When I was working in restaurants, I refused to cook at home.
When I was in school, the teacher was always telling us to be quiet, because school wasn't a place to socialize.
Well I guess trusting yourself to educate your kids at multiple levels is the first thing. I think I could homeschool provided that I had the financial means to not be gainfully employed. I think I would only be able to do it till 3rd grade though. I would probably do it on weekends and holidays to supplement what they are learning from 3rd grade on. It takes guts and preparation and discipline though. Do I have that? Sometimes I wonder.
Wait up, nyceducator, not so fast.
The biggest problem with homeschooling is the lack of any dialogue between one adult to another. A parent who homeschools has no one who assesses the children's progress or teacher's work. [Please don't mention that the kids are tested every year...I will just roll my eyes at your naivete]
That lack of back and forth between adults is noted by the children and it makes it harder for them to work with others when they are adults. Not to mention that unless the parent is willing to put in the same amount of time we are to educating the child-and few are-all of the kids will be four to five years behind their classmates.
Finally, public school is a public space. In small, measured ways a public school can help a parent to move away from their worse excessses. Women, isolated from others, with a passle of kids have no safety valve. Eventually, they blow.
Northbrooklyn, you have a valid point when you say, "Women, isolated from others, with a passle of kids have no safety valve. Eventually, they blow." Here's my experience: My ex-wife homeschooled our two (not, thankfully, 10) sons. (This was before I became a public school teacher.) She was home alone with the kids all day, every day. One day she wasn't home anymore. She left--and I eventually put my sons in public school. Sometimes I look back on those years and wonder if her isolation contributed to the breakup of our marriage. Yeah, I'm sure that was one of the factors.
California Guy-I am so sorry. The end of a marriage is a sad time.
Wait up, northbrooklyn, not so fast.
The biggest problem with public schooling is the lack of any dialogue between one adult to another.
Without accountability, a public school has no one who assesses the children's progress or teacher's work. [Please don't mention that the kids are tested every year...I will just roll my eyes at your naivete]
That lack of back and forth between adults is noted by the children and it makes it harder for them to work with others when they are adults. Not to mention that unless the teacher is willing to put in the same amount of time parents are to making up for the lack of educating the child--and few are--20 to 50% of the kids will be four to five years behind their classmates.
As, in fact, statewide testing results show that they are. At least in Indiana.
Dear Dave Homeschooler Guy-20 to 50% of the homeschool kids are ahead of public school kids? Is that what you are saying? I see no evidence to support your claim-in Indiana or any place else.
An important point is that homeschool parents are not monitored by the state/city as they are giving the test. Public schools and their teachers are. Also, homeschool parents are sent the tests by the association they have signed up with and required to mail the finished tests back within a certain period of time-like, within a week. But public schools cannot open the tests until the morning of the test and have to have the tests at the testing center by the afternoon of the same day.
Homeschool parents are not required to attend any classes to 'add tools to their toolkit'. If they did they would all decide to become teachers so they could pay for all the classes they are required to attend.
In a public school, a teacher speaks w/ the parent, the administration, other teachers, those who are responsible for the education of the teacher, and frankly, the general public. I am regularly upbraided/encouraged/questioned by my neighbors about the education of the kids in my neighborhood. I am one of the lucky teachers who gets to teach where I live-in Brooklyn, no less-and the passion of those who pay my salary is wonderful.
Children very often have specific needs that have to be addressed. In a public school, those problems can be attended to; while homeschoolers have no one to go to or are they even aware that their child may have a problem.
One thing teacher in NYC rarely have to deal with is a child coming into the public school system who has been homeschooled...we got everything else, but generally, not that. We are in awe of the public school teachers who do deal with the delicate and difficult problems that children who have been homeschooled present.
That may be part of the reason for why the students in Indiana public schools score lower than the homeschool students. Some of the students may have been homeschooled and have only recently arrived in the public school classroom.
20 to 50% of the homeschool kids are ahead of public school kids?
No--20-50% of public school kids cannot meet public school grade-level standards. I know that 50% have to be below average, but not two or more years below grade level.
In a public school, a teacher speaks w/ the parent, the administration, other teachers, those who are responsible for the education of the teacher, and frankly, the general public.
There is no requirement for PS teachers anywhere to actually communicate or much less cooperate with parents. Moreover, there is no requirement to ensure that individual children are actually learning. If the parents don't follow up and the teachers are incompetent, what happens? Dropouts and illiterate adults.
You should try talking to college professors who have to provide remedial education in math and English to public school graduates. Try reading the recent ACT survey that showed how uneducated the "best" PS graduates are. Try reading the NAEP reports that show how worthless the average PS education is at all levels.
Yeah, I feel sorry for PS teachers who are spoon-fed all that propaganda by the NEA, and then turn around and act condescending to parents who actually know the objective measure of public school failures. The longer you stay in denial, the more uneducated kids you will graduate, and the more homeschoolers there will be.
O.K. Dave...I think you are talking out of your hat as they say back home in Nebraska.
I tried to pull up some numbers on the Indiana reading and math scores and was unsuccessful. So your job is to give me that information, i.e the website. Tried to get the numbers from the Chicago system and was unsuccessful so you have to give me that website, too. Even better would be some one in the DOE in Indiana State Ed. who I could talk to about this subject. And the supervisor of the homeschool program in Indiana would be really great, since s/he is probably very aware of your presence.
You know why I want this info?
Because I first thought you were a homeschool parent, but I don't think that anymore. I think you are one of those snake oil salesmen who have con a lot of people into believing they can do this on their own. And they can't. But it doesn't matter to you 'cause you got your dough. So, f**k the next generation. Your kids will be fine.
So, please, prove me wrong. Show me the data. Give the numbers and the contacts.
But don't, Dave, try to bulls**t me. I'm too old and too cranky for that. If you can't deliver on these pages have the smarts to put a sock in your pie hole.
Commenting by HaloScan
