Home Schooling
by WTWizard 35 Replies latest jw friends
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ibme
Sorry about that
Rinmiredancing said:
“I have no interest in sending my children to school, not because of religion, but because I want my children to be able to think for themselves. “
Could this be why?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_education_system
The political motivations of the King of Prussia
Seeking to replace the controlling functions of the local aristocracy, the Prussian court attempted to instill social obedience in the citizens through indoctrination. Every individual had to become convinced, in the core of his being, that the King was just, his decisions always right, and the need for obedience paramount.
The schools imposed an official language to the prejudice of ethnic groups living in Prussia. The purpose of the system was to instill loyalty to the Crown and to train young men for the military and the bureaucracy. As the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte, a key influence on the system, said, "The schools must fashion the person, and fashion him in such a way that he simply cannot will otherwise than what you wish him to will."
Emulation of the Prussian education system in the United States
The Prussian system proved to be a success for that government’s purposes. By the late 1800’s men in the United States including Horace Mann, Barnis Sears, and Calvin Stove heard about the successes of the Prussian system. They traveled to Germany to investigate how the educational process worked. Upon their return to the United States they lobbied heavily to have the Prussian model adopted. Horace Mann was largely responsible for the introduction of compulsory public education, Prussian-style, in the United States.
There has got to be a balance between Home schooling ver Public schooling.
Because of what Lrkr said, “I have yet to see a home with a chemistry laboratory, gymnasium, running track, photography developing lab, pottery kiln, CADD station, or television studio (etc, etc, etc me added). But they are common place in public schools. A well meaning parent can't possibly compete with the resources of thousands of taxpayers.... and why should they??? Because all of the people at school are BAAAAADDD?????”’
Balance -
llbh
Why all the negativity for window washers? It doesn't matter what line of work you, as long as you do it. Actually work and provide for yourself and family. Whether you are a doctor or window washer it doesn't matter.
momz
I love you momz that kind of comment is pure ignorance, as you know. Not all of us window washers are ignorant.
If people home school they should teach their children to think that is the basis of education
Regards David
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momzcrazy
And, do you really want your child to grow up to be a window washer?
I don't know, I would be really worried for them if they were washing those high risers. In Salt Lake a window washer fell from very high. Not a good end result.
This is what I want for my kids. I want them to be intelligent and work hard at whatever they choose to be. They can have self respect, no matter their job, if they do it to the best of their ability.
momz
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flipper
Interesting subject. This issue of home schooling versus not home schooling was a bone of contention with my first JW wife in the late 1990's as our kids were teenagers then. I felt it was better to insulate the kids from drugs, bad associations, sex , etc. - my then wife believed in isolating them from it. But my view is - they are going to have to deal socially with people in the world when they work - so they need to learn how to cope with situations and develop social skills to survive in this world. I believe in public schools.
My ex and I divorced in 1998 , and without my input , her being the witness , bullheadedly insisted the 3 teenagers be home schooled. She left me little say. Forced the issue. Interestingly enough , it was my now 23 year old son , who worked at a grocery store - developed people skills who ended up getting out of the witnesses and is in a university now - while my daughters still witnesses , have little or no appreciable work skills and my youngest daughter is so socially inept - the time she has had a job she pisses off anybody working around her with her aggressive personality.Both my daughters married young witness men to provide for them - while my son continues earning his degree ! I feel the home schooling stunted my daughters - and my son got out from under it, as well as furthered his critical thinking ability ! Life is strange and wonderful at the same time ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper -
ldrnomo
I'm sure there are many positives and negatives about home schooling. One negative I've noticed is many children that I've seen that are or have been home schooled do not have physical education many are not fit and don't seem to be atheletic of course you might say, many in schools are also unfit and that may be true but at least they have some serious direction on how to take care of themselves physically and they are introduced to competetive sports.
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BurnTheShips
I've got Jewish friends that home school. Their children are very intelligent. There is a home school "club" or "circle" and they spend their time with other children, so they get socialization with their peers. They also get lots of field trips. Each parent specializes in a different subject depending on their own specialty, and the children make the rounds through the different homes through the week. On average, home schooled children score several grade levels higher than their state-schooled peers. It is something I will definitely consider when my child nears school age.
http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/10672001.html
Burn
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chickpea
homeschoolers have incredible networks, at least in my experience..... and it IS up to the parent to make education a PRIORITY and many, TOO many, fail to keep that in mind
.... and yes we had microscopes and kilns ( one kid's dad was a potter), animal husbandry, gymnasium facilities, swimming pool, recording studios, piano/drum/guitar lessons, acting classes/productions, ballet and modern dance, competitive sports, skiing/snowshoeing (every winter wednesday!) and all manner of experiential hands on involvement with businesses and companies that LOVED having the smaller and usually better behaved groups of home schooled kids showing up......
we had a second generation montessori teacher who worked with the parents and from the time a kid could hold up their head, they were in the mix!
homeschooling was a decsion we made before our ill fortune of being assimilated...... ultimately the kids ended up in public school, but so far none have deigned to stay long enough to graduate....our 2 older kids have their *HSEDs and the oldest one has nearly completed a diploma program in production and recording..... NONE of their issues were about homeschooling.... all of those are linked to the b0rg
for the record, i do have my BA and some post-grad credits and i have held a certification as a substitute teacher in our school district.....
* comprehensive high school equivalency diploma issued by the state dept of public instruction
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WTWizard
There is nothing inherently wrong with home schooling. However, one must be prepared to bear the huge time cost and the money cost. And, one must be able to teach effectively.
It is true that, with the crap "education" system we see, a competent and dedicated home schooling parent, properly prepared, can have far superior results. They will still have to teach the same disjointed crap as the public schools, but there is nothing to stop the parents from tying these disjointed facts into concepts and puzzle pieces. However, doing so is extra work that the parents (and the children) must be prepared for before attempting to undertake such project.
And, the parent must be competent to teach everything. A regular school has people that teach English, math, science, history, and the minor subjects of music, art, and phys ed. Socialization must also be included. If a parent is weak in any of those areas, the student will also be weak in that area. And, it is easy to get lazy for parents when they do not have the time, and stint on preparation. All of which is a liability in home schooling.
But, far worse is when a witless decides to do it solely or largely to avoid worldly association. That is when stress is more likely. Such people tend to be under more time pressure, especially if they are determined to get the child baptized and pioneering at age 6. And they tend to be more inhibited in finding sources, since they are usually afraid of landing on an apostate web site by mistake while researching something else. They also tend to make heavy use of the Asleep! articles for sources, which is a guaranteed way to ruin a child's education (and more so if they are not allowed to find independent sources that might expose the blatant falsehoods of some of those Asleep! articles).
Yes, home schooling can and does work, but the parents must be prepared to bear a high time commitment and not get lazy in finding research material. The way most witlesses attempt it, they mess up (and the major way they ruin the success is heavy reliance on Watchtower littera-trash for sources). You can easily doom a child to stagnation and a lifetime of door knocking by relying too much on the Witchtower littera-trash and not allowing independent sources to be used.
If you do home school, be prepared and not afraid of learning something yourself. If you are a decent, well-rounded teacher and prepare for the task, you will more likely succeed. However, if you let the tower supply most or all the sources, the child will become a window washing pioneer that will be stagnant and unable to get a better paying job later on.
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truthsearcher
We are another hsing family. It has been a wonderful experience and our kids have turned out with great social skills, high academics, time to develop many other skills, and close family bonds. We make it a point to get them out in the community and not to isolate them from their peers. So we do lots of different sports, art, music lessons, etc.
There are literally thousands of curriculums available, just do a google search. There are also many different hs philosophies of education, again do a search. Different approaches work for different families. We have mixed in an unstructured approach, a unit study approach, a textbook based approach with a classical approach (we are learning logic, Latin, Greek, reading the great classics). We used the library frequently and have shelves and shelves of books in almost every room.
I do go out of the way to make it interesting, made sure they learn how to study, how to think critically (logic/foreign languages), lots of field trips to museums, science centres, all sorts of interesting places, have the philosophy that "life is school", therefore we are learning and discussing all the time, not just between certain hours, have set a model for them by continuing to learn and study myself.
Kid #1--went back for Grade 12 to public school: At graduation received 4 awards--academic and leadership/social. Had time to do a trade apprenticeship that now brings her extra cash on the side. Working in a great office job, loved by her bosses.
Kid #2-In college last year, 4.0 GPA, organized a study group for friends to help them do better, busy social life. This year is working, tutoring, teaching students HOW to study, very active social life. Did a college entrance exam this year, scored the highest they had ever seen at that school.
Kid #3-excelling in many areas of interest, involved in many extra-curricular activities, a heart of service, exploring many different career options before she has graduated high school, so that hopefully she'll figure out what she is passionate about before going to college (and then having to switch programs).
We have decided as a family to make the sacrifices necessary to be a one income family so I could be at home to raise our children, and also be able to homeschool. As far as social misfits go, our children have all been social leaders that their peers respect. Since moving to a smaller community, we have met some homeschooled kids that were a little shy, but the mother was also. It must depend on the parents. I am fairly outgoing so my kids have had that model, and also me making sure they were well "socialized". We lived behind 2 different schools, and I saw the type of "socialization" that went on. NO THANKS!
The JW style of hsing seems an inadequate way to do it. The cult represses critical thinking skills, and drags the kids door to door when they should be learning, so this perhaps is a reason for JWs not to homeschool. Once you are out though, it could be a strong alternative for those so driven. If anyone is interested in more information or links, PM me. I have done this for 18 years and have alot of research and links to share.
Don't throw out this excellent form of education just because of JW failures. The Witness homeschool approach is the exception not the norm, as in so many other things in life.