Topic : 11/24 Great School Debate

Quote From: danidawn3345

I am a homeschooler. I am not Christian.  I even know other non-Christian homeschoolers.  <gasp>  Lots of them, actually. <grin>   I have experience with MANY homeschoolers, many of which are NOT the religious right.   I totally agree with your moral majority comment. <smile>

 

Oh, and there are way more of the religious right in Christian private schools than in the world of home education. 

 

Just so the folks out there who don't know this, not everyone homeschools because they're conservative Christians.  I am the president of an all-inclusive homeschool group of about seventy families.  Christians are in the minority in our group - and they are the loving, tolerant and open-minded sort of Christians, who don't believe the Bible tells them to spend time with only those just like them in thought.  We have Pagans, Wiccans, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, Unitarian Universalists, Christians, and others that aren't coming to mind now.  Just wanted people to know we do exist. <smile> 

Quote From: purplepenny

"This is not to say that every home-schooled child will do well in college, but then again, not every student who attended public or private school will do well academically or socially."

I couldn't agree more. Every method will have it's triumphs and failures.

Quote From: purplepenny

My husband's Aunt is an "unschooler"...her children are sharply behind when it comes to every subject...I personally find it to be a very irresponsible thing to do. Our society requires education and society benefits from it.  Not everything is learned as a side effect of living. That's ridiculous.

Quote From: danidawn3345

I am a homeschooler. I am not Christian.  I even know other non-Christian homeschoolers.  <gasp>  Lots of them, actually. <grin>   I have experience with MANY homeschoolers, many of which are NOT the religious right.   I totally agree with your moral majority comment. <smile>

 

Oh, and there are way more of the religious right in Christian private schools than in the world of home education. 

 

Just so the folks out there who don't know this, not everyone homeschools because they're conservative Christians.  I am the president of an all-inclusive homeschool group of about seventy families.  Christians are in the minority in our group - and they are the loving, tolerant and open-minded sort of Christians, who don't believe the Bible tells them to spend time with only those just like them in thought.  We have Pagans, Wiccans, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics, Buddhists, Unitarian Universalists, Christians, and others that aren't coming to mind now.  Just wanted people to know we do exist. <smile> 

Quote From: winterwarmth

Public school seems to be the last acceptable place where we are expected to keep our children even if we find the environment unacceptable or toxic. (Again, the posts are going by so quickly that people may not know I don't make the assumption that all public schools are toxic or bad places)

If ones home were a den of iniquity and abuse, their children would be legally removed, not forced to stay in the situation while people step in and volunteer to try to "make their home a better place."  The parents would have to do an AWFUL lot of proving that their children will never so much as have a finger laid on them or a harsh word spoken to them ever again in order to regain custody! (and rightly so)

If I even so much as dislike the service at a restaurant, I stop going there, I don't hire myself out as a chef.

If someone is bullied in the workplace, or their working life is made impossible to maintain due to health reasons, or other problems, many people change their jobs and/or seek legal recourse to get the problem causer ousted.

At any rate, I don't feel the need to apologize for exercising my right to raise my child as I see fit.

Quote From: wyndeely

With all due respect, there are millions of children in the public school system who are "sharply behind when it comes to every subject." 

 

I find sending one's children away to be "taught" by STRANGERS incredibly irresponsible. 

 

The economy benefits greatly from the educational system.  I lived and taught school in a small community in northeastern Kentucky where the school (of only 500 students K-12) was the largest employer in the COUNTY, and those people fought tooth and nail to ensure that their school stayed there regardless of the fact that the school was a mess, they couldn't keep teachers or adminstrators, there was no discipline, and children were abused, verbally and physically, and property destroyed on a daily basis by the STUDENTS, but nothing could or would be done, because the school needed the numbers (attendance, not grades or EDUCATION, was what mattered) to get funding.

 

Yes.  I homeschool my children, and we even call ourselves unschoolers.  I am neither irresponsible nor ridiculous, and many things we don't want our children to know are learned as a side effect of going to public school.

Quote From: beamers

I don't think that shame has anything to do with it.  We have never been approached by a home-schooling organization, but would be willing to offer our programs if such an organization contacted us.  Perhaps someone in an organization in NYC will see this and let me know that they're interested.  I would more than gladly pass on the information.  I am not posting the name of my institution in this forum because it is a privately-owned museum.  It's not always on the hands of the institution to find these organizations - home-schoolers and organizations of home-schoolers should be on the lookout for opportunities to offer home-schooled students alternative routes to education, since that is, in all senses, their point.

Quote From: cmkennedy124

 I suggest you look at state home schooling laws on HSLDA.org. These are home schooling (educational) Statutes (Laws) that are governed by each state.

Please explain how the unschooler on the show Friday, who does not do tests, keep records, or use books could be following the law in ....lets say they or another family is in pennsylvania:

People who home school in this state must:
1) Give 180 days instruction per year or 900 hours at the elementary level or 990 hours at the secondary level
2) Teach: Elementary level: English spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, U.S. and Pennsylvania history, civics, health and physiology, physical education, music, art, geography, science, safety and fire prevention Secondary level: English language, literature, speech and composition, science, geography, civics, world, U.S., and Pennsylvania history, algebra and geometry, art, music, physical education, health, safety, and fire prevention
3) Have a High school diploma or equivalent to teach
4) Give notice: File a notarized affidavit with the local superintendent prior to start of home school and annually by August 1st thereafter
5) Recordkeeping: Maintain a portfolio of materials used, work done, standardized test results in grades 3, 5, and 8, and a written evaluation completed by June 30 of each year
6) Tests: Administer standardized tests in grades 3, 5, and 8; submit results as part of portfolio

Point: If you are not following what your state law for home schooling requires....you are in violation of the home schooling laws.

Here's more: http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Pennsylvania.pdf

Quote From: sneakers145

I know how much my children have learned.  I sat everyday after school for twenty five years helping my children, with homework, answering questions about "cliques" and first loves, helping them make choices about a plethora of topics.  I

 

I understand your point.  I really do.

 

My thinking is that if I spend all of that time AFTER school doing these things, then why send them to school in the first place?  School is just getting in the way of living life joyfully with my children.  Who cares more about what my kids are learning than I, as an involved parent, do?

 

The school isn't a system that can be changed overnight, or even in a year or two, by more dedicated, caring parents.  I'm not complaining about the people IN the system doing the best they can with what they have.  The system itself is flawed and light years away from how kids truly learn.  I care about my kids and their learning right now, rather than a system that cannot be fixed right now or in the forseeable future.