Silk Road forums
Discussion => Philosophy, Economics and Justice => Topic started by: SealTeam6 on June 11, 2013, 02:26 pm
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
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Please send your kids to regular school.
It will help them socially, and make them experience different people, different cultures, every homeschooler I have met haven't been the most social and outgoing people in the world...Not to say homeschool is a bad thing, just what I have seen
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I think it really just depends on your mentality and values and the type of outcome you would like your child to grow into via his education.
If you would like your child to learn the social power struggles he will undoubtedly face in public school, which in this mindset will teach them lessons on what is appropriate in society and how to behave accordingly. They will be taught material that is conducive to post secondary education and obtaining a career, and their rhythms of life (hunger, work, leisure) as well as general understanding of history will be more or less shaped by the structures and information they are indoctrinated with.
Home schooling a child protects them from the government curriculum that is in some cases funded by corporations, and intended to develop the child akin to all the other workers of society that keep our current quo stable. Home schooling means that there is more control over what material is being taught as well how it is taught -- because not every child fits into the model of public schools where they must sit still for so many hours, only be energetic at specific times, and be tested on memorized material in order to graduate.
So it really boils down to what type of parent you are, what your beliefs are towards society, what kind of environment you want your child to grow up in and what sorts of teachings you would like to pass on to them. While your child is young, you have the ability to shape their perspectives and infuse certain behaviours and responses as you see fit. After a certain time, it will ultimately be up to them to choose their own beliefs and create their own realities -- however the environment a child grows up in has tremendous influence on their personality in the future.
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Public schools are centres of brainwashing, political indoctrination, and cultural conditioning.
We need to do away with society. We need to establish our own communities and our own public schools.
In the mean time, home schooling is the best option available.
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I was homeschooled for a large part of my life. When I went to private and public schools, I was significantly above the grade level, to the point that the course work was actually very boring. I remember one of my teachers thought that I must have plagiarized one of the essays I wrote because she didn't believe somebody the age I was could have written it. I was shocked that she didn't think I should know the words she thought I didn't know. On the other hand, I also was quite socially awkward and had a lot of trouble fitting in at first. I wouldn't suggest homeschooling personally. In my experience it is a great benefit for your academic education but it comes at great expense to your social education. The South Park episode on homeschooling is pretty accurate.
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I was homeschooled all of my highschool years.
During this time, I utilized self-education coupled with a few courses at a local community college. My intellectual capabilities by the age of 16 surpassed that of maNy of my school-going peers, many of who seemed to be conditioned and indoctrinated by the edifice of public institutions. Homeschooling and autodidacticism is the way to go IMO
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It is probably a lot easier going from regular school for elementary and middle school to home school for high school, than it is to go from home school in elementary and middle school to regular school for high school. I have heard of alternative forms of school (at least for high school) that involve a classroom of peers but which are carried out in a different way than regular or home school educations often are. These alternative schools allow the students to do pretty much whatever they want, but they make resources available to them. For example, they staff mathematicians, sociologists, historians, etc. Additionally they have a large selection of literature and such made available. The children are allowed to work on whatever they want to, and they can ask for assistance from the staff when required. I don't know the extent of freedom provided by such schools, but from what I can gather the students are essentially free to do as they please and work on learning whatever they find interesting. The end result is that the students are largely self taught and self directed, but that they have professional assistance available to them if they ever get stuck on anything or need direction provided.
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+1 to you kmfkewm
Like I said how are these kids going to make great friends if you aren't in a neighborhood where there are already kids. I want my children to play sports in middle school and high school, and be social and fun and friendly with each other. I don't want to have worry about tutors coming on, or having to worry about anything like that. I want to see their report cards from their school every 6 months and be happy.
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
Got ta quote you on this Mr. 6. The hybrid is the only one that will give the child the needed social skills, immune response and if done correctly at home it will give them the confidence to feel secure with their intellectual being. Unfortunately I don't have the latter to explain exactly what I am trying to say but that's the short version. Perhaps some smarter person could expand on this.
Basically I am trying to explain that ya have to have the social skills that only comes with dealing with others in situations that cause you to grow as an individual and learn how to deal with different people.
I am a true believer that as a child your immune system develops as any other organ and if it does not build the tolerance to the common bugs that will be encountered in daily life then you will be at a much greater risk of sickness and illness.
Confidence, got to have it to be successful but not to much that you alienate others around you. So, this is why I say if done right at home. A child must feel confident to read a book aloud and know what they know. But not be so confident that they are a 'know it all'. Which nobody likes. The word 'humble' comes to mind, but you have to have the confidence.
The 'hybrid' is the old way of doing things. It's the way when the mom, or dad, was able to stay home with the children and actually spend the time needed to develop each and everyone of them to become the independent person with the individual skills that make them knowledgeable and feel special.
Best I can do in this crappy mind set that's wearing me ddoowwnn... :(
Thanks for for the threads ST6... :)
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
Got ta quote you on this Mr. 6. The hybrid is the only one that will give the child the needed social skills, immune response and if done correctly at home it will give them the confidence to feel secure with their intellectual being. Unfortunately I don't have the latter to explain exactly what I am trying to say but that's the short version. Perhaps some smarter person could expand on this.
Basically I am trying to explain that ya have to have the social skills that only comes with dealing with others in situations that cause you to grow as an individual and learn how to deal with different people.
I am a true believer that as a child your immune system develops as any other organ and if it does not build the tolerance to the common bugs that will be encountered in daily life then you will be at a much greater risk of sickness and illness.
Confidence, got to have it to be successful but not to much that you alienate others around you. So, this is why I say if done right at home. A child must feel confident to read a book aloud and know what they know. But not be so confident that they are a 'know it all'. Which nobody likes. The word 'humble' comes to mind, but you have to have the confidence.
The 'hybrid' is the old way of doing things. It's the way when the mom, or dad, was able to stay home with the children and actually spend the time needed to develop each and everyone of them to become the independent person with the individual skills that make them knowledgeable and feel special.
Best I can do in this crappy mind set that's wearing me ddoowwnn... :(
Thanks for for the threads ST6... :)
Wonderful response. It made me think about hybrid education a little bit more. Hybrid education is actually going on in all families, or it should be. Just because you send your child to school does not mean you have to rely on the school to do everything involved in that education. I think this is a bad idea, especially for people who question the school systems in their country, such as myself. I think people have become to rely on schools to do all of the educating for their children and have forgotten that they also need to play a part in the role of educator.
Thanks for reply southpaw, I hope you get out of your funk soon. Much love to you! I'll try and send some good vibes your way!
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I have about three good friends that were all home schooled and they had no social issues what so ever. They were actually very outgoing. You have to be a devoted parent to spend the time to teach your kids that much. I would take homeschooling over these government run institutions any day. If I have the money my kids will go to private school. I was brainwashed enough by the government as a kid, I don't want the government feeding information into my kids heads when they are at an age when they can't think for themselves.
~PsychedelicSphere
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I have about three good friends that were all home schooled and they had no social issues what so ever. They were actually very outgoing. You have to be a devoted parent to spend the time to teach your kids that much. I would take homeschooling over these government run institutions any day. If I have the money my kids will go to private school. I was brainwashed enough by the government as a kid, I don't want the government feeding information into my kids heads when they are at an age when they can't think for themselves.
~PsychedelicSphere
I hear ya, I can't damn the schools and the gov, they serve their purpose! If I had a kid and didn't have a choice in the matter, I would strive to educate that child enough that gov/societal brainwashing would not work on him/her. I think the ans is just preparing a loving smart child that is immune to bullshit!
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I did homeschooling one time. It was awful. Kids should go to public school, as long as they have a devoted parent to teach them what to do in certain situations they should be fine. Personally school was always a place for anxiety, lots-o-bullies. I didn't have anyone to help me threw it though, so I just fought the bullies and they leave you alone, so lots of guidance is needed in both public and home school to be a good place for a child. Public is better for socialization I would assume, but I went to public school and I'm a complete shut in.
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I think everybody here is missing a very important variable: the kid him/herself! I went to public elementary, junior high, and high school, except my senior year in high school. Then I went on an independent studies program. It fucking changed my life. It was hope in a fairly hopeless time in my life. I knew for sure I hated public high school before I went on the program. During and after the program, I realized how much I actually hated it.
However, there were some good things. Almost all the friends I made wouldn't have been made without normal school. I also learned a lot about life and what not. I probably would have suffered less if I left high school a little earlier but oh well. I'm saying don't forget it depends on the kid. I don't think the parent should be able to say "You can't go to public high school," or "You can't be home schooled."
I would have hated being home schooled. What I did was a program where the student goes in for two hours a week. Each week, they get a packet of work to do at home then correct it and take tests when necessary. They can ask the teachers any questions when they're there and can even schedule extra visits if need be. There are some other kids but it's totally different. The environment was MUCH more positive. I even graduated a couple months early. I suggest it as much as I can possibly suggest anything.
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I hated every part of school, including most my peers. School is a brainwashing camp. To suggest one will be socially awkward and non social if home schooled is solely the result of lifestyle. If parents are losers without friends; they are most likely not fit to raise a socially relevant home schooled child. I was socially awkward in school. When I got older and left the confines of the school prison camp, life finally began for me. And this is after 2 or 3 BS years of college.
After i learned literacy, basic mathematics, and keyboard typing, going to school was absolutely pointless. The whole point of school is to create a class of worker bee's/drones/sheep who will re enforce and support the current corrupt power structure within society. Is anyone familiar with the likes of John Taylor Gatto - The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America? In that book, you'll find references to primary sourced information which is absolute proof big wigs creating texts books and curriculum, such as Rockefellar foundation, are only interested in the creation of a predictable society, through which the individual has no power.
Everything you learn in school, His-story -Economics -Social Studies -and Even Chemistry is completely retarded and forced indoctrination of our enemies socially acceptable ideas. Anyone really think school has anything at all to do with education and learning? hahaha fools.
I had to unlearn just about everything i was taught in school before i found myself as a person. School teaches stupidity. Know it all professionals like doctors, social workers, dentist, and judges are some of the worse scum in society. Sorry for the rant. Look at what some of the free spirited peoples do with their kids who hang around the psychedelic community and fest scene, who teach self reliance. Thats what i call real schooling.
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I was home schooled since preschool. I think I turned out okay, I went to college and graduated with honors. I will definitely have to say that I am more introverted than a lot of my friends, but I am also much more of a free thinker. My parents gave me the tools and the time to learn how to pursue understanding and self-reliance while not keeping me in "the box" that those who dislike the idea of home teaching speak of. Yes, I read a lot; yes, I didn't see my friends every single day. Would I do it again? Absolutely.
I think it's important for children at a young age to develop certain parts of their character that they will end up pursuing the rest of their lives. For a lot of public schoolers I've analyzed over the years, the things they often pursue are different forms of "success" and a broad sense of friendship with their peers.
While I can't go as far as to discount these as being negative life goals, I think they may not always be in tune with the pursuit of happiness. I've seen a lot of my old friends, over time, crash and fall into deep depression/suicide when success or friendship fails on them, because they haven't developed a deeper philosophy of life. I.e. what it means/does not mean to exist, how much they understand about the world around them rather than assume to understand, even things as simple as when/why to make decisions–through logic–that will better them and not hurt them. What I have seen generally result from public schooling is a people that can survive on nothing but success. While this sounds great, in reality it is failure waiting to strike.
All this is just case circumstance, and I'm sure it varies from country to country; it all also goes without mentioning the government agenda being taught to our children in public schools. Drugs are bad mkay.
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
home schooling is very bad for child development. they need to be schooled the normal way.
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I think the primary thing that public school teaches is the importance of social hierarchy and politics. I had friends when I was homeschooled, but they were mostly the kids of my parents friends and all of them were also homeschooled (amazingly none of us were fundamentalist christians!). We acted like little adults compared to our public school peers, and we generally were quite accepting of each other. In public school kids act more like kids and there is much more competition for popularity and for social dominance. It is a culture shock to go from cooperating with your peers to ruthlessly competing with your peers, it is also a culture shock to go from having more adult like peers to having more child like peers. A simple example I can think of is how we would talk on instant messaging programs. I always typed my sentences out properly, capitalized and with punctuation marks ("What are you doing today?"). When I talked with my public school peers on instant messaging programs they were more like 'wut r u doin 2day' and I am sure they perceived me as fucking weird for writing properly. I wrote like an adult, they wrote like kids. I tried to be cooperative and they tried to be competitive. It took me a good while before I could adjust to this new environment. Now on the one hand you could argue that it is better for kids to act more mature and to come across as educated etc, but on the other hand you really miss out on having a more traditional childhood and you also don't learn the lessons of social hierarchy, social interaction and politics, and you may have a harder time to realize just how competitive the real world actually is.
Another huge thing I learned from public school is the importance of your appearance in how you are perceived. Wearing the right clothes became much more important to me, prior to attending public school I mostly just considered clothing to be things to wear, in public school clothing took on a totally different role and became something that defined who you are and broadcast it to the world. And that is an important lesson too, because even in the adult world the way you present yourself plays a big role in how you are perceived. When I was home schooled nobody ever taught me that, when I went to public school nobody taught it to me but it became readily apparent. When I was home schooled I wore generic shoes and a lot of generic polo shirts and button up shirts and khaki pants. Of course that didn't blend in *at all* with what people were wearing at public school, and clothes were really important socially at the school I went to anyway. So I started wearing brand name everything, a lot more tee shirts with brand name logos on them and jeans and basketball shoes.
I would probably have a better impression of home schooling if I went to public school for my earlier education and was home schooled for my later education. I would probably have a better impression of home school if I was in home school for all of my pre university education. But going from home school for my early education and then switching to public school for my later education left me overly prepared academically and under prepared socially (or perhaps I was overly prepared socially as well, depending on how you look at it. I certainly had no problems interacting with adults, but was awkward with my peers). The course work was boring (I was testing at an early high school level when I was in middle school, about three grades ahead) and I stopped doing it which led to me failing classes out of apathy rather than out of inability (I always scored high enough on tests to move up in grade levels, despite failing all of my classes due to general lack of participation), the social environment was abrasive and hard for me to navigate (and I spent most of my effort trying to navigate the social environment rather than doing course work that was below my level. Public school was almost entirely social education for me, learning how to fit in with regular kids).
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
home schooling is very bad for child development. they need to be schooled the normal way.
whats the normal way exactly?
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
home schooling is very bad for child development. they need to be schooled the normal way.
whats the normal way exactly?
Normal schooling, on campus. Being at home, away from challenges, isnt good for self development. theydont get a chnace to learn how to deal with challenges in life.
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
home schooling is very bad for child development. they need to be schooled the normal way.
Home schooling in its pure form is not just book learning. It's schooling in all aspects of life, it involves giving children all of the experience of "normal" schooling but doing it more personally, and better!
whats the normal way exactly?
Normal schooling, on campus. Being at home, away from challenges, isnt good for self development. theydont get a chnace to learn how to deal with challenges in life.
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Most home schooled friends that I've known have always been much less personable and had lower confidence than kids I went to public school with. (Not to say all home schooled kids have this issue) I think there needs to be a good blend of social interaction and solid parenting. I think that sports/clubs can help a lot with the social aspect, or just even getting out more often. Most of the kids I knew that were home schooled did not really do anything other than stay at home, and most had strict parents. Putting that aside, most were smarter than the average public school student though.
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
home schooling is very bad for child development. they need to be schooled the normal way.
Brutalized, bullied, and taught to sit down, shut up, and repeat things learned by rote? That's "normal" in some places.
Home schooling can be an excellent plan *if* you put extra effort into ensuring that your child has social activities with other kids - not actually that big a deal since you're not warehousing your kid for 7+ hours a day - lots of time for interest-based classes, activities, sports, etc.. Home schooling means tailoring teaching to *your* child's abilities, which is the great benefit. But it takes a lot of commitment.
Disclaimer: I wasn't home schooled, but have family that was (and they are brighter, more confident, much more independent, and generally more successful than others of their generation in this family).
However, if you make use of home schooling resources and a home schooling community, you may very likely find a lot of religious fundies (which was a surprise to me). Freedom from state-imposed curricula means freedom to teach any damn thing, so it seems to attract parents who want to teach non-mainstream "facts". Being a part of a home-schooling community means (you and your kids) interacting a lot with these types, if that matters to you.
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
home schooling is very bad for child development. they need to be schooled the normal way.
Brutalized, bullied, and taught to sit down, shut up, and repeat things learned by rote? That's "normal" in some places.
Home schooling can be an excellent plan *if* you put extra effort into ensuring that your child has social activities with other kids - not actually that big a deal since you're not warehousing your kid for 7+ hours a day - lots of time for interest-based classes, activities, sports, etc.. Home schooling means tailoring teaching to *your* child's abilities, which is the great benefit. But it takes a lot of commitment.
Disclaimer: I wasn't home schooled, but have family that was (and they are brighter, more confident, much more independent, and generally more successful than others of their generation in this family).
However, if you make use of home schooling resources and a home schooling community, you may very likely find a lot of religious fundies (which was a surprise to me). Freedom from state-imposed curricula means freedom to teach any damn thing, so it seems to attract parents who want to teach non-mainstream "facts". Being a part of a home-schooling community means (you and your kids) interacting a lot with these types, if that matters to you.
My thoughts exactly!
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Most home schooled friends that I've known have always been much less personable and had lower confidence than kids I went to public school with. (Not to say all home schooled kids have this issue) I think there needs to be a good blend of social interaction and solid parenting. I think that sports/clubs can help a lot with the social aspect, or just even getting out more often. Most of the kids I knew that were home schooled did not really do anything other than stay at home, and most had strict parents. Putting that aside, most were smarter than the average public school student though.
This is why i think kids are better off learning the normal way. there are g=hurdels in school but there need to be for development. all the kids i knew that were home schoold weren't confident, and the gave up on things without a fight. and some were abused in various ways by tehir moms and dads becoz there was no one to see it happening. you dont get that at school
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i wasn't brutalized,bullied, made to sit down, sgut up and learn by rote. there are some shitty shoccls out there i admot. there are also some that arent like that at all. if your kid is having a hard time, take them out and find a better school. your paying fees after all, if the shcool lets you down, they shouldnt continue to take your money.
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What does everyone think about home schooling their children rather than sending them off to a traditional school? I personally am leaning towards a hybrid education has a good balance between the two.
home schooling is very bad for child development. they need to be schooled the normal way.
Brutalized, bullied, and taught to sit down, shut up, and repeat things learned by rote? That's "normal" in some places.
Home schooling can be an excellent plan *if* you put extra effort into ensuring that your child has social activities with other kids - not actually that big a deal since you're not warehousing your kid for 7+ hours a day - lots of time for interest-based classes, activities, sports, etc.. Home schooling means tailoring teaching to *your* child's abilities, which is the great benefit. But it takes a lot of commitment.
Disclaimer: I wasn't home schooled, but have family that was (and they are brighter, more confident, much more independent, and generally more successful than others of their generation in this family).
However, if you make use of home schooling resources and a home schooling community, you may very likely find a lot of religious fundies (which was a surprise to me). Freedom from state-imposed curricula means freedom to teach any damn thing, so it seems to attract parents who want to teach non-mainstream "facts". Being a part of a home-schooling community means (you and your kids) interacting a lot with these types, if that matters to you.
Karma to that! Would agree completely. They both are very case specific, but I think home schooling has the potential to develop a child as an individual with tastes and creativity that come from within. And not just a part of a certain clique or school band.
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Is the library the best place to learn and socialise or what school past third grade = no good in my book.
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Home school is the ONLY way to go but it MUST be in cooperation of an appropriate mentor. Likely thats not the parent, unless the parent was homeschooled , classically trianed, socially successful and spiritually fulfilled. kolbe academy has a great program online. social integration just trains kids to fall in line and not seize their potential and most main stream educators dont focus on the students potential but just try to get them through . its not true that by having them not go through school that you will close their eyes to society . I went through public school and I did not learn to integrate . I think I might have a career now as a software developer had I been homeschooled because I would never have learned poor self esteem . just ask yourself what society has to teach them outside of academics , ask if you can facilitate a mentor to give them that and if not ask if its really all that irreplacable. the future is in alternate reality education, like in the matrix . the future is home schooling.
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I hated school. I went to private school for a while and then when i got up in grades i went tp public.
I think a Kid needs to go to school just to learn how to socialize and interact with others. It helps play a big role in their life.
If i would of stayed in the private school i was in an went the path my dad had planned out for me, i will admitt i think i would of gone allot further faster than i have. My father pushed me constantly an our goal was to get mee into a Ivy league school. At the time i could of cared less but now that im older i wish i would of listen to him.
He was a Harvard Grad and he always told me get the grades & you will be where i was or Yale. Now i really wish i would of went to Yale. In Stead i chose my own life and path an waited til 25 to go backk to college, and a community college at that. My teachers tell me all the time how i could of done soo much more with my education but in his words i "fucked my way through the years an partied on!" which is true.
so yes i feel kids need to be in school. Yea they are brainwashing allot also so thats something u have to watch out for. But kids need to learn social skills an IMO will not be as well developed by sitting at home with Mommy and the computer Teaching class's.
Its good to have a REAL time an place to be somewhere.
NOT
WAKE UP-BRUSH TEETH
GET ON COMP- DO MATH AT 9:00
ENGLISH AT 10:00
SOCIAL STUDIES 11:00
LUNCH AN VIDEO GAMES TIL 2:30 AND THEN READ TIL 4
Thats not a good school scheduled IMO
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I do not have any children, but I've attended many different school systems, mostly international.
I have noticed that "international" systems try to develop the childrens' curiosity and push its boundaries. They also teach more about the world in general unlike most public school systems. This often results either in better scores especially if they end up in a standard public school.
Public school systems i've been to sometimes seem to me like the last hope of creating a strong national identity. The same subject can be taught in 200 different ways by over 200 different people across the globe. This is especially true for history and geography, however I feel as though teaching History is paramount in allowing people to determine and understand who they are and who they want to be.
What i'm trying to say is, if you do home school your children, take a while to think about what you want to teach them. Is it really about doing what the others do but better? Or can you take the chance to do something different?
If you don't end up home-schooling, but you still want to add something personal to your child's development, that's great already.
Try focusing on developing your child's curiosity and skills. If they have a goal or a dream, try helping them reach that goal. Make them feel like they can do things they want to do.
Of course from what i've read that seems to be every parents' problem and not an easy task.
I'm saying this because I feel like that was missing in my life, i.e. a certain additional involvement by my parents to help me get the things I want done. It turns out my IQ is higher than average but I still feel like I can't finish or go through with most my projects.
I feel as though I am trying to catch up on lost time at the moment, by learning an instrument etc. but I'm still trying to do it on my own, too old to ask for help with some things I suppose.
Full disclosure : I am a bit of a lazy guy though :p Can't really blame my parents for everything that goes wrong in my life.
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Disclaimer: I attended small, rural public schools during all of K-8, high school, and college. Those schools were all in areas considered to be among the bottom of the barrel in the country that I was raised in. The intellectual caliber of most of my peers, their parents, and our "teachers" (HA!!!!) during those times were quite reflective of the poor, dimwitted, sheepish, aggressively competitive bottom of the barrel of the Western culture-at-large. If I appear to be dimwitted, then perhaps the educational background does comes through me.
As I could quote and chat about portions of at least half of the statements in this thread, I am just going to begin by posting a few simple comments. This is an excellent thread bringing up discussion of a topic that I believe strongly applies to our future as education is, quite possibly only to me, rather paramount in terms of the future of humanity (whether personal, social, or cultural).
For all of you who have rang in, and especially those with personal experiences in schools outside of the norm of, as I assume, mostly Western brick-and-mortar public schools, I say a big thank you for taking the time to shed your light. Your experiences, while obviously parts of your lives and therefore important to you and all of us in ways that I wish not to tarnish or ridicule, are of the quality that discussions like this must have.
I think it is important to note that while people can freely use the term "Home School" in conversation, they can do so in ways that may totally differentiate themselves from any other "Home Schooler". Not every child lives in an area which allows access to good quality brick-and-mortar schools. Not every child lives in an area with a wide cultural palette available to learn from. In that instance, devoted parents could still manage to educate their child outside of the so-called "traditional" brick-and-mortar 8 hour a day setting. In other words, every case is different (which has been noted already in this thread and is, overall, obvious) and the parents involvement really sets the bar.
While I am not an advert for home-school services, I do want to mention that there are many popular programs around. I have thought to mention Waldorf education, for example. Is anyone here familiar with it? There are Waldorf and Waldorf-based home education programs available, as well as Waldorf private schools. I have read some awesome reports of children coming through those environments, whether they are in Metro (say, private academy), suburb (say home school), or third world (say, you're a lucky kid and fortunately live near an education oasis).
There is, on another hand, the "un-schooling" movement. I have not read much about this framework but it is intriguing to me as a concept and I would be interested to hear from people that have came from that sort of upbringing.
I could go on, but the main point (which is presumably the only thing you want to hear) is that I feel that the schools that I went to were fully weird and dumb, and that I as well as the rest of the kids had no other opportunities. Some of the kids ponied-up and rode the wave like it was their job, while I realized at about age eight that something was off in their system... By about age 11 I intellectually dropped out and began to find covert, alternative ways to make the grade. So, I still learned - albeit to snoop, to waste time without causing a troublesome scene, etc... I really don't think we ought to teach people to do as such. Creativity is awesome, and my creativity was still honed in school - but I think I would be and would have been better suited to have my creativity channeled in a more positive, natural way.
Again, I could go deeper, but for the moment, I think a main point here is to stand up for what you believe in and carve out your spot in the world.
Another main point, going back to the actual thread, is that home-school is not necessarily a one-dimensional system.
And if anyone is reading this, contemplating not sending their child to home-school because of only the notion that they will be under or ill-developed socially - I implore you to think more about the subject. What kinds of activities can you do outside of the school setting? Live near a desert, forest, tundra? Go explore the ecosystem, perform experiments. Live near a theatre, museum, sports park? Get out and be active if you wish. Able to sign up for public classes - e.g. summer code projects, karate classes, piano lessons, yoga, book club, under-water basket-weaving (lol but hey, ya never know) etc... Live near that tundra and no one else around? Well, you probably already know what to do. Anyway, whew... So much for a few simple comments...
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And if anyone is reading this, contemplating not sending their child to home-school because of only the notion that they will be under or ill-developed socially - I implore you to think more about the subject. What kinds of activities can you do outside of the school setting? Live near a desert, forest, tundra? Go explore the ecosystem, perform experiments. Live near a theatre, museum, sports park? Get out and be active if you wish. Able to sign up for public classes - e.g. summer code projects, karate classes, piano lessons, yoga, book club, under-water basket-weaving (lol but hey, ya never know) etc... Live near that tundra and no one else around? Well, you probably already know what to do. Anyway, whew... So much for a few simple comments...
+1 to that!
I believe there is nothing sadder than sticking kids for 8 hours a day in a place where they don't exactly know what to do.
That's what happened to me, unfortunately, upon returning to a public school system. Boredom was the best way to describe most days and Tired was the best way to describe my after school activities.
If homeschooling can help a child get through learning the essentials as quickly and efficiently as possible, then do it. I believe in the 8 to 12 daily workload because it allows children to socialize and, most important, develop outside of a limited and pre-defined program.
The kids don't need to become geniuses and develop a 140 IQ average. What's more important is that they learn the essentials and acquire the confidence they need to do what's best for them once they're adults.
Take George Bush for example! He's hardly the smartest of the lot, you have to admit. However he clearly thought he could become president of one of the most powerful countries in the world and he achieved that goal. Clearly his life experience allowed him to develop the confidence he required to reach that goal.
:p
Then again I still have no kids and people who don't have kids seem to know everything about raising kids. You'd better filter everything and just dwell on people's experiences. Good luck!