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Its a fair point. I think many people think in booleans and if they just change one thing all will be different. As a parent you have massive influence but you are correct. Some things, many things are out of your control. In the end you have influence but not control.
I was not homeschooled but I'm a free thinker. One can easily homeschool a kid and give them the same endocrination they get in government schools. One can also send your kids to public school and augment their education. Counter the propaganda.
I think what you do matters. Kids are not blank slates but they aren't beyond influencing. Also, not all public schools are the same. And not all homeschooled families are the sane either.
I know many well socialized homeschooled kids. I know kids that aren't and went to public school. The key to me is being involved and purposefully acting. I'm no fan of the government schools but my sons were home schooled and attended a public charter school.
The worst thing parents could do would be to just make a decision based on political opinion and culture. I know some amazing government school teachers but I am aware of more that are not. Whatever people do they should be involved. Not passive.
You nailed it, as usual
Thanks this is my exact stance. Everything has tradeoffs. I’m not trying to champion state schools but trying to bring reason to the homeschooling discussion.
For those who can homeschool and do it well kudos to you.
But the families who send their children to public schools and they turn out to be great people and contribute to society in a positive way kudos to them.
Yes, I do that!
We’re attempting a I’m a Young Zoologist project helmed by the Science Centre, Singapore!
I actually feel that homeschooling shields children from the harsher realities of societal life. I want my son to socialise, maybe learn how to handle himself in cases of meanness or bullying. I can’t always keep him with me forever, right?
It's interesting to me that people assume homeschooled kids never leave their homes or interact with other humans.
Ouch!
No lar.
I am just comparing homeschooled kids with public school kids. The latter surely spend more time interacting with their peers compared to the former, right? Of course, homeschooled kids can have support networks in which they socialise with other kids doing homeschooling but that might not happen on a regular basis.
Okay, though public school interactions might not be the best form of socialisation for the development of a well-rounded individual. Depends on the socioeconomic status and attitudes of the students going to a particular school.
Okay, though public school interactions might not be the best form of socialisation for the development of a well-rounded individual.
This is an important point. School is super fake. There's no other time in life when you're rigidly segregated by age and only have people with as little experience as yourself to learn from.
It's common for homeschoolers to make sure their kids interact with younger kids, older kids, and a variety of adults. Some schools make a point of this too, like Montessori.
Public schools in USA especially California are worse much worse than Singapore
Because they are weird religious fanatics
I used to assume that 25 years ago
Public schools are beyond terrible today, borderline criminal
I think bullying us rare outside of school. Kids bully because they're bored and want to find something more exciting.
I think if you can, try to let the kids handle problems amongst themselves. I jump in when it gets violent but try to stay out of it when it's just arguing.
Home schooling isn't about locking your kids away from the outside world. For me its more about following your interests, learning at your own speed and having fun.
As long as there are other mixed aged home schoolers that the kids can play with a lot of the stigma about socialization goes away.
You make strong arguments and I relate to them personally. For instance, my first grader is developing a passion for dinosaurs — a topic that is not covered in our national curriculum. If I were to be shortsighted and deny him the pleasure of going down this rabbit hole, he wouldn’t have the chance to develop a sense of intrinsic motivation
Public school students in Baltimore are not socialized
And they are can’t read or write or arithmetic
When it comes to parenting issues, people often become very dogmatic and judgmental. I think it stems from a deep seated need to feel that you are making the right choice, and the presence of people making different choices threatens that belief. The truth is, the best choice is different for different people.
On homeschooling specifically, I think it's something I would encourage people to consider. There are many benefits. But I don't think it's for everyone. Parents who do not enjoy doing it, or who have a tendency to be lazy and disorganized about things may not find it a better choice than public school.
My read of the available evidence is that people dramatically overrate the impact of parenting and education choices.
Our focus is on optimizing the experience of childhood. For now that’s going to the neighborhood school with the kids we already know.
I know a couple, husband and wife are both teachers at Crossroads in Santa Monica. Their 2 sons attend charter schools (I forget the name). I asked the husband about their experience with charter schools and he felt guilty for sending his sons to a charter school because the public school in his district receives less money. And I'm thinking to myself why do you care if a public school your kids do not attend receive less money.
Clearly his wife is calling the shots about where to send their kids and she has no guilt whatsoever. Nor should she because she hasn't committed a crime or sin.
The people who should feel guilty are the public school administrators who have created a poor quality educational product. If the public schools were good, parents wouldn't feel the need to opt for charter or other options
I suspect you have the causality backwards on those associations. Unusual people do unusual things and make unusual children.
Those parents homeschooled because they weren't normal. Their kids are weird because they inherited weirdness from their weird parents.
The bottom line is that government schools are often the only place a person will face physical violence throughout their life and they're complete failures as learning environments.
Only place? That’s not true. Violence can happen in the home at church at the playground.
Violence comes with being human. It’s not avoidable as much as we try to subdue it in this modern society.
And complete failure is a stretch. We have so much recency bias when it comes to schooling. Before the state took over education the literacy rate was terrible especially amongst the poor.
Read what I said more carefully. Violence can happen anywhere, but many people's only experience with it is at government school and almost everyone experiences violence at government school, whether or not they also experience it elsewhere.
That would be an unacceptable tradeoff for most parents if someone were pitching government school to parents from a starting point of not having it. We're used to the abject failures of the state, so most people are numb to them, but it doesn't have to be this way.
But kids fight even before school. Kid on kid violence happens all the time especially amongst siblings.
It happens in public schools private schools I am sure during homeschool social gatherings as well.
Saying violence happened at a government school is due to the government seems to just blame the government for natural human behavior.
So I am failing to see your point in saying that most people only experience violence at government schools.
Does homeschooling stop kids from randomly facing violence in their life?
How much time have you spent in a government school environment?
It's not normal. It's extremely artificial and unaccountable.
Does homeschooling stop kids from randomly facing violence in their life?
Homeschooling radically reduces the likelihood of facing daily violence, which is not an uncommon experience for children in government schools. How could it not?
This would be like saying you're just as likely to face violence on house arrest as you are in prison, just because it's possible in both situations.
Daily violence? Unless you went to a terrible school most kids ain’t getting beat up every day at school. Plus violence at school is more an issue with American parents and the lack of decent morals and values
But even with that kids are running on 100% emotion. You can only do so much to stop violence
We agree about the last point, but daily violence doesn't mean you get beaten up everyday. It means there's a sufficient risk of it that you're scared everyday. That's not as uncommon as you probably think and it should be unacceptable, and I bet it would be considered unacceptable if that were the case at private schools (which it isn't).
violence at school is more an issue with American parents and the lack of decent morals and values
Isn't that a reason for American parents to homeschool, then? Or, move out of the country, I guess? It's not like I get to change the morals and values of all my neighbors.
Yeah absolutely. But dealing with the threat of violence definitely has an impact on development.
I reckon it’s because homeschooling — like Bitcoin — indicates a desire of the individual to take charge of his own destiny. That’s why the strong feelings in approval of it.
I think you mentioned a golden rule of parenting. We may invest our heart and soul but ultimately our children don’t belong to us, so their success or failure can only be partially attributed to our efforts. They are their own person.
Do you have kids, Sir?
Ultimately our children don’t belong to us… but they certainly don’t belong to the government or state
I think home schools are illegal in Western Europe
I’m sorry. I feel that you are being a bit cynical.
If I consciously expose my child to foreign cultures and varied perspectives, he won’t be a product of the government even if he is publicly schooled
Anyway, I cannot imagine spending 24/7 with my children. I will go mad from the lack of outside stimulus haha
And you are being naive
Singapore has a functional public school system
USA does not especially in urban areas
Ah!
I can’t comment on things that I don’t know much about.
What keeps you going in this flawed system then?
I appreciate your commentary as long as they are relevant
Calling me a cynic is not an argument
Also you seem to approve of western Europe making home schools illegal because the child belongs to the state and not the parent
I’m sorry if my words rubbed you the wrong way. I will do better next time
no worries, I probably overreacted...
What keeps you going in this flawed system then? I don't have a good answer to this question
Crazy how Bitcoiners are so obsessed with homeschooling. In my experience some of the most socially awkward people were homeschooled.
One guy I met who was home schooled has an open marriage with his wife. Apparently homeschooling school didn’t stop him form moving away from conservative values.
People just need to come to terms with this ; some of the children will make and others won’t and that’s just how life goes.
Hate to break it to you but your child is not that special.