This. Give a kid wikipedia and a math textbook and he'll have enough for a HS degree. The real benefit of a high school education is social interaction and growing up with several hundred other people at the same time.
With respect to my son and his family, the kids that are home schooled have "social interaction" time where they get together with other home schooled kids to learn those types of skills. I do not think this is unique to their situation. I think there are numerous groups like this.
Home schooling, like most things, can be good, bad, mediocre, terrible, great, pointless, and so on. It really depends on the parents, though I will say that anyone who teaches their kids the "truth" in the form of politico-religious ideals really ... really ... isn't doing their kid any favors.
The social interaction is a positive and a negative. I'm a big fan of public school, but I never found my place until joining the honors program. I couldn't comprehend the idiots.
This is true. However, I would digress that not just religious extremism should be worried about in that fashion. Mathloon's usual anti-American rant is in its way just as problematic. "Oh, my child may end up being taught things which may disagree with my political preconceptions? Better isolate him!" If you really believe in your political convictions that badly, you should be able to stand up for them in the classroom and be willing to be challenged by others - I went to an extremely conservative high school, but I knew guys who were socialists and stuff. Because if you can't do it in high school out of fear of ridicule, you sure as heck aren't going to be able to do it in the real world.
There is a group of about 500 homeschool kids graduating this weekend and they are doing a big cap and gown affair for them in Conroe. Texas does a great job of homeschool groups where social interaction is learned in a safe environment where as many times the type of social interaction that I learned in public school is a detriment to social interaction. They even have home school football leagues and other after school events here in Texas. I go to the Texas Home School Coalition Conference to look at the new ideas in homeschooling that are available each year.
Wouldn't it be better if everyone was raised with their own version of history and culture: some were taught that the world is 6000 years old; others taught that sharia is the only law that matters; some taught that white people are the master race; some taught by Exxon that global warming doesn't exist; some taught that any form of government is tyranny; and some taught that animals need to be liberated with lethal force. I can't wait to live in that country where we truly celebrate diversity and there are no facts, culture or principles that apply country wide.
We homeschooled Daughter #1 in third grade because I took a job in a great place that had a crappy school system and teachers (we moved again before she started 4th grade). We homeschooled Daughter#2 in second grade because she has a slight learning disability and we knew she would just fall behind a bit more in public school. Inevitably, when we would mention homeshooling at church or some other place in public, wingnuts and crazies would flock to us, assuming we were one of them. (Sort of reminded me of the dynamic I experienced growing up in East Texas when the crackers would assume you were racist too and then would start spewing hate thinking no blacks or pinkos were around.) I got into an argument with a literalist once over the age of the Grand Canyon. We stopped mentioning it in public after that. If you do homeshooling right, it is a lot of damn work. We felt overwhelmed at times and I have a graduate degree, as does Mrs. rimrocker. No way we would think about doing it for Jr. High or HS. Incidentally, Daughter #1 is laying waste to the freshman curriculum at her HS and Daughter #2 is now doing well and performing at or slightly above grade level.
Home schooling, if done right, can be very positive but there needs to be a great deal of social interaction outside of school, which fortunately is becoming easier due to the internet. In other words, there are meetup groups and other common interest groups that can organize and easily get word out on what they're doing via the net than by a few flyers and newspaper ad as in the old days. People can volunteer, go to church (duh), community events and even attend high school and college events (if nearby) where there's sure to be numerous peers their age that they'd otherwise being going to school with. It's important to do this so that social interaction is taken care of. It may be the best of both worlds in that you don't have a ton of distractions while schooling (the typical home ones aside) while also getting out and interacting with peers in your community.
The reality is that people will never agree on what the "right" version of history and culture is. Not even two people will agree on everything, let alone millions.
True enough, but many (maybe even most) people agree de facto on the "right" version of history/culture because they don't think for themselves and, instead, just adopt the perspectives of those around them. That being said, with the fanaticism present in some portrayals of "right" history and culture, it makes thinking for yourself far more difficult than it already is.
LOL! hahaha How cute. Tell us how brave your friends are for being socialists in a conservative high school in the United States. Please go ahead. The teachers must've given them dirty looks all the time. Kids bullying them by calling them socialists. How terrifying! But at least they stood up for their convictions. News flash: your real world is not the same as my real world which is also not the same as the real world of the hoards of people who have it way way more difficult than you and I. Life is not a cartoon or a tv show as you make it seem. While you value others' lives and rights less than your own, I don't. I don't think my life is worth less than anyone else's, and I don't believe anyone's life is worth less than mine. I'm not going to flush my entire life down the toilet because of an issue which sits on the branch of the branch of the branch of the source problem. But it's understandeable that a person with your background would think this a rational reaction. Why don't you come here and declare your political convictions in a university classroom, see where that gets you? Oh you don't care? Great. So why should I?
I have two Judo students who are home schooled and just judging by them they seem very well adjusted and are more diligent and attentive than many who were not home schooled. I haven't talked to their parents about why they were home schooled but from what little I know it was for religious reasons but I don't see anything wingnut about them.
Except without a common basis of facts and history it is difficult to appreciate that diversity. If someone believes the world is 6,000 years old and refuses to acknowledge evidence otherwise there isn't going to be much of a basis to have a reasoned discussion on many scientific and historical issues.
This is pretty much what my opinion of it is. At least 50% or more of parents homeschooling are probably doing a disservice to a child(ren) if you are doing it for 12 years. And that is before you are even mentioning the social aspect.
