I was a skeptic, but after having kids in public schools, I see the logic of home-schooling.
My initial misconception was time - what parent has time for home-schooling?
In fact, my kids are in public JR. high school nearly 7 hours a day. I think at least half the time is wasted (probably more) - useless courses entirely, like “reproductive health,” and then time wasted in every class maintaining discipline, and countless explanations to the slowest kids in class.
I see homeschool kids who have so much time to be kids AND also who are at advanced learning levels.
Yep. You can have smart kids in a good school and if you at all care about their education you may find yourself...ahem....”supplementing” what they learn during the day. At that point, you are almost homeschooling.
My wife taught in the public schools so she know exactly what goes on. She now homeschools our kids.
The homeschool rule of thumb is that a child can learn at least as much in two hours at home as he can in a whole day at school. This leaves a lot of time for other stuff.
Just do the math.
A jr high student goes to school 7 hours a day.
Goes to 7 classes in the day.
Spends 10 minutes transitioning to each class. that’s 70 minutes lost in a day.
Seldom do teachers dive right in.
If the first 5 minutes are spent socializing, that’s 35 minutes in a day.
We’re now at 105 minutes of unproductive time.
Lunch is one of those class periods, that’s another 45 minutes unused.
Now we’re at 150 minutes a day unused. 2-1/2 hours of a 7 hour day.
45 minutes of class time in each class.
The teacher spends 30 minutes reading out of a book and discussing the days lesson.
That leaves 15 minutes to actually work with students.
There are 25 students in a class room.
One third of the class gets some attention from the teacher, the other 2/3’s doesn’t.
8 students get to share 15 minutes of the teachers time. That’s 2 minutes per student, per class, per day.
The rest get...
2 minutes at a time, isn’t enough time for students to grasp issues.
Let’s assume ALL kids get an equal amount of time with the teachers.
25 students per class, sharing 15 minutes (900 seconds)
that’s 36 seconds per student, per class, per day.
6 of the 7 periods are actual classes.
6 x 36 seconds = 216 seconds a day of individual time.
216 seconds a day x 5 days a week = 1,080 seconds or 18 minutes a week of combined individual time.
A homeschool parent doesn’t have to split up the day into tedious little blocks.
The parent can choose how much time to spend and on which subject.
Even with multiple kids being homeschooled, the parent can still spend enough time with each child, to make sure they get what needs to be gotten, WITHOUT worrying about the clock.
At the end of the day, more is accomplished.
Homeschooling parents have a tendency to revolve family events around teaching moments.
Vacations tend to become large field trips.
Families go to a state park or national park and parents are focused on making learning opportunities.
Often times, parents of public school children, view vacation as a time to get away. And that it’s the teachers job to teach the student, so vacations aren’t viewed the same way. (this is a generalization, not a universal rule)
Years ago, when I worked with the jr high kids at my church, one particular of my students was homeschooled. They lived about 1/2 an hour from a small ski hill in the Midwest. Tuesdays there was a special. (don’t remember what it was) But the mother would take her 2 kids to the ski hill, to ski all day.
Here is the point. Who got a better physical education, the homeschoolers or public schoolers?
Students have 45 minutes of class time. They have to spend time changing, which for jr high kids is VERY uncomfortable. 30-45 minutes of “play” time, called PE.
Versus the homeschool kids, who get actual ski lessons and spend HOURS skiing.
Which one has the better benefit?
That 7 hours a day is mostly wasted.
Aside from class changing, lunch, and gym, I’ve had several public school teachers tell me that in your average classroom time, between 50% and 90% is spend on discipline issues.
I could accomplish more in a couple hours per kid than what took a a full day in public education.
A friend of mine homeschooled for a while after her son was out for medical reasons and the teacher sent home the work for the next 2-3 weeks. He went into his room and came out a couple hours later with it all done and correct.
That did it for her.
Some years ago I recognized that even for parents who sent their kids to public school, the only children who learned well were those whose parents spent hours with them every night or sent them to after school programs like Kumon. The logical realization struck me that parents who cared were doing all the work either homeschooling or private schooled their kids, just some worked a job and put their kids into public daycare and taught them at night and some stayed home and taught them all day. My wife and I decided to have her stay home and do it all day (though she daydreams about sending them to school to get a break) rather than expose them to all the junk that comes in public schools. As I joke, if I want my kids to get public school socialization I can beat them up, take their lunch money and offer them drugs myself.
Public schools are strapped teaching to the lowest common denominator.....and it takes longer.
Heck...I'm old and remember...being very bored in H.S. It was too easy.....