Topic : 11/24 Great School Debate

I never heard of unschooling before, but home schooling can be a good thing. In home schooling the parent teaches the child using a curriculum provided by a home school program. The kids may work at their own pace but they have to do homework and take exams just like regular school. These tests are evaluated by the home school people  and they make the decision whether the child has earned a promotion to the next grade level. Home schooling is also a viable alternative for those children with illnesses or defects who cannot and should not be mainstreamed in public school. A child with Asperger's syndrome, for instance, may learn better in a quiet, private setting instead of with other children, and will get more personal one on one attention.

For those who do not want to put their children in public school or home school them, try a private Christian school.  The ABEKA system many of these schools use is vastly superior to the curriculum used in public school, and the children still have the chance to do school things and interact with other children and take part in programs, etc.

This unschooling thing sounds weird and like an excuse not to make the child to to school. That will get the parent put in jail in Tennessee and Florida. Dr. Phil is correct. Children do not have the ability to make their own decisions and predict the outcome. They have to be taught. Morals and family values, the difference between right and wrong, their faith in God should come from home, but the education and development of their minds, ability to socially interact with others and teamwork, sportsmanship, these things generally take place more in school.

Going to school can be dangerous these days, especially with gangs and drugs, etc. On the other hand, while there have been shootings and violence in schools, it doesn't happen everywhere or everyday. People have focused in on the minority situation and panicked over it.

I am in favor of the school system. My parents were teachers, my grandmother was a professor and my sister is a teacher. My father was a band director and coached JV basketball. Actually, even in retirement he is still coaching basketball. That the quality of education has declined is tragic, and perhaps the system needs to be reworked, but it's still a good system if you put good qualified teachers in and give them back their power. Yes, folks, I mean discipline. The day they took paddling out of the mix was the day they signed the death warrant of the school system. Teachers cannot teach adequately if the children can act out and know there's nothing the teacher can do about it.

In my state homeschoolers do not have to be tested. The public schools have NO involvement with homeschoolers and frankly I like it that way.

You assume that they need to be tested  every 9 weeks to get into college but that simply isn't true.

Everyone public schoolers, private schoolers and home schoolers alike have to take college entrance exams usually the ACT or SAT. Colleges look at the scores you make on these exams to decide if you are eligible to attend their college. I keep records of my children's school work and make transcripts.

My eldest son took the ACT when he was 15 scored a 28 which made him eligible for early admission to college with a FULL SCHOLARSHIP, and the college had no problem accepting his transcript made by ME.  He started college at 16. He is in his second year of college and has made the Dean's List. Homeschoolers have no problems getting into college. 

I was rather leery about watching the Dr. Phil show yesterday, but found it was not quite what I was expecting after all. Dr. Phil, while an obviously intelligent man, does not always look beyond the obvious in his questions, as most of us don't. For example...when he spoke of his children coming home with math problems, starting at the grade 7 level which were beyond his abilities, the point he was trying to make was how can most parents compare to qualified teachers. However, the first thing that struck me is Dr. Phil is a product of the system, he at least partially advocated, and yet he can not, as an adult, show results in at least some of the areas he was educated in. Will his children also lose the ability to solve these math problems as adults? Looking into this question alone can provide a lot of insight into education.

It is understandable that most of us are invested in our views of education, as we are invested in most of the beliefs that we have about the world and our part in it. The debate on the Dr. Phil show centered on whether unschoolers would be able to give their children a comparable education of that received in the public school system. I guess it was further implied that we are speaking of a successful education as it is apparent to all there are many outcomes from the school systems, not all of which we would call successful. Unschoolers in particular, and some homeschoolers as well, have usually questioned themselves already about what education really is and are often not trying to duplicate the same education that can be received in a school system. The unschooling experience is not always a linear, dissected system of learning, but rather a whole integrated one, and it is hard to compare the two.

Education needs to be carefully examined and questioned to the very core if one is ever going to come to a true understanding of what unschoolers are hoping to facilitate with their children. The true nature of children is rarely seen these days beyond the school age as the school system changes that nature and it is therefore hard to believe in its existence without first hand evidence.

The Dr. Phil show was not even the tip of the iceberg in my opinion, but there was enough information to possibly wet some peoples curiosity to investigate it further. This is not a subject that can easily be decided with a few simple studies or questions, as I believe it is a subject that can open one up to a whole new set of perspectives about our very lives and the way we are living them.

I applaud Dr. Phil and his show for even bringing the show to air, and I appreciate everyone that was on the show too, for sharing their views and opinions and allowing us all the chance to question our own.

Dr. Phil was right on the money when he said that history will often repeat itself if not examined and if we look at our history of education in ways we have never done before, we might start to work to create a new future. So many of us just do "education" without ever really asking ourselves, what we are doing. Heck, most of us do "life" without ever questioning it, and Dr. Phil is making a living off that fact. An open mind is not one that is seeking to just confirm what they already know, but rather is a mind that is willing to accept for checking, all perspectives available.

Your approach to alternative teaching is close minded and bias. If you are going to post comments like this, you should really do some reasearch first instead of pulling information out of thin air that have no bases, but clearly show ignorance. Do you even have children? If so, are you able to let them go? Why would it be different for those who homeschool?

What frustrates me so much about the comments posted on this site is every one is so critical of the others that wouldn't do things the way they would. Why can't parents decide what's best without having a whole realm of people saying you are right or wrong. It's really no one elses business how someone decides to teach their child.

By the way, I am homeschooling Mom, and have been for 8 years. I do take offense to your minimal intelligence level when it comes to this topic. But, for the record, I have NEVER told anyone my way was right and your way is wrong. I see benefits to all ways of schooling. And if you think about it, we ALL unschool and we ALL homeschool. Give people the benefit of the doubt instead of spoutting at the mouth and showing no lack of respect for anyone.

Funny that homeschooling is still thought of as controversial.  I homeschool my 4 kids.  I started 5 years ago when I had 2 kids and a baby!  I realized that (1) I could do a better job than the schools; (2) the kids wanted to be at home; and (3) it was easy to do.  I am an English major and a "math-head" so I wasn't worried about teaching the 3 R's.  I find that the subjects I was worried I couldn't teach like Geography and History, I am learning with my kids (I went to public school, so was taught to memorize-re-gurgitate what little I was taught of Geography and History).  My husband gets involved, too, as I'm sure most homeschooling families experience the fun of learning together.  My 12, 7, 5 and 2 year old all know where China and Argentina are on the globe.  They also know some of their customs and foods and language!  This is the norm in the homeschooling family.  I have family and friends that have kids in public, private, homeschooled and unschooled - they all think homeschooling is ideal.  People I meet in  libraries, stores and museums all want to know how to start and is it hard.  Seems to be a wave of parents understanding exactly how true Dayna's statement is that "My unschooled child will hire your honor student."   LOVE IT - Thanks, Dr. Phil!!!

This unschooling thing sounds weird and like an excuse not to make the child to to school.

Not at all.  Type Joyfully Rejoycing (yes, purposely misspelled) or Sandra Dodd into your search engine if you'd like to educate yourself on unschooling.

That will get the parent put in jail in Tennessee and Florida.

Lots of unschoolers in both of those states.  It's possible to comply with the law AND unschool.  More hoops to jump through than other states, but can be done.

Children do not have the ability to make their own decisions and predict the outcome.

It's amazing what kids can do when they are encouraged to make their own decisions.  They don't do it in a vacuum.  They learn by making decisions daily.  Parents act as facilitators.  We give them the information they need in order to make an informed decision.  I'd rather they make real decisions as youngsters and have real world practice making them, then having me make all of the important decisions for them such that when they're grown and gone and suddenly needing to make their own decisions they're not floundering.

I've seen first hand what kids do when finally out from under their controlling parental thumbs.  They make all sorts of reckless decisions, because their parents never let them do anything.

Silly example from my own teen years:  A friend and I were going to the movies when Animal House was the latest, greatest flick.  My mother forbid me to go, as she'd heard the hype, and as a staunchly religious person, did not want me to see it.

Of course, my friend and I, both being 17 went to see it.  We both hated it (neither of us were party animals).

I can tell you I learned more by wasting my hard earned $3 on that terrible movie than if I'd just compliantly obeyed my mother.  Wouldn't she rather I learned how to make decisions, seeing I was on the precipice of adulthood?

I don't get controlling parents and I never will.

Well I have been a substitute teacher in my local public schools so I think I can say I have worked a day in your shoes. Here there are kids in the classroom that want to get expelled so they can sit home in front of the TV, they spend all their time disrupting the class and preventing the students that want to learn from learning. Their parents place a low premium on education and only send them to school because they are required too. Other students are advanced for the class and finish the work that takes the rest of the class 60 minutes in 10, they spend the remaining 50 minutes bored stiff. Then there are the students that can't even finish the work in 60 minutes and need additional help from the teacher; but of course she can't take the time away from the other students to help them.

Give me homeschooling any day.

Also what makes you think homeschooling parents don't attend workshops, some of us do and share our experience with other homeschooling Moms and Dads so they can share it with their students. We also can and do arrange guest speakers, field trips, and hands on activities to supplement our curriculum.