Home Schooling; Are the Public Schools Really That Bad?

Homeschooling Has Advantages; Critics Say Kids Will Lack Socialization

Homeschooling has its obvious advantages especially considering the problems in public schools and the lack of discipline. You see, Home schooling has its advantages as the modern day US classroom is more like a giant babysitting endeavor and it hardly teaches kids what they need to know at rate they are capable of absorbing it.

Recently this debate came up in an online think tank and one homeschooling brilliant parent stated; “I disagree that homeschooling leads to isolation and/or an unrealistic view of the world. A common misconception is that with homeschooling, the child(ren) is isolated and starved for social contacts with peers - this is untrue.”

Well if it is not done correctly it surely could be a problem in that regard, social interaction is part of understanding the reality of things. And for those parents who do field trips, involve their kids in team sports and other activities then these problems can be over come quite easily and actually become an increased benefit as the schools lack the funds for many meaningful field trips.

Many parents if they have the time may opt for the homeschooling advantage while other parents who are the product of the public school system may assume that it was good enough for them, so it is good enough for their kids too. I hope you will consider both sides of this issue and think it through before you make you decision. Check it out, you might like what you find out. Consider all this in 2006.

Public School Baby Sitting or Home Schooling

The behavior of our children in the public school system in United States of America is getting out of hand. Many parents have decided to take their kids out of school and do home schooling. In fact many groups have formed home schooling associations, which charge modest fees and also have consultants, advisers and veteran home schoolers who help the parents and assist the group in doing it correctly and educating the children efficiently. Many people believe that we have a falling down in our school system and this is probably why the United States government passed; The No Child Left Behind Act.

Some people feel that the “No Child Left Behind Act” should be called the no child allowed to advance act, because if they are teaching towards the middle of the average of all the students and different children learn at different speeds at different times in their development then they are always teaching at a slow speed all the time even when their child may be wanting to and capable of learning at a faster speed. Therefore the child is not getting the benefit of their ability to learn at that speed of their brain development.

When looking at the public school system and considering the home schooling option more and more homes chooling is looking like the way to go. And there must be a reason why more parents are deciding to go for it into home schooling. Consider home schooling and think on this in 2006.

We are a home school family. The whole socialization issue, is just a huge myth.

My oldest daughter is in her third year of college and knows people from all around the world, there. She has won the first and second chemistry award and (all glory to God) she has held a 4.0 average in biochemistry. The head of the chemistry department spoke with me about home schooling. He spoke of my daughter's social skills--he thought, we must have been very active with others because she is so well adjusted and sociable with others.(Most of our time was just the four of us and God.) My daughter has not even had any problems with other students in college. She has not come home even once, ripping anyone apart--she speaks well of others and helps others, when they ask. She has kind things to say about her professors all of the time and has gotten to know office people as well. She is being courted by a nice young man who attends college with her--a Christian, who respects her, us, and our rules.

Debra...
of
www.InformingChristians.com

Yes this is what I believe to be true. It seems that the teacher's unions are after the home schoolers and trying to put fear into the choice factor that parents go thru. I even read how the teachers unions had their lobbyists call their Senators to have the FTC go after "Hooked on Phonics" who had a huge market to home schoolers. We need to have competition in education, vouchers and honesty in the politics of it all. If the public schools cannot get it done, then we have every right to home school. Congratulations on your successes. Very impressive indeed.

Debra J M Smith wrote:

We are a home school family. The whole socialization issue, is just a huge myth.
My oldest daughter is in her third year of college and knows people from all around the world, there. She has won the first and second chemistry award and (all glory to God) she has held a 4.0 average in biochemistry.
The head of the chemistry department spoke with me about home schooling. He spoke of my daughter's social skills--he thought, we must have been very active with others because she is so well adjusted and sociable with others.(Most of our time was just the four of us and God.) My daughter has not even had any problems with other students in college. She has not come home even once, ripping anyone apart--she speaks well of others and helps others, when they ask. She has kind things to say about her professors all of the time and has gotten to know office people as well. She is being courted by a nice young man who attends college with her--a Christian, who respects her, us, and our rules.
Debra...
of
www.InformingChristians.com

Truth well spoken;
also, Legion was very fortunate;
Jesus sewed his head back on.
some are born out of due season.
for, we also need 'street smart'; if you will.
...fight the good fight...

The public schools should have no say in home schooling, yet, often they do. Here in New York, the state puts the public schools over home school families. It is an atrocity, to say the least. It is like having a maid, letting the maid go, and then having to answer to that maid for how you clean your own home.

Thank you both, Chris and Lance. God is great. Amen..

Debra...

Debra, do you mind if I use this comment in an up-coming eBook I am writing on this subject? I think your testimonial might help folks make decisions.

Debra J M Smith wrote:

We are a home school family. The whole socialization issue, is just a huge myth.
My oldest daughter is in her third year of college and knows people from all around the world, there. She has won the first and second chemistry award and (all glory to God) she has held a 4.0 average in biochemistry. The head of the chemistry department spoke with me about home schooling. He spoke of my daughter's social skills--he thought, we must have been very active with others because she is so well adjusted and sociable with others.(Most of our time was just the four of us and God.) My daughter has not even had any problems with other students in college. She has not come home even once, ripping anyone apart--she speaks well of others and helps others, when they ask. She has kind things to say about her professors all of the time and has gotten to know office people as well. She is being courted by a nice young man who attends college with her--a Christian, who respects her, us, and our rules.
Debra...
of
www.InformingChristians.com

Lance Winslow wrote:

Debra, do you mind if I use this comment in an up-coming eBook I am writing on this subject? I think your testimonial might help folks make decisions.
<quoted text>

It is a hope of mine to further home school freedoms in America and to help others to know that home schooling works.(God lets us know in His Word, that when we turn to Him, He will supply all of our needs.) I would be blessed, if you use it. And I would love to read your book; please let me know when it is finished. My email address for my site can be found here: http://www.debrajmsmith.com/contact.html

Thank you,
Debra...
:)

I will thank you. I agree with Home Schooling very much.

Aorry, but it more than a myth. In my 17 years as a college faculty member, I've had a number of home-schooled students in my classes. Academically, they were a mixed bag; some were well-prepared for college, while others weren't. However, each and every one of them had social deficiencies; many have not been prepared to deal with the diversity of the college classroom (and the "real world"), some didn't really know how to work with others, and some didn't understand that they are not the only student in the classroom that mattered.

Debra J M Smith wrote:

We are a home school family. The whole socialization issue, is just a huge myth.
My oldest daughter is in her third year of college and knows people from all around the world, there. She has won the first and second chemistry award and (all glory to God) she has held a 4.0 average in biochemistry. The head of the chemistry department spoke with me about home schooling. He spoke of my daughter's social skills--he thought, we must have been very active with others because she is so well adjusted and sociable with others.(Most of our time was just the four of us and God.) My daughter has not even had any problems with other students in college. She has not come home even once, ripping anyone apart--she speaks well of others and helps others, when they ask. She has kind things to say about her professors all of the time and has gotten to know office people as well. She is being courted by a nice young man who attends college with her--a Christian, who respects her, us, and our rules.
Debra...
of
www.InformingChristians.com

Lance Winslow wrote:

I will thank you. I agree with Home Schooling very much.

Not again, I was hoping we wouldn't agree on anything else.

The idea that being stuck in a room with 32 kids your same age is the only way to socialize your children is ludicrous. When would that happen again in real life? As long as your kids are fully involved in the community events including sports, 4H, Scouts etc. they will do fine. Working with non-profits to see the difference between the truly needy and those just looking for a handout is also a good life lesson.

My kids are were home schooled and one is finishing College on a full scholastic scholarship (UC system) and the other while not on a scholarship has never received a grade below an A- despite never spending a day in public school until JR. College. My second chose JC to facilitate a career of choice oriented job which he will give up after 2 years to go on to the UC system. As CA citizens the UC system offers the best education for the money or in the case of my firstborn the school of choice had programs ranked in the top ten in the country for the major of choice.

Our choice was not one of farsightedness but one begun out of desperation given the sorry state of the local public schools and the fact that the classes leaned towards a doctrine of "memorise this you will need it someday" that I completely abhor. Our children were taught by setting up the idea or situation that created a need to learn, we then taught the skills that would fill the need or solve the problem along with enough regular curriculum for them to be able to mesh gears with college later on. We supplemented the curriculum continuously with real world examples of the lessons taught. Instead of buying new cars every couple of years we drove our old junk and hired a good music/math tutor that came to the house twice a week, 5 hours a day for 3 years and taught our kids piano, guitar, voice and math. The idea we set up from scratch with the tutor was for the kids to pick a song, he would play it and write the music down while they watched and then they would learn how to play it.

The idea is to teach kids how to think and solve problems. Memory is fine but all you end up with is a population of kids who have all memorised the same thing and are still woondering what for.

Call the admission's office of any GOOD college and ask them how they feel about home school students. Fact is, that any person who is anti-family, could post what the person above just posted to me. It is not hard to lie online. I have seen it happen time and time again. I would be shocked if that person has even stepped foot in a college.

Lance Winslow wrote:

Homeschooling Has Advantages; Critics Say Kids Will Lack Socialization
Homeschooling has its obvious advantages especially considering the problems in public schools and the lack of discipline. You see, Home schooling has its advantages as the modern day US classroom is more like a giant babysitting endeavor and it hardly teaches kids what they need to know at rate they are capable of absorbing it.
Recently this debate came up in an online think tank and one homeschooling brilliant parent stated; “I disagree that homeschooling leads to isolation and/or an unrealistic view of the world. A common misconception is that with homeschooling, the child(ren) is isolated and starved for social contacts with peers - this is untrue.”
Well if it is not done correctly it surely could be a problem in that regard, social interaction is part of understanding the reality of things. And for those parents who do field trips, involve their kids in team sports and other activities then these problems can be over come quite easily and actually become an increased benefit as the schools lack the funds for many meaningful field trips.
Many parents if they have the time may opt for the homeschooling advantage while other parents who are the product of the public school system may assume that it was good enough for them, so it is good enough for their kids too. I hope you will consider both sides of this issue and think it through before you make you decision. Check it out, you might like what you find out. Consider all this in 2006.
Public School Baby Sitting or Home Schooling
The behavior of our children in the public school system in United States of America is getting out of hand. Many parents have decided to take their kids out of school and do home schooling. In fact many groups have formed home schooling associations, which charge modest fees and also have consultants, advisers and veteran home schoolers who help the parents and assist the group in doing it correctly and educating the children efficiently. Many people believe that we have a falling down in our school system and this is probably why the United States government passed; The No Child Left Behind Act.
Some people feel that the “No Child Left Behind Act” should be called the no child allowed to advance act, because if they are teaching towards the middle of the average of all the students and different children learn at different speeds at different times in their development then they are always teaching at a slow speed all the time even when their child may be wanting to and capable of learning at a faster speed. Therefore the child is not getting the benefit of their ability to learn at that speed of their brain development.
When looking at the public school system and considering the home schooling option more and more homes chooling is looking like the way to go. And there must be a reason why more parents are deciding to go for it into home schooling. Consider home schooling and think on this in 2006.

Dear Lance , you seem to be an expert at everything. Now home schooling. I know several people who home school their children and they are not qualified to teach and I believe their children will suffer set backs if they try to go to college. Why don't you do the car and the garden hose experiment as part of your home schooling.

Debra J M Smith wrote:

Call the admission's office of any GOOD college and ask them how they feel about home school students. Fact is, that any person who is anti-family, could post what the person above just posted to me. It is not hard to lie online. I have seen it happen time and time again. I would be shocked if that person has even stepped foot in a college.

Let's not forget the money lost if more go to home schooling. That is the bottom line and that is why "educators" hate even thinking about home schooling spreading. Colleges need American children enrolling and paying big bucks. Illegal aliens are going to college for a lot less than American citizens do.

james wrote:

<quoted text>
Dear Lance , you seem to be an expert at everything. Now home schooling. I know several people who home school their children and they are not qualified to teach and I believe their children will suffer set backs if they try to go to college. Why don't you do the car and the garden hose experiment as part of your home schooling.

If I lived in the right school district I would not have bothered to home school. I would however definitely supplement my childs education using the same means as we did home schooling no matter how good the district is. The concept that you pay your taxes and it is up to the District to teach your kids and it is their fault alone if it doesn't work is just sticking your head in the sand.

If you live in an underperforming district and you truly apply yourself to the task, you can succesfully home school your children. Both of my children are doing better in school than I ever did.

MRS wrote:

<quoted text>Let's not forget the money lost if more go to home schooling. That is the bottom line and that is why "educators" hate even thinking about home schooling spreading. Colleges need American children enrolling and paying big bucks. Illegal aliens are going to college for a lot less than American citizens do.

How are illegal aliens going to college for less than our kids? Please explain.

I would suggest that if our public schools do not like home schooling that they get with it and provide a superior product. I did not home school my kids because I wanted to. I home schooled in self defense. My kids are average smart kids, neither is a genius. Our local school District has not turned out a student that has received the honors my child has for over 30 years.

True. It is easy to lie on line. So perhaps we should all question how well your daughter is doing in college. How do we know that you aren't lying? Get ready to be shocked: I have two graduate degrees, have been a full-time college professor for 17 years and an adjunct for 6 years before that. Believe me or not, that doesn't change the facts.

LOL...I have no doubt that ALL college admission offices welcome home-schooled students. It is their job to recruit students; more students means more money for the college.

Try talking to most college instructors. They'll tell you what they see in the classroom. Those colleagues with whom I've discussed home-schooling share my opinion; while some home-schooled students are strong academically, most are socially deficient. Doesn't mean I dislike home-schooled students; some of them have been my favorites. I do, however, question the wisdom of seeing home-schooling as "the" answer to our nation's educational needs.

And what about my comments made you call me "anti-family"? There was nothing "anti-family" in my remarks. A wee bit paranoid, aren't we?

Debra J M Smith wrote:

Call the admission's office of any GOOD college and ask them how they feel about home school students. Fact is, that any person who is anti-family, could post what the person above just posted to me. It is not hard to lie online. I have seen it happen time and time again. I would be shocked if that person has even stepped foot in a college.

Home schooling doesn't affect funding for public education. Everyone -- whether they have children in public schools or not -- pays taxes which support those public schools. I have no children (never wanted them), but I don't begrudge my tax money going to education,. We all benefit from having a good public education system.

I ahte the thought of home schooling spreading because I doubt most parents have the time, the ability, or the knowledge to do a good job of teaching their children.

And by the way, your reference to colleges is completely irrelevant; one cannot "home school" on the college level. And where did you come up with the same idea that illegal aliens pay less for college than anyone else? Everyone at the same college pays the same tuition and fees, and government grants and loans are only given to those who can prove their citizenship.

MRS wrote:

<quoted text>Let's not forget the money lost if more go to home schooling. That is the bottom line and that is why "educators" hate even thinking about home schooling spreading. Colleges need American children enrolling and paying big bucks. Illegal aliens are going to college for a lot less than American citizens do.

This is an interesting insight. How long ago was this? Because it seems that Home Schoolers are more organized today than ever before. The reason I say this is as I travel around the country and talk to folks it seems they are sharing and have huge groups online too to assist. Some of the Charter Schools are getting better too as I see. I think education in America might just be the edge we need to stay on top. I enjoyed public school, class president, varsity sports, clubs on campus, but I also felt that it was underwhelming in many regards. Not good enough, more babysitting.

So I ask what would you do to make things better? Should home schooled kids perhaps have a pre-re-entry course prior to coming into College? Well, because I do a lot of public speaking at colleges and one business college; University of Pheonix that I commonly speak at for MBA students and such, has a course that everyone takes to re-train them in how to best excel in the college, how to study and get the most out of it. What are your thoughts on that?

Would you say that there is a mixed bag still with home schooled young adults entering college? They are worlds apart and of course not all home schooled kids would turn out totally equally I suppose. Have things changed since then? What to your former professor friends say? What would you change? We must upgrade our educational system, because the future is here and we need abled technicians and professionals to make all this high-tech stuff work and run the place?

THEAprof wrote:

Aorry, but it more than a myth. In my 17 years as a college faculty member, I've had a number of home-schooled students in my classes. Academically, they were a mixed bag; some were well-prepared for college, while others weren't. However, each and every one of them had social deficiencies; many have not been prepared to deal with the diversity of the college classroom (and the "real world"), some didn't really know how to work with others, and some didn't understand that they are not the only student in the classroom that mattered.
<quoted text>

That’s okay Ridge, I am an independent thinker, not a joiner, just an observer and often a participant, so we will agree on much I am sure, politics aside and perhaps religion too?

Your comments to me are interesting because I agree with your socialization comments and think between AYSO, Boy Scouts Explorers, youth groups and other activities that the socialization issues can be solved and I met a gentleman while traveling in Boise, from a Scottsdale Corp, who builds indoor soccer buildings and he said that during the day they are empty and we discussed homeschooler in the region getting together for socialization purposes. They now offer this with coaches, games and high tech machines to score, pass and help kids learn. It seems that given the right push these things can be very affective and a good use of facilities. The socialization is an issue, but it is solvable and must be a part of growing up of course.

Tutoring, mentoring, coaches all make sense indeed, also with a large network of home schoolers there will be people in the group to help too. I can remember volunteering to go to high schools and be a “Teacher for the Day” with out Kiwanis and Optimists clubs and the Chamber of Commerce did the same thing. What I saw alarmed me, it seemed things had gotten worse not better since I had myself been in school, which allowed me to understand the problems as an employer finding quality, competent workforce.

Ridge wrote:

<quoted text>
Not again, I was hoping we wouldn't agree on anything else.
Instead of buying new cars every couple of years we drove our old junk and hired a good music/math tutor that came to the house twice a week, 5 hours a day for 3 years and taught our kids piano, guitar, voice and math. The idea is to teach kids how to think and solve problems. Memory is fine but all you end up with is a population of kids who have all memorized the same thing and are still wondering what for.

Debra J M Smith wrote:

Call the admission's office of any GOOD college and ask them how they feel about home school students. Fact is, that any person who is anti-family, could post what the person above just posted to me. It is not hard to lie online. I have seen it happen time and time again. I would be shocked if that person has even stepped foot in a college.

What a great idea for my book. I should call around and see what they say. Very smart idea. Yes, that would truly be brilliant indeed. Survey the admissions folks. Good one.