Home Schooling

[Jdvn1]

Oh, well if you have to be constantly moving then there's not a lot of choice. I've never heard of a child that took that sort of situation well, since they tend to want stability and form social connections. Especially at formative ages. I don't know what you can do about that, although I'd guess it wouldn't have a huge impact on her education or her love of knowledge.

 

[Umbran]

Actually, studies show that home-schoolers tend to have better socialization skills than public schoolers.

Some studies may show that. The ones I saw as I started looking at education as a career said otherwise. I would bet that it would depend very, very strongly on exactly which home-schoolers you're talking about. Without further details fo the studies in question, I would not venture to judge.

In Montessori schools, students learn at their own pace, often doing their own research. The teachers are more of guides than teachers of curriculum. As long as the child learns, it doesn't matter how much the teacher knows. This can put the child at an advantage, actually, having to do so much research.

Eh. I have some reservations about the Montessori methods, I'm afraid. This is one of them - if the teacher does not know the material, you are left without a check to see if what the child is learning is accurate. Nor would there be adequate safeguards that the child is covering the bredth of topics they really need.

And while the child may get a leg up on research and self-starting, they can wind up at a deficit when faced with more regimented systems that don't allow them as much freedom - like many modern offices. In general, I've been told by Montessori teachers that the methods are not suited for all, and maybe not even most, students.

 

[Jdvn1]

Eh. I have some reservations about the Montessori methods, I'm afraid. This is one of them - if the teacher does not know the material, you are left without a check to see if what the child is learning is accurate. Nor would there be adequate safeguards that the child is covering the bredth of topics they really need.

Well, state sanctioned standardized exams are a check. And if you can pass the state exams and get your degree, that's all that our results-oriented government cares about. Sadly. But if a child does his own research and learns at his own pace and passes those exams, that's all the better. Plus, while a teacher might not have the appropriate breadth of knowledge, we're hoping they have enough common sense to be able to pick out gross mistakes in a student's projects.

And while the child may get a leg up on research and self-starting, they can wind up at a deficit when faced with more regimented systems that don't allow them as much freedom - like many modern offices. In general, I've been told by Montessori teachers that the methods are not suited for all, and maybe not even most, students.

On the other hand, the child might flourish in the future market and be more suited to higher management positions. And, of course, Montessori methods aren't suited for all but neither are public schools.

Oh, and I want to clarify an otherwise kind of vague term. When I say 'future market' I'm referring to the idea (according to quite a few analysts... I first learned this from Drucker, a highly respected guy) that offices and businesses are getting smaller all the time. As a global economy is growing, companies are outsourcing more and more. Also, there are more experts in computer fields (they're not all lumped into IT now) and jobs that used to take large amounts of people will soon be handled by smaller groups. Also, companies are realizing that they don't need as much middle management. Anyway, Drucker argued that businesses are getting smaller and more flexible. It might be kind of a roundabout point that involves way too much information, but it leads to an advantage of Montessori children.

 

[Hellefire]

I appreciate the thoughts and discussion on the if's of it all. I would like to be more specific in my request...if anyone here has experience with home schooling, on either end, I would like to know the plusses and minuses of those experiences.

Thanks,
Aaron Blair
Foren Star

 

[Old One]

HF,

We are seriously looking at homeschooling as well for our 2 children, and I have found this site to be helpful in getting additional info:

The Well-Trained Mind

The website (and book it promotes) is built around the Classical Education method that helped form many of the world's greatest minds throughout history. The link above is to their resource page, which links out to lots of other good info.

Here are two other books that I have found helpful in my research:

Homeschooling Book 1

Homeschooling Book 2

Hope these help!

~ Old One

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I've been homeschooled basically all my life (I went to a co-op for a few years, and I'm taking my senior year at a community college). My mom's a well-qualified teacher, though; as a matter of fact, she works part-time teaching biology and chemistry. Home-schooling certainly crippled my social skills for much of my life; however, thinking about my peers in public school I'm not sure that I'd like myself if I'd gone to one. I've always got along better with people older than me or adults than with my peers, but that's changed somewhat since the co-op. Basically, a lot of homeschooling families got together in a church building, and taught classes to everyone's kids. It helped my social skills with my peers a lot.

One thing that might or might not be a problem with you, is that the majority of homeschooling resources and groups available are Christian-oriented.

You might want to check out the Home School Legal Defense Association, and possibly subscribe to their magazine.

 

[Hellefire]

Thanks for the links! And the firsthand experience. While I am not Chrisitan and don't plan on steering my child toward any particular religion or other, I do plan on teaching her about religions. Also, even if some of the end goals and means of getting there are not exactly what I'm looking for, some of the same techniques can still be utilized. Thanks again, and any more info or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Aaron Blair
Foren Star

 

[The_Universe]

I hate to be a buzz kill - but send your kid to school. While I have no doubt of your sincere desire to help her, there is nothing I am more proud of than my public school education, nothing that has better prepared me for the life beyond the world of education.

At the same time, I have a close cousin who was homeschooled for her entire academic career, save college. She was a loner - a total outsider...and not only because she was socially crippled (though she was to a certain degree) - she had friends, or at least other kids she was acquainted with...but not a best friend. Such things are practically impossible when two children experience such widely different things for 6-8 hours per day, 5 days a week, for most of their developing lives - she was at a distinct disadvantage when socializing because she and the other kids had nothing in common.

At the same time, you're child will never be exposed to the diversity of thought and experience (asinine though it sometimes may be) that public schools force upon those within them. Certainly, she'll hold all the closer to what her mother and father have taught her, and what they believe - but a worldview untested is a worldview that's ultimately harder to hold.

Oh, she'll probably never hear or see anything even vaguely disturbing while you're homeschooling her - and I'm sure she'll be a bright, amazing girl...but she can't escape the naivety that a lack of dealing with people - both good and bad - is guaranteed to create.

So, let her meet the mean kids - the bullies, the idiots...and also the angels, the people besides you who will help make her the amazing girl she might one day become. She'll make more mistakes, and undoubtedly have more foolishness done to her...but she'll be a stronger person for it. And I promise that she'll thank you.

Your mileage may vary, as with all things. Just didn't want the discussion to pass without a dissenting voice. Good luck.

 

[Belen]

I have this cute little 14-1/2 month old daughter (named Sunshine incidentally). And I have been working on little things, playing with her, teaching her to read, to speak, use the potty chair, etc. Eventually we will be moving onto deeper topics. Through much deliberation I have decided there is no way in helle I am sending her to public school. So I will be home schooling her. Besides knowing some of the basic ideas, there is more I don't know about home schooling than I do know. Some of the things I have come up with are:
In most subjects I can re-educate myself enough to teach her through high school.
In the subjects I cannot teach her for whatever reason I need to find people I trust to teach her.
I am going to continue living life the way I always have, which is on the road. The good part of this, educationally speaking, is I can expose her to a lot more to learn then generic western civilization courses. The bad part is, educationally speaking, I have to find what there is for her to learn and a teacher in a short period of time, and in most cases it will be time-limited training.

Anyway, could anyone who has or is home-schooling their kids, or anyone who was home-schooled, please post here or email me at aaronblairak@yahoo.co.uk.

Thanks!
Aaron Blair
Foren Star

Good Luck!

My wife was homeschooled until she went off to High School. In my opinion, it was detrimental to her social growth. In addition, she knows virtually nothing about science and math as her mother was not qualified to teach either subject. She did very well in college, but I think she'd have been a bit stronger had she had more interaction with others, experienced different styles of teaching and more exposure to the real world.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I was lucky having two very scientifically qualified parents (my mom's a biochemist who studied and worked at Berkeley, and my dad's got a PhD in physics. He works at a particle accelerator facility). If you're not qualified to teach such things, there's still outside help like tutors or the co-ops I mentioned.