posted
With children, experience really is the best teacher. Experience in that particular child. You can read the very best books, but you will likely get a kid that blows it out of the water. Because the author, the expert, does not have YOUR child, in YOUR circimstances. The job of a parent is to become an expert on the children they have.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Experience is not always the best teacher, but having had sex give you a bit more prespective than having watched others do it badly or well. It's just that you can't really know what it's like until you've done it.
Which sounds like a cop out, but it IS a paradigm shift. Everyone is Don Juan until they have an actual girl to practice on. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Irami, you're basing your judgement that experience is not a good teacher on your experience. Some of us may have different ones, neh?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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There are a lot of perspectives, and not all of them work in all situations, is all.
I don't ever plan on homeschooling, barring accidents. However, our next door neighbors are part of a huge local homeschooling group. They have some group classes every week and put on plays. They do labs and go on feild trips together. They seem fine, though their older daughter went to a regular high school, so I'm not sure how long they plan to continue it.
This is in direct contrast to my own observations of homeschoolers when I was a kid. It was a rural area and the homeschooled kids were isolated and weird.
I think it may just depend.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Boon
unregistered
posted
I've met some of those isolated, wierd homeschoolers...and I've met some real whackos in public schools (who weren't all students). I've also known happy, well adjusted kids in both groups. Just like in any large group of people, you'll find extremes.
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I've been homeschooled my entire life, from the very beginning to now (I'm a highschool senior). I will say from experience that it is entirely a situational thing. It worked out fantastic for me. I will be graduating highschool with my AA degree (via dual enrollment). I have a fantastic group of friends, and am actually viewed as the smart one. But I have known people who have been royally screwed up by homeschooling. So keep an open mind. I know you have a ways to go before it becomes a pressing issue, but don't get set into a specific mindset. If its not working out, don't press the issue, cuz it definately has the potential to blow up in your face. eh, I realize I'm not really speaking from experience. But yeah ... thats my two cents.
Posts: 2827 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I'm a little anti-homeschooling, but I'm a little anti-a-lot-of-things. With thought and care, like most everything else, it'll work out fine. If you actually go back and read my first post, you'll learn that I do not believe that, in elementary school, grades are more important than socializing. Homeschool is a procedure, my claim is about priorities, and I think that with the right priorities, almost any reasonable procedure will yield a fine young citizen.
Posts: 5600 | Registered: Jul 2001
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"Homeschool is a procedure, my claim is about priorities, and I think that with the right priorities, almost any reasonable procedure will yield a fine young citizen. "
We are in complete agreement. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
We've taken from here advice that the threat of not getting to go to public school if they don't get good grades is a bad idea. We've also decided, after talking to a close friend, to give them the choice whether to do the extra education or not but to let them know that the choce is always there. But here are few reasons why we think homeschooling (on top of formal schooling at least) would work better than just formal schooling. These of course wouldn't apply if they went to a top knotch school (I know one which is perfect but its not cheap):
1. If we want to go on early, longer holidays we can pull our kids out early. confident (as long as the teachers agree) that they'll be more than qualified for the next term.
2. It gives us a reason to keep learning and at least keep up with our kids intellects as they get older.
3. We'll be able to judge thir academic developments ourselves rather than only going on what their teachers say.
4. We'll be better able to relate to their teachers and so work better with them to help our kids get the best education possible.
5. At home they'll be able to do practice for things they'll only get one chance at at school.
6. If they do fail something at school, they can make up for it at home.
7. We can ake our kids to work and it will qualify as a school day.
8. Kids do most of their learning at home anyway. This would mean that a lot of thos things can be put on job applications, tertiary extance applications, etc.
9. We can provide more specifically useful educational resources whilst the schools can only normally afford to provide what's most useful to a general group of kids in a certain age group.
Posts: 75 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Why call it homeschooling? Just supply them with a lot of fun activities that include learning. I'm not sure how teachers will react to some of your plans. Don't schools nowadays have rules as to how many days kids can miss and so on? I'm not sure the teacher can apply rules to all the kids except yours, no matter how good you make it sound. They may not even have the authority to allow it.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Yeah, most schools frown on you taking your kids out and putting them back in, but it may be different in a private school, I don't know.
I've known parents who have sent the kids to school and then supplemented extensively at home. I think it can work out, but it doesn't leave a lot of time for the kids to, you know, just relax and hang out and have some free time. School days can be long and tiring... When my kids were in school they were often exhausted by the time they got home.
Posts: 239 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Or, you could wait until you actually have children, and decide what is best based on their individual needs. Not that planning isn't a good thing. Planning is great, and often somewhat helpful. But the best laid plans of mice and men...
Theaca - the rules on missed daysare indeed very, very strict. The local school district has a limit on unexcused absences (unexcused days punishable by either in school suspension or *snort* one to three day suspension). Excused absences include illness (if the illness is reported inwriting the day the student returns) and death of an immediate family member or grandparent. Shcool officials actually told one parent I know to say her child was ill so she could miss one day to go on a family trip. Refusal to lie put a blot on her daughter's record and she had to serve detention, despite never having any disciplinary problems or absences.
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Boon
unregistered
posted
I'm pro-homeschool...for our family. Homeschooling takes a huge amount of time, energy, thought and commitment. (and I thought just being a parent was tough!) Homeschooling is a wonderful option for us, but it's not for every family.
There are lots of reasons to homeschool, and lots of reasons to put your kids in public or private school. It's a personal decision that must take into account the parents, child, finances, time commitment, agenda, academics, and about 50 other things...
Good luck to you, and please, don't commit to a concrete decision now. You may change your mind later...or want to but not feel you can because you're already "locked in" to something.
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