Home Schooling

by hippikon 31 Replies latest jw friends

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  scaredyetresolved

  I don't have time to read all the replies because I have to get busy with the kids since we do homeschool. (Was just checking to see if there were any more replies to my posts from yesterday and to post an update.) BUT, I will say that when we started to homeschool, we were the first in our congregation to do so and it was not met with much acceptance. Even after YEARS of homeschooling (and having our kids be among the brightest), when we left to move out of state, we were still only one of two families that homeschooled. We had a congregation filled with children and we got flamed all the time for our choice in education.

  My personal view on this matter is that we should be thankful that everyone has freedom of choice in regards to how to educate their children. What a blessing! Public school, private school, boarding school, home school. Schools that wear uniforms, schools that don't. Schools that teach about God, schools that don't. Schools where the parents can be involved 0%, 20%, 100%... I am so thankful that everyone has the right to choose what is best for their family...for themselves, for their children, and even for each child! Some children flourish in a homeschool setting, and some don't. Some children flourish in a public school setting, and some don't. Our children are flourishing and we love being together! We love the one-on-one instruction. Our kids have all attended public school (health problems for a year that kept us from being able to teach them) and when we moved, their first demand was, "Just as long as we keep homeschooling!" When they found out their daddy and I were likely going to leave the Organization, their emphatic reply was, "We are still homeschooling though!" They don't want to go back to public school any more than we want to send them.

  Social skills? Our kids do excellent in that area. If you question this topic about homeschoolers, research it. All the data and the answers regarding "What about homeschooling and social skills" will knock your socks off. It's a pretty silly thing to question once you truly understand it. If you can point to some homeschooled children that have pathetic social skills, I bet I could point out plenty of public schooled children that have the same limitations. Since we are no longer going to be going to meetings, in service, the witness gatherings, etc...it's now going to be our responsibility to find alternative things for our children to be active in and we are all really excited at the prospect. Already the kids are talking about gymnastics, music lessons, getting involved with the huge county homeschool group here, etc. EVEN COLLEGE!!!

  So that's my 2-cents worth. We love it and we ain't changin' a thang!
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  Witch Child

  Wow. AWesome to hear your experience with home schooling, Scared! Sounds great. I have read a lot about home schooling and have known several families that chose it. One was a disaster, the rest were amazing! The disaster one... I saw it coming a mile away.

  ~Witch
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  sunshineToo

  I guess it depends on the child. It may work for some, and it may not for others.

  Yesterday one of my students told me that two of jw kids that she know of are not attending the school. She said one of them ( boy) got involved with a Catholic girl. He is a freshman in highschool and his father is the PO at the local Kingdomhall. So his parents pulled him out of school and put him in Home Schooling. The other one, a girl, is simply disapeared, she said. But later she heard that girl, too, having home schooling.
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  Pork Chop

  With a couple of notable exceptions the results of home schooling that I've seen have been at the best mediocre. Two exceptions, one non-Witness family with a PhD father and a mother with a degree in education, very bright people, very bright kids. One Witness family, no degrees but smart and studious, mother worked very hard indeed and academically the kids were first rate but social skills weren't too good. The best of the rest have received pretty minimilist educations. I hate it personally. My experience with the public school systems has been extremely positive, very high academic standards and they bend over backwards to accomodate those with different cultures, faiths, etc.

  Edited by - Pork Chop on 20 December 2002 16:56:24
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  TresHappy

  My best friend for more than 20 years homeschools her 3 kids and will next year homeschool the 4th (and last). When she first started 9 years ago, I thought it was a joke. I thought no one can be successful at that. However, she has proved me wrong. Her kids belong to the local Awana and Four H, so they're not being isolated. I think it's a wonderful alternative to public school, but has to be like anything else, done right. Many people are choosing to home school their kids for reasons other than religious. A woman I worked with is an athiest and she is home schooling her kid because she can't stand the public schools.
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  Buster

  Don't we all remember the isolation we felt, even when there were other children physically near us, everyday in school? Can you imagine how devastating the effect would be to have such severe social and physical isolation as one would encounter in a home schooling environment?

  School is at least partially designed to offer views and exposure not available in the home. Children need the extended social interaction. They need to work things out in unfamiliar environments. They need to be out there where mommy (no matter how good a teacher she might think she is) is not there to step in for them.

  I question the motives of parents that would lock up their kids in a home school. - and don't anyone fire off any trash about their kid getting out for 4H, or gym at the regular school. Parents that subject their kids to such oppression are so self-centered that they think the only useful opinion that their children should be seeing is their own. Either that, or they are so short of confidance in their children, that they think their children won't be able to handle the social side that all the other kids can.
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  joannadandy

  Larc-

  Your comment was that students are making the same mistakes from the 50's through the 90's. This may be true, but isn't it also true that average scores on achievement tests declined over those years?

  Yes and No. You have to be careful with statistics they are tricky. As I said in my orginal post children seem to be making the same errors with the same frequency as their previous generations did. The studies I have seen don't show that much of a statistical variation over the years. Fluxuations are more common than an out and out downward slide. The big concern 99% of the time with politicians is that our public education falls behind in comparision to the rest of the world. While they are out pacing us, we seem to be staying the same. Which is a concern for politcians, and they largely blow up these numbers to cause a stir. (In my opinion)

  You also have to consider these are state and national averages that are used. Some states have knock out educational programs, while others are falling behind. This is true on a micro level from school district to school district as well. So while some school districts make great strides of improvement, there can be one or two schools that bomb out on standardized tests and drag the average down, thus making it seem like a large decline. But instead of helping those school public education as a whole gets blamed.

  You also mentioned the return to the three R's. I won't flame you for this but I will say what I said before. Our culture and job market has shifted. We are no longer the industrial society we once were. We are becoming a service industry/information industry society. What does this mean? Learing to read, write, and do simple math problems are not enough. If you ask me, going to the three R's is dumbing it down. Kids have to be prepared to work in an job market that deals with people from all sorts of different cultures. Computer education is PARAMOUNT. Schools that lack funds for technology fall behind for real world training. Communication classes are becoming a large part of school work because our society and job market places so much effort on it. Team work is a huge deal as well, empolyers want people who can work in groups, so interpersonal skills have to be taught and modeled.

  In my opinion standardized tests are crap. They are misused. Standardized tests were meant to be a measure for the student to improve. But when do we test kids? Once in the spring. 9 times out of 10 the next years teacher doesn't even see those scores. Sometimes even parents and kids don't. Standaridized tests have become a punishment. It limits what teachers are allowed to teach. In effect you are teaching to the test, which when in real life are you asked to apply those principles you learned with a scantron answer sheet? They are used to promote and punish schools that do well and fail respectively. But our governement stresses things you can measure. Standardized test do not measure higher level thinking abilities. It's recall and regurgitation which is the bottom of the thought process. (Take a look at Bloom's Taxonomy for the level of thought process). Plus what about kids who suffer test anxieity? There is no way to know what is actually in a students head.

  Rankings, percentiles, t-scores, z-scores, NCTE scores, are all deviations. The increments they "respresent" can sometimes be only a matter of two test items gotten right or wrong, and huge education decisions are now being made based on ONE OR TWO test items. That is insane! Kids can learn how to pass tests and then never be able to figure out to use the information they have learned when asked to enter the job market. It's very sad and disheartening to me that these tests have become so important. Especially since they are only going to become more and more "important" in the coming years.
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  Yizuman

  Politically correct error-filled textbooks are screwing up our kids....
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  larc

  Joanna, I checked my trusty Almanac for some statistics. The decline I was thinking of must go back to the 60's and 70's. The data I have is from 1987 until 2000. In 1987 the scores were as expected. There has been a slight improvement since then, so you are correct on this point. When I mention the three r's, I think they must be mastered before you can take on the kind of learning you referred to. A student who graduates from high school and can barely read or cypher is really not well equiped to do much of anything.
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  Nickey

  I absolutely HATED it. While it kept me out of trouble, it didn't prepare me for real world experiences. I didn't know how to deal with certain situations and interact with alot of people.