Anyone livining & homeschooling in Helena?

[Gman2007]

This post you resurrected was started before I joined CD or I most certainly would have chimed in my two cents. We home school our child for many of the reasons you stated. But, with the tone you presented it all, you're not going to get a healthy, congenial response (not that you were looking for that) from many members as it seems you are attacking them personally.

Sure, this is a hot topic and everyone has their "example" of some home school kid that was a failure as well as there are examples of public school kids that have failed. My child's education is my responsibility and I have a problem with dropping my kid off for x number of hours of instruction that I have little or no control over. People who want less government control in their lives often times don't see this as the same issue and support government control in all areas of education.

[jimj]

Well it seems this thread's been brought back from the dead
I live in a neighborhood where the majority of kids are homeschooled and socially they're just fine since they get together with other homeschoolers regularly. I find them to be very respectful (a rareity now days) and well adjusted.
Personally I apologize regularly to my son for inflicting public school on him. Had I known what I know now I would NEVER have sent him there! Are there good teachers at the schools? Yes most definately and the ones I know have been beaten down so badly by the administration and parents that they're just trying to get to retirement now. They don't dare speak their minds or stand up for what's right anymore, they just go through the day to day motions. As an example, there's a push on now to adopt a teaching style that requires no negative input at all. One example, Let's say teacher A catches Johnny cheating on a test. Teacher A cannot fail Johnny. Teacher A has to discuss this with Johnny and let him know this is not good. If he does it again then he gets a grade like "needs improvement".... Oh, that's the other thing, there's no failing grades either.
I've seen Jr. High teachers here that openly push PITA/envirowacko opinions on the kids by telling them their parents are bad people for hunting/logging and giving worse grades to the kids of loggers than to the others.
In every school district that I've lived in when you put your kid on the bus in the morning in most cases you're pretty much placing them in the most antisocial gutter environment that you could possibly imagine. If parents only knew what went on behind the driver most would probably wash out their ears and eyes.
Yep that 6 year old is getting one heck of an education before he even gets to school!
Is it all the schools fault? No the parents are as much to blame for not standing up and saying enough or expecting the schools to be the babysitter and morals teacher. Has anyone been to a H.S. dance lately? One of my sons friends commented "it's the best sex you can have with your clothes on" if that gives you any idea. I remember the one and only dance I shaparoned we caught a kid taking cell pictures (on a borrowed phone) up girls skirts, we told the principal and he took the phone away and just handed it back to it's owner with the PICTURES STILL ON IT. No discipline, no conversation, nothing! I've heard teachers calling kids racist for quoting a news story, I've heard them call kids stupid,idiots,morons, scream at them etc and these are the people we're sending our kids to? Things that are done that we as adults would NEVER tolorate being done to us all in the name of "education".
I remember last year an incompetent teacher was being threatened with the school board. Her response was "so what I've got tenure they can't do anything to me" and the sad part was she was right.

I guess it all depends on how involved you want to be. If you blindly trust that strangers will do what they say they'll do and they're always going to do what's right then you get what you get, don't complain at the end result.
If you're involved in your schools you can at least have "some" input as to who "teaches" your child or counter some of what they're force fed daily. But remember you have no control over the riff-raff and trash they have to socialize with daily.

[polbio74]

I started reading the begining of this thread and realized how old it was, so not sure if any of the non-believers in homeschool are even here any more, but just in case, here are my thoughts.

I went through an academically advanced elementary and middle school. When I transfered in highschool to the local public school outside of atlantic city, I was so bored it wasnt funny. When I moved to PA and met my husband I was amazed at what he didnt know, what he had not been taught in "college prep" classes in high school. In College, I met many other people who were not prepared for college level courses even though they had taken "college prep" classes. I am slightly dyslexic, however it was caught when I was in 1st grade and I was taught to compensate. I made it through college and love to learn. Unfortunately, I passed my dyslexia on to both of my daughters. When my oldest daughter was in elementary school, all I did was fight with the school. They wanted us to hire tutors because they didnt want to deal with her learning disability, nor would they officially admit to the disability. So after years of frustration, I homeschooled. I am not christian, and religion is no where near my reasons for teaching my daughters at home. Both of my girls are working to overcome the disability and have made substantial progress. My oldest opted to return to public school this year, to join her friends in high school. She is amazed at the things they werent taught. She is now advanced for her grade. If I would have left her in public school, she would have failed and continued to have low self esteem. Now she has the chance to accomplish all her dreams.

I have met many people over the past few years who home school for religious reasons. I dont have a problem with that, as long as it does not handicap the children. If the kids are still learning the academics needed to be successful in life. However, if the homeschooled kids are not being exposed to advanced math, science, history and english, then their chances of success are limited. SOmeone wrote a while back asking "what qualifies a parent to teach", the answer is everything. Public school teachers are taught how to teach large groups of people. But you dont need a college degree to teach your own kids. For parents who dont have college degrees, they can teach themselves before or during teaching the kids, or sign the kids up for a local class. Some school districts will allow kids to attend for one or two classes. So since I have a masters in History and suck at math, I can send my kids to the public school for a math class. Also some local homeschool groups gets together and parents take turns teaching what they are good at. One will teach math, another science, etc. Also Colleges offer courses for homeschooled highschoolers.

Most homeschooled kids have more opportunity for learning and are more likely to be creative and intuitive than public school students. Unfortunately, as any public school teacher will tell you, the teachers have too many students and regulations to follow to allow students to think for them selves.

[AQHA]

To each his own. If folks don't trust the system and want to take on the task of educating their children at home its fine by me. I'm glad we live in a country where we still have a few rights (not many, but a few).