Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessPerky
home is where the school is
The results? Studies have shown that home-schooled children outperform the conventionally schooled not only on standardized academic tests but also on tests of social skills. This, I believe, isn't because home-schoolers do things better than schools do them but because we do better things than schools do.
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I think we also have other things in our favor:
1. We have a smaller class size. I teach 2 in one grade, and 1 in another grade, not 30.
2. We get more hands on. A public or private school is limited to the amount of time it has for each class period, as well as time spent on field trips. In my highschool home ec class, we learned about buying food in an economical way but my daughters have been to the grocery store and compared prices, brands and coupons hands on. Many moms don't teach this, so you can't assume if they don't learn it at school the will at home. My school years usually had 50 minutes per subject and I had 2-4 field trips a year. In my science class , we did about 3 experments a year.
At home, we have music and art daily, not weekly.
When we studied fish and waterlife we went to the pond ourselves, got water and looked at it under the microscope. We studied the pond life while we were there--when I was in school, we had the water we looked at sent to us in the mail. We also went to the conservation department and talked to a ranger and compared their pond to ours.
My children have spent time "interning" at the bank, grocery store, library, vets office, dr office, dentist office, insurance company, newspaper.... learning about the jobs first hand, actually doing some of the work. When I was in school, I read about the various jobs in a textbook.
If my child struggles, I can slow down without fear of what to do with the rest of the classroom. If my child needs to be moved ahead, I can do it freely.
As for the argument I may not be qualified and public schools require certified teachers. My junior highschool MATH teacher was a certified teacher. Her training was in ENGLISH. She was the worse math teacher I could have ever had. My dad had a math degree and worked with me nightly to overcome her lack of teaching. In fact, he tutored several students in my class.
We attend a coop on a weekly basis with 297 other homeschoolers. We do a joint yearbook, prom, class rings.... We have a band, and do our spring and Christmas programs together. We are involved in scouts and 4H. On Thursdays we do sports with other homeschoolers. During the winter it is bowling or skating, and swim lessons during the summer months. My public school never taught swiming, bowling or skating. We only did softball, dodge ball, volleyball...or gym activities.
Today I have a child who has a fever. She is still learning at home (between naps). In the public school world, I would have to keep her at home for 2 hours after the fever ends.
Homeschooling is not for everyone. But it works well for my family. I know it is effective based on my childrens test scores, and awards they have won at spelling bees, science fairs, essay contests and such in the community. My 4th graders are now reading on a 7th grade level, and my 6th grader on a 11 grade level.
03-24-2008, 01:10 PM
