Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hmmmm well reading through this thread has piqued my curiosity....
I just had to look up people who I'm sure some of you didn't know were homeschooled:
Tim Tebow
John Legend
Julian Assange
Albert Einstein
J.R.R. Tolkien
That's just a few-- there's literally dozens of famous intellectuals,
geniuses & artists that were homeschooled....
It really makes a case for homeschooling.
Oh & I'm going to ignore the uneducated posts in this thread that attack homeschooling
Hmmmm well reading through this thread has piqued my curiosity....
I just had to look up people who I'm sure some of you didn't know were homeschooled:
Tim Tebow
John Legend
Julian Assange
Albert Einstein
J.R.R. Tolkien
That's just a few-- there's literally dozens of famous intellectuals,
geniuses & artists that were homeschooled....
It really makes a case for homeschooling.
Oh & I'm going to ignore the uneducated posts in this thread that attack homeschooling
Success speaks for itself
Albert Einstein was not homeschooled.
Julian Assange did attend some schools (including the same primary from 1979-1983) and according to Wikipedia, move 30 times in Australia by the time he was a teenager. Tebow's parents were missionaries. How is homeschooling responsible for Tebow's athletic accomplishments? Tolkien's father died when he was three - in 1895 England. There was no family money. He might have lived beyond 3 miles from a school therefore avoiding compulsory attendance. When his mother died when he was 12 he continued his education at King Edward's School in Birmingham.
Cherry picking a few successful people who may have been homeschooled for a small portion of their life (or not like Einstein)without knowing the circumstances is disingenuous and has little to do with today's homeschooling in the USA.
I haven't found a thread that asks this question, so I thought I'd launch this as a discussion topic. I read recently that the average homeschooled child costs about $600 a year to educate, while a publicly-school child costs $9000-$10,000 a year to educate. And yet, there's a great deal of evidence which demonstrates that homeschooled children do just as well, if not better than public-schooled kids.
The question is thus - in the interest of saving money, shouldn't local and state governments do all they can to promote the homeschool movement, seeing how it's so much cheaper and quite possibly more effective?
Even if parents were offered a credit of $5000 a year per child, that would basically cut costs in half for public schooling for those children, and it would enable many more parents to educate their children at home (considering they're having to forego working at a job, etc.) Would this be a good idea or no?
Currently, about 3% of school-age children in the USA are being homeschooled - if this was increased to say, 10%, or even 15% - it would certainly take the pressure off overloaded school districts - no need to keep building new school buildings (or those horrible trailers they use around here). It'd be easier to have smaller class sizes with fewer students in the system, and with more parents having the flexibility to homeschool, perhaps many children would be spared bullying (which goes on despite our best attempts to eradicate it) and misdiagnosing of ADHD just because they fidget a bit too much in class.
Am I on the right track here, or am I barking up the wrong tree?
No. Home schooling actually isn't that effective. It just appears that way because the demographic that homeschools is the same demographic that does well in publics school but when you compare them to public schools you include the ENTIRE demographic not just that one. The demographic that homeschools is usually two parent households with enough income (demonstrated by the financial ability to have one parent stay home and homeschool), parents who care about education AND kids for whom homeschooling works (if it doesn't work they return their kids to the public schools so public schools have to count homeschooling failures. I've had a dozen or so in my classes over the years and it ain't pretty but neither are our own failures.). It's not my students who come from this demographic who are failing my classes. Parents who care about education is HUGE. Yes the homeschooling crowd does as well or better than the entire cross section that is in public schools but if you looked at just the same demographic in public schools I would bet my 403b that they would blow the socks off of the homeschooling crowd. When I look at the demographic that home schools I'm left scratching my head as to why all they can manage is to be better than average. They should be FANTASTIC. Give me a room full of kids from two parent, financially stable households with parents who care about education and I'll look like the best teacher who ever lived. Those are the kids who want to learn and who have help at home. They're easy to educate. Public schools however deal with everything that walks through the door. Dad's in prison, drunk moms who care more about getting laid than whether their child can read, kids from single parent households with parents who care but have no time or energy left at the end of the day, kids whose parents have died, etc, etc, etc... No we should not push home schooling. There is no evidence that homeschooling results have anything to do with anything other than demographics. If you start making the single mom who is working two jobs homeschool you will not see the same results. Her kids need more support than she can give.
From what I can see homeschooling isn't about education so much as it is about control. I've known several people who homeschooled and had couple of dozen home school returnees in my classes over the years. There's only one case that stands out in my mind where homeschooling was for the child not the parent and that kid had an IQ out of the ballpark. What he REALLY needed was to be in a G&T school but they're expensive. Homeschooling was a good second choice for him. He came to the school I worked at to take classes his parents could not teach like chemistry, calculus and physics. Homeschooling is popular in my church but it's about two things: Mom justifying SAH and control over what children are exposed to. I have one friend who had ZERO interest in homeschooling until her youngest of five kids started first grade and her husband commented that he was relieved that she could get a job now and help out with the finances. All of a sudden it became IMPERITIVE that she homeschool her high schooler in spite of the fact he was attending the best high school in the city....and he pretty much homeschooled himself as did her next four children. Each of her kids was homeschooled for high school when they could just take online courses. She never did get that job. We just roll our eyes when she talks about how great homeschooling is.
I will give you one thing. The homeschooled kids I've known were usually better at learning on their own. Most likely because that's what they were used to and that is a skill that will serve them well in college. I think too much hand holding is done in public schools because schools are worried about how well kids do on the high stakes tests. Sometimes I wish I could just let kids who don't want to work learn from the natural consequences of their choice and let them fail. They don't learn anything when someone else swoops in to fix the issue to keep them on track other than to expect someone else to swoop in and fix their issues. The ability to learn independently is the one positive I see in homeschooling that you don't get in public school. Everything else we do better once demographics is accounted for. The problem is people don't realize that you're comparing a section of the top to everyone else when you compare homeschooling to public schooling. As I said. They SHOULD look FANTASTIC but they don't. The only claim they can make is they're slightly better than average. That makes me scratch my head as it shouldn't be.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 10-24-2015 at 08:42 PM..
Julian Assange did attend some schools (including the same primary from 1979-1983) and according to Wikipedia, move 30 times in Australia by the time he was a teenager. Tebow's parents were missionaries. How is homeschooling responsible for Tebow's athletic accomplishments? Tolkien's father died when he was three - in 1895 England. There was no family money. He might have lived beyond 3 miles from a school therefore avoiding compulsory attendance. When his mother died when he was 12 he continued his education at King Edward's School in Birmingham.
Cherry picking a few successful people who may have been homeschooled for a small portion of their life (or not like Einstein)without knowing the circumstances is disingenuous and has little to do with today's homeschooling in the USA.
Einstein was indeed, homeschooled....
I love Julian Assange's story....what a huge success
And who knows- if Tebow had gone to public schools-
Would he have been as extraordinary- or just settled for mediocrity??
Very telling...... how you felt compelled to post a response
I love Julian Assange's story....what a huge success
And who knows- if Tebow had gone to public schools-
Would he have been as extraordinary- or just settled for mediocrity??
Very telling...... how you felt compelled to post a response
Google is your friend. This is from the Wiki page on Albert Einstein:
" Albert attended a Catholic elementary school from the age of 5 for three years. At the age of 8, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium (now known as the Albert Einstein Gymnasium), where he received advanced primary and secondary school education until he left Germany seven years later.....When the family moved to Pavia, Einstein stayed in Munich to finish his studies at the Luitpold Gymnasium"
Google is your friend. This is from the Wiki page on Albert Einstein:
" Albert attended a Catholic elementary school from the age of 5 for three years. At the age of 8, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium (now known as the Albert Einstein Gymnasium), where he received advanced primary and secondary school education until he left Germany seven years later.[SIZE=2][[/SIZE]"
It appears he was attending school primary and secondary school from the age of 5 until he was 15. Sorry, he was not homeschooled.
Keep telling yourselves that-
Of course since you're all for public schools I do understand how hard this must be for you to follow.
Reading comprehension.....
He was homeschooled- not through every grade, but enough to count.
The Encyclopedia Britannica states that Einstein was 15 years old when he left school “with poor grades in history, geography, and languages.†Although uninterested in other subjects, Albert had an innate ability to understand complicated mathematical concepts by learning them through independent study. He had settled into his own program of self-education by age 10, in which his real studies were done at home. Uncle Jakob lent him a book of algebra and sent him math puzzles to solve. Albert’s parents purchased his textbooks in advance so that he could read them over summer vacation. At age 12 he taught himself Euclidian geometry (the study of points, lines, and surfaces), having been greatly impressed by its clear and certain proofs. By the age of 15, Albert had mastered differential and integral calculus (a higher form of mathematics used to solve problems in physics and engineering).
Keep telling yourselves that-
Of course since you're all for public schools I do understand how hard this must be for you to follow.
Reading comprehension.....
He was homeschooled- not through every grade, but enough to count.
The Encyclopedia Britannica states that Einstein was 15 years old when he left school “with poor grades in history, geography, and languages.” Although uninterested in other subjects, Albert had an innate ability to understand complicated mathematical concepts by learning them through independent study. He had settled into his own program of self-education by age 10, in which his real studies were done at home. Uncle Jakob lent him a book of algebra and sent him math puzzles to solve. Albert’s parents purchased his textbooks in advance so that he could read them over summer vacation. At age 12 he taught himself Euclidian geometry (the study of points, lines, and surfaces), having been greatly impressed by its clear and certain proofs. By the age of 15, Albert had mastered differential and integral calculus (a higher form of mathematics used to solve problems in physics and engineering).
LOL. By your own source he was in school until he was 15.
He continued in school after that age.
From About.com
"When Einstein was 15 years old, his father's new business had failed and the Einstein family moved to Italy. At first, Albert remained behind in Germany to finish high school, but he was soon unhappy with that arrangement and left school to rejoin his family.
Rather than finish high school, Einstein decided to apply directly to the prestigious Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. Although he failed the entrance exam on the first try, he then spent a year studying at a local high school and retook the entrance exam in October 1896 and passed."
Many kids have interests in things other than what is taught in school and learn them on their own but we don't call this homeschooling. If Einstein was homeschooled then so was I. I studied lots of things on my own time that were not taught in school. Most kids do. Learning never has been confined to the classroom. Einstein just happens to be way up there in his interests but he did attend school and he certainly was not homeschooled as the term is used today however homeschooling was very popular back then due to necessity. Kids often had to work and couldn't attend school so education, if they got one, was handled by parents as they could. It would not be something unusual or any kind of claim to fame if he had been homeschooled.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 10-24-2015 at 09:09 PM..
Once again, Einstein was not homeschooled. You can keep writing it but it won't be true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by believe007
And who knows- if Tebow had gone to public schools-
Would he have been as extraordinary- or just settled for mediocrity??
He would have been the same athlete except he wouldn't have been able to get himself an apartment in a new town in order to play the position he wanted to play on the football team.
Quote:
Originally Posted by believe007
Very telling...... how you felt compelled to post a response
Lol you both are delusional, but it reinforces why I believe in homeschooling.....
For anyone who's considering homeschooling.....
Do it
Public schools are basically nothing more than a babysitting service
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
