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Homeschooling - thoughts?
I was reading some of posts on the Pioneer Woman website under the homeschooling thread, and was really mixed about a lot of the responses. They left me unsettled and I'm not entirely sure why.
On the one hand, I'm obviously biased in favour of public education - I work in it and love what I do. Also, I really believe that it takes more than just having a curriculum to deliver to be a good teacher, so I cringe when parents reduce teaching down to that. It's hard not to feel under attack by parents who feel that the public system is so terribly broken, you know? Maybe it's because I'm not a parent myself, but I have a hard time believing that parents always know best how to raise/teach their child... which is a thought I see repeated over and over again on PW.
On the other hand, I'm all about small classrooms (with the exception of drama - 16-24 kids, please) and individual attention and being able - truly able, to cater to a child's specific needs and interests. And I certainly don't believe that all (or even most) kids who come out of homeschooling end up being socially awkward. If parents have homeschooled properly, they haven't been keeping the child in isolation, you know?
Were you homeschooled? Do you know anyone who was? Would you consider it for your own children?
Re: Homeschooling - thoughts?
I personally have never met a home schooled person that was a well balanced person. Dh has cousins, I've had friends in college and have worked with people in the past that have been home schooled. They have always come across to me as socially awkward people.That they are not as good as interacting with their peers as other people the same age.
I think it is extremely important for children to interact with other kids their age and other adults.
I'm not on the kid path but I wouldn't home school them if I was.
I agree with Eva. Whenever I find out someone is homeschooled, I am generally not surprised, normally my first thought is, "well, that explains it". There always seems to be something that is just a little bit off with those that are homeschooled.
No matter how many programs parents get their kids involved in so that they interact with others, I firmly believe that there is no substitute for social interaction with others on a daily basis. I believe that kids need to deal with the "recess politics" that goes on in schools. They need to figure out how to cope with having your BFF stop liking you for no reason, how to deal with social pressures, being popular or unpopular, dealing with your peers and interacting with them on a daily basis, etc. I think it is an extremely important part of preparing kids for the real world.
I'm not a parent or a teacher and I was fortunate to grow up in a district with wonderful public schools, so my opinions are based on my experiences. Additionally, my opinion of kids that are homeschooled are also based on the co-workers, relatives and others that I have met that are homeschooled. For me, I would never consider homeschooling our kids and DH agrees.
I am many things, but a teacher is not one of them. I don't think I could ever do the job of a teacher.
V is sort of open to it and I think he'd do a good job. His idea of homeschooling includes lots of extra organized activities which would give the child opportunities to interact with other kids. But he certainly doesn't feel strongly enough about it to push it, it's more that if I wanted to do homeschooling, he'd be open to it. But I don't. I kind of see school as a microcosm of the real world (there are all sorts of people, group projects with people you might not like, things aren't always fair) and I want my kids to be exposed to that.
That being said, I don't think that the public school curriculum is rigorous enough (from my own experience back when I was a student) so if the kids don't appear challenged enough, I plan to supplement with after school activities and classes.
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Maybe that's part of my concern too - that the few kids who I've taught who were homeschooled and then mainstreamed have serious problems interacting with their peers. In almost all of those cases, the child was initially part of the public system, pulled out and then placed back in when parents no longer felt they had the knowledge to teach a certain subject anymore.
I also find myself wondering at how good these children are at negotiating conflict when they don't have the playground experience.
Ringy - I hear you on supplementing school with extra curricular. SO important. I love that my school has some seriously intense math clubs (we won silver at provincials this year at the math olympics), sports teams and music programs. I feel like some of the best learning happens in those halls before 8:30 and after 3 pm!
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I also agree with Eeva.
When I started to go back to school a few years ago, a young girl who sat next to me was home schooled. She was actually considered a senior. Anyhow, she was EXTREMELY shy. Mind you this was a Public Speaking class, so she was forced to get up and talk. She never spoke up in class (which I know many public school children don't as well), and whenever anyone (including myself) tried to have a conversation with her, you could tell she was just plain uncomfortable.
Mind you this is only from one interaction, so I can't say that all home schooled children are like this.
For myself, my boys will be going to public schools. I want to make sure that they get proper education (not that home schooling doesn't), and are taught how to socially interact with others. I also will supplement where I feel their educations are lacking. I don't want them growing up doing most things with just each other. I want them to develop their own sets of friends. I want them to learn team spirit, and hopefully participate in school extracurricular (Sp?) activities.
I am kind of babbling, but for me that is what I think.
I tend to think that people who choose to homeschool their kids have very clear agendas or beliefs that they want to instill in their children that are outside of the realm of mainstream beliefs, and that this contributes to the awkwardness as they grow up...This may not always be the case, but I think you often see an awkwardness in the parents that is then passed down to the kids...
Personally, I wouldn't homeschool because I am a big believer in the educational system (obviously). While it is certainly flawed, I think learning in a public (or even private) school environment teaches skills that you don't learn simply from an academic curriculum.
However, I think homeschooling in elementary/middle school is possible for parents--because parents (hopefully) have a firm grasp on most of the basics. When kids get to high school I imagine that there are very few parents who have the necessary knowledge to teach the whole gamut of subjects that they would get in school--even if technology is used to support the curriculum. Even as a teacher, there is no way I would feel comfortable teaching my kid (or any kid) calculus or chemistry, for example. I just think that kids must miss out somewhere on the range of subjects that they are exposed to...
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Part of me wants to research it more, because letting Emmett out into the world is scary. But the truth is that he will need the social interaction. We're best buds, but at some point I want him to form his own relationships, etc. Just thinking about it makes my heart race (I'm realizing I'm a bit of an overbearing parent), but I think it would be best for him.
My reasons for home-schooling come from the fact that I was severely bullied as a child, all through elementary school. To the point where my mother was thinking of sending me to live with my grandparents. Yes, I do think that children should learn playground politics but, when it involves tying a kid up to a tree in the back corner of the school yard and hitting the child with sticks, I find it to be a safety hazard. I do think that there are ways one can home-school where the child is interacting with peers enough to get that playground politics but, in a smaller more supervised setting where things wont escalate to far.
The main concerns I have with public school is class size, and therefore lack of sufficient supervision. I do think the way things are right now kids aren't getting enough one on one attention in classes and that is hindering. With regards to supervision I am not necessarily talking about in the classroom as much as during lunch hour when there are only 2-5 lunch hour supervisors and over 200 kids.
I'm so sorry your principal and teachers didn't do more to protect you! When your parents went to them, why wasn't any action taken? I know in our school system, the kids who initiated the bullying would be transferred with that kind of behaviour.
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When my parents did go to teachers and principals their solution was to take me out of class at certain times and give me one on one tutoring in certain area's. They also suggested that I go home for lunch. They tried talking to other children's parents but the parents and children denied any bullying. At one point my teacher thought it would be a good idea to explain to children that I have A.D.D. in hopes that they would understand me better (my A.D.D. was very mild and barely noticeable) this only caused more grief. None of the extreme bullying was witnessed by a supervisor and therefore became a "my word against there word" type thing and the parents of the bullies refused to have their children transferred.
That sucks. It's hard when there's no firm proof. Innocent until proven guilty is frustrating.
I don't know what it's like in your school board district now, but in ours things have changed a lot now that bullying has been recognized as an offence under the safe schools act. Back when we were growing up, there was a lot less credence put into the effects of bullying.
Anyway, I was going to say, with our board, parents don't get a choice if their child has committed an offence like you experienced. The child goes. End of story. We had 3 students transferred this year because of bullying (one involving extortion), and received one student from another school who was transferred in because of what he'd done at his last school. Hopefully it's the same in your district now.
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It is nice to hear that some school districts are making a genuine effort to stop bullying.