That may be true if the parents are suitably qualified and sensible..Does that sound like most dubs? I thought their main motive was so that the kids would not have to "mix with the world"I am not even a parent, so you can shoot me down, but the witnesses I knew who did this kept the kids seperated.
I'm not a JW, so I suppose I am approaching this from the non-jw perspective.
IMHO, unless there are special reasons the kids lose out on social interaction. If you don't learn how to cope with others as a 10yr old, it will be darn hard when you are 18 and plunged into the world for the first time
This is exactly what I'm saying...If a parent allows this to happen. Does it happen? Sure. All the time? No. If it does is homeschooling itself to blame? No. The parent is.
I think only a few rare people pull it off successfully. Home Schooling was all the fad amongst the evangelicals when I was raising my children (I chose a private school). I became suspicious when the literature talked about the sacrifices the entire family would have to make. Why huge sacrifices? Isn't the goal to make things BETTER for the child? And I felt vindicated when books on overcoming "homeschool burnout" started coming out.
Parents make sacrifices for their kids. It happens, comes with the job. In my school life, I had perhaps 2 teachers that I can honestly say taught with a passion for helping others learn. The others were there to collect paychecks and give tests. My first grade teacher was evil and had the temperment of a raging bull. The fourth, fifth and sixth grade teachers, only one I can honestly say was a good guy. The others were evil wenches that preferred to either embarrass their students or physically harm their kids. This was public school. This was this school district that I am now living in. Why huge sacrifices? Hm..
Think about it. A teacher at least gets summers and "professional development" days. She takes some work home, but generally her evenings are her own. She can specialize on a particular grade or subject and refine it year by year. A homeschooling mother gets NO time off. Every event is a "teaching moment". There are no holidays, and there are no breaks. When does she have time to develop a curriculum, create a program? She needs to learn as the children learn, so she can't refine or go back and fix her mistakes. What is not learned is gone.
The teachers that our kids have right now, do Not have evenings to themselves. Most work late into the evenings.
And homeschooling mothers should get time off by scheduling it for herself, just like any sensible parent does. A parent cannot be "on" all the time. The best parents that I know, homeschooling and nonhomeschooling, make sure that each parent has down time away from the kids to regroup and relax. The homeschoolers that I know take holidays, take breaks and get down time. Curriculums are developed as they learn their child's needs for the following year.
I.e a parent will likely start developing a curriculum based on what the tests say (yes tests) to them this year so that they know where their child is lagging. As for tests, there are third parties that provide testing, as many states have very strict requirements that a homeschooling famly must meet yearly. Further, there are third parties that provide curriculum and testing and help you answer to the state at the end of the year. I know of a few that have good, perhaps excellent qualifications. Many who work for these companies are teachers or former teachers.
Institutional learning has some big drawbacks as well. It is not as individualized. It tends to be impersonal. Some children will fall in the cracks. Parents have to be vigilant and take action if necessary.
I agree with this. I have to add...
We had a problem with a specific school and teacher and principal a few years back with Hannah. We learned that our school district does Not work well with parents. Parents in these areas have to play hard and nasty to get what their child deserves, because in all honesty, the school district reps don't want to deal with it.
I absolutely do see where the perspective is in relation to a parent homeschooling a child to keep them away from the "world". I have to say this though,I have met homeschooling parenst from so many different walks who are not necessarily trying to shield their kids from the world, but are seeking to provide an environment where a child can learn without having to worry unnecessarily about violence and peer pressures. Peer pressure starts from such an early age. I know and understand why people tend to think "But a child has to learn to deal with it". I won't argue with that. However, my theory, and it is only that, is that young ones want so badly to fit in that school can become more a place of learning to fit in, even at the cost of their self respect, and less a place of learning reading, writing and arithemetic.
I think too, it really depends on a persons own experiences with school. I.e. if you have had positive experiences with school and less positive experiences with homeschooling, your opinion on the matter might reflect that. And this applies vice versa as well.
My experiences with the school as a child, and my experiences with the schools and school district as an adult has led me to the conclusion that I have come to.
I think the key is this:
If you can't be a good, balanced parent, you will likely not be a good, balanced homeschooler.
