Homeschooling: Anyone Here With Kids Doing It?

August 25, 2022, 02:46 PM

The satire site Babylon Bee has some really good ones on homeschooling like these:

Study: Majority Of Homeschoolers Arrive At College Woefully Unprepared For Gender Studies

15-Passenger Vans Sold Out Nationwide As Everyone Becomes Homeschool Family

and this one:

10 Most Devastating Impacts Of Homeschooling Your Kids

1. Homeschooling makes your children much more likely to grow up to become cisgender: Is that what you want, Mom and Dad? Another cis-normative oppressor making trans people feel unsafe?

2. If you homeschool, your child will miss out on up-to-date works of literature written by trans people of color: Do you really want them to settle for outdated works like The Bible, Shakespeare, or The Tuttle Twins?

3. Homeschool proms are really awkward: Don't make your poor kid go through that, for goodness sake.

4. Homeschooled girls will never experience the magic of sharing a locker room with a 6'4" trans woman named Larry: Don't let your kids miss out on this important life experience.

5. Homeschooled kids usually grow up to be really polite: This is not a very useful character quality for social revolutionaries.

6. If kids don't sit through 8 hours of soul-crushing zoom calls in public school, how will they ever be prepared for a soul-crushing corporate job?: Your children are destined to be good little corporate worker bees. You NEED to prepare them.

7. They will miss out on delicious school lunches: Square pizza and ultra-pasteurized skim milk from a cardboard box? Scrumptious!

8. Denim skirts cause chafing: Just inhumane.

9. They might finish their curriculum early and have more time to be radicalized on YouTube by Jordan Peterson videos: Jordan Peterson is a dangerous cult leader who may radicalize your child into making their bed. Not good!

10. Children may learn that human beings have inherent value as made in God's image: Children who learn that their dignity comes from God and not race, class, or gender identity are not very useful for revolutionary Marxist social change-- er, we mean, a meaningful movement towards greater equity.

August 25, 2022, 03:44 PM

ZSMICHAEL

All joking aside, social skill development suffers with home schooling. I have yet to see an effective way to deal with this problem. It is particularly acute with young children who learn their language from peers. Many of the older kids have trouble fitting into the college social life if they have not developed appropriate social skills. Parents cannot teach these things.

August 25, 2022, 04:35 PM

bryan11

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
All joking aside, social skill development suffers with home schooling. I have yet to see an effective way to deal with this problem. It is particularly acute with young children who learn their language from peers. Many of the older kids have trouble fitting into the college social life if they have not developed appropriate social skills. Parents cannot teach these things.

It's funny, but the college admissions officers I've talked to consistently disagree. They all say they favor homeschooled student because they're better socialized, better able to get along at college with people of many ages, and they're better at working independently without someone holding their hand along the way.

August 25, 2022, 05:04 PM

V-Tail

quote:
Originally posted by Aglifter:

Timdogg, call a lawyer.

August 25, 2022, 05:08 PM

HRK

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
All joking aside, social skill development suffers with home schooling. I have yet to see an effective way to deal with this problem. It is particularly acute with young children who learn their language from peers. Many of the older kids have trouble fitting into the college social life if they have not developed appropriate social skills. Parents cannot teach these things.

That sounds like some Teachers Union anti-home school bullshit propaganda.

Kids schooled at home don't lead the live of a hermit. They interact with other kids in social settings outside and inside their homes, just like kids who attend government schools.

Bet it's just the opposite in the real world vs what they come up with in the teachers lounge..

August 25, 2022, 05:22 PM

ZSMICHAEL

That is from a psychological perspective, look it up. Not a teacher's perspective. You have to acknowledge that there is a trade off. I think everyone should have the right to homeschool if they choose.

August 25, 2022, 05:45 PM

PASig

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
All joking aside, social skill development suffers with home schooling. I have yet to see an effective way to deal with this problem. It is particularly acute with young children who learn their language from peers. Many of the older kids have trouble fitting into the college social life if they have not developed appropriate social skills. Parents cannot teach these things.

Oh bullshit

My kids meet up weekly in a co-op and play, have classes and lunch together. They’re some of the most well socially adjusted kids you’ll ever see.

My wife’s aunt raised 3 kids and homeschooled them from K-12 and they’re some of the most polite, well adjusted and smart kids out there, the youngest is just entering HS now I think.

The whole notion that homeschool kids are antisocial weirdos is complete horseshit.

August 25, 2022, 05:50 PM

oddball

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
social skill development suffers with home schooling.

"Skills" like bullying, cyberbullying, sexting, being brainwashed from a commie school system that teaches CRT, bad science, re-written history, etc.

August 25, 2022, 06:02 PM

irreverent

I worked briefly with a young woman who was homeschooled. She shadowed my job for some months, lived on a farm with her family.
She was not socialized to the extent of getting along well with society. We were protective of her at work because we realized this, but she started calling one of my coworkers at home in the evenings and wanted to talk for a long time, not picking up the cues that it was odd, and that they were coworkers, not besties. I believe she felt isolated. Later, attending college, she attempted suicide.

I have several nephews and nieces that were homeschooled. One of 3 adult children has moved out, the rest all still home with remaining children..different families.. all nice kids, but no one is dating (to my knowledge).

I’m on the fence about homeschooling. I’ve seen some real successes, and some real crashes. Our job is to create a functional, caring member of society that is independent of us, is it not?

I love my kid, never want him to leave, but I know I need to get him out there, and much as I dislike a lot of what I see in the world, I’m not doing him any favors by blocking all of it. How am I equipping him to handle the world?

August 25, 2022, 06:08 PM

ZSMICHAEL

quote:
Skills" like bullying, cyberbullying, sexting, being brainwashed from a commie school system that teaches CRT, bad science, re-written history, etc

^^^^^^^^^^^
Tell me that the average American workplace does not have bullying, and similar issues. If you are a male you learn to deal with this in your high school years. Homeschooled guys just do not do well in the USMC. LOL

August 25, 2022, 06:19 PM

rscalzo

quote:
Originally posted by HRK:
quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
All joking aside, social skill development suffers with home schooling. I have yet to see an effective way to deal with this problem. It is particularly acute with young children who learn their language from peers. Many of the older kids have trouble fitting into the college social life if they have not developed appropriate social skills. Parents cannot teach these things.

That sounds like some Teachers Union anti-home school bullshit propaganda.

Kids schooled at home don't lead the live of a hermit. They interact with other kids in social settings outside and inside their homes, just like kids who attend government schools.

Bet it's just the opposite in the real world vs what they come up with in the teachers lounge..

Teachers unions are fearful of homeschooling and charter schools. They depend on union dues for their lifestyle. As I hear many teachers crying about pay and the working conditions I have to wonder what the union does for them?

NJ has been the stooges of the teacher's union....

quote:
New Jersey blocks expansion of three Newark charter schools, continuing slowdown of charter growth.

Updated 2/9/22: New Jersey has blocked the expansion of three Newark charter schools — North Star Academy, Philip’s Academy, and Roseville Community Charter School — a sign that Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration is continuing to take a harder line on charter school growth than his Republican predecessor.

On Tuesday, the state education commissioner rejected a request by North Star, Newark’s largest charter school operator to add 300 seats; previously, the state denied the operator’s application for 1,200 additional seats. She also denied Roseville’s request to add another grade level. And last week, the state turned down Philip’s Academy’s request to add grades 9-12, halting its plan to open a new high school.

By Patrick Wall Feb 9, 2022, 5:12pm EDT

August 25, 2022, 06:23 PM

ZSMICHAEL

I am not coming from the teacher's point of view at all. My approach has to do with psychological issues. If you want to send your child to private school or homeschool them it does not matter to me. It is just that some people get on the Homebound wagon and think it is the best thing since sliced bread, just like the teacher's union whom these folks wish to excoriate. It is incredibly myopic.

August 25, 2022, 06:25 PM

cheeze

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
All joking aside, social skill development suffers with home schooling. I have yet to see an effective way to deal with this problem. It is particularly acute with young children who learn their language from peers. Many of the older kids have trouble fitting into the college social life if they have not developed appropriate social skills. Parents cannot teach these things.

Fake news.

August 25, 2022, 06:35 PM

ZSMICHAEL

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
HAha. Your joke sounds like you were home schooled!

August 25, 2022, 07:07 PM

cheeze

No joke man. You’re literally spreading the epitome of fake news.
False information with an agenda of some sort lurking behind it.

August 25, 2022, 07:16 PM

ZSMICHAEL

Haha that is even funnier! Lay off the conspiracy theory!

August 25, 2022, 07:17 PM

thumperfbc

quote:
Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
That is from a psychological perspective, look it up. Not a teacher's perspective. You have to acknowledge that there is a trade off. I think everyone should have the right to homeschool if they choose.

There are certainly trade-offs but the benefits far outweigh the risks, in my assessment.

Growing up I knew some homeschool kids... and some of them were awkward, sure. The ones I still talk to on occasion all eventually grew out of it.

That being said, I thing that was largely an issue of the past and isn't as prevalent today. Will there be some kids who have those issues? Absolutely! But that is on the parents for neglecting that part of the homeschool education. Proper socialization needs to be an active effort, not something that can just be left to blow in the wind. For my kids it happens at church, it happens at weekly co-op, it happens at the frequent play dates and other social activities they attend. They go on all sorts of field trips. They go shopping with me during the day.

They get plenty of socialization that I think is even better than a "typical" classroom in today's conventional education system. Why do I say that? In traditional education they are largely segregated by age... that isn't really natural. It is better to learn to live in a group of mixed ages, not a group of 20-30 people within a years age of each other. They are exposed in a bunch of different settings. That helps.

But of course it is a case by case thing.

August 25, 2022, 07:31 PM

wrightd

Home schooling is good. We did it. Both kids are adults now with college degrees and full time careers. Can't beat it. It's a little pricey, particularly if you need to finish up in private high school, but worth it for sure. If you hear your friends critisize it saying your children cannot develop socially and normally if they're schooling at home, just laugh in their face, because it's total BS. ALL of our fellow home schooling family friends' children all grew up splendidly into great productive young adults.

August 25, 2022, 07:37 PM

sigfreund

One thing I notice whenever the subject of homeschooling comes up is that virtually all of the comments from people who have done it are to relate the successes. One homeschooler I knew who had six children, all of whom were homeschooled through high school could point to two who went on to acquire more education, but she expressed doubt about the others: “Did I do the right thing?” None of the family was stupid and none is living in a box in San Francisco, but it always seemed to me that the others might have done better for themselves if they had had a broader educational experience.

I don’t have children and wasn’t homeschooled (in the usual sense), but based on what I’ve seen, it isn’t the lack of socialization that such children experience that can be a problem. Unless they’re kept chained up in the basement, they will meet and interact with others. The French children I socialized with while living there didn’t go to school with me. If that’s a concern, it should be possible to give any child the opportunities to interact with others in a variety of settings.

It seems to me that the more significant danger to homeschooled children is the lack of different viewpoints during their education. I hasten to admit that much of what they are exposed to in the public “education” system today is appalling, but it’s possible to address the falsehoods even if the schooling at home isn’t for six hours a day. We learn the best when we are exposed to different ideas and are told why the false ones are false and in comparison why the valid ones are valid. When I want to challenge some bit of conventional wisdom in the classes I teach, I don’t just ignore it; I explain what the different viewpoint is, why some people believe and teach it, and then what my different opinion is, and why I believe my position is correct. I don’t just say, “I’m right; you’re wrong: Shut up and go to your room.”

Although I stopped being a child a very long time ago, I still remember the learning environment that my high school-educated parents fostered at home, and how they were willing to discuss the questions I had. They weren’t always right, and like most teenagers, I was convinced I was right more often than I was, but being exposed to different ideas and the realization they exist affected me to this day.

The inability to think critically and logically is one of the greatest handicaps a person can be saddled with, and that doesn’t result only from a public school “education.” In addition to the suspicious fact that we seldom if ever hear of a homeschooled kid being poorly educated (as I have witnessed), what reason do we have to believe that every parent who decides to go that route with their children is a good teacher?

August 25, 2022, 08:01 PM

thumperfbc

quote:
Originally posted by sigfreund:

It seems to me that the more significant danger to homeschooled children is the lack of different viewpoints during their education. I hasten to admit that much of what they are exposed to in the public “education” system today is appalling, but it’s possible to address the falsehoods even if the schooling at home isn’t for six hours a day. We learn the best when we are exposed to different ideas and are told why the false ones are false and in comparison why the valid ones are valid. When I want to challenge some bit of conventional wisdom in the classes I teach, I don’t just ignore it; I explain what it is, why some people believe and teach it, and then what I believe different, and why I believe my position is correct. I don’t just say, “I’m right; you’re wrong: Shut up and go to your room.”

As usual, I think your analysis is correct. This is a bigger concern then the socialization issue. That being said, the dangers and risks of putting our kids in public school, to us, outweighs the benefits by a huge margin. Between wokism taking over and ineffective and unnatural teaching methods, I don’t see the reason to abdicate my God-given obligation to educate and train my children to the government.

I think if most here stop and think about it that way it will at least cause pause: why are you handing over your kids to the government? That’s what you’re doing when you choose public school.