Homeschooling children

[blueangel]

Does anyone here on the fence post homeschool their children? If you do I really would like to ask some critical questions about the how to's and such.

[matt_s]

I'm sure if there is anybody involved in homeschooling here they will be more than willing to help you out. KPC's Greater Fort Wayne Family magazine has covered the Homeschooling topic quite a bit. I'm sure if you dig around on their part of the site www.fwdailynews.com/family or search our archives you will find what they have produced.

Also, I believe there is some sort of organization/association in DeKalb Co. that consists of Home School parents/teachers. I don't know what county you live in, but if there isn't one in your county this organization would probably be a good resource. Sorry, I don't have any contact info, just a vague recollection from a story last year on home school students receiving their diplomas.

[james_t]

Ingrid Lochamire has written on homeschooling a number of times for Family magazine and the News-Sun - she's a mother of four who homeschools. You can contact her at ingridl@localnet.com

Here's an article she wrote titled "Are you considering home education?"

http://www.fwdailynews.com/articles/...t/family02.txt

[blueangel]

Thank you both for the wonderful information. Any further information or contact information would be great. I will follow up with any and all links and ideas provided.

[evilkumquat]

Man, I always thought homeschooling was a very bad idea.

Homeschooling focuses a child on education but at the expense of peer interaction.

I mean, I would rather my son and daughter bring home B's and have friends and the ability to interact with people than have a 4.0 college average and spending their lives at home for fear of going out in public.

I know that is possibly horribly prejudicial of the whole home-schooling experience, but I know firsthand how bad it can be for adults who spent too much time as children focusing on grades and less on people skills.

Remember: in this country, the very, very stupid can often achieve much, much power (although it helps having rich parents to bail you out time and time again).

[james_t]

Most of the people I have known who have homeschooled their kids - and there have been quite a number of them - have done so because they thought the topics taught in schools were at odds with their personal beliefs. I've seen some kids who seemed to benefit from it (one family I knew the mom had a master's in education, which I'm sure helped) and some that didn't seem to do as well. I think a lot of how successful it is depends on the parents - not unlike those of us who have our kids in public school.

[happygolucky]

Remember: in this country, the very, very stupid can often achieve much, much power (although it helps having rich parents to bail you out time and time again).

LMAO!!! are you referring to William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton or Geroge W Bush????? LOL

[happygolucky]

When I was growing up I was friends with a few homeschooled kids. They were happy because they were done at 1pm most days. They were not happy because they had limited friends, in middle school and high school they missed out on sports, dances, clubs etc.

They told me after we were older they would have rather been sent to public school.

The kids in homeschool will only be as good or smart as the parents teaching them also. They will have no other friends or classmates to challenge them, there is no comradery*spelling* either.

Yes there are pluse sides to this, you may need to think long and hard about this. List the pros and cons, it has always helped me in a big decision.

[blueangel]

Man, I always thought homeschooling was a very bad idea.

Homeschooling focuses a child on education but at the expense of peer interaction.

I mean, I would rather my son and daughter bring home B's and have friends and the ability to interact with people than have a 4.0 college average and spending their lives at home for fear of going out in public.

I know that is possibly horribly prejudicial of the whole home-schooling experience, but I know firsthand how bad it can be for adults who spent too much time as children focusing on grades and less on people skills.

Remember: in this country, the very, very stupid can often achieve much, much power (although it helps having rich parents to bail you out time and time again).

Well evilkumquat I do agree with you in some ways that the peer interaction is a good thing for kids.....however at what cost?
This is where my decission to homeschool has come about after many many hours of hard thought and watching what has been happening for several years with my kids.
Let me put it to you this way, (we are talking over a 5 year period) the school district that I am referring to and I am not going to name any names here so please don't even ask.......... has continued allowed my children to be bullied by their peers and refuses to do anything about it....then after weeks and months of my child reporting the abuse and even me reporting it my kid looses it and takes matters into his own hands and then he is the one that is reprimanded....how fair is that?
The teachers abuse my kids (and others in the classes) in the form of withholding recess and other things because the child asks questions about things that they don't understand.
My oldest asked to be moved to the front of the room near the blackboard because he said that he was having problems seeing the work being done there and was told to go even further back in the room because he could learn the subject matter on his own until he learned to see again.....now mind you the school has on record the medical records of this same child that he is going blind and his sight is NOT repairable.
OH yeah and then let's mention the fact that due to the school district withholding critical reports from the parents until it was to late (and we do have doctors who have attested to this and are prepared to go to court with us) that this is the reason that he is going blind in the first place.
OK then should we mention the fact that even tho one child is in the 2nd grade he can't read but is going to be passed to the 3rd grade and the other child who is in the 4th grade only reads at a 1st grade level (proven by testing) but yet he will be passed on to the 5th grade.
I am sorry if you disagree with my decision but I feel that even I can give my kids a better, safer and more enjoyable education that what they are getting where they are.
Don't get me wrong peer interaction is a good thing and I fully intend to make sure that they do continue to get plenty of peer interaction through other means. There are other ways to do this such as clubs, groups, sports and visiting friends and such.

[evilkumquat]

I agree that much public school education is in the toilet.

I do not mind saying that I went to Angola, and I think I can count on one hand all the teachers that really impressed me (looking back with adult hindsight as opposed to which ones I thought were "cool" at the time). The best ones simply knew how to teach, meaning they could convey their material in such a manner that it stuck in the students' heads.

The absolute best teacher in the entire MSD school system was Dave Olson who taught High School Social Studies. I cannot remember him ever really assigning homework, and the majority of his teaching style was pure lecture, but when he told me stuff, it stuck in my brain like a water stain. His tests often consisted of essays and despite never studying for them, I consistently scored high passing grades. Heck, almost twenty years later, I can still tell you that mercantilism is extremely important to the creation of the United States and one of its core tenets is the need for colonies both as a source of raw materials and as a market for surplus goods produced by the mother country. I know there was more to it than that, but just the fact that I can remember this much should say something for his teaching. I defy any of you who took calculus to be able to remember what the devil that stupid "E" symbol means.

As to the worst teachers in Angola, let us just say that my understanding of basic science and biology is so poor that I still think magic and evil spirits run most technological devices.

As far as discipline goes, you definitely have a point there, though sadly, bullying exists everywhere, both inside school and out. I do not advocate it, and I certainly do not want my children to have to experience it, but in many ways, bullying in our schools is almost a form of social Darwinism; I think most successful self-made people in this world were probably bullied as children, and it was through their strength of character that they not only rose above such abuse, many used it as a catalyst to improve their lives.

Granted, many others used the bullying as an almost-understandable excuse to go on violent rampages, but it probably best not to dwell on that.

I think I can tell to which school system you are referring, since people have been complaining about that place in one public forum or another for the last several years, and having dated several girls from that particular area, I would not be surprised by anything that I hear going on there. Hopefully, that Board will finally get its collective heads out of its collective ******* and make some GOOD decisions before they lose even more students to home schooling or transfers to other districts whose tuitions parents will be more than happy to pay.

[TheBigB]

As to the worst teachers in Angola, let us just say that my understanding of basic science and biology is so poor that I still think magic and evil spirits run most technological devices.

And yet, I'll bet you can find people that will name those teachers as the best they had while at Angola. The teacher-student interaction can be a very individualistic thing.

If push came to shove, I can name two teachers that for me stood out above all others, but in one case most students would probably say that this was their worst teacher, and in the other case there probably were quite a few lukewarm people on him as well. But then again, these guys taught some of the more difficult classes there were, and I was definitely a geek that needed to be challenged, so there you go.

[blueangel]

Well I don't mind saying that I also went to Angola and graduated from there also.
I do agree that there were teachers who to this day I thought was good at what they did....yes there are still some that impressed me so much that I can still remember the things that they taught and I got you beat in that I have been out of school now for almost 25 years.....wow how time flies....lol

As for the bullying thing I do agree that it is everywhere and yes to some point it actually may be good in that it does help a person develop some good skills later in life and teaches them how to cope with the jerks of the world.....In what I stated before however...I am talking about bullying that leads to even worse things such as bruises and other things. I just feel that it has gone over and beyond the any point of being a good thing. I feel that it has become more of a saftey issue.
When it got to the point that the children come home crying every single day and one has even said that he would rather harm himself rather that put up with another day like that it has gotten to a point that something has to be done.
I agree hopefully these school districts will get their heads out of the crevises that they are in and see what they are allowing to happen. But then again why should they I personally don't think that they give a .........

[james_t]

I defy any of you who took calculus to be able to remember what the devil that stupid "E" symbol means.

It's a Greek letter, sigma. As I recall it meant summation. I made it to Calc III at college (lo these many moons ago), but that class plus discrete mathematics convinced me to drop math to a minor. The main thing I remember from Calc is that the function of 1/x as you approach zero is infinity, and a little bit of the proof. You can imagine how often I use that as an editor.

I had the driest prof for Calc II you could ever imagine, and I had him at 8:30 in the morning - and this was after working most of the night at the sports desk of the local paper and then trying to get my classwork done, plus working on the campus paper. He said I did great for someone who slept through the entire semester.

[james_t]

When it got to the point that the children come home crying every single day and one has even said that he would rather harm himself rather that put up with another day like that it has gotten to a point that something has to be done.

Yeah, if my kids were in that sort of situation we'd definitely be looking at some sort of change. Most parents would.

[hairypumper]

"Social advancement" has been going on for a long time. These are often very smart kids who have learned to play the system. They know they will not be held back, so why do the work or cooperate with the teachers or other kids? Getting sent to the office is just another way of getting out of a boring class. These kids don't realize they are closing a lot of doors to their future, and too often noone can figure out how to impress upon them the self destructive nature of their actions.

[ebbieday]

"Social advancement" has been going on for a long time. These are often very smart kids who have learned to play the system. They know they will not be held back, so why do the work or cooperate with the teachers or other kids? Getting sent to the office is just another way of getting out of a boring class. These kids don't realize they are closing a lot of doors to their future, and too often noone can figure out how to impress upon them the self destructive nature of their actions.

BINGO!! You hit the nail on the head with this. I am dealing with this very issue as we speak. One of my sons should have been held back last year, but the school didn't see how that would help him. I asked, "How is it helping him to give him something he did not earn??" So they 'placed' him to the next grade. I could have fought it and held him back myself, but I seriously think that if a student is the least bit of a challenge, they don't want to be bothered. And every teacher tells me this kid is one of the most brilliant students they have in class. His writing papers are 'deep' (WHEN he does them), he gives answers most in his class wouldn't think of. The problem is exactly what you stated...he knows how to play the system and is a master at it. Next year is high school and I told him there's no playing games then...you either do the work or you don't graduate on time...it's that simple! There has to be a better way to deal with these kids because I know I am not near the only one and it seems to be a big problem with boys. I would love to know what the connection is.

[matt_s]

Are any of the criteria that the state or other entities (maybe even for grants or other funding sources) use to grade schools and school systems tied to a percentage of students who advance each year? There could be a structural disincentive in place that may or may not be of the schools making.

[evilkumquat]

Are any of the criteria that the state or other entities (maybe even for grants or other funding sources) use to grade schools and school systems tied to a percentage of students who advance each year? There could be a structural disincentive in place that may or may not be of the schools making.

I think it is both a combination of such criteria and an overall failure in the entire educational system to attract a better pool of teachers from the colleges through incentives like better pay and smaller classes.

But who wants higher property taxes, etc. to pay for all those hypothetical Mr. Bergstroms*?
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*WARNING: Simpsons reference

[matt_s]

I think it is both a combination of such criteria and an overall failure in the entire educational system to attract a better pool of teachers from the colleges through incentives like better pay and smaller classes.

I'm not sure that's a decision that I would necessarily hang on the teachers. To me, that is a policy decision that is made at an administrative level, if in fact decisions of this type are being made to enhance a score or a stat. Teachers are being asked to teach to a test, effectively capping classroom development at the level of the test. The education system is now focusing on results at the cost of the product.

I fully agree that teachers as a whole are woefully underpaid.

[ebbieday]

I fully agree that teachers as a whole are woefully underpaid.

But do you agree that they should get raises based on merit, much like the rest of us in our jobs? If I did my job like some teachers do, I'd be canned in a heartbeat.