Topic : 11/24 Great School Debate

"Go public?" No one stays a child forever. We all have to hit real life eventually. Where are all of these homeschool failures? If they make up sucha  proprtion of the hoemschooled population, there must be millions. Yet we rarely hear of one.

And, no, they don't all go to Stanford. But most or many go to college, and Stanford is merely one of the more notable universities that prefers homeschooled students. Just one of many--most universities that have any experience with homeschoolers prefer them.

The goal is to prepare children for life, right? And no one disputes that a college education is a good start on an adult life. If colleges, especially really good ones, find that homeschoolers are excelling academically and civically, isn't that a good indication that (as a whole) the method is successful?

As for purported skewed test scores, I believe they were compiled from a group of homeschoolers that offered to have them put in the mix before the children were tested. A blind sample. I can tell you that among the children in my homeschool groups--maybe 200 children in all--I would be shocked if they were below the 85th percentile quote. These are kids that play chess and discuss archaeological preservation methods for fun at sleepovers.

Schools also have their ways of skewing results as well. Parents can and do opt out of them. Many schools will move to classify a low performer as whatever category no longer has to test. Again, my father is a teacher, and this is from his own report. I have seen it as well with one of my older stepchildren. He was doing great but bugged out on tests, and that was what his school found the most important.

People get defensive when they are attacked, period. If you tell someone they are harming their child when they know that their child is getting a superior education, they'll argue. If that's defensive, well, I guess every parent is defensive.

"According to you, a man is great in proportion as he revolts and rebels; but I say, a man is never greater or stronger than when he truly humbles himself before God." Benjamin Franklin

Hmmm, doesn't sound Christian at all....

Ben Franklin was confused about God, as are many people, but he was unambivalently Christian.

That list was what the founding fathers themselves professed, how they classified themselves. They prayed before every session and mentioned God repeatedly in their writings. Many were against a state religion, but that was because the state in question was prohibiting religions. Now we live in a similar state--you are atheist OR ELSE.

Theology is being written out of our history books, as is much truth. Another reason to homeschool.

Did you read the original post? I asked, in very simple terms, if there was any other form of assessment other than anecdotal? I made it VERY CLEAR that I didn't know enough about unschooling to be for it or against it. What I received in reply was an immediate statement that a lot of people are uncomfortable with unschooling and a huge defense against assessment. I think the implication was pretty clear.

Unschooling is a relatively new concept. It is natural for people to ASK QUESTIONS. I don't think it is productive to jump on the defensive. Another poster here has been able to give me clear, straightforward answers. You have given me a clear answer that your children are assessed annually. I don't think it is too much to ask.

May I probe further? You stated that there are a lot of ways your children are assessed. What are they? I agree standardized tests are not the be all and end all. Do you have certain goals or concepts that you try to nudge your children towards? How do you decide which experiences to provide to best facilitate learning?

There have only been a few posts that were blatantly opposed to homeschooling. Most of us were unfamiliar with the concept of "unschooling" and wanted clarifications. Some posters gave helpful information, others became very defensive.

Let me tell you the "other side" as a former public school teacher - I know, the enemy. You think YOU have a reason to be defensive? Public schools are blamed for everything short of global warming and trans fats. It is incredibly disheartening to start your career full of hope and idealism (not to mention student loans) only to find that not only is the system flawed, the public is hostile and the parents (not all, but enough) are nightmares...and yet, it is somehow all the teacher's fault.

My first year teaching Middle School, I had three pregnant students walking around showing off their sonograms. Wait, that must somehow be the fault of public education! I was threatened not only by students but also by parents. Again, THAT can't be the parents fault - if ONLY those parents had been unschooled! I had students who stayed back multiple times and were physically and sexually so much more mature than the other kids and they DOMINATED the classroom - again, must be my fault for not motivating them!

At least three quarters of parent conferences were no shows UNTIL April when all of a sudden every parent who had never before stepped foot in the school wanted to know WHY his student was failing and WHAT could be done about it. Was that also MY fault? I sat in on psychological studies of children who had been so horribly abused and neglected by parents still having custody of their kids and had to attend court on one of them. Public school's fault, right?

I have had parents make aggressive sexual advances towards me, and I have watched parents drive up to the school with billows of pot smoke flowing out of the car door. Do you think THESE parents should be homeschooling?

Realize I am only illustrating the negatives to prove a point. There were MANY wonderful kids and parents, and that is what keeps you going...especially through that first year.

I have NO PROBLEM with good parents wanting to homeschool their children. I have a HUGE problem listening to the propaganda that public schools are responsible for all the illiteracy and ignorance in the world. Public schools do not CAUSE most of the problems, but they are always the ones stuck DEALING with the problems. Sometimes the solutions are entirely ineffective, but the problems are complex.

Homeschooling is like a diet. It, in itself does work, somebody has to MAKE it work. Same with public education. If the kids aren't willing and the parents are not plugged in, there simply is not that much a teacher can do.