Home Schooling in Hawaii

[tyvin]

I think it's a beautiful thing for a parent to have the ability to home school their kids.

The experience can never be replaced and is invaluable to the child.

All the people that are against home schooling need to open up their minds and see the advantages it has.

I wish you luck.

[Balad1]

I believe that home schooling is a viable alternative for religious reasons or for people who live in under performing school districts. On the other hand parents that can afford to send there children to a quality private school should. To do anything else shows someone has their priorities in the wrong place and brings into question why have X number of children in the first place.

I was an Army recruiter for a few years and 50% of my applicants that were home schooled couldn't pass the armed forces entrance testing.

[SunnySideUpS]

Home school has come a long way. My children attend a public charter school where much of their education is completed at home. They are required to take the same assessment tests as traditional public school students. They also are required to pass the high school exit exam to receive a diploma. We use the same curriculum as their traditional public school friends. The laws do vary by state. Homeschooling has been great for us but, it's not for everybody. I can respect that.

[Sweetbeet]

What I have seen is that many home-schooled kids do VERY well if/when they later go to school; they also seem to do very well on standardized tests, win things like science fairs, spelling bees, etc. Those who are home-schooled for religious reasons seem to lag a bit (sometimes quite a bit) in the sciences, however. My view is a bit skewed as much of my data comes from a high school biology teacher, and obviously the whole biology/evolution/creationism thing is a big issue for many home-schooled Christians.

Poor home schooling is probably worse than most public schools, while good home schooling seems to be as good or better than some of the best schools. Good home schooling tends to require a TREMENDOUS amount of work by the parents, particularly if there are several kids of different ages. Efforts must be made to involve the kids in appropriate social groups and activities as well as instructional ones, and to test, monitor and adjust methods and approaches constantly. Home-schooling parents probably should get some training in recognizing the many types of learning difficulties that have been discovered - for example, in addition to 'dyslexia', experts are now identifying some kids as having particular difficulties in symbolic processing that they are calling 'dysmathia'. Being able to recognize this difficulty (along with many others) and understanding how to 'teach to it' would be critical, I would think, for a home-schooling parent.

It is a full-time job. If you're willing to do that, have the temperament for it, and understand the potential problems and challenges, I would guess that you can probably provide as good an education as most schools. But I would think that it's also very easy to cop out and make a mess of it.

[ddnoonan]

Thank you sweetbeet for the information on the Island School. If our move is to Kauai I will definitely contact you for more information. From other posters in this forum it sounded like the private schools in Hawaii were not great so it is good to hear from someone at a school currently.

Thanks so much, Dolores

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by ddnoonan

From other posters in this forum it sounded like the private schools in Hawaii were not great so it is good to hear from someone at a school currently.

Two schools on Oahu have excellent reputaions - Punahou and Iolani. Both have been turning out accomplished graduates for over a century.

Barak Obama
Steve Case - founder of AOL.
Sun Yat Sen - first President of the Republic of China.
1892 Hiram Bingham (Yale) — Republican US Senator from Connecticut 1924-33, discoverer of Machu Picchu, lecturer at Harvard and Princeton, Professor of History at Yale, married the Tiffany fortune heiress, buried at Arlington National Cemetery, possible inspiration for Indiana Jones
'25* (UNT) Joan Blondell — leading actress for 52 years in films and on stage, Hollywood Walk of Fame star, nominated for Academy Award best actress[205][206] (attended 1914-15)
'33 John Magoon, Jr. (Berkeley) — majority owner and chairman of Hawaiian Airlines, 1964–89



One on the Big Island - Hawaii Prep.

[ddnoonan]

Thanks HankDfrmSD - other posters had made comments about the private schools in HI not being at the same level but as those on the mainland but after doing some of my own research lately, i do not think that is quite correct. The schools looks as good or even better and the tution is slightly lower in some cases (esp. compared to SF bay area schools). Since you are on Oahu do you happen to know much about La Pietra?

Thanks so much for the information.

Dolores

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by ddnoonan

Thanks HankDfrmSD -

Since you are on Oahu do you happen to know much about La Pietra?

Yes, my daughter went there for a year.

At that time (thirty seven years ago), it was a fine school. Probably still is.