Home schooling:pros and cons

[elessar78]

First I'd really like to hear from people with direct experiences. I think all of us have preconceptions that are anecdotal at best about things like socialization.

My SIL has gone down the all-natural, über-catholic path and this is the latest extension of that mindset. Personally, I'm very against homeschooling BUT I want to hear other perspectives. You could have done I or someone you know could have been a teacher or student.

Thanks

[bjl584]

Pro:
Public schooling is just like every other government run program. Inefficient, bloated, no accountability, wasteful, etc.......
Teachers have a captive audience and can indoctrinate students how they see fit.
More and more more money keeps getting dumped into public education only to have students fall further and further behind in basic skills and knowledge compared to students in other countries.

All that makes for a compelling argument FOR home schooling.

Con:
Who is to say that the average parent in qualified to teach a student? Beyond knowing the material some people are just bad at giving instruction.
A parent has a very captive audience and can indoctrinate their children any way that they want with almost no counterpoint being given.
Kids may become sheltered and narrow-minded. They will have no exposure to other people or other points of view.

All that make a good argument AGAINST home schooling.

[Bob B.]

We are a homeschooling family.

DD1 is 10 and DD2 is 7.

Honestly, my wife does most of the work.

As far as the socialization argument goes - our daughters are involved in 4-H, soccer, swim club, and church.

Also, there is a group of local homeschooling families that get together most Fridays for activities - tour the post office, local recycling facility, visit a veterinarian, or just get together and play at a church gym.

Our girls also have separate play dates with kids from the home school group, or church, or swim club.

We review our decision at the beginning of each school year, with input from the kids. So far homeschooling has worked best for our family.

[MonkeyMama]

As with anything, homeschooling comes in many shapes and sizes.

I don't really know anyone who was personally homeschooled, and much prefer my kids attend public school. If nothing else, I think to all the amazing teachers I had who were very knowledgeable and passionate about their subjects. I just don't have the resources to provide that to my kids. My kids do attend a public charter school and though I may have not initially felt that way about the younger grades, I do now when it comes to their school. Their school has provided so much opportunity that we could not have provided on our own. My oldest in particular has had a very "catered to him" education, utilizing technology.

My 4th grader will be taking summer engineering classes at the public university. Again, this is not an education that *I* could provide him. Not in the slightest. & I don't see why I would deny him the opportunity.

All of the above said, we do have a challenging situation with having a very advanced and driven child. So I think it is extremely likely we will homeschool at some point. There is another charter in our neighborhood that has "homeschool" classes. This is where kids that are traditionally homeschooled can come in to take a class here and there from knowledgeable educators. The homeschool program runs K-12 I believe. This is precisely the kind of middle ground I would consider. I envision home schooling would probably be some home schooling, a lot of computer learning, some community college classes, private tutors, and maybe utilizing this homeschool program. If his education wasn't so A+ at current, we would also very much supplement at home.

If I choose to homeschool it would be because that is what is best for my child. I do think it's unfortunate that homeschooling is so stereotyped. There is no doubt many kids in this day and age would thrive outside of the public school system. & my spouse's very expensive private education sounds like it was probably the worst education out of the 4 of us. (The worst, by a mile!) I don't think that private school is the obvious answer.

[Redraidernurse]

I interact with a great number of homeschooling families in my community.

My SIL has 6 children and homeschools half and the other half go to public school. The ones who are in public school are always complaining about how they go to a class, finish their work within 20 min, and then are sitting around for the next 30 min idle (or being given busy work) waiting on the others to finish their work. Get up, go to next class, repeat. That makes for a lot of wasted time sitting in a desk, not learning. If you really consider it, this is how every public school is, probably 50% busy work and 50% actual learning (or maybe even less learning....)
In comparison, the home-schooled ones can finish their work quickly in the mornings and have the afternoon off to pursue other interests. They can learn things that are exciting and interesting to them, not just whatever the state has deemed they need to be tested on. The traditional classroom schedule constraint is a major downer for public school.

Some other benefits I see:

The family unit seems stronger because with how much time they spend together they HAVE to learn to get along. The children in the families I see are eating together, playing together, and learning together so they create very strong bonds.

You can take vacation whenever, not just on spring break or whenever the school deems it a holiday. Field trip!!!!

The children spend more time playing outside and getting exercise since they aren't chained to a desk all day.

Maximize their academic achievement. So, little Freddy loves astronomy? Well, you can spend extra time going to space museums, checking out library books about astronomy, doing fun science projects, etc. You're never going to find a child getting that kind of 1 on 1 education in a public school.

The biggest reason for homeschooling that I see is that our public school system is so focused on standardized testing and such, and I don't see that creating a smart, well-rounded, contributing citizen with strong character to our society. Education shouldn't only be about academics. Although, I think this is extremely important. Character values such as truthfulness, patience, self-control, discernment, compassion, discretion, gratefulness, creativity, love, loyalty, etc, should all be part of the child's education as well. You'll be hard pressed to find those emphasized these days when teachers are completely frazzled about making sure their students can pass the next standardized test.

I could write more, but the children are wanting to go paint so I must go. Btw, I have 2 children, neither of which is school age. It is something I have been researching, but we have time to make that decision. I am leaning towards the classical education model.

[riverwed070707]

First I'd really like to hear from people with direct experiences. I think all of us have preconceptions that are anecdotal at best about things like socialization.

My SIL has gone down the all-natural, über-catholic path and this is the latest extension of that mindset. Personally, I'm very against homeschooling BUT I want to hear other perspectives. You could have done I or someone you know could have been a teacher or student.

Thanks

Why is it your place to be against how other people choose to educate their kids? Its fine if its not right for your family but I think blanketing the practice as something that is an unacceptable form of education is petty. There are good teachers and bad. Good schools and bad. Some parents are equipped for homeschooling, some aren't. To judge the practice based on preconceived notions of whats good for all kids is a waste of time. The real factors are specific to the situation -- is the parent an effective teacher? Do they have the resources to educate well? Can the child effectively learn in the given environment? How does the public school align with the families values and education standards?

While homeschooling isn't an option for us, I would absolutely consider it if I were a SAH parent. Our public school has children entering kindergarden that don't know their ABCs. The most disheartening part is that it isn't the schools fault that they have to make up for parents' shortcommings. What is my 4 year old who is already beginning to read and write going to learn when she goes to kindergarden in a classroom with children whos parents didn't have the decency to teach them basic age appropriate skills before attending school? We're 6 months away from preschool and aren't sure where DD will attend but I can assure you it won't be public school for the early years (jr. high/high school at least provide options for advanced classes and don't make all children learn the same) and that she would be better off homeschooled than spending her days bored with material she already knows. I don't inherrently feel public school is bad -- just reinforcing that the options matter and should all be weighed before choosing a school and that just becuase someone else chose to homeschool their children and you didn't doesn't make them wrong or you right. There is no right answer.

[boefixepa]

We are just starting into the homeschool scene. We live in a great area and it has nothing to do with how good or bad the schools are. I wanted to be the one who taught my children. I wanted to keep them from being treated (I am talking by teacher here, not kids, they do have to learn to deal with that) poorly by adults. I can remember my teachers doing or saying things that really affected me and I hope to channel things in a more positive manner. Am I going to make mistakes, sure, but I am confident they will get a better education with me then in public schools.

My oldest is 4 almost 5, and would enter Kindergarten in fall, but since I have worked with her from the get go, I found last year I had run out of things to do with her, so I started her on the K level stuff. She is now reading on an early first grade level. By the time she should start K in public school I expect her to be about at the end of first grade in Reading Math (should be starting Saxon math 2 by fall) Grammar, Writing, Science and well not as far in History, but that's because I just added it. It sounds great, but it's not all that much work. We work for 2-3 hours a day and that is it. There are plenty of helps and groups out there to make sure we get all the social and group activities we need. We spent a few hours at a church gym yesterday playing with other kids.

All that being said, that is what we do! It is so individual that each situation has to be judged in and for itself. Give your sister a few years and see 1.) can she hack it. IT IS ALOT OF WORK if you actually teach. Learning how to teach and motivate your kids when they would rather be playing is HARD. And you have to be a self motivated person or kids are not going to learn. She if she can do that or is going to say to heck with it and put her kids in public school. 2.) Are the kids thriving. If the kids are learning and loving it, where is the problem? My girls get mad if the DON'T get school time! So I know they like it. It is not work to them. If those two things are meet, just because it is not what you would do does not mean it is wrong. Now if the kids are grade levels behind and act like jungle kids, you may want to figure out how to tactfully point that out, but really there is nothing besides that you can do.

[Petunia 100]

My family home schooled for 3 years. My daughter was in grades 3, 4, and 5. My son is 5 years younger than his sister, so was only school aged the last year.

In my area, there are hundreds of home schooling families. We joined a few groups and participated in some of the activities/classes. In addition, my daughter made a lot of friendships so we had a lot of play dates as well.

My daughter is 22 now, so it has been a few years. Off the top of my head, here are some of the things she participated in:

1. One year of band (she played the flute) taught be a credentialed music teacher.

2. One year of music appreciation (music structure, classical music, a little history of great composers) taught by a credentialed music teacher.

3. Two years of art classes taught by a local artist in her home studio. They did units on painting, sculpting, pottery, perspective, etc.

4. One semester of creative writing, taught by a credentialed teacher.

5. One year of a social studies club, the year we did our state history. The club was organized by 3 credentialed teachers, who also lead the activities at meetings. We met once a month for an afternoon. Reading was assigned for the next month at each meeting. Activities were based on the readings. For example, at one meeting there were some Native American guests who talked to the students about their traditional culture. The students got to make acorn bread. We went on field trips to our state capital, to a museum, to a mission (California).

6. One year of a social studies club similar to above, on world history and geography.

7. Two years of a science club. Similar to above. We met once a month for a lab. The labs were taught by a credentialed teacher, in a classroom full of microscopes, beakers, and bunson burners. Handouts of reading material and easy-to-do-at-home experiments were given each month. We did a field trip to our local state university one evening and used their observatory. That evening the students were taught by a grad student.

8. One year of Spanish, taught by a credentialed teacher. The class was once per week.

9. Three years of gymnastics at a local children's gymnastics place. They had a weekly time slot for home schoolers.

10. Two years of a twice weekly P.E. class, taught by a credentialed P.E. teacher.

In addition, we signed up for quite a few one time only classes. Writing workshops, different art classes, etc., through our home schooling groups. Then from our city, my children took swimming lessons, cooking classes, and various art classes. At our local junior college which has "college for kids" classes, my daughter took various classes. I recall a puppet-making class, a class about dogs (how to care for, different breeds), and an astronomy class.

This was all in addition to learning we did completely independently.

I am sure there are more things I am missing.

It was an awesome experience for my family. At first, we did worry about the socialization issue. However, it didn't take long for that "issue" to become laughable. We found we had to pick and choose our activities, because there simply weren't enough hours in the day to take advantage of everything offered.

Home schooling does require a big time commitment from the parents. That is potentially a CON, not all families are going to have the ability to make that time commitment.

[JoeP]

I know several families who have home schooled and have had great results. A lot has to do with the structure, content, and guidance that comes from the parent(s): a TON of work, not for the meek! But there are lots of support groups out there.

One area of adjustment I've heard about first hand is transitioning to public schools. There will be differences to prepare for (pace, structure, mean kids) which may take a few weeks to overcome, but I found it satisfying that most home schooled kids were actually bored most of the first year of public school because they were further ahead in most topics.

[phantom]

I know a few families that home school or have home schooled.

My husband's parents enrolled his three youngest siblings in a cyber charter school up until they were ready for high school, and then they sent them to a public high school. The lessons were on the computer, so all their mom had to do was make sure they followed them. It didn't matter how well she understood the material herself. The kids are all in college now, and it seems like their education was adequate. They also all have friends and seem to socialize fine.

I also have a neighbor whose daughter uses the cyber charter school. She's high school age and had to miss some school a couple years ago for health reasons. She used the cyber school to catch up and keep up, and she found she really liked being able to move at her own pace. So, she stuck with it even after she was able to return to public school.

The wife of a coworker of mine does what I think of as traditional homeschooling, buying curriculum from a publisher and teaching from that. Both parents used to work as a teachers, and I think that helps. Their three boys are around 7-11 years old. I've met them, and they're nice kids.

My husband has friends whose oldest child just hit school age, and they've decided to start home schooling in a very non-traditional way. They've decided to just let their kids learn about whatever interests them. I'm not sure how well it will work. It seems like the sort of thing that could either go wonderfully or horribly, depending on the kids and the parents. Since they live in another state, we don't see them often, and we haven't seen them since they started this. So, it's hard to say how it's going. I guess time will tell.

I don't have kids yet, but my husband and I are thinking about home schooling our kids. But, we definitely have some time to make that decision. The nice thing is that schooling doesn't have to be a one time decision. It's always possible to try something different if one method or another doesn't work out as expected.

[elessar78]

We are just starting into the homeschool scene. We live in a great area and it has nothing to do with how good or bad the schools are. I wanted to be the one who taught my children. I wanted to keep them from being treated (I am talking by teacher here, not kids, they do have to learn to deal with that) poorly by adults. I can remember my teachers doing or saying things that really affected me and I hope to channel things in a more positive manner. Am I going to make mistakes, sure, but I am confident they will get a better education with me then in public schools.

My oldest is 4 almost 5, and would enter Kindergarten in fall, but since I have worked with her from the get go, I found last year I had run out of things to do with her, so I started her on the K level stuff. She is now reading on an early first grade level. By the time she should start K in public school I expect her to be about at the end of first grade in Reading Math (should be starting Saxon math 2 by fall) Grammar, Writing, Science and well not as far in History, but that's because I just added it. It sounds great, but it's not all that much work. We work for 2-3 hours a day and that is it. There are plenty of helps and groups out there to make sure we get all the social and group activities we need. We spent a few hours at a church gym yesterday playing with other kids.

All that being said, that is what we do! It is so individual that each situation has to be judged in and for itself. Give your sister a few years and see 1.) can she hack it. IT IS ALOT OF WORK if you actually teach. Learning how to teach and motivate your kids when they would rather be playing is HARD. And you have to be a self motivated person or kids are not going to learn. She if she can do that or is going to say to heck with it and put her kids in public school. 2.) Are the kids thriving. If the kids are learning and loving it, where is the problem? My girls get mad if the DON'T get school time! So I know they like it. It is not work to them. If those two things are meet, just because it is not what you would do does not mean it is wrong. Now if the kids are grade levels behind and act like jungle kids, you may want to figure out how to tactfully point that out, but really there is nothing besides that you can do.

Fantastic response. Will respond more at length later, but this addresses some of the positives and answers the negatives that I have.

[Petunia 100]

My husband has friends whose oldest child just hit school age, and they've decided to start home schooling in a very non-traditional way. They've decided to just let their kids learn about whatever interests them. I'm not sure how well it will work. It seems like the sort of thing that could either go wonderfully or horribly, depending on the kids and the parents. Since they live in another state, we don't see them often, and we haven't seen them since they started this. So, it's hard to say how it's going. I guess time will tell.

That is called "unschooling". The idea was first promoted in the 1970s by John Holt. Since then, a number of families have unschooled quite successfully. Some of the more "famous" unschoolers I think are the Colfax family. They unschooled from birth and the children attended and graduated from Yale and Harvard. One son also graduated from Harvard Law. So, it seems to have worked fine for the Colfaxes.

[DayByDay]

You say you're personally against homeschooling. I'm against school systems that are unable to meet my children's learning needs, that try to indoctrinate them on topics with which I don't agree, that believe they own my children and who have decreed by law that they will teach my children anything they want without my knowledge or consent.

This is my 11th year homeschooling, teaching just one 4th grade child now. He's involved in different groups, and is doing just fine. He just did his very first 4-H presentation in front of the whole 4-H club last night and did a great job.

My older child was homeschooled from 7th to 12th grade. It worked great for him, and he was a much happier kid. It was the best decision I could have made for him.

Each family does what they think is best for them. I still occasionally get comments from people who feel the need to tell me they disapprove of homeschooling. It hurts, especially when it comes from relatives. I don't really know what to say to them. I just know to stick to my convictions for my own family.

[elessar78]

You say you're personally against homeschooling. I'm against school systems that are unable to meet my children's learning needs, that try to indoctrinate them on topics with which I don't agree, that believe they own my children and who have decreed by law that they will teach my children anything they want without my knowledge or consent.

This is my 11th year homeschooling, teaching just one 4th grade child now. He's involved in different groups, and is doing just fine. He just did his very first 4-H presentation in front of the whole 4-H club last night and did a great job.

My older child was homeschooled from 7th to 12th grade. It worked great for him, and he was a much happier kid. It was the best decision I could have made for him.

Each family does what they think is best for them. I still occasionally get comments from people who feel the need to tell me they disapprove of homeschooling. It hurts, especially when it comes from relatives. I don't really know what to say to them. I just know to stick to my convictions for my own family.

Check my last post. Be glad there are people like me who are open to good reasons that may challenge my current beliefs. The umbrella reason of "what I choose is best for my family" is backed up by faulty logic. Just in this thread I've backed off on the socialization issue, because its clear that its not a hurdle. Waste of time in traditional schools is another good argument.

I'm big on professionals doing any job. Not sure someone who is not a qualified teacher can pull it off. I coach soccer which is exponentially simpler than being a school teacher. I've win vested considerable amount of time and money to get good--I've yet to see committed volunteers or even pros who just "get by"

[boefixepa]

"I'm big on professionals doing any job. Not sure someone who is not a qualified teacher can pull it off. I coach soccer which is exponentially simpler than being a school teacher. I've win vested considerable amount of time and money to get good--I've yet to see committed volunteers or even pros who just "get by"."

With regards to this. If the parent, generally the mother, is serious about homeschooling she will learn how to teach. I have numerous friends who are professional teachers, and the number of classes they take that actually teach them how to teach are very, very, few. They take a lot of classes on the "system" of the day, and meeting all the legal requirements. A dedicated mother can read and study on her own and be just as prepared as a professional teacher. The real learning comes when you do it. That is why you have to "student teach" to get a teaching degree. That is when you really learn how to teach, and you go through that as a homeschooling parent to. I called it the learning curve, what you thought was going to happen didn't happen and you have to learn how to teach your child in a way they will learn, and you have to do it without wanting to throttle them! The professional teacher would just walk away and not worry about it. Well you are teaching one on one, so it becomes a problem solving game..is it the method, the topic, are they tired, sick, bored, why don't they get it...so you problem solve. I teach a Sunday school class for 4 year olds at my Church as well and I can tell you that one on one makes a big difference.