Topic : 11/24 Great School Debate

However, if your son is socializing comfortably with 7 year olds wouldn't he have to spend time with them?  My 8 yo son has these same qualities and he attends PS- how can that be?  Maybe it isn't something specific to a schooling choice rather than a life choice. 

I think you missed her point. She is pointing out that, generally speaking, homeschooled children are able to relate to people regardless of their age. This is largely due to the fact they socialize with people of different ages vs only socializing with their same age peers.

To be honest, I have met/seen people and their children who homeschool...I wasn't impressed.  Wild kids, or  kids who just had a blank stare on their face while you try to have a conversation with them. 

Hmmm, my children display neither of these qualities. Yet we are a homeschooling family and have been four years. How could that be?

Values and morals are learned at home....math and writing are learned at school. 

Not necessarily. My 8yo son has never attended school but he does know math and writing. How do you explain this?

Also, I think one who has your education is qualified to teach.

There have been numerous studies which prove the education level of the teacher does not reflect upon the education level of the student.

I think, as many of us have at some point, you are placing too much emphasis on teaching and too little emphasis on learning. For a child to learn they are not required to sit in a certain room with a certain person. Do you feel as though you have learned anything past your school education? How on earth did you learn it unless you had a qualified teacher and a school room?

Wild kids, or  kids who just had a blank stare on their face while you try to have a conversation with them. 

Not the homeschooled kids I know.  All kids on occasion get silly and giddy and loud, mine included, but that doesn't make them 'wild.'

I've gotten more blank stares from the public schooled kids in my neighborhood who can't seem to grasp why an adult would want to engage them in conversation about stuff instead of correcting them or telling them the rules.  A lot of them can't look me in the eye, and seem uncomfortable with adult conversations.

I also think with endless money to participate in the things you mention would be nice for most, too. 

Endless money isn't necessary.  I personally made choices to be debt free, to downsize my life, so that what money I do have can go for enriching experiences for my kids, not house payments, car payments, and credit card payments.  I have a newer car (so we can tow the camper) but it was used, and I paid cash for most of it, financed the rest, and have made double payments on it to pay it off quickly.  Camper was paid for with cash (older, used).  My furniture was picked up at second-hand stores and yard sales (and all of it is solid wood, dovetailed drawers, etc, and was cheaper than the particle-board stuff at Wal-Mart).  We eat in, but aren't above eating out on occasion.  We do lots of free things, so we can take that trip to California when we want to.  There is money left for riding lessons and expensive sports camps.  It's all in your priorities.  I had the nice house with the resulting debt, and found it didn't do anything for me but cause stress.  So I eliminated it. :)

My hubby and I both work and can't afford all these things for our two kids with both incomes let alone the cost for homeschooling curriculum. 

Making it work requires a shift in priorities.  Downsizing to live on one income.  It's doable.  I know many families who do, and the dad isn't raking in the dough, either.  People of modest incomes (ie $40K or less).  It can be done.

I realize that the show did research and got statistics but how many real people did they talk to?   The statistics are just numbers representing a past gathering of information.  Often stats are skewed and bias.  That is the point I wanted to make after considering my own ranting about the show.

Is your area 80% Christians or 80% atheist or what?  I can only guess that it would be more difficult for you to find groups.  For us, we don't care what the religion is because most of the religions in our area are similar enough to our own.  That is an advantage, I agree.

<<<...little things that seem magic to me! LOL>>>  That is nothing compared to what you will experience together if you home school.  Every day brings a new challange for your child, or you, or both.  Learning together is fun but seeing your child "get it" for the first time is really amazing.  It never ends either.  I remember realizing that my son could read for the first time, I thought that it was the biggy - nope, there's so much more to come.  I realized that when I got the same proud feeling when he learned to use a ruler, a measuring cup and count change.  I now know that this is never-ending.  It's also pretty cool when you learn something you never knew too!  You don't forget the stuff like you did when you learned it in school.  I have learned that a lot of what happened during my school years was a lot of memorizing.  I try to help my son learn in a more hands-on fashion and avoid memorizing a lot .  Some learning has to be memorized but some learning comes from doing, from experiencing.  There is not enough time in public school for that, even though it happens in school, there is just much more time at homeschool.