How well does home schooling work?

[woody92]

What are you views on home schooling? Do you think that people that are home schooled come out with the same level of education, as say, someone who went through the public system? And through a Private school?

I think that it is better if you go through a public system, but it’s even better if you through a private one. I think that home schooling is a good idea in theory, but practically I don’t think it is a good idea. This is because when you go through a private system, you have a recognised certificate, and in home schooling there isn’t always a recognised certificate, if there is a certificate. No offence to ANYONE who is home schooled!! I also have friends who are home schooled and they are happy with it!

[Sage]

Homeschooling would be better if most people doing it weren't just religious fundies protecting their children from different ideas.

[CaptainObvious]

Homeschooling retards social skills, I don't think it's a good idea generally. Being in an actual school is a useful thing.

[Rutherford The Brave]

Its all a matter of how seriously you take it. If you sit there and don't do anything, you aren't going to learn much no matter where you go to school.

[Aηdy]

Well, three of my cousins were homeschooled untill they were 14/15. When they started school there were at least a year above everyone else. One of them is now at Oxford university.

So I think it can really work well, it doesn't help with social stuff much but if you can still be outgoing then it's not so bad.

[Rainstorm]

Homeschooling retards social skills, I don't think it's a good idea generally. Being in an actual school is a useful thing.

Disagree with this.

Just because one is homeschooled doesn't mean that they are retarded in social situations. You may not be around kids all day in public/private schools, but that can actually help. One less distraction to deal with.

Plus, the kids still find a way to be social.

[Mzor203]

I am personally homeschooled, and have been homeschooled for over 10 years of my life thus far.

Homeschooling is what you make out of it, very literally. It can be a good thing, it can be a bad thing, depending on how you go about it. If done right, however, it can give a much, much better educational experience than a public or even private school can.

Why?

To put it shortly, and bluntly, there is no crap involved. If you're in a public school, literally half of the class, from my experience, is the teacher trying to get all the kids who want nothing more than to be out of school under control, and get a class into a state which people can actually work in. After that, half the kids are sitting there blabbing and chatting, creating an environment that is distracting and honestly not very nice to work in. Aside from that, the teacher gets stressed, and even great teachers are going to get worn out.

As a home schooler, I can get up and get my work done before noon, because there's none of this extra crap going on to slow that process. Then, the awesome part is I can occupy the rest of my time with something that is worthwhile and productive - in my case, programming, often as part of a gig which gives me money. I've been shaping my career for the last two years even while I've been homeschooling. And I still have time for all the other stuff that needs to happen.

There are a few shortfallings... some colleges won't recognize you, but even in the last 10 years, waaaaay more colleges are accepting homeschoolers, to the point where today, the vast majority of colleges and universities have and will accept homeschooled students. Plus, a homeschooler can easily get their G.E.D (At the beginning of 10th grade I was already consistently getting ~90% on the G.E.D practice tests I was taking because we focused on that,) and if all else fails, you can take a year of community college and then transfer up into a higher level of post-secondary education.

Many people seem to dislike the idea of homeschooling because it evidently 'retards social skills.' For the most part, this is completely untrue. It will only slow social skill growth if you sit around at home all day doing nothing out of the house. When I lived in California, though, I went to a center 3 times a week where many homeschoolers convened for a few hours, and I made tons of friends there. We did all the normal things kids did. Aside from that, many homeschoolers participate in clubs, sports, anything you could think of really.

Some o you think of me as anti-social, but that's not the way to describe me. I've simply had the bad luck of moving to a community where the majority of kids seems to be doing drugs, or excessive drinking. No one else really seems to click on an intellectual level. Thus, I keep to myself. However, my social skills are perfectly fine. I have a job, I've started going to a gym, I take music lessons, play in an Orchestra....

To sum it all up, again, Homeschooling is what you make of it. If you see it as a bad thing, then it's simply that you don't have the tools or the skills to make it into something good. Have fun in public school.

[ShatteredWings]

Just because one is homeschooled doesn't mean that they are retarded in social situations ... Plus, the kids still find a way to be social.
Not when you don't have a chance to meet anyone..

I don't advocate homeschooling one bit.

Parents are not teachers. Unless you have a teaching degree, you should not be teaching.
Yes, I'm well aware of cyberschool That's what I was stuck in for FOUR years because I was brainwashed that "public schools are bad" by my old Christan school. Finally got out because I couldn't stand another year alone.

People need socail oppritunities. You absolutly need to be able to SPEAK with a teacher, and be taught lessons appropriately to learn.

Let's stunt our kids social growth and oppritunities to explore potential carrere oppritunities by keeping them at home 24/7...

Many people seem to dislike the idea of homeschooling because it evidently 'retards social skills.' For the most part, this is completely untrue. It will only slow social skill growth if you sit around at home all day doing nothing out of the house. When I lived in California, though, I went to a center 3 times a week where many homeschoolers convened for a few hours, and I made tons of friends there. We did all the normal things kids did. Aside from that, many homeschoolers participate in clubs, sports, anything you could think of really.
Most parents aren't going to let their kids do that.
Most areas don't have things to do.

You're the exception really. EVERY one i know who's been homeschooled, including myself, was basically pushed to sit around, do work, then for me most of my life was online otherwise.

Parents don't know how to school a kid. They didn't get the fucking degree. They don't know half the material anymore.

[Mzor203]

I'm not the exception, because in both communities I've lived in for a good time in my life, there have been many, many other homeschoolers that have been exactly like me. The only quirk is that up here in Canada, for some reason it seems that all the serious homeschoolers are Christian of a rather extreme variety.

But, ask me and I can list 5 names of homeschoolers who are ahead of the game by quite a bit if not an entire year off the top of my head.

The kind of homeschooling you got is not good. That should not be done, by any means. But if done right, it is going to put you faaar ahead of the game while you can still maintain a perfectly good social life.

[ShatteredWings]

Sure, I got ahead.
Rather, back on grade level...because my old school made it so you weren't fully on the rest of the world's grade-level until 8th (it was a k-8 school)

Also, that's not a Canada quirk. Almost all homeschooled people are extraordinarily religious. Or their parents are. Why? Because "Public schools are going to corrupt their morals"

[Mzor203]

;732629']Sure, I got ahead.
Rather, back on grade level...because my old school made it so you weren't fully on the rest of the world's grade-level until 8th (it was a k-8 school)

Also, that's not a canaida quirk. Almost all homeschooled people are extrodinarly religious. Or their parents are. Why? Beacuse "Public schools are going to corrupt their morals"

Maybe it was just a California quirk then that there were very few religious people. Or rather, fewer religious people who happened to be Christian and uptight.

=P

Who knows, the fact remains that if you know what you're doing, it's perfectly fine and even far beyond the experience that public schooling can offer.

[ShatteredWings]

'Cause you can get classes homeschooling that count for collge credit (other than AP)
Even then, it's a bitch

Standardized testing as well. In PA it's mandatory, but you have to get it yourself. That sucks. Trying to find somewhere that's doing testing for a group of home schooled students at the same time is not exactly easy.

And public schools don't take homeschooling as easily. I transfered in as a freshman. If I had waited a year, I'd still have to transfer in as a freshman, despite being 15 and coming out of "gifted/talented" (despite I am clearly not... Another reason why brick&mortar schools are a better idea.).

You still haven't tried to retort that most parents, and almost all that try to homeschool, don't know the material and frankly can't teach their kids.

Maybe it's just me, but there's something weird about two people who've both been homeschooled arguing opposite sides of the issue

[Mzor203]

;732655']

Maybe it's just me, but there's something weird about two people who've both been homeschooled arguing opposite sides of the issue

I don't. it's simply because one was homeschooled the right way, and one was homeschooled the wrong way.

My mom doesn't teach me any more. That stopped at about 6 or 7th grade. It's all on me now. We consult with each other, sure, but I'm pretty much in charge of making sure the learning gets done, so it has no impact on me whether or not my mom knows the material. I just teach myself, and it works.

[ShatteredWings]

You teach yourself..

I don't see that as a good idea. YOu don't know it either, obviously. Yes, I understand the idea of 'learn at your own pace', but you are the EXCEPTION for being motivated
You put your average teen in that, and they'll goof off, and not do anything.

[woody92]

;732685']You teach yourself..
You put your average teen in that, and they'll goof off, and not do anything.

I have to agree with this, but it is possible if you want it enough. IMO.

[Jenna.]

I was homeschooled for one grade..fifth grade. I think it is a good thing as long as the parent is a good teacher. My mom taught me a lot of stuff that I learned again in sixth grade if that makes sense. So we were ahead of the game, so to speak. But my friend was homeschooled for elementary and middle school as were her 7 other siblings, and she was always falling behind and having to finish her schoolwork well into the summer. So I guess it just depends on how dedicated you and your parents are.

[The Batman]

Homeschooling works just as well as public school because it depends on the dedication of both the student and the teacher. The only way you can't get any social skills from being home schooled is if you stay in the house before and after you're done with the lessons and never leave to go anywhere.

[Quick_Sylver]

I'm cyberschooled, in a little town with not many kids who are decent, so to speak. My teachers and my class log in at the same time and we use a program called elives, which has video, mic etc. It's the dedication of the student. Coming through November I stopped doing my work and just surfed the internet. My grades failed and I was failing grade 8. I've gotten my ass in gear and am going to pass grade 8 now due to the fact that I actually spent hours working. Yes, I'm a social outcast but that's my choice. I'm comfortable being by myself most of the time, but my mom will take me to things. The reason I'm homeschooled is that my old school, a Catholic school, I was bullied to the extent that I was leaving and not coming back because of too many assholes who had nothing better to do, I also am homeschooled because I looked into the schools I would be going to instead and found out that drugs, alcohol, and sex are the main means of entertainment. So I went for the third choice. Everyone's unique and it depends on the person in my opinion.

[Antares]

Homeschooling retards social skills even if they went to a "center for homeschooled kids".
If you are homeschooled, you don't experience the valuable social crap that a person experiences in a normal school. The 'life lessons' that you learn from being surrounded by authority as well as being surrounded by drama filled kids can't really be replicated sitting in a house with your mother for half the day.

These skills and 'steps backward' makes our society who we are I think and in my personal opinion it is better to be in a normal school (although I have never been homeschooled).

[2D]

As a person who was homeschooled form 4th-6th half of 7th, and 8th. It doesn't retard your social skills one bit.

At least it didn't for me. If anything, it helped.

I'm in college at 16 because I wasn't being challenged at the private school I went to, I probably have a better relationship with my parents than most people because we had to solve conflicts instead of yell at each other, it helped me grow up faster, and I could do a full day of school work in 3-4 hours instead of wasting time at school for 7 hours a day.

[Mzor203]

Homeschooling retards social skills even if they went to a "center for homeschooled kids".
If you are homeschooled, you don't experience the valuable social crap that a person experiences in a normal school. The 'life lessons' that you learn from being surrounded by authority as well as being surrounded by drama filled kids can't really be replicated sitting in a house with your mother for half the day.

These skills and 'steps backward' makes our society who we are I think and in my personal opinion it is better to be in a normal school (although I have never been homeschooled).

These life lessons can be learned at many other places than school. Sports, etc, you`ll see the same exact things as you do in public school.

Hell, I`ve seen worse things dealing with people at work than I have at public school. Working is something that actually DOES give me life skills, listening to a bunch of kids whine about how much they don`t want to be there does not.

[Jess]

I voted 'Good'

[Marcie]

I've certainly come out with the same level of education, if not more, than some people I know from public schools, and I'm home-schooled.

[Evermore]

I would say ok.

[scuba steve]

i think that home schooling would just be ok. sure you'd have 1 on 1 tutoring and you wouldn't really have any interupptions from your studies, but i think you are missing out on 6hours of important social development especially at a young age.

[Aspiringanonymous]

This thread is more than two months old. There is already a recent, active discussion on the topic, please refer to this instead - http://www.virtualteen.org/forums/showthread.php?t=69012

Thank you!

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