Poll: Homeschooling: Where do you stand?

[tipp6353]

I'm home schooled and I am now in my 2nd year of high school in Illinois and I've found it to be great, I can get my work done at my own pace and have time to work on my hobby, computers. I have a good social life. To be honest most of the people at my local high school act incredibly stupid and I have not had a great experience in public school, our teachers here are crap and our school system at least here is terrible

 

[Death God]

It depends. If a home schooler receives some social interactions and maintains a normal social life then yes. But I think that he he was being made a social outcast because of his home schooling then no. As one of my teacher told me once, school is a place of learning but also a place for social interaction with others in order to develop new skills in groups. So, so long as the student get time to hang with his/her friends, then I am fine with it. If not, then no.

 

[Gloomsta]

Social skills are more important than learning shitty textbooks that one forgets.

 

[aashell13]

Really, it depends on the situation. I was homeschooled until 10th grade, and from then on I went to a public high school. Like a lot of other things in life, homeschooling is what you make of it.

The inherent flexibility allows motivated people to do very well; in many cases better than they could have in the traditional school system. This is especially true in areas with a low-performing public schools. However, there is little to nothing preventing someone from completely wasting their time and not learning anything.

As far as socialization is concerned; the same "it is what you make it" axiom holds here as well. Co-ops and private tutoring services exist that offer more traditional classroom-style courses in various subjects; particularly ones like science that individual households are unequipped to provide at home. Extracurricular activities are available too; the YMCA, various church, co-op, or community leagues in most popular sports.

Finally, it's worth remembering two points:
Firstly, that parental involvement is the number one predictor of student success and on average homeschooled students have higher levels of parental involvement than others.
Secondly, that merely attending a public school is no guarantee of anything; the public school system produces no shortage of academic failures and social misfits.

 

[viranimus]

/shrug honestly I am in favor for it. As for the social interactions, quite frankly I look around at people with "social skills" and Im not really seeing anything that serves as a benefit.

Personally I went completely through the public education system and I dont see my social skills being adequate anyway.

So yeah, Homeschool all the way. With the way the economy seems to be going it feels like that might be an inevitibility anyway.

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

The reason I'm in favor is one of the cons you mentioned. Lack of social interaction. People are not worth the time and effort put into them, and separation from them helps concentration.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

You're missing my option...it depends.

I think homeschooling is a valid option if it occurs within a framework set out by the state to ensure a reasonable standard of educaiton. It also requires an educated parent, they can't teach what they don't know. Not all parents are capable of teaching. I'm an expert an forensic auditting but having been an Associate Professor for a couple years I can tell you honestly I'm not the best teacher. I agree homeschooling also robs kids of a proper socialization.

The first response capture my opinion perfectly. I'm not against it if the child is still getting a good education, but it does rob the child of the second function that school is for, getting kids comfortable in a social setting.

 

[Koroviev]

I think explains it better than anything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFkIJBVZ4_w

Love that video. Thanks for reminding me of it.

 

[Lev The Red]

eh. i voted against it even though i know it really depends. one of my best friends was home schooled for most of her life and is faaaaaaar more sociable than me, and i've gone to public school most of my life. the problem i have with home school is something i've experienced since i started college in the midwest (USA). people home school their kids to indoctrinate them with these, quite frankly, fucked up ideas. i'v seen stuff from white supremacy, christian hyper-extremism, to kids being trained by their parents to be ready for the coming human war after the rapture.
thankfully, a few of these kids dont actually believe what their parents shoved down their throats and are glad to be away from them, but there are too many children that have been permanently tainted by this shit. it may sound totalitarian, but one of the important parts of public school is to try and keep parents from poisoning their children with stuff that will make them incapable of functioning in modern society. to show children what the ideas of racial supremacy, religious extremism, militantism will not and should not be tolerated in today's world.

thats why i oppose home schooling.

 

[bakan]

Hmm...judging from the posts in the thread a lot of Americans are against homeschooling because of indoctrination.

Would be interesting to know how different continents/regions voted and the reasoning behind it.

 

[DrgoFx]

Here is my personal opinion on homeschooling. Up until currently, I have been homeschooled for my highschool years. [I'm 17.] All of my actual course work was through the internet, but for my last two years of school to get a form of socialization, my parents and I made a proposition with a local school for me to get social needs but only do my online course work.

With this, I say it all depends. In my situation, it's a great way to learn, you go at your own pace and the schooling is organized to the point your parents can always keep track of what you do in real time. The major downside to any homeschool situation is the lack of given social interaction and physical exercise. I surf weekly, so I'm good with physical exercise and as I said I've worked around the social interaction. I think it really depends on who is teaching the child and what they are teaching.

If it wasn't for the one case of this girl I used to know who was homeschooled because "her parents knew everything she needed to know and she didn't need textbooks or the internet for to teach her," I would be all for homeschooling. But just because of this one situation, and that there are plenty more similar situations, I have to say "It depends."

 

[MorphingDragon]

If the parent isn't an incompetent boob then I have no qualms.

If they are on the other hand...