Home schoolers...

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Normally, I would never reply to a thread such as this, but it seems that the vast majority of responses are either misguided, or flat out incorrect. The perception that home schooling can keep pace with public, or private, formal education is absurd. As a teacher with 26 years in public schools, I possess 3 undergraduate degrees, 2 additional endorsements and a Masters degree in classical literature with a cognate in American Literature.

I am a single specialist which addresses the concerns, curriculum and education for high school juniors and seniors in the discipline of English. There are 5 or 6 other teachers (depending on the scheduling format) addressing the other areas of curriculum. To think that a single parent can possess the specialized knowledge that myself and my colleagues possess at our level is laughable. Social development occurs inside the schools, but should be the focus of parents as well.

The vilification of teachers at a national level is one which has steadily increased over recent years, and it must stop.

Rant over.
 
inkjunkie said:
Would you kindly educate me on how,that is SUPPOSED to work please?
Have a neighbor that home schools their kids. Never see them leave the property, never see any visitors. How are these kids going to learn any social skills? Kids will often try to strike up a conversation with me...99% of the time it is when very busy.....most days one of them is outside herding their goats around the yard while Dad is barking out orders. Will often see them running up and down the driveway...this is often after I hear Dad screaming about something, so I don't know if this running is supposed to be some sort of gym class or a simple punishment of sorts.
Would really like to understand how home schooling is supposed to be done...simply because I am curious.
I often wonder what these kids are missing out on...not because of the home schooling but because of how it appears to be handled. There is girl, believe she is about 13 or so, the ten year old boy and then a cousin, believe the little girl is 8 or so. Have my suspicions on how where these kids are heading but...
So please do educate me...
Thanks in advance for helping me learn sumtin knew...
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I'm from Nebraska and the way it is suppose to work is, first you register your home school and then each year you report on the curriculum you will be using for the year. (There are many to pick from.) We homeschooled my son till high school. We kept all his books and tests in case they ever wanted to check on his progress. He belonged to a large homeschool choir in Lincoln, Cub Scouts and later Boy Scouts and clubs at church for socialization. He use to read the funnies out of the Sunday paper to me before he started kindergarten! I was his Math teacher from about 4th grade to the eight grade and my wife handled all the rest. She was a stay at home mom and a great teacher! In order to homeschool correctly it takes parents that are dedicated and patient. It is not an easy way out, just the opposite. Very time consuming if done the way we did it. It was our choice to do it because of all the liberal agenda items they push at public school. (Just our opinion) I have no idea how other states do it. Remember Abraham Lincoln was homeschooled.
 
plum70crazy said:
Normally, I would never reply to a thread such as this, but it seems that the vast majority of responses are either misguided, or flat out incorrect. The perception that home schooling can keep pace with public, or private, formal education is absurd. As a teacher with 26 years in public schools, I possess 3 undergraduate degrees, 2 additional endorsements and a Masters degree in classical literature with a cognate in American Literature.

I am a single specialist which addresses the concerns, curriculum and education for high school juniors and seniors in the discipline of English. There are 5 or 6 other teachers (depending on the scheduling format) addressing the other areas of curriculum. To think that a single parent can possess the specialized knowledge that myself and my colleagues possess at our level is laughable. Social development occurs inside the schools, but should be the focus of parents as well.

The vilification of teachers at a national level is one which has steadily increased over recent years, and it must stop.

Rant over.
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Not vilifying anyone, especially teachers, but you can easily out perform the public school system in most places. How much time do you spend in meetings and administration? Can you discipline? Can you expel students for bad behavior? What curriculum and "facts" do you have to teach? Are children exposed to drugs, sex, and peer pressure before they are ready? How are you performing against the rest of the world? Is it hard yes, but you can ridicule and vilify home schoolers all you want. If the public schools were doing such a great, untouchable job why are people leaving the system?
 
fratzog lover said:
If schools were not govt. indoctrination centers, like say 1850, people would not have to home school. Do you want your first grader to study transsexualism? Neither do we.
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im with you, ive been seeing the BS homework my nephew (9) has been bringing home, its a complete farce, especially common core crap. Highly considering home schooling my kids as even the private schools now are strong armed into teaching the same crap in order to retain their accreditation and licensing.
 
Teachers want more and more money and the kids get dumber and dumber....kinda seems like a pattern.

Who wouldn't home school these days with gay bathrooms and now in Colorado they are allowing cannabis in the school to medicate kids who shouldn't even be there in the first place. We live in a society where you are not allowed to question anyone's eligibility because everyone is "special". Oh, and lets not forget our "special" Spanish only speaking kids. God forbid we don't make illegal kids comfortable.

So now your kids are learning how to use a gay potty and watch other kids smoking pot, not exactly the curriculum I had in mind.

There are curriculums out there that a parent can use as a tool, such as Alpha Omega and maybe some others instill good Christian values. I know some college graduates who went through Alpha Omega and they are well rounded good Christian Kids.

I have wondered why kids get summer off too. Why are our kids on the streets screwing off all summer when kids in China are building your next smart phone. Then to add salt, the teachers get paid for summer break for doing nothing, Talk about a bunch of Democrats...work half a year and produce an inferior product but get paid for a whole year.
 
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Anyone can open an institution of learning for one thing or another. Dare I say Trump. Not trying to turn this into a political discussion. Just an example.
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
Teachers want more and more money and the kids get dumber and dumber....kinda seems like a pattern.

Who wouldn't home school these days with gay bathrooms and now in Colorado they are allowing cannabis in the school to medicate kids who shouldn't even be there in the first place. We live in a society where you are not allowed to question anyone's eligibility because everyone is "special". Oh, and lets not forget our "special" Spanish only speaking kids. God forbid we don't make illegal kids comfortable.

So now your kids are learning how to use a gay potty and watch other kids smoking pot, not exactly the curriculum I had in mind.

There are curriculums out there that a parent can use as a tool, such as Alpha Omega and maybe some others instill good Christian values. I know some college graduates who went through Alpha Omega and they are well rounded good Christian Kids.

I have wondered why kids get summer off too. Why are our kids on the streets screwing off all summer when kids in China are building your next smart phone. Then to add salt, the teachers get paid for summer break for doing nothing, Talk about a bunch of Democrats...work half a year and produce an inferior product but get paid for a whole year.
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Some of us had to bale hay and work cattle and hogs during the summer....
 
Some of these responses are rather interesting, but I do have a few responses of my own. First, to say that teachers are paid through the summer is ABSOLUTELY incorrect, and uninformed. We select to be paid either 21 pays (through the school year) or 26 pays (through the summer). If we select the pay through the summer, our paycheck is proportionately less during the school year. We are salaried workers, most of us with education beyond masters degrees. Comparably, in other positions - say lawyers, the private business sector, or equitably educated, we actually earn less money. Teaching is still a calling, one does not go through the education and work the hours necessary to do the job appropriately for the pay that we get. The radical ends of the political spectrum have equally damaged education in America. The ultra conservative has stuck its fingers in common core and tolerance (or lack thereof), and the ultra liberal has damaged the behavior of the student/ parent/ teacher discourse.

Secondly, when considering the income of teachers, in the state of Michigan, teachers have lost thousands annually due to corrupt government agendas, an illegal 3% garnishing of wages for "retirement" and health care investment, (A ruling which has been overturned in appeals and may be heading for the Supreme Court) and the restrictions placed upon us by private sector interests.

Finally, I find it interesting that no one has addressed the fact that individual parents may be able to address a specific discipline or two in regards to curriculum, but there is no way that individual parents can address all curriculum at the high school level. Sorry, parents simply do no have the time or curricular knowledge.

Respectfully, this is the issue in America. Just because individuals have attended school, they do not have the knowledge or expertise to be a teacher. I have been to the doctor, but I will never claim that I have the knowledge to be your surgeon. That is just plain naive.
 
fratzog lover said:
Think of teachers in the 1850's. Were they inferior to todays teachers? Back then they didnt push kids out for good numbers, they passed or they didnt. I hope you took the 26 week plan! I know I would have to.

How many "Common Core" Administrators today could even pass this:

Most adults would likely fail this 1912 8th grade test—try it
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Of course I take the 26 week pay schedule. In today's economy, it would be difficult to save the wages necessary to make it through 1/4 of the year. I have seen the test before and would like to note the difference between administrators and teachers. Two very separate things. LOL
 
Dartswinger70 said:
I know someone who tried it, it didn't work because the "child" wouldn't commit to doing the work. The parent couldn't force them either so what do you do? The child is a teenager now and back in school, but I don't think its working out. The social skills part anyway.
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Yep my wife let her oldest convince her she needed to be home schooled when she was in her second year of high school after the kid flunked out in her freshman year. My wife relented and did this, much to my disagreement thinking one on one instruction would be better. The girl is my step daughter, so all i could do was advise and let my wife decide.

I knew it was a bad idea but would give it 1 year. Well my wife couldent get this kid to do the work. We even used an online computer based home school that cost my credit card every month. Finally my wife agreed she had to go back to a brick n mortar school because i was pulling the plug on the online learning. Time was up.

Well now she has not enough credits to just take a normal course load in her senior year this year to graduate with her class for 2017. She has makeup classes for freshman, sophomore , and junior year to do. I told her i guess you dont get any fun filler classes this coming year, you will have to make up all this extra work if you intend to graduate with your class. Needless to say, now she has to jump through her *** to get it done. I hope she enjoyed playing johnny fuckaround for a year LOL, because shes gonna be paying for it now.

We wont be trying this experiment with our other kids.
 
I
krazykuda said:
What if the parents aren't qualified to teach??? The kids can't be smarter than the person teaching them... If the parents are idiots, then the kids will be also....
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I Prefer to say "what if your best just isnt good enough"
 
As a teacher of Special Ed and regular ed in the Elementary to Middle school level, I have to say that Homeschooling while young K-6 is generally the best time to do that. Once you reach the specialized levels of middle and High School you should really consider professional educators. If you don't like public schools, pay the money for private. I know my limits as a teacher. Many parents may not be aware of how difficult it is to teach something you haven't a clue about.
 
So the very graduates you produce are not qualified to teach the knowledge you presumably bestowed upon them to their own kids?
 
plum70crazy said:
Normally, I would never reply to a thread such as this, but it seems that the vast majority of responses are either misguided, or flat out incorrect. The perception that home schooling can keep pace with public, or private, formal education is absurd. As a teacher with 26 years in public schools, I possess 3 undergraduate degrees, 2 additional endorsements and a Masters degree in classical literature with a cognate in American Literature.

I am a single specialist which addresses the concerns, curriculum and education for high school juniors and seniors in the discipline of English. There are 5 or 6 other teachers (depending on the scheduling format) addressing the other areas of curriculum. To think that a single parent can possess the specialized knowledge that myself and my colleagues possess at our level is laughable. Social development occurs inside the schools, but should be the focus of parents as well.

The vilification of teachers at a national level is one which has steadily increased over recent years, and it must stop.

Rant over.
Click to expand...
I`m like Rush, they are called scrools for a reason. a lot of things taught are nothing but garbage. ( don`t bother to address this, you ain`t gonna change my mind ! )
 
ILLDuster74 said:
As a teacher of Special Ed and regular ed in the Elementary to Middle school level, I have to say that Homeschooling while young K-6 is generally the best time to do that. Once you reach the specialized levels of middle and High School you should really consider professional educators. If you don't like public schools, pay the money for private. I know my limits as a teacher. Many parents may not be aware of how difficult it is to teach something you haven't a clue about.
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I have to agree to that in general. yes there are parents that have the education and kids that have the ability to home school hs years.
one ingredient is so needed in general: the instilling in that child a work ethic and good morals, whether based on the Bible or other.
my daughter is 36 went to college gor a sb in physical therpy then went back and got her education degree, that is what she wanted to do. getting her masters now. she loves her job, overpaid?? I think not. she worked her way thru the first time, I hope she has NO friigin debt with the second or she is workin for barely nothin! IMO
 
plum70crazy said:
... The ultra conservative has stuck its fingers in common core and tolerance (or lack thereof), and the ultra liberal has damaged the behavior of the student/ parent/ teacher discourse...
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Common core is yet another Liberal nail in your coffin. Along with "equalization", "Zero Tolerance"(Zero Brains), No God, No Country, Rewriting History, ensuring a kill free zone, ensuring a drug rich zone, pushing the latest Liberal agenda, and funding Liberal Democrats.
 
plum70crazy said:
... Finally, I find it interesting that no one has addressed the fact that individual parents may be able to address a specific discipline or two in regards to curriculum, but there is no way that individual parents can address all curriculum at the high school level. Sorry, parents simply do no have the time or curricular knowledge...
Click to expand...

Actually Parents have more time and some are more qualified and have a better motivation for success. They are not bound by your curriculum and can easily surpass it. The problem is with the marginal child, who will just be passed along without any useful knowledge or discipline. He or she then finds himself or herself in the real world without the tools to have a good life.
 
plum70crazy said:
Some of these responses are rather interesting, but I do have a few responses of my own. First, to say that teachers are paid through the summer is ABSOLUTELY incorrect, and uninformed. We select to be paid either 21 pays (through the school year) or 26 pays (through the summer). If we select the pay through the summer, our paycheck is proportionately less during the school year. We are salaried workers, most of us with education beyond masters degrees. Comparably, in other positions - say lawyers, the private business sector, or equitably educated, we actually earn less money. Teaching is still a calling, one does not go through the education and work the hours necessary to do the job appropriately for the pay that we get. The radical ends of the political spectrum have equally damaged education in America. The ultra conservative has stuck its fingers in common core and tolerance (or lack thereof), and the ultra liberal has damaged the behavior of the student/ parent/ teacher discourse.

Secondly, when considering the income of teachers, in the state of Michigan, teachers have lost thousands annually due to corrupt government agendas, an illegal 3% garnishing of wages for "retirement" and health care investment, (A ruling which has been overturned in appeals and may be heading for the Supreme Court) and the restrictions placed upon us by private sector interests.

Finally, I find it interesting that no one has addressed the fact that individual parents may be able to address a specific discipline or two in regards to curriculum, but there is no way that individual parents can address all curriculum at the high school level. Sorry, parents simply do no have the time or curricular knowledge.

Respectfully, this is the issue in America. Just because individuals have attended school, they do not have the knowledge or expertise to be a teacher. I have been to the doctor, but I will never claim that I have the knowledge to be your surgeon. That is just plain naive.
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So, in other words, you're elitist. Got it. So, do your degrees also make you think you're more qualified to make parental decisions than the parents? Should the future of the children be decided by committee?

Care to explain, why, on the whole, home schooled children do better on standardized tests, such as the SAT's?

Assembly line education is a joke, as seen by the results of the education system. We're far behind our peers when it comes the STEM degrees needed to compete in the market place and that starts in grade schools.

What you're failing to look at are other factors in the beliefs of the childrens' parents or treatment from schools.

My sister for instance, pulled my nephew and niece out of the local public school to home school them. She didn't walk into it blind and she had to submit to the state everything she needed to be qualified. She had to submit the curriculum and submit the test results. Those results, by the way, being higher than the average for the school she pulled them out of.

She pulled the out because my nephew was being harrassed by a couple of bullies. They'd beat the hell out of my nephew and his teacher would discipline him.

After some digging the teacher was close friends with the bullies' family. The school administrators did nothing about this when confronted with the facts. Instead, they blamed my sister.

After that she was done.

They are heavily involved in the local Boy Scout and Brownie troop as well as dance and tumbling classes for my niece.
 
ILLDuster74 said:
As a teacher of Special Ed and regular ed in the Elementary to Middle school level, I have to say that Homeschooling while young K-6 is generally the best time to do that. Once you reach the specialized levels of middle and High School you should really consider professional educators. If you don't like public schools, pay the money for private. I know my limits as a teacher. Many parents may not be aware of how difficult it is to teach something you haven't a clue about.
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At least you know your limits. Seem some have no limits and beyond reproach.
 
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