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I now agree that homeschooling can be as good as or even better than public schools if done right. But, my first reaction to those questions is, why don't you send your kids to private school? Then most problems will go away. Fine. Some of these concerns might not completely go away even in private school settings, so I gather you are against the school as a societal education institution as a whole.
Have you seen the price of "good" private schools? It's cost prohibitive for most families.
Just came back last week from an annual home school convention and one of the guys was talking about test scores and a number of other things that home schoolers do way better on over all. Yes, there have been bad cases and situations (just like public, private and charter school) but overall home schooling can be a very good option for some families. Based on the stats charter school actually preformed better in almost all other categories as well over public and private. Private didn't do so well and at times was even behind public school. Was kind of surprising actually. Granted this is averages across the board but still.
Both my wife and I were home schooled (whole life for me) and we are starting our oldest daughter on it now and plan to do it through high school. I am a big fan and advocate of it.
Have you seen the price of "good" private schools? It's cost prohibitive for most families.
That's why it wasn't an option for us.
I actually went to private schools all the way through high school. The schools I went to were really lacking in resources. I wanted my kids to be in buildings that were safe, with adequate heating and air conditioning...That should be a basic requirement but it wasn't at the schools I went to.
One year we didn't even have a teacher. The teacher from the next grade would cone in and write assignments on the board and that was it.
I will admit that the online school we use is weak in science. I've had to supplement with a microscope, circuit kits, dissection models, etc. We also try to do things that use science in our daily life. My kids keep an aquarium and are responsible for testing and maintaining water quality. We garden, and study different plant types. My kids almost always have something starting to grow, either from seeds they've collected or clippings. My daughter who has OCD loves to take swabs from different surfaces and culture them, then study them under the microscope.
I've checked out much about the schools that I went to (I'm weird), and they haven't changed for the better in any respects, including STEM classes.
The lab issues is that most of the secular resources are made for classrooms and just don't have lab resources that homeschoolers can use. Many of the religious resources have actual lab components made for homeschoolers. They have kits that include microscopes, slides, dissection specimens, etc. that you just can't find with the secular options. If it stays this way we have older children, we'd be likely to do more basic science classes at home and have them attend community college for the lab classes.
The secular science programs that I've seen which have labs have all online labs. That's fine to a degree, but I think there's a huge necessary component of actually using lab equipment and being in a lab.
Carolina biological sells almost everything in its catalog to private citizens these days, including curricula and kits including everything you listed above.
Additionally, STEM programs at least the good ones are far beyond using microscopes or dissection; electrogel phoresis is being done in many middle school programs, DNA, ELISA, spectroscopy, and so much more are available to many high school students. If you have good students who are interested in science I would courage you to raise the bar for what they should be exposed to.
Oh, and as a community college and DE teacher, we just don't have the time in most CC classes to do all the labs that a good AP or DE class gets due to time constraints.
Oh yes, and we don't get the materials we need--I finally got a smartboard last year but it was a used one from a regular ed classroom that was getting updated and only our first smartboard! The projector and board don't match so we're very limited on what we can do with it--no interactive games, but at least I can show powerpoints. This is the dirty little secret of special ed in our schools today. I have sat in on budget meetings so I can see why it is, but we should receive the same amount and quality of materials that everyone else does and we don't.
If you would like to DM about your smart board I would be happy to look into it for you. My district got us all smart board certified some years ago, though we have all since abandoned them in favor of iPads and a program called Doceri (it's more flexible than a smart board) but your IT department is snowing you if they said the projector "doesn't match" the smart board, you can use literally any projector with a SmartBoard. It is one of their main selling points.
Thank you. I'm learning from this. There might have been incorrect assumptions that I have had about homeschooling.
I now agree that homeschooling can be as good as or even better than public schools if done right. But, my first reaction to those questions is, why don't you send your kids to private school? Then most problems will go away. Fine. Some of these concerns might not completely go away even in private school settings, so I gather you are against the school as a societal education institution as a whole.
From a couple of folks here I learned that homeschooling can be very effective and perhaps the only option the parents are left with in situations that I haven't thought about. So, I definitely understand more and support those who decide to homeschool. Probably, every case has their own stories... no need to be surrounded by terrible schools, no need to be special kids. There are just right circumstances that make you decide to homeschool. That's it.
But, the questions raised here "why do people send kids to school? what is the benefit?" are problematic, because this argument tries to win over "people" who send their kids to school. My immediate reaction would be, for most people, they don't have a better alternative. They don't need to prove the benefit of public schooling, they just can't home-school even if they wanted to. So, just because you believe that there are huge problems in public schooling and great benefits in home schooling, you can't address the questions like that. From my own experience with homeschooling parents, I know that these parents agree that homeschooling is not for everyone.
That's where you need to be a little careful when you advocate for homeschooling. When the voice for homeschooling is modest, I also lower my voice of concerns and doubts about the parents' qualifications and such and accept it as is and no more questions. When the advocating voice is aggressive like this, first I maintain my question---what makes you think you are qualified to be your child's teacher or principal? But even if you prove your qualifications, I may say, good for you. it works for you. but it's not going to work for a lot of people.
Actually, the question "Why do you send your kids to public school?" is equally legitimate to the question "Why do you homeschool?" To say it's not is to be 100% ignorant (as in ignoring information). Why do homeschool parents need to *prove* anything but public school parents do not?
The difference is that homeschooling parents have researched public schools, private schools, charter schools, magnet schools, online schools, tutoring options, curriculums and homeschooling. They have culled FB, websites, state sites, homeschooling organizations at the federal, state, county and local levels. They have searched for arts, music, sports, science, reading groups to join. They search for play groups and play dates that meet weekly.
When the question is asked, homeschool parents can probably talk to you for 8 hours about all the reasons why they have chosen homeschooling. Think I'm joking? Ask a homeschool parent, say you are genuinely interested in learning WHY. Be prepared to listen. A lot.
Do you honestly believe that every parent who sends their children to public schools has weighed ALL OPTIONS? And could spend hours talking about their informed and supported decision to send their children to the school around the corner? How many public school parents can tell you the names of their kids reading, spelling and math curriculas that their kids use on a DAILY basis? Any homeschool parent can tell you what is used, how they use it and why it was chosen, what they like/dislike and IF they will use it again next year.
There has been a movement that has been creeping into our culture. And the idea is this: Parents are stupid. Parents do not know what is best for their kids. Authorities do. The school does. The doctor does. Parents are idiots, so if they make a choice that differs from the standard, institution-based offering, well, they must be doing something wrong. They're ignorant. We need to inform them, that they need to send their kids *insert institution here.* It's to protect them from their own stupidity.
It's a dangerous stance to support. And historically invalid.
Colleges and universities are SEEKING homeschooled kids these days. A local university just added a homeschool advisor to their admissions department. Ask yourself: Why
Last edited by newtovenice; 07-23-2016 at 08:15 AM..
Reason: typo
Have you seen the price of "good" private schools? It's cost prohibitive for most families.
We did opt for "good" private schools and even with a very comfortable living, its tough. And it isn't just coming up with 20K once. Its coming up with 10-20K per child per year. I know women who worked so they could send their kids to private school while the husband's income supported the family. But not everyone has that.
Actually, the question "Why do you send your kids to public school?" is equally legitimate to the question "Why do you homeschool?" To say it's not is to be 100% ignorant (as in ignoring information). Why do homeschool parents need to *prove* anything but public school parents do not?
The difference is that homeschooling parents have researched public schools, private schools, charter schools, magnet schools, online schools, tutoring options, curriculums and homeschooling. They have culled FB, websites, state sites, homeschooling organizations at the federal, state, county and local levels. They have searched for arts, music, sports, science, reading groups to join. They search for play groups and play dates that meet weekly.
When the question is asked, homeschool parents can probably talk to you for 8 hours about all the reasons why they have chosen homeschooling. Think I'm joking? Ask a homeschool parent, say you are genuinely interested in learning WHY. Be prepared to listen. A lot.
Do you honestly believe that every parent who sends their children to public schools has weighed ALL OPTIONS? And could spend hours talking about their informed and supported decision to send their children to the school around the corner? How many public school parents can tell you the names of their kids reading, spelling and math curriculas that their kids use on a DAILY basis? Any homeschool parent can tell you what is used, how they use it and why it was chosen, what they like/dislike and IF they will use it again next year.
There has been a movement that has been creeping into our culture. And the idea is this: Parents are stupid. Parents do not know what is best for their kids. Authorities do. The school does. The doctor does. Parents are idiots, so if they make a choice that differs from the standard, institution-based offering, well, they must be doing something wrong. They're ignorant. We need to inform them, that they need to send their kids *insert institution here.* It's to protect them from their own stupidity.
It's a dangerous stance to support. And historically invalid.
Colleges and universities are SEEKING homeschooled kids these days. A local university just added a homeschool advisor to their admissions department. Ask yourself: Why
I sent my child to public school because I wanted her to be taught by subject experts in their fields. She went to a good public school, and for the most part her teachers were subject experts, especially at the secondary level.
She is a motivated, self-starter, who was interested in all things STEM from elementary school. Her school had good lab space, advanced equipment, and even better internship opportunities. She did AP classes, as well as community college classes, and found that the high school she attended gave her more lab time to pursue her particular research interests.
Additionally, her skills in learning to be pro-active, work with many different types of people from peers to various authority figures allowed her to gain and keep a great position when she got to university.
Could she have gotten some of that in a homeschool? Maybe but not likely all of them.
And then there is the little thing of the fact that I have a career that I love and spend many years pursuing myself. A twelve year break is not something I wanted for myself just to give my daughter a substandard education in everything except science.
Just came back last week from an annual home school convention and one of the guys was talking about test scores and a number of other things that home schoolers do way better on over all. Yes, there have been bad cases and situations (just like public, private and charter school) but overall home schooling can be a very good option for some families. Based on the stats charter school actually preformed better in almost all other categories as well over public and private. Private didn't do so well and at times was even behind public school. Was kind of surprising actually. Granted this is averages across the board but still.
Both my wife and I were home schooled (whole life for me) and we are starting our oldest daughter on it now and plan to do it through high school. I am a big fan and advocate of it.
Research on charter schools paints a mixed picture. A number of recent national studies have reached the same conclusion: charter schools do not, on average, show greater levels of student achievement, typically measured by standardized test scores, than public schools, and may even perform worse.
The Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University found in a 2009 report that 17% of charter schools outperformed their public school equivalents, while 37% of charter schools performed worse than regular local schools, and the rest were about the same. A 2010 study by Mathematica Policy Research found that, on average, charter middle schools that held lotteries were neither more nor less successful than regular middle schools in improving student achievement, behavior, or school progress. Among the charter schools considered in the study, more had statistically significant negative effects on student achievement than statistically significant positive effects. These findings are echoed in a number of other studies.
The newest study does show that charter schools in urban areas are making a positive difference, but not all over the country.
Of the dozens of state and national entities that collect data about charters, only a handful actually document achievement from year to year, and only one — the publisher of this report — formally
and annually collects, analyzes, and assesses the schools that are approved, opened and closed
from year to year
. That general data shows that, not only do charters schools deliver on student achievement, but a
substantial percentage of charter schools are closed from year to year for reasons that any school
should be closed
.
Far from a condemnation, these data points suggest a movement that has been amenable to course correction and closure since its inception
.
It's not bad for bad charter schools to close although in general, it seems to be bad money management that makes them close. It is, however, terrible for kids who need continuity in their education.
The other problem with charters is *counselling out* kids who don't perform to make the charter look better. The student, however, does not get the support s/he needs.
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