My older brother and his wife home-schooled their 5 boys through the sixth grade. Actually , they had a Home School cooperative with 8-10 other families. IT worked very well, I'd say. The oldest won a college scholarship. The second oldest is at one of the service academies and the third oldest is a freshman at one of the state universities. The fourth boy was a bit disruptive and was sent to private school before the sixth grade. The youngest boy entered a private junior high in seventh grade and has done very well.
Not disputing that home schooled kids can get a good education but ... Colleges tend to look at the whole package and not just SAT scores. Just as point of reference, my wife is professor at Rice and has been on the undergrad admissions committee. She tells me that Rice admits very few home schooled kids. As another point of reference, my mother in law is elementary school teacher in California. She has nothing good to say about the home schooled kids who reenter the public schools. Admittedly these students struggled with home schooling, so these are the bad apples of the bunch. My mother in law also says that home schooling parents underestimate the job before them and certainly do not have the training at the start. I can easily see the scenario where parents with the best intentions home school their kids but find out that its more work than they figured or that their teaching skills are not up to the challenge. If after one or two years of struggling these parents send their kids back to public school, the kids are years behind and the whole home school experiment turns out to be one giant disaster.
Yeah, I agree that homeschooled kids definitely get better education, but that isn't everything in life. Social skills are just as crucial and those are only attained by hoping in the pile and duking it out with the rest of the unclean.
Homeschooling does not mean isolation. Like Jeff said, there are other ways to socialize other than school. Opting to home school is not a decision between a better education and better social skills. It takes serious work on the part of the parents, but, as with anything in life, if you prepare for it and approach it with discipline, the results are priceless. Instead of pre-school, my wife and I have homeschooled our daughters who are 3 and 5. My kids get plenty social activity through field trips, parks (as recess), and cultural activities. (Let alone their friends in the neighborhood.) In this next year, they will join a local kiddie soccer league and group dance classes for further education and socialization. They both have active imaginations, are confident, and have no problem making friends with other kids or conversing with adults.
I think it is great if you can get both, you have to be a really dedicated parent to offer both. If you can I think it is great but I doubt it. No prom, No lockeroom muggings, no lunchtime reefer, what are you raising... Jesus?
damn home school is badass!!!!!........................................................................................................................................................................................................................if you want to win the spelling bee
hey, i think the rockets lease on their new arena only lasts for 30 years. at that time, we're gonna need someone else to save the rockets. who better than the kid of the guy who already did. so as for having kids, i think y'all should do it (and i mean that in the literal sense) for the good of all rocketdom. to tie it into this thread, you could even home school him with many classes focusing on the rockets to train him for his upcoming career of saving us. classes like: Leslie Alexander: The Owner, The Vegetarian, the Man Hakeem Olajuwon: Kicking Ass and Taking Names David Robinson: Hakeem's b**** Vernon Maxwell: Crazy or Misunderstood Genius, Probably Crazy Robert Horry: The Nate Dogg of the NBA (because good things happen when he's around) Nate Dogg: A Class to Explain the Robert Horry reference Michael Jordan: Pure Evil Pete Chilcutt: Boy Did He Suck Air Bull: The Legend (and if the kid gets an A Chance will come perform the song at the end of the year) and so many more. i find this comment both charitable and very disturbing at the same time.
Originally posted by Mrs. JB Jeff and I don't plan to have children, It's obviously 'ok', but can't help think that's a loss for some child/children 'somewhere'. but if we did I would most likely homeschool, at least part of the time. For kids who are in any way different (gifted, introverted, etc...), public school can be a very difficult experience. Plus, kids are rarely able to get any type of specialized instruction in subjects that really interest them. I think the 'part of the time' is good idea, if it could be worked somehow. Overall, I think it depends a lot on the child. Some children could have difficulty with the regimentation of schools, while another might excel in it. Although I don't like the assembly-line aspect of schools, my main concern would be the way schools tend to close children's minds. I would spend my part of the day home schooling to battle that. (I could just see my child's questions the next day in class. I don't think the teachers would like me. )
Hey, I agree! We've been lucky that our 1st and 6th graders are in excellent schools. Sometimes the teachers aren't as good as we would like, but overall they've been great. You have to stay involved and not "assume" everything is hunky-dory in their class or classes. Considering how underpaid teachers are and how totally unwilling the State of Texas seems to be to properly fund education (which would, gasp, require raising taxes), we've been lucky. I mean us personally. I just wish teachers didn't have to spend so much time teaching the kids to do well on these mandated tests (which my son found to be rediculously easy) and more time for academics. Having said that, if the parents want to do it, do a great job, and don't mind paying their taxes to support the local districts then I have no problem with it... as long as there is some measuring stick for their kids progress. Regarding Jeff's and Mrs. JB not having kids... well, we weren't going to either. That's why we're so damn old and have such young children. We discussed it one day over a couple of pitchers of beer because our "window" was fast closing. I think what tipped the scales was looking at what the world was like, how outstanding our parents were, and deciding the gene-pool needed us. Gotta hope for a couple of more liberal Democrats, if we're lucky!
Both of our children have been identified as gifted (total luck, I'm sure! ) and Austin (AISD) has a program for those kids. They are followed until they graduate and put in classes taught by teachers trained to give them an advanced curriculum. And they have Magnet Schools for gifted children (my 6th grader is in one now) that offer 6th graders courses in Latin and law, among other things.
Spelling and Geography don't get you through life. Although I agree with the gifted kids point, but I would still at least try to find a place with other gifted kids. Kids just need to learn to interact with each other.
It's not just spelling and geography. There's quite a bit of evidence to suggest that, given educated, conscienscious parents, home schooled children do better academically. I have many reservations... but quality of education isn't one of them in most cases. Unfortunately, most of the websites in which people discuss their experience are rather... biased. While I'm sure that people who who home school successfully can give an objective assessment, most of the sites and research I found had a decided objective in mind. In some cases, people who disagreed were flamed badly (unike here, of course ).
I am against home schooling for society as a whole. There is more to having a society then having a small group of super kids who are lucky to have parents who push them to great accomplishments. It is going to lead to a lot of screwed up kids who fall through the cracks. All too often used by religious nuts with little formal education to keep their children from being exposed to other ideas or irresponsible people too lazy to get their kids off to school. My own experience with home schooling. 1) We had some Jehovah's witnesses across the block. Our son was 5 their kids were roughly 5 and 7. They had lived there for a year and no one knew they had kids as they kept thme indoors all the time. Eventually the kids discovered each other. They played a couple of times and then they discouraged it as they didn't want their kids to be contaminated by a regular kid. After we rejected their litttle overture where they came over and knocked on the door and did their little number, we never saw them again till they moved. 2) A coworker had a 14 year old who refused to go to school. Kid was disturbed and an alcoholic. Home schooling was a way to keep the truant officers at bay. I'm sort of sympathetic since they tried everything to get the kid to go to school. 3) A relative of my wifes' and some irresponsible friends of my brother, who I've met several times throughout the years, also used homeschooling to defend against the truancy laws. (Also Jehovah's Witnesses, but irresponsible and little if any schooling was done.). 4) My sister knows some yuppie homeschoolers in the Heights. with graduate degrees. They do a good job. I don't think they're any better than the top 10% at a good highschool. Good family, good kids, good results either way. Possibly a super acheiver will result, but kids could have been national merit scholars or somesuch without homeschooling.
My kids are homeschooled. My son is in 6th grade and has been home schooled since 3rd grade. My daughter is in 3rd grade, and other than 1/2 a year of kindergarten, has been homeschooled exclusively. My youngest is only 3. I would be willing to bet that I have had been exposed to more homeschooled kids than anyone on this board. Here are a few oberservations: Most homeschooled kids are "socialized". Believe me, I know some radical homeschoolers are determined to raise a bunch of "hermits". This is the exception however, not the rule. My kids each play two sports, take music lessons, and do community service work weekly. My kids are typical of homeschoolers. My kids do well academically. Last year, my daughter was diagnosed with diabetes midway through the school year. My wife and I thought she needed lots of extra attention, so my son finished 5th grade at a very rigorous private school. He got straight A's, and judging by the friends he made, seemed to be a very popular kid. Again, I think my kids are typical, not the exception. My wife and I have problems with homeschooling parents who view all public/private education as bad. We also disagree (of course) with more traditional parents who say we are harming our kids. (I have a meeting to go to, and will post more later.)
I have a question: Are home schooled children allowed to participate in their local schools athletic or extra-curricular teams? Such as if you have a home schooled child could they play at the local high school football team or play in the band? Obviously they can particpate in non-school teams (little league, etc) but wasn't sure how it worked for high schhol sports. thanks
I don't think they can but someone else could enlighten us. I think the point is that is what intermural sports (little league, rec league, church league, YMCA, etc) are for. They don't require a school affiliation.
