She didnt take her SAT"S or ACT"s

Her brother is in a band and he wants to be famous.
They weren't schooled. They just stayed at home and tried to get by.I dont know why their mother decided to "home school"them.

Heiress said:

well-put
a big part of my job involves working at a local middle school
the public school system is a scary thing, not to mention many of the teachers
maybe that's who's to blame -- the parents and/or the teachers
and like CalhounSquare said it's probably "WHY the child is being homeschooled"
also, look at our foster care system
if it wasn't such a money-making enterprise in some states
you'd see a big improvement
less homes yeah
but also much less abuse among the caretakers and those under their care
it all comes down to who's doing the "caring" and do they really care?
teachers, parents, and everyone else in authority over teens/kids

When its done well, the children benefit just as well as children who are sent to a good school. Depends on the parent.....

personally.....I think my daughter would have shaken baby syndrome if she was home with me all day....all year long..


She gotta go to school.....

Snap said:

Yep, there sure are plenty of kids who lack social skills in the public system. From recent studies I've come to understand that a lot of early attention is what causes kids to have better social skills later on... I'm talking from age 0-3. They really need parents when they're tiny; they can cope a little better w/out 24/7 later on.

Tom said:

I homeschool my girls and while I agree that people shouldn't use it as away of forcing beliefs on the kids, I disagree about the socialization aspect. It's the parents obligation to make social interaction happen for the kids. This can be in homeschool associations,through outside classes,sports,volunteering,ect.
Our homeschool group is all inclusive. We have JW's, Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics,Athiests- you name it they're all welcome.The kids have gym and swimming classes together as well as field trips several times a year.

CalhounSq said:

Ding!

Shorty said:

I agree. The question is: Would she have been more or less of a mess if she attended public school? Plenty of messed up people coming out of the public school system. It's more noticeable when someone with an unconventional background is messed up.

shellyevon said:

That's great to see parents take charge in that way.

Thanks , our main reason to homeschool was to help them know how to think for themselves. We aren't trying to overprotect them but rather to open up the world more for them.
It's a big plus that if they are really engrossed in a subject we can stay with it for an extra hour or two. Or if it turns out to be a bad day, we can pack a lunch and head to the park for a lesson or to the art gallery with our sketchbooks to sit and draw for a couple hours. It isn't always easy, but it can be very rewarding.

shellyevon said:

I agree with you. My sister homeschools her kids and they have little interaction with other kids. It is really sad. I worry about what is going to happen to my niece and nephews when they turn 18.

shellyevon said:

Absolutely, there are tons of fucked up people in public schools - sometimes people wanna get their kids AWAY from the fucked up folks

Honestly her shit would have been interesting either way. I think the worst thing about her being home schooled is that she's WAY spoiled now & expects special circumstances often. I'm not sure if she's able to go along w/ the flow of the world, in a sense...

shellyevon said:

Sounds like you won't have any regrets.

I finished my last three years of high school at home, on my own. Found that on my own, schoolwork actually took a very small part of my day, and I could spend the rest of it working, at the library or haunting antique and vintage clothes & record stores.

Heiress said:

That's what I'm hoping for my girls to be able to do with their time. Sort of a teen age liberation thing.

psychodelicide said:

Nothing wrong with home-schooling as long as the kid gets out and has a social life through clubs or sports or even just the neighbourhood kids. That said, I'm going to have to agree with these two. All the homeschooled kids I've ever known haven't exactly had steller social skills.

CalhounSq said:

shellyevon said:

Exactly. I hated the whole high school scene. It just seemed like a pathetic waste of time, because my interests were far different.

I think school teaches you that there's a world out there that you are going to have to learn to interact with. Home schooling is about living inside this protective bubble, you may get a better education in some instances but it doesn't equip you with any life skills. You cant teach children how to be independent at home, and some lessons they need to learn for themselves. Life skills cannot be learnt from a text book. (IMO)

...
[Edited 12/5/05 5:05am]

LleeLlee said:

We are most definitely not in a bubble. To say that homeschooling doesn't equip people with any life skills is myopic. Homeschooling doesn't mean staying in your home 24-7 with your nose in a book. There is as much real world interaction as anyone could possibly want. We have science fairs, spelling bees, swimming and gym classes,volunteering in the community, externships in the workplace, and anything else a public school provides.When the neighbor children come home from school, they all seem to gravitate to our house.If done right, there is far more real life socialization than in a classroom. I do agree that some parents overprotect their kids, but that happens in public school too.
American schools are not teaching the children how to think. In fact they are barely teaching them how to read and write.

shellyevon said:

In terms of socialization i'm not just talking about making friends, I'm talking about children learning how to deal with the negative influences that life is going to throw at them. In school, you meet people you like and also those that you dont, how do you learn to deal with them at home? School gives you the whole picture as opposed to just the selective rose tinted one that home schooling provides..

However, it is up to the parents at the end of the day. I'm just curious, in terms of an academic education, how do you ensure your children are getting a good one?

I understood what you meant about the socialization. There are plenty of hard knocks, even for homeschoolers.
Every state has it's own regulations for homeschooling. We're in NY,so the standards are fairly strict. I do research to find out what are the basics required for each year and write the curriculum. Then I find the text books I'm going to use . The curriculum and scope and sequence of the books have to be approved by the local Superintendent of Education. If he approves, we're ready to go to work. If he doesn't, then I would tweak whatever he doesn't like until we get approved. A lot of people just buy packaged curriculum, but I like different publishing companies for different subjects.We have to submit quarterly reports to the Superintendent, which are also reviewed by the county homeschool committee.Once a year we test for competence using a standardized test proctored by a teacher.If this standard isn't met we would be placed on probation until the grades are acceptable. We haven't had any trouble yet.

shellyevon said:

so you yourself study the various subjects before you teach them right? and do the parents undego any teacher training?

Yeah, we definitely try to stay ahead of the kid's lessons. Sometimes we just immerse ourselves in a subject area and learn it at the same time. That happened with our Chinese lessons;we lived Chinese with the help of a Chinese friend and the girls speak Mandarin and read both characters and pinyin far better than I ever will.
NY doesn't require parents to have any special training, but most people I know do research on how to effectively teach .Again, the parents have to uphold higher standards than the public schools, so it would be hard for someone without a love of education to do it right. There are lots of licensed teachers in the homeschool community that are willing to help where needed.

JimmyNothing said:

shellyevon said:

Can you adopt me?

That's a very cool thing to do if you can. The second best thing I think is a Montessori school. One of my younger brothers and I attended one up until I was 8 and it was a good experience.