What you think about homeschooling??

[Matthew3590]

I have talked to several teachers at several universities while I toured their campuses. They all gave me a universal answer of they think poorly of public school and even worse of home school. By the way I talked to professors at Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State University, and University of Tennessee Knoxville. The professors were biology teachers and calculus teachers.

Also I am public schooled and all my friends are from public schools and I do not know if I would have as many (if any) if I was home schooled. Also my parents are not the best teachers.

 

[HeatherLynn]

Depending on the state there is also public online available through K12. ( in many states its free and its still accredited because its through the public school) K12 is Awesome in my personal opinion. Can do all sorts of AP classes. Tons of science and math. Even though its not free in my state its what we are using to homeschool in the future. My oldest will start taking high school classes now while he is in middle school so he can take AP maths. We are doing high school stuff for the most part already so I was thrilled with how many classes he could take.

 

[erinszoo]

I have talked to several teachers at several universities while I toured their campuses. They all gave me a universal answer of they think poorly of public school and even worse of home school. By the way I talked to professors at Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State University, and University of Tennessee Knoxville. The professors were biology teachers and calculus teachers.

Also I am public schooled and all my friends are from public schools and I do not know if I would have as many (if any) if I was home schooled. Also my parents are not the best teachers.

All of the college professors we've talked to love homeschool kids. They say they know how to think and how to learn and are across the board more excited about learning and do better in college than their public school age mates. Our homeschool son starts university in one week with full academic scholarships and he has tons of friends. He is also in the honors college and was picked to be a freshman research scholar, which only has 65 freshman accepted in a university with over 20,000 students enrolled.

 

[dainerra]

it really depends on the child, more than whether or not they are home-schooled. A SUCCESSFUL home-schooler is going to automatically be the things that erinszoo describe. Why? Because those are the traits necessary to work on your own. You have to be motivated. You have to be disciplined and a self-starter.
Some students in the public school have no problem adjusting to the unstructured life of college. Others take a while to work out the kinks. Home-schoolers are a step ahead because they have been responsible for their own education all along.

However, you are always going to have the stereotypical bad apples. The students who are home-schooled because of behavior problems. Or because they can just slide through without doing work. The ones who had parents who don't actually know the material and pass incorrect information. The ones who go to the amusement park and call it an educational field trip.

In the end, it's no different than it ever was. A good student will succeed and a bad student will do their best to slide through. No more, no less.

 

[Matthew3590]

All of the college professors we've talked to love homeschool kids. They say they know how to think and how to learn and are across the board more excited about learning and do better in college than their public school age mates. Our homeschool son starts university in one week with full academic scholarships and he has tons of friends. He is also in the honors college and was picked to be a freshman research scholar, which only has 65 freshman accepted in a university with over 20,000 students enrolled.

I guess professors are just as varied as we are.

 

[mom'sfolly]

I think homeschooling can be wonderful or awful, I don't think there is much in between. Some parents who homeschool their kids are undisciplined, have no course plans, no effective teaching skills and fail their children. Some parents make great teachers. The same is true with students.

I have several family members involved in education, both public and private. Their opinion of homeschooling is that the kids usually know what their parents know and they themselves are interested in. They tend to be weak in other areas. They see the homeschool kids as they leave and re-enter traditional schools. Some are advanced, some are behind and many have large gaps. Many who have been homeschooled for religious reasons have never been exposed to a point of view that contradicts their own, and have never discussed the possibility that an answer may not be black or white, but some shade of gray.

Those family members who have done both public and private schools say the best students are in private school. The reason isn't that public school fails these kids, but because of the differences in the people in private school. Private school parents are highly motivated and expect their children to be. The teachers, administrators, and parents are usually all on the same page in terms of discipline, course work, ethics and expectations.. Most private schools are smaller, and don't have the range of socio-economic groups, children with disabilities, or language issues that public schools have. Parents have a monetary investment that makes them demand success from their children. There are no un-involved parent in private school. And private schools have more discretion when issues do come up.

 

[zzGypsy]

Those family members who have done both public and private schools say the best students are in private school. The reason isn't that public school fails these kids, but because of the differences in the people in private school. Private school parents are highly motivated and expect their children to be. The teachers, administrators, and parents are usually all on the same page in terms of discipline, course work, ethics and expectations.. Most private schools are smaller, and don't have the range of socio-economic groups, children with disabilities, or language issues that public schools have. Parents have a monetary investment that makes them demand success from their children. There are no un-involved parent in private school. And private schools have more discretion when issues do come up.

I'll just say, having spent 6 years in private schools and 5 in public schools (good ones without major social, ecomomic, or practial issues), I think private schools were HUGELY better, but I disagree with your generalizations about why.
for context:
grade 1-6 I attended 5 different private schools in 4 different states
grade 7-9 I attended public junior high
grade 10-11 I attended public HS (and graduated at end of my junior year).

in the public schools, I was there on scholarship, along with some other kids, although more were there on their parent's money. so we had varied social and economic backgournds. we were low-middle class (that is, foodstamps, but not project housing).
we didn't have much racial diversity in either the private or the public schools... but that was reflective of the communities where the schools were. my parents were high-achievers but low involvement with us, and almost no teaching/homework/etc involvement once we started school. we didn't live in a disciplined household, chaos was essentially the rule. expectations were high, but support was absent. private schools were smaller, but class sizes were more or less the same throughout. my parents were equally uninvolved when I was in private and public school. nonetheless, I graduated at age 15 from HS with a 4.0. my parents had no monitary investment in my private schooling because I earned it with scholarships.

some of my classmates were *very* wealthy, and some of those kids had equally little contact and support with their parents (although more with their household staff), although their parents certainly did have money committed.

here's the big differences I see from my own experience.

the private schools I went to taught thinking. they taught useful, flexible, portable mental skills. the public schools I went to taught information. dates and facts. memory work. the private schools taught how to learn, how to research. the public schools taught what was on the test.

the private schools looked at how I was doing individually and found ways to engage and challenge me. the public schools had a curriculum and if I didn't fit in it I got benched. case in point... entering 7th grade I read college level. in 7th grade reading class the work they gave us was killer dull and waaaay below my skill level, so I (stubborn thing that I am) wouldn't do the work. they addressed that by putting me (and my college level reading skills) in the slow-learner remedial reading class. and there I sat, not doing the even duller work in that class either. instead of trying to identify the problem (I was bored and underchallenged) they assumed I was unable. that sort of experience repeated itself more than once in public school, never in private school.

overall, the level of attention to individual students' needs was much lower in the public schools, although teacher-student ratios were essentially the same. don't know why, maybe it's the curriculum-focus of the public school, as opposed to the student-success-focus of the private school.

to my great good fortune, the public highschool I attended was flexible to a degree... I went to the counselors and was able to get them to let me take some classes independent study and on my own time so I could graduate a year early... but I was the driver behind that, not the school, not my parents (my mom says she didn't know I was graduating a year early until the graduation anouncement was sent to her 3 weeks before I graduated.)

private school taught me the skills to do that.

 

[Ibicella]

I support homeschooling entirely. I went to public school and graduated 15 years ago. It was bad then, and it's a zillion times worse now. I'm a very heavy critic of the public school system and think it should be torn down entirely and rebuilt. My best learning was always outside of the school, and I am a highly educated woman because I spent a lot of time learning new things from my parents and on my own. When I finally did go to college, I knew what I wanted to do, wanted to be there, and was top of my class.

Having a good education will be one of your greatest joys in life. If this is the route to getting it, do it.

 

[blitz1027]

WOOHOO. Homeschooling is the way to go in my opinion. I was homeschooled and if I could go back and do it again I would want to be again.

 

[baby-chicks]

we have homeschooled our daughter for the past five years, she loves it & so do we. we use switched on school house cd's on the computer. at first she had a lot of trouble with math & her dad had to help her alot, but now she aces thru her subjects. homeschooling is not for everyone. But it was the best thing for us. when we have to go some where we have a laptop computer that
has her school subjects on it so she doesn't miss any school & we just use a usb stick to transfer what work she has done on the laptop to her desktop computer.
her reading skills have improved, she can type a 119 per minute. so for us homeschool is great.