Homeschooling

[topdog98]

My concern is with the "alternative" education parents like Westerner are describing.

I believe Westerner is not a parent, but a young woman who was homeschooled and recently received her college degree at TESC. I don't think you should be concerned. It seems like her parents did a good job with her education.

[Leebo]

I believe Westerner is not a parent, but a young women who was homeschooled and recently received her college degree at TESC. It seems like her parents did a good job with her education.

Ah, thank you for the correction.

Though given her position on science, I would have to question that aspect of her education at least. And I'm not saying that to be condescending or as a personal attack. Even in public education, many people come away at the end without a proper understanding of evolution. It's not an individual's fault for being misled.

But there's no whitewashing it. Evolution is the foundation and lynchpin of biology. Denying it is like denying the heliocentric solar system in astronomy, or thinking the earth is flat in geology. It's that established and integral.

[sanantone]

There's no double standard. I'm simply pointing out that public schooling in and of itself is not the "holy grail" of education. You seem to come from a perspective of public schooling is the only acceptable schooling option and all other methods are inferior. I am simply pointing out that while public schooling may be a good option for some students, homeschooling is for others. Homeschooling just happens to have the key to successful education built right into it - parental involvement. I'm not sure why you need such convincing when according to your sig much of your post high school education has been self propelled. Are you any less educated because you didn't sit in front of a teacher in a brick and mortar building for all of your degrees?

I didn't say or imply those things at all. I think you need to reread my posts to understand my point. I was only countering the notion that homeschooling is superior in all cases. Your and TopDog's posts are more about implying that one method is superior over another. You keep saying that one option might be better for some while the other option is better for others, but then you go back to criticizing public schools and putting homeschooling on a pedestal.

[Devanna]

A recent study suggests that homeschooled students are actually more politically tolerant than publicly schooled children. A Brief Review of Does Homeschooling or Private Schooling Promote Political Intolerance? Evidence from a Christian University by Albert Cheng | NHERI News | Research

Quotes from the article: "...none of those persons proactively oppositional to homeschooling or promoting significant state control over homeschooling offer any empirically based evidence that home education is bad for the children, families, neighborhoods, or the collective good."

"...this study adds new insight into the political tolerance outcomes of homeschooled children—a topic that, to the best of my knowledge, has not been empirically investigated until now. Specifically, … those [college students] with more exposure to homeschooling relative to public schooling tend to be more politically tolerant.”

If I remember correctly they did their research at Biola, homeschoolers who go there would be more likely to be open-minded in the first place than say the ones that go to Patrick Henry or Bob Jones. I'm hoping they eventually expand the scope of their research to other schools because in my mind this is too narrow to make any definite conclusions about the political tolerance of homeschoolers.

[Westerner]

I believe Westerner is not a parent, but a young woman who was homeschooled and recently received her college degree at TESC. I don't think you should be concerned. It seems like her parents did a good job with her education.

That's correct. And thank you

Ah, thank you for the correction.

Though given her position on science, I would have to question that aspect of her education at least. And I'm not saying that to be condescending or as a personal attack. Even in public education, many people come away at the end without a proper understanding of evolution. It's not an individual's fault for being misled.

But there's no whitewashing it. Evolution is the foundation and lynchpin of biology. Denying it is like denying the heliocentric solar system in astronomy, or thinking the earth is flat in geology. It's that established and integral.

I have learned about both creation and evolution. Based on the evidence, I believe creation is the most logical option. If you believe different, that's fine. You think I was indoctrinated by being taught creation is the truth; I think all those public school kids are being led to believe the lie of evolution. We just may need to make another thread for this topic.

It's true that parental involvement is necessary for any successful student. But a huge problem is that most parents just expect the school to completely take care of their kids while they are at school. I see this all the time at the private school where I work and it's sad. I am glad for my parents caring enough to ensure that I got a proper education. So many parents expect the teacher to "do their thing" and don't follow up.

But, acedemics aside, one of the main problems my parents and others have with the public or private school systems is just the bad influences teachers and other students are.

I don't think it's unreasonable to have concerns when people are stating that indoctrination and "protection" from knowing about homosexuality are stated objectives.

I don't think it's unreasonable to have concerns when public schooled kids are offered condoms and abortions without their parents' knowledge, and have to deal with members of the opposite gender using their bathrooms. In homeschool you don't have to worry about teachers having sex with students or mentally instable kids walking in and killing people.

[sanantone]

I don't think it's unreasonable to have concerns when public schooled kids are offered condoms and abortions without their parents' knowledge, and have to deal with members of the opposite gender using their bathrooms.

Like I said, I graduated in this century and didn't experience any of this stuff. I think you've been told a lot of exaggerations and half-truths about how public schools operate. My state has abstinence-only education; I know some states might do comprehensive sex education. Abstinence-only education has only been shown to delay when teens have sex for a short period of time. My state along with the rest of the South and part of the Southwest have the highest teen pregnancy rates. I never came across a male using the girl's bathroom. Now, my university is creating gender neutral bathrooms. They aren't going to replace the men's and women's restrooms, so there is no need for anyone to freak out. I have never heard of a school district carrying out abortions. Maybe I just haven't been keeping up with it in the news.

In homeschool you don't have to worry about teachers having sex with students or mentally instable kids walking in and killing people.

But, you still have to worry about clergymen having sex with children. People aren't only shot in schools. They have been shot in houses of worship, movie theaters, political gatherings, malls, and other public places.

I have learned about both creation and evolution. Based on the evidence, I believe creation is the most logical option. If you believe different, that's fine. You think I was indoctrinated by being taught creation is the truth; I think all those public school kids are being led to believe the lie of evolution. We just may need to make another thread for this topic.

Creationism is religion-specific and has no place in publicly-funded schools. It would be a violation of the Constitution.

[Leebo]

Yeah, teaching creation in school would be a serious no-go. But the thing is, evolution is just the fundamental consequence of having heredity and natural selection. No one denies that heredity and natural selection exist. Once you have those things, boom, evolution is happening. That's really all there is to it. Evolution, as a subject, does not touch on the origin of life, which in a naturalistic context would be abiogenesis. That's a different field. Evolution would work the same whether the origin was abiogenesis, God, magic pixies, or aliens seeding Earth.

Nothing wrong with providing condoms, and I really find it hard to believe that schools are performing abortions.

[sanantone]

Yeah, teaching creation in school would be a serious no-go. But the thing is, evolution is just the fundamental consequence of having heredity and natural selection. No one denies that heredity and natural selection exist. Once you have those things, boom, evolution is happening. That's really all there is to it. Evolution, as a subject, does not touch on the origin of life, which in a naturalistic context would be abiogenesis. That's a different field. Evolution would work the same whether the origin was abiogenesis, God, magic pixies, or aliens seeding Earth.

Nothing wrong with providing condoms, and I really find it hard to believe that schools are performing abortions.

Misinformed people think that the Big Bang Theory and evolution are one and the same. They are not. Humans have seen micro-evolution right before their eyes with cultivation practices and the domestication of the wolf, but they have less of a hard time believing in an omnipresent being they have never seen and apparently has no beginning and no end?

It is quite apparent from this thread that some people are being told ridiculous boogey man stories about public schools, and they're gullible enough to believe them. You're more likely to die in a car crash than be shot at a school. Are you going to stop driving? Most children are molested by family members and close family friends. Are you going to cut them off too? Are you going to spend the rest of your life afraid of the world because of this mythical boogeyman?

[Leebo]

Yeah, it's true that there is a lot of conflation between evolution, abiogenesis, and Big Bang cosmology. I try to stay away from the terms micro and macro evolution. There's only evolution and time.

[Hometeacher628]

I noticed there are a lot of people on this forum who either homeschool their kids, were homeschooled, or advocate homeschooling.

I was thinking about it and realized I don't think I've ever talked to someone who was homeschooled.

What reasons did you have for choosing it?

Since the whip lashing of this thread has been somewhat painful to read, I thought I'd get back to the OP for my comment. Although I knew people who intended to homeschool future children before they ever were married, I never gave it much thought for my life or future family. Many years later, after sending each of the children to school for one year, our experiences were nothing short of disastrous. I am so happy that Leebo and Sanantone received the stellar education that each child attending a school should receive. However, when children and parents are faced with educational issues affecting their child, it is so comforting to know there is the alternative of homeschooling.

When I allowed my very social second child to attend Kindergarten at the age of 5, even though my eldest was already being homeschooled, she was tested by the school and I was given the choice to move her to 1st or 2nd grade. She was reading Little House on the Prarie series, doing 2 digit addition and subtraction, and was just a joy to be around. I looked at the size of the children in 2nd grade, and wondered how she would fare on theplayground at recess. I agreed to the 1st grade move, with the teacher with 25 years experience and a Master's degree. Later, I learned several disturbing things. No less than 5 boys were 8 years old. Yes, I learned what "redshirting" looked like for athletics as young as the 1st grade.

My daughters curriculum was "individualized". She got to work on her work on the computer, joining the groups for science, art, and specials. I asked the teacher at conferences if she didn't think math was important to write out on paper so the student could learn to line everything up in the formative years and not use a calculator. When I asked about reading, my daughter thought it was really neat she got to read to the class stuffed animal Coco Monkey in her