JW's and home schooling?

semelcred

I don't wish to offend any that are teaching their kids at home, but today i was again confronted by a situation where a jw family were home schooling. The kids had little structure to their routine and without putting the mum down, she was no teacher in an academic sense.

The subject is close to my heart because my parents who are witnesses, took my younger brothers out of school and home tutored them. The were subjected to below standard education and limited in social skills, particularly as my parents are crap at these skills themselves.

I have grown to hate home schooling except in the situation of medical or logistical situations.

What are your comments good or bad and do you think the option to home school is abused by the witness community?

J

BabaYaga

The kids had little structure to their routine and without putting the mum down, she was no teacher in an academic sense.

They were subjected to below standard education and limited in social skills, particularly as my parents are crap at these skills themselves.

do you think the option to home school is abused by the witness community?

EXACTLY!!!

EXACTLY AGAIN!!!

ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

I went to public school, and of course, being the little misfit that can't participate in ANYTHING patriotic, holiday-related, or extra-curricular really does take its toll. But I am so very, very grateful for the exposure public school gave me... to an odd assortment of personalities, situations, and ideas.

My heart sinks when I hear of a JW parent home-schooling their children, truly.

By the way, in my small research, it seems that most home-schooling resources are developed by and for Christian fundamentalists. There are many home-schooling websites and workbooks that freely mention Jesus, without mentioning any other spiritual persona or philosophies.

EmptyInside

Well, I see both sides of it. In my state, they have cyber school. A student works with an accredited school. They do independent study along with on-line classroom work. And get to work with certified teachers. It is not for everyone. And the student has to be motivated. I know a family in a neighboring congregation who have chosen cyber school and independent study for their children. And they are doing well both academically and socially. Actually, even the school district that they live in, admitted that the middle school environment is horrible. They may decide to attend high school. But, my point is, it depends on the parents and student. And I know many who took correspondance courses, and most didn't finish, but ended up just taking their GED.

awildflower

I don't know if it's "abused". I home schooled my son from 5th grade-8th, then he did 9th grade at regular school because he thought he wanted to go back, turns out he didn't so 10th-12th he did the American Home school program, which worked out really well. My daughter has been homeschooling for three years now but now that we are not jw's she wants the hs experience so she will start next year and I totally encourage it and can't wait.

IMO, it's for some kids and it's not. BUT the big issue that I have with home school is that most of the parents I know don't take it serious enough to give there kids a proper education. THAT bothers me a lot. And jw's who home school seem to do it all for the wrong reasons like keeping their kids away from "the world" or for them to be fully groomed for missionary, bethel or pioneering. I don't like that.

On the other hand, grade school and hs are pretty easy to study well and get through with a decent education. To me the important stuff is after hs, like college or community college. I always encouraged my kids to do their best at school but the fun stuff is when you get to go to college for something you really like. I was a great homeschooling parent. Taught my kids everything I was suppose to when I did the curriculum. Fortunately my daughter does a private school at home with the curriculum furnished which is good for me because to do it right is hard work!

IF I could do it over though, having said all of that, I would have wanted my kids to go to public school even if it were private. They need the experience and kids their age and they need to be exposed to the real world. My son especially suffers socially. And they really do end up getting a better education. Just my two cents..........wf

Magwitch

The majority of homeschooled kids have been cheated. They do not get even an average education. But with that being said, I homeschooled my two daughters k-8 and then put them in a public high school. They have flourished socially and academically. My oldest is in a top university with a full 4 year scholarship. My youngest (who is a senior in HS) got into very top schools including some Ivy Leagues. However, she has decided to stay in state. The three of us are extremely close. I did not want to home school, but did it for the husband's sake. Most days we would spend 10 hours a day on schooling and practicing their instruments. In fact we spent so much time on this that we stopped going to meetings (just no time). If I had to do it over, I would absolutely do it the same way.

JWoods

As if JW kids were not already isolated from reality enough.

blondie

If you read the articles on home schooling, the WTS does not seem to be gungho on the process. Only if the parents are smart enough and put the time in necessary...there is more demand on the parents in home schooling than sending them to public school. Many jw parents aren't willing to do what it takes. I can think of 5 jw children here that barely have a GED after their homeschooling and cannot hold a job and still live at home at 23 or 25.

Parents would drop their children off at the "meetings for field service" and expect other adult jws to supervise their activities. Some older children would be left home with their younger siblings expected to do the "schooling."

yknot

I am a part-time homeschooling mom and live in a 'homeschooling' community(not just Witnesses).

My only real concern on the JW front is limited (or uber-restricted) socialization by some.

My kiddos and my friends are way more lenient as we were all raised uber-restricted. I was sooooo pleased to see sooooo many JWs signing up their children to Soccer and Little League! Summer classes have already been filled too!

The availability of resources and texts are far greater than 10 years ago so homeschooling is easier.

This all said........Homeschooling is not for everyone and should not be attempted without serious consideration.

(Frankly I am surprised the 'publishing company' hasn't figured out the $$$$$ potential to expand Gilead to include homeschool curriculum)

MissingLink

Here we have a fantastic totally free public education system, but in our former congregation there were at least 3 families that home schooled their kids. In 2 cases this was specifically to keep them isolated from making "worldly" friends, and the 3rd case the parents were too lazy to drive their kids a half mile to school every morning.

Their "home schooling" amounts to an hour a day of school work, and the rest of the day knocking on doors and getting in the habit of making pioneer hours. It's really sad that these kids with such potential are having it thrown away by their parents. The one family finished a few years ago when the girls were 16 and were ready to begin their careers in the pioneer "work". These are no exaggeration the dumbest people I've ever met. And I've met some dumb people. Their parents completely avoided teaching any history to them. They even had no idea that the USA used to be British colonies (this was a British family). They're equally uneducated on just about any other topic as well (except for the JW bible).

LongHairGal

semelcred,

Sorry if my post IS offensive but I noticed that home-schooling was a bad way for many JWs. Only ONE family I knew was successful with home schooling. The parents were college educated and KNEW what they were doing and stuck to it!! They turned out intelligent, capable children. The others, sad to say, were a disaster with haphazard lessons and semi-literate adult children who are unemployable.

It turned out to be a bad joke and the children were cheated out of their education and are PAINFULLY IGNORANT. Sorry, JW lurkers: if you yourself are not college educated and persistent, do your children a favor and put them in public school! The only exception to this rule is if the schools are so bad and you fear for your children's safety. In that case you better research this and do this right.

JW's and home schooling?

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