Home School Vs. Standard Education

My kids are in High School. I can not imagine having had them home schooled. When you send your kids to school you have to be involved and do everything you can to make sure that the school they attend is as good as it can be and if it sucks, put them in another school. My issue with home schooling is that the kids are not challenged to have meaningful interactions with other kids.

 

I was admitted to an academically selective public school which I attended from ages 12-17 and the only thing I took from it was friends. I hated every day of it and learned very little, and it didn't help me to value myself or to resolve any meaningful direction for myself in life. I had teachers who had sex with other students, or who spent class times in their offices smoking cigarettes, or who idly gossiped about my sexuality with other teachers. I once had a teacher who casually stole from me. No one helped me. School wasted my time and failed to give me what I needed to face life. During my time at school, I plunged into a depressive spiral that lead to my first psychiatric hospitalisation at age 20-21. Home schooling would have been better for me, but it isn't an option for most families, and it wasn't an option for mine.

 

That sounds like one messed up school! Sorry to hear.

 

I am glad I went through the schooling system. I went through the lower end of the private system. It was a way to get out of home and interact with different people, views and ideas. I'm very glad I wasn't home schooled, as I could easily see that leading, in regards to myself, to social anxiety and exacerbated shyness. School provided a platform for challenging myself and growing, both in relationship with others (just the usual human dynamics) and within myself.

I've seen homeschooling done poorly, and done well. Some parents don't have the stamina and skills to adequately teach their kids. This can be fine, but only if they supplement their children's learning with outside help - i.e. other parents or tutors. I've seen kids grow up with underdeveloped social skills, as the only people they interacted with were their siblings and parents. Yet I've seen homeschooling done excellently; where there is a homeschooling network of various parents and families, who would meet to allow their kids to socialise with others, and sometimes study together, and different parents would teach different subjects (either frequently, or on the odd occasion). The people I've seen come from this kind of homeschooling background generally seemed very independent and well rounded.

 

Haha, yeah, I went to an all boys Catholic high school. And I'm well antiquated with the all girl system. Both can be trying, especially if it's more upper crust, although I personally think all girls schools seem like a worse experience. So I can sympathise with your plight!

I was independent, got along with everyone, but never felt like I fit in. Still, I really enjoyed my experience (even though I pined to get the heck out of there and spoke of such every lunchtime) and even though I enjoyed dressing in my own style, I loved wearing the uniform LOL.

Homeschooling = no uniform (unless you're in a family cult).

 

I homeschooled my daughter for a year for medical reasons and I support homeschooling children. It really depends on the dynamics in the family. Each individual situation is different. I support any parent who chooses to homeschool their children. I met a lot of parents in the homeschooling support circles and they are all extremely serious about education so my view has changed a lot from the stereotype of a kid doing everything out of a workbook from a church somewhere. They were all so organized and it was all so great. They also tend to put a lot more focus on the family and tended to share my values. I ran into some issues because my daughter has some learning disabilities so I am not confident in my ability to teach children. A lot of people do a really good job with their kids though.

 

Hell...that didn't QUOTE correctly lol

 

Not yet, but that's the plan.

 

I don't believe in homeschooling long term or for the entire time they are school age because it separates children from the real world for long periods of time where they will have to learn to deal with some kind of structure, conformity, and adaptation to different environments from the ones they are living at home. Being at home can encourage dependency and complacency. It can also encourage protectionism which makes the child unprepared for a world where they won't be protected from the bad things.

I was in love with the idea at one point, but no longer. It severely hampers social skills, and can make children afraid of the world, especially if the homeschooling family teaches values which encourage their children to believe they can only be successful if they isolate themselves from the so-called bad influences of the world.

Some families who say they are able to teach their children a particular set of values may end up limiting their children's ability to handle situations later on where they will have to work with people who are different from the selective culture of people they interact with everyday. Teaching a family's values is not necessarily the same as life skills. Life skills and social skills often determine success.

What I think should be incorporated is more home study that involves the entire family. In other words, a child can go to school, but should be engaged academically, intellectually, socially, and artistically outside of the classroom and parents should take an active role in their children's education instead of treating the classroom as if it is a vacuum.

The classroom was not meant to be the only or an isolated learning environment. Learning is supposed to be holistic, and can take place anywhere. I think it would be an interesting idea to have parents at least once teach their children a course in one subject, one they are experts in, so children are not made to think that school is the only place to be responsible learners. This will also allow parents some sense of what it means to actually teach a subject matter for a grade, especially if it's something they've never done before. They will also likely have more realistic expectations of the classroom.

I know this argument is a little simplistic, but I think there needs to be an expansion of the concept of learning that doesn't rule out the classroom or homeschooling as if they are mutually exclusive.

 

I feel good about it. I think it will be good for her to go to school. I homeschooled out of necessity but it wasn't our ideal situation. We can always change our minds

 

i used to be against it but now I'm all for it. Unless the parents are idiots. I'd say that's the exception, not the rule though. I think most kids should be home schooled actually.

 

I want to add, the reason I want to send her to school this year is because of our individual situation. When I made the decision to homeschool our lives were a lot more different than they are now. Me sending her to school now isn't because I don't think homeschooling isn't a good or even the best option, but it's just not the best option for Abby. I trust that every parent knows whats best for their children and I leave the decision to them.