The Latest Trend in NW England: Homeschooling Your Children

by pale.emperor 44 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  pale.emperor

  I dont know if this is becoming a national thing or even globally. But im hearing more and more people i knew from my JW days have taken their kids out of school to home school them instead. In my sisters case she's taken her 8yo and 6yo children out already and her 3yo wont ever start a school. It gets me worried. Educating children is a specialized field. Not everyone can do it or is up to it. I dont know how my sister is doing it. When i asked my sister why she's taken her children out she replied "The world is so bad now. And they wont finish school anyway because armageddon will be here by then". I reminded her that we both said that in 1989 when we were their age.

  I heard yesterday that two families from my old congregation have taken their kids out of school too.

  Going to mainstream school is, in my opinion, a must. Not just because they have actual trained educators that will teach our children, but also the child learns social skills with classmates in the playground and makes friends.
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  Lostandfound

  The local Education Authority near you, Knowsley, has the lowest rated education system available for children in the entire UK., more than half of children in the Borough, go to a Senior School , when moving on from Primary School, outside the councils area.

  From what I have see , most JW parents around here are too busy being JWs to home educate their children as well as being poorly educated products of the school system and lack of any urgency passed on from parents, to learn. After all, Armageddon coming soon so why bother.

  In the greater area here, no evidence of a move to home schooling with any organised push in that direction. Home Schooling requires discipline, time and the ability to teach a varied curriculum, skills and resources not many witnesses possess round here.
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  stan livedeath

  in my opinion--just young mothers who dont want to get up in the morning to get their kids ready to go to school.
• 

  Phizzy

  It will leave the kids with no real education, no social skills, and permanently trapped in the cult.

  Sad
• 

  nugget

  I work at 2 schools so know how much effort goes into educating children. It is not something that should be half arsed.

  Damage can be done to a child's long term prospects if they are not taught properly. It may also cause them harm if they try to reenter mainstream later as they may have gaps in their knowledge which will impact on how they absorb new information as there may be an assumption that they know something they don't. Some lessons build sequentially so missed steps can mean they struggle to take on more complex ideas.

  Unless the parents are motivated and committed and well educated these children will struggle to get any education at all.
• 

  Doubting Bro

  I live in the US and its pretty common in my area for JW kids to be home schooled as well. Especially after they turn 10-11 (after 5th grade in the US). Sometimes, I see it done well. Most of the time, the kids fall behind. At least where I live, the state requires mandatory testing and proof that they kids are doing work to stay on their grade level. I have a relative with a 15 year old who was told that if she didn't catch up in a specified period of time, she would be forced back into the public school system.

  I agree that most people don't have the training to educate properly. I certainly don't. Plus, kids tend to learn better from others than from a parent (at least in my house). Its a different dynamic. Of course, there's the socialization issue that is probably the biggest advantage to attending a school.

  There are cases where home schooling makes sense. But, the majority of the time, I'm not convinced that its best for the child. And yes, I know some parents who sleep until 10am with their teen aged kids and I'm fairly certain the motivation for home schooling is the lack of a schedule. I know others that home school so they are free to vacation whenever they like.

  Again, my personal experience may skew my opinion. I have several family members and others that I know go down the home schooling road and it hasn't ended well.
• 

  stuckinarut2

  Oh don't get me started on this topic!

  I actually started a thread about it a few years back, as it is a popular thing here in the region of Sydney we are in too!

  It seems to be almost a peer pressure thing amongst all the families who want to appear to be spiritual and righteous!

  I can name 5 local families doing it, and that in turn has made others who would never consider it, start to think that they too should go down that path!

  It is truely reprehensible to deprive children of the social growth and interaction that school provides!

  There will be a generation of emotionally stunted, self entitled, over righteous, judgemental 17 year olds (with 10 year old development levels) amongst witnesses. These children will be left floundering in the real world when they are adults!
• 

  darkspilver

  I heard yesterday that two families from my old congregation have taken their kids out of school too.

  Ah, the 'wacky warehouses'!
  

  Maybe the 'schools' are leaving the children instead - they only atttempt to teach up to 16 year-olds anyway!
  

  https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jan/29/knowsley-education-catastrophe-a-levels-merseyside

  The making of an education catastrophe – schools in Knowsley were dubbed 'wacky warehouses'

  The Merseyside (Liverpool) borough is at the top and bottom of every league table whose top or bottom you would be anxious to avoid. Last year it became the first British local authority to stop offering A-levels. (ie 17 and 18 year-olds)
  

  In some households, unemployment has become trans-generational: children are growing up in families where the parents, the grandparents and even, sometimes, the great-grandparents have not worked.

  Ethnically, meanwhile, Knowsley is the least diverse corner of Britain. According to the census, around 97% of its population are white. In other words, it is the most white working-class place in the country.

  It is also the area where the greatest proportion of people – some 81% – describe themselves as Christian.
  

  More than 15% of the working-age population of Knowsley have no educational qualifications, compared with a national average of 8%.

  And there is worse: in September, Knowsley became the first local authority in the country to cease to offer its young people A-level education. None whatsoever.

  Seriously - take the time to read the full Guardian article from January 2017:

  https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jan/29/knowsley-education-catastrophe-a-levels-merseyside
  
• 

  NotBlind

  In the USA, this has been going on for decades in the congs. The parents do it under the guise of shielding their innocent children from the 'wicked system'. Of course, these parents usually enroll their children in some cheap Witness internet homeschool like "Pear Blossom". After graduating from this joke of a school, these adolescents are equipped for wonderful careers such as regular pioneering, burger flipping, and window washing. Some graduates are even accepted to prestigious universities such as Pioneer Service School.

  I know firsthand of parents who are high school dropouts themselves that decide to homeschool their children. They leave their adolescent son/daughter home alone to "do their schoolwork" online while both parents leave to work all day. Their 'innocent' JW child spends all day playing videogames, watching porn, and playing with themselves; little schoolwork gets done.

  The official line from the Tower Slave International home office is that homeschool is neither promoted nor discouraged; it is a family decision. However, the powers that be have given a wink and a nod to homeschooling. Not once has it been criticized in the publications (how many things can we say that about?) The leaders of this organization know that homeschool (at least the way it's done by JW's) keeps JW kids that much more enslaved, dependent on the org, and less likely to think for themselves. Besides, the more educational & financial options that young people have, the less likely they are to stay in the religion.

  Ironically, many homeschooled kids in my area turn 18, get a low-paying fast-food-type job, quickly find a 'worldly' boyfriend or girlfriend, and then fade or are DF'ed, never to set foot in a Kingdom Hell ever again.
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  Lostandfound

  Darksliver

  Spot on about Knowsley, Guardian article excellent and unbiased. Local politicians have ruined the education chances of a generation with the destruction (physically) of every school in the borough and building Wacky Warehouses instead, one school had a history and heritage back to 1544 and traditions such as founders day etc. School, destroyed and what had previously been grammar school of the highest Calibre and an alumni any school would be proud of, was replaced with a chrome and glass eyesore. Needless to say results plummeted . Councillor in charge of changes told me once that they were building Palaces of Learning, what a laugh, Palaces of Fun with bendy mirrors and helter skelter to the bottom of the league.

  BTTT. What employer would want. Home Schooled person as an employee, what have they as social skills that would help them contribute and fit in. Out for JW children but higher education has qualification minimum requirements, not that any JW child aspiring to University and then maybe developing cancer cure or eradication of poverty is out there.