Recently, a family of tenants moved in our older house. That's nice and all. But what caught my interest was that one of the kids will be homeschooled and will not be getting an education in a school or someplace. The mother of this family has three sons, two of them will be going to public education, but the parents decided that the youngest kid will be taught at home (for most of the middle school years.) It seems (but could be wrong) he doesn't have any disablities or anything really of that sort.

So, I'm thinking that homeschooling isn't the best idea for a regular kid although I never experienced that sort of educating. Aren't they missing out on special and important principles, like social interaction and many educational subjects?

I was homeschooled for sixth grade and I felt I learned more than I would in public school. The only problem is it can be pretty expensive. I'd say it hinders social development as well.

Oh man, not at all. A socially active homeschooled kid almost always excells far beyond that of regular students. The key is to keep the child integrated into social activities and character development, while still mantaining studies. It's actually far more proficient, and what they used to do in the olden days for rich kids. Those kids all got smarter. I personally think highschool is best if they're in a real highschool, or hiring scholars for homeschooling at that point is best, as highschool offers SO many educational options, and it allows them to be socially active before college.

EVERY kid I've ever known that's been homeschooled has been amazingly smart beyond belief. I sort of wish I'd been homeschooled throughout gradeschool. I believe the personal attention to math and spelling would have really helped me excell.

JediKirby

Homeschooling is great if you don't want to expose your children to DARK-SIDED PEOPLE! IN JESUS NAME I PRAY!

STOP THINKING ABOUT NONSENCE AND DO YOUR MATHEMATICS, JOHNNY.

I completely disagree. Most teenagers' idea of social development is a lack of social development. I was homeschooled, and while I do have an introverted personality, I'm hardly socially inept. In fact, most of my friends have been several years older than me, because I skipped over the immaturity that breeds in high school and hung out with adults.

Rather than not developing socially, homeschooled kids develop socially *far more quickly* because the skip over the stupid stage of teenaged sociality.

Psh, I was home schooled all through elementary school and look where my social life ended up

hehe you had no friends when you were homeschooled hehehhe

Homeschooling is a great way to even more completely indoctrinate your children in whatever irrational beliefs you live your life by. If you don't want your child to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints, situations, and ideas other than those you find acceptable, then by all means homeschool them.

Crazy fundies.

Two words: Prussian Blue.

My major gripe with home schooling is you don't get the same opportunities for athletics. I mean, sure, not everybody is a star athlete... but you should still get the opportunity to play sports with your friends.

My little sister is homeschooled. She also figureskates a ton and gets a lot of her social interaction with friends there. She's much smarter than most children her age, so if you can find another area that you can use for social interactions then homeschooling is a pretty good alternative.

Uh, let me put it this way.

Keep kids at home until they are 16 and kick them out into the real world.

Gradually introduce them to TAINTEDNESS and have them acclimated, while you have taught them 'correct' standards.

Hmm....

No contest. To me, school is more to learn very basic things, and learn to deal with other civilized (and not so much) people. And get with girls.

not true. I was actually rather popular.

bull****. You don't even know what you're talking about, so shut up. A lot of people homeschool their kids simply because the school systems in their area suck.

That would be a good gripe.. Except that it's not true. I played sports all through high school (track and XC).

Argument against homeschooling. FTW.

I've known a couple of guys who were homeschooled. One was poorly educated by his parents and didn't even take the most basic of examinations (GCSEs) mostly from what I can tell because of poor organisation by his parents and because they were trying to teach beyond their own abilities.
The other one happily admits he has no friends outside of those he has made online. It would appear he has been constantly indoctrinated by his dad in a very conservative christian manner and in particular appears to have treated gay members of the forum we both frequent quite badly.

I'm sure there are some great successes in home-schooling out there, but there really doesn't seem to be much checking going on to make sure these kids are getting the level of education they ought to be. Frankly I think it's best if you send your kid to school and also teach them the things you feel are also important, it's not like it has to be one or the other. For example, my first school was total crap when it came to teaching kids to read. I left when we tried to emigrate, my mother taught me using the phonetics method instead and when I came back to school I had a reading age several years in advance! Neither are going to be perfect, so having both works to patch up the holes, so to speak.

LOL!!! thanks man, you put a smile on my face.

Thats interesting. I can't say I've heard of any instances of my state's athletic assossiation allowing that to happen. But I do know it can be done in some states. But although it can be done, i'd be willing to bet that a lot of kids still miss out on that experience. Its not like their math teacher is also the track coach that convinces them to come out and run.

well my parents at least required sports for my physical education...

And there was never a problem about playing sports at the local jr high and high school.

I was homeschooled for four years, and I still turned out rotten.

Just goes to show kids will turn out terribly no matter where they get (or don't get) their education.

The first part of kirby's post is what is the key. That's the only thing I really have against homeschooling, which is limiting social exchanges. I mean, I've known some homeschooled kids before, and they haven't been the best at the social gatherings. But as long as you make sure your kid is hanging out with other kids, then you should be fine.

Frankly though, I'd rather have my kid in a regular school then be homeschooled. I just think you just gain some life experience going through school (even if it is stupid Jr. High or high-school) that is beneficial. I'd rather have my kid get B+ and go to a public/private school than be homeschooled and be super brainy.

I don't know, I think social interaction at school is minimal. You'd be surprised how much a homeschool kid can achieve socially by just hanging out at parties and knowing kids their age. I'd much rather have a student who is social in a social atmosphere [not a learning atmosphere] and is a amazingly smart in a learning atmosphere. Associating work with work and play with play is something school DOESN'T do now adays. Yeah, social stuff is important, but NOT during class or studies. As long as there ARE social venues and oppertunities for a kid, I say homeschooling is a far BETTER oppertunity for kids.

JediKirby

If I had been homeschooled, I'd have about 3 friends. Honestly, school interaction is VITAL to your friendships. There are the few exceptions where friends introduce you to other friends and the snowball continues, but to be honest...public school is a better option.

NOT ONLY THAT, but public schools allow you to see what you can/cannot do, what you want to/don't want to do beyond just academia. I would die without art and art classes, without english classes, comparing my papers, people reading and appreciating my work--that's just how I am, and how most of the people I know are. While they wouldn't know exactly what they're missing out on, it's still too much of a con to outweigh the pro of special attention you get in homeschooling.

And lastly--at least without homeschooling, the mother can work too if she wishes. Or hell, do anything.

And how, exactly, do you know that I wasn't homeschooled?

Yes, I am familiar with the reasoning behind most homeschooling. But you cannot deny that some religious fundamentalists keep their kids isolated through homeschooling.

Getting a good education out of homeschooling is also going to require a dedicated parent to put in a lot of time.

I would never homeschool my kids unless it was the only option availible.

Like Timewolf, I was home schooled for 6th grade as well. When our parents started home schooling us, I was pushed back a grade. I don't think we really had any structure in our assignments. Our parents would leave for work, we'd watch TV all morning, start working on math or something before they got home for lunch and ta da! Instant fun. The next year when we went back to public school, I was pushed back up a grade so I wasn't behind. Everything I apparently learned in home schooling got me through the 8th grade and all of high school with little effort. Somehow it all worked...well, that and our school system here is notoriously bad.

Homeschooling your kids when you're already paying taxes to put them in a public school is like installing Linux when Windows came already installed on your machine.

On the whole 'social interaction' subject, I'd say it's more the person than where they're educated. I've been in public education my entire academic career, and I have a handfull of good friends and no real social life to speak of. Whereas I've known plenty of homeschooled kids on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Private School all the way!

I spent enough time at home as it was... school was practically the only way I ever got to see anybody because my house was so isolated from everyone I knew

And once I was able to drive (a year and a half later than I legally could have started :(), praise the lord I was so happy! I could actually get out occasionally and see people!

Would've been cool if my parents let me get a job during that time, but that's something else.

So yeah, school was my only social environment pretty much.

But college is different.... I've had more social activity in these few months than I've had in probably a whole year in high school. Happy day! (btw, no, I'm not a party animal)

Home schooling is a very effective teaching method. Although a mother or father may not have as much education as a teacher (they might also have more, some teachers stink), it is a one on one education tailored specifically to the student. A collage education is not really needed for teaching grades 1-9, and the teacher can learn as he/she teaches. Once a kid gets to about grade eight or nine, a parent may have trouble teaching him. However, by this time he will have a much easier time learning in high school, or will be able to teach himself to a degree. It works much better in a good home schooling group, as parents can pull their resources to teach a class if they have some experience in a certain field. Also, there is room for more social activity. Now, one cannot generalize, as each home school is different, as other schools are different from each other, but usually a parent who cares enough to home school their child will do a good job at it. Also, if you want to bring your kid up with your world view, the home is no better place to teach it to him.

It does have some disadvantages of course. You really don’t get quite as much social interaction, which can be remedied with home schooling groups, extracurricular activates and other kids at church, but those things are sometimes unavailable. Also, you may not have a dedicated lab for experiments and things. For higher grades specialized learning may be required to teach some classes. However, individual classes are available.

I have been home schooled all my life. From what I have seen from the individual classes I have taken, I have a pretty good education. The only class at an actual school that has at all challenged me, is the C language class at our community collage. Most of its classes stink too, but the C teacher seems to know what he’s doing. The social thing is a major problem for me though. Most home schooled kids we have known a bunch of friends from church and home school groups. But ever scene we moved to Tulsa when I was ten, I haven’t really know many people. We go to church 50 miles away and very few people attend. I know three people. Wesley, who lives down the street. ( He’s kind of wrapped up in his own life right now. I don’t see him a whole lot any more.) David, who lives in Houston, and a girl I tenuously know at a swim class I go to. Its made me really depressed. I’m going to try to get into a charter school in my senior year.

It was a joke.

haha.

Oh come now.

I bet even their parents would pick on those losers.

I'm sorry if what I said was in bad taste bro, pretty bad day.

Just want to add another opinion from a home-schooler. And no, I'm not currently in school. I'm 21, and I have a job and a life.

What Kirby and ObiKwiet said was pretty much what I think. I was in a public school in NC until grade 2. The school system sucked, and I wasn't learning anything. It also didn't help that I kept getting in trouble.

So my parents took me out of school, and I was home-schooled for the rest of high school. The education is far superior even though you lose out on some things that you can only do with a specialized teacher. It's not because the lessons are "individually tailored" or anything. The textbooks I used were the same as the ones you get in private schools, and I did most of my work without my parents. When I first switched over, I didn't know a lot of stuff the curriculum expected me know, and my mom had to help me out. That wouldn't have happened if I'd been home-schooled from the start, and after a while, all my parents did was grade my tests.

The key to a home-schooler's education is the parents. If they spoil the kid, or don't keep him on schedule, then its going to fail. That's surprisingly rare though. The really bad thing is that you don't get any social interaction from home-schooling. The parents need to make sure their kids are participating in something. As long as they do, home-schooling is much better than public school.

I was homeschooled and now I just kill people I don't know.

I homeschooled through junior high. I would do it again without any reservations. There is a tradeoff, but I'd place it squarely in the knowledge vs. ignorance/bliss category. Specifically, perspective makes things abstract.

Going to high school was like learning to swim while surrounded by amphibians who had never seen the land.

Warlord, I find it hilarious that you think public schools are bastions of diverse ideas and viewpoints. It's the same kids of the same age in the same classes for a decade, being taught a standardized curriculum. Only the absurdly sheltered manage to be offended by it or find any conflict with it, because even the slightest exposure to the mainstream innoculates. It's only away from the center you'll find unique perspectives.

Exactly what I was trying to convey. I personally think most of my best social interactions have been OUTSIDE of highschool at public events and whatnot where the people I meet are interested in whatever we're doing.

See, it's the exact opposite with me--I've got to have the anonymity of the classroom with teachers that don't know me to feel safe expressing my ideas freely. At least in most classroom situations. And trust me, 99% of my thoughts and ideas aren't affected by the people that are around me--mainly because I've moved so many times in my life that I stopped caring about that kind of stuff.