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.
"Dr-Phil-worshipping" Where you part of the thread a couple months back where the Dr. Phil & Oprah watching & Wal-Mart shopping demographical stereotype came up? You might be opening a can of worms if you remember, but I'm with on this one. I have a sister who use to tell me she wanted to take me Dr. Phil so he could tell like it is. If you knew us both and were looking from the outside in, you'd laugh your butt off and you'd know "who" would get told how it is. TOO funny.
LOL! Missed that one. Personally, I prefer Target, or better yet, buying locally-- and the only TV show I can sit through is "Bones". (David Boreanaz and intelligent scripting all in one package-- yay!)
Don't own a blue denim jumper, either.
Do I have to go make jewelry out of the cat to keep my homeschool cred?
Teachers collectively are the sum of 2.8 million efforts. How do you describe the competencies and abilities of 2.8 million people collectively? What are the common strands within the 2.8 million public school teachers?
There are a lot of things which, ideally, would be common strands, and which may be common strands among most schoolteachers. I have a difficult time with absolutes, particularly when applied to herds of people. Even moreso when applied to individuals who function as differently as the English lit teacher in the elite suburb's IB program and the second-grade teacher in a failing urban system.
We need to be careful attributing to much academic talent to teachers. Elementary teachers tend generalist and math anxiety on the part of elementary teachers is well recognized. Hard to argue little Johnny is better off with a math anxious teacher when mom or dad have a background in.
Math-Anxious Elementary Teachers' Change Process in a Graduate Course Aimed at Building Math Confidence (http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/7/6/7/p117677_index.html - broken link)
http://people.exeter.ac.uk/PErnest/pome11/art16.htm
My curiosity piqued, I asked the students their feelings. My wife was right. They were terrified. Repeated teaching of this course, with the same experience each time, led me to interview three female elementary school teachers in depth, and resulted in 'I've Got a Secret: Math Anxiety'.
Well, precisely. Although I'd like to add that a child's return to public or private school doesn't necessarily mean homeschool didn't work. It could mean that a parent is wise enough to concede his or her restrictions, or it could mean that Junior has decided they want to try something new. In a large enough school system, the adolescent could be dropping back in for an IB or technology or porforming arts magnet high school, or he could decide to avail himself of a religiously-based education (the Jesuits, for example, have excellent schools).
I agree. Frankly, this seems like a judicious use of the school system for which -- I'd just like to remind everyone of this -- homeschoolers have been paying. In our specific case, we may very possibly wish to enter our child in high school to take advantage of science courses, given that we don't really have a full-on lab at Casa de Wallace. Other homeschoolers that I've worked with have entered the school system to take advantage of (for instance) the drama productions, given that few homes can mount a successful full-cast rendition of Hamlet or Twelfth Night. That's fine. I don't see them as "failures" in the least. More like "good consumers."
We need to be careful attributing to much academic talent to teachers. Elementary teachers tend generalist and math anxiety on the part of elementary teachers is well recognized. Hard to argue little Johnny is better off with a math anxious teacher when mom or dad have a background in.
Math-Anxious Elementary Teachers' Change Process in a Graduate Course Aimed at Building Math Confidence (http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/7/6/7/p117677_index.html - broken link)
POME 11
My curiosity piqued, I asked the students their feelings. My wife was right. They were terrified. Repeated teaching of this course, with the same experience each time, led me to interview three female elementary school teachers in depth, and resulted in 'I've Got a Secret: Math Anxiety'.
Tuborg, I don't know if you've seen Liping Ma's book on teaching elementary mathematics, but it's fascinating -- and it sounds as if it's right up your alley.
Is home teaching a means of quality control so the variance in teacher ability is minimized?
It's an interesting question. I don't necessarily subscribe to the theory that many teachers = better teaching -- nor to the theory that one teacher = better teaching. Plato had one teacher, as did Aristotle and Alexander, but I suspect that, as with many other things, there's more than one "right" way to educate an individual.
That said, I don't suspect that controlling variations in teacher ability is a primary reason for many folks to homeschool, but I'm fairly sure it forms one slice of the "reasons-for-homeschooling" pie, particularly when it comes to parents of gifted or other special needs kids. Teacher A might be outstanding at understanding a child's need for acceleration (let's say), but teacher B may be of the opinion that "all children are gifted" and provide no differentiation at all because that would be catering to them. Many parents don't want the hassle and turn to homeschooling because, at least for them, it cuts down a great deal on the administrative red tape that can often lie between their child and an appropriate education for her or him.
Is home teaching a means of quality control so the variance in teacher ability is minimized?
To a point. I mean, if you use co-ops or any sort of virtual academy program, you could still theoretically get a real stinker of a teacher. It's more quickly noticeable, though, I think.
I agree. Frankly, this seems like a judicious use of the school system for which -- I'd just like to remind everyone of this -- homeschoolers have been paying. In our specific case, we may very possibly wish to enter our child in high school to take advantage of science courses, given that we don't really have a full-on lab at Casa de Wallace. Other homeschoolers that I've worked with have entered the school system to take advantage of (for instance) the drama productions, given that few homes can mount a successful full-cast rendition of Hamlet or Twelfth Night. That's fine. I don't see them as "failures" in the least. More like "good consumers."
Anybody know what percentage of school systems permit dual (parttime homeschool, parttime public school) enrollment? Ours does, but I know that's not universal.
Tuborg, I don't know if you've seen Liping Ma's book on teaching elementary mathematics, but it's fascinating -- and it sounds as if it's right up your alley.
I once heard a very interesting group discussion led by a national heavy weight refer to the teacher anxiety issue as the dirty little secret. That was a few years ago and now the secret is out.
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.
"Dr-Phil-worshipping" Where you part of the thread a couple months back where the Dr. Phil & Oprah watching & Wal-Mart shopping demographical stereotype came up? You might be opening a can of worms if you remember, but I'm with on this one. I have a sister who use to tell me she wanted to take me Dr. Phil so he could tell like it is. 
If you knew us both and were looking from the outside in, you'd laugh your butt off and you'd know "who" would get told how it is. 
TOO funny.
