Posted on 01/23/2017 8:32:01 AM PST by blam
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.
We homeschooled our 8 before it was cool - ‘82 - ‘07. ALL considered by outside world to be unusually mature in every way - including socially.
5 of them have 8 degrees total, 2 are Phi Beta Kappa, 1 Summa Cum Laude with 4 simultaneous degrees (Computer Science, Math, Physics, Greek), 1 - “with distinction”, 2 - engineers. All 8 very successful in their careers - 3 didn’t want college, one a realtor who makes big bucks.
All the grace of God. Wife & I both former public school teachers, all kids educated from a strong Christian world-view, all serious Christians.....again, by God’s grace. Wife & I are good friends with all, and our country home is still the central hub of activity for the whole family - and extended family of multiple cultures and races.
God is good.
My wife taught for 11 years and has lots of teaching certifications. We homeschool and all three of our kids are far ahead of their peers. They are also heavily involved in elective classes through our homeschool co-op and all kinds of activities.
I realize it is not an option for everyone, but we are totally committed to it and feel like it is the best choice for our family.
With that said, I know of a few families where the children would be better served in public school because the mothers are struggling to teach them or they are not committed to it. As children get older they are much better at learning with minimal input from various curriculum, but it does not work with at the primary level unless the parent knows what they are doing, finds the right curriculum for their child, and invests the time and energy into it.
My sons were homeschooled from 2nd grade through 12th grade. They were performing at college graduate levels by 7th grade. Both were early decision admissions to William and Mary. The oldest graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded a PhD in Economics from the University of Virginia. The youngest (our family’s “party animal”) was a cum laude English major with an MBA in finance and a decorated combat Marine and is now a real estate developer and model dad.
Our family was happy with homeschool.
“The BEST students are homeschooled and Asian.”
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Were the Asians all homeschooled?
If they weren’t it seems to prove that non-home schooled kids can also do well.
Mixed message here.
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Homeschooling depends entirely on the parents;good parents can do a fine job homeschooling.There has to be some means of checking though.
But homeschooling in my case would have been disastrous with a father who had only derogatory anecdotes of school(including his college time) and a mother who struggled with math.Neither helped with homework.Father had no use for learning or reading not directly part of his conception of farming, and an oft-expressed distrust of science and anyone who wore a suit.Plus a dislike of”city people” and most churches.If not for required school attendance ,either public or parochial, I would have hardly seen anyone my age.
If “homeschooled Asians” was the intended meaning, the “and” would be unnecessary.
For socialization, there's after school activities like 4H, scouting, etc. Plus hanging out with neighborhood kids.
My area has after-school sports organized under the township rather than the school, so any resident child can join the softball and soccer teams.
You also have homeschool groups, where the homeschool kids of an area can do field trips, do plays, etc.
Homeschooling is no magic panacea. If the student is motivated and the parent is motivated and they devote the time to it then homeschooling will be successful. If they don’t then it will not. Same as with public schools.
One of my homeschooled kids is studying Aerospace engineering and is interning at NASA. His job is controlling a research satellite.
All of my kids are independent and very well adjusted. Two moved out of state and are doing fine.
Not a snowflake in the bunch.
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?
The Asians I know send their kids to Asian school after school.
Homeschooling uses many resources. Different parents teach subjects they understand. Sometimes neighbors volunteer for specialized subjects like calculus and AP Physics.
If that’s what your sister-in-law did then it wasn’t homeschooling. So you’re torn over an illogical comparison. You may as well have compared public schooling to truck driving. Compare public schooling to real homeschooling. You’ll have to do some real research. Go online, find a homeschooling support group in your area and talk to those folks.
“Public schools are filled with kids you’d never let in your door -”
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What suggestions do you have for educating those kids ?
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Homeschooler’s don’t melt like SNOWFLAKES!
Its SO funny you mention this. My homeschool friends who "showed me the light" first intrigued me by telling me how they would get together with some other homeschool families to go skiing once a week, or more, in winter. They laid out the same time metrics you just did - and also disabused me of the ridiculous misconception that somehow homeschool kids aren't properly "socialized."
The model of localized, local-control, locally funded public school America still tends to follow, I believe, grew out of a “homeschooling” concept.
When I was a kid, I remember a very old great uncle telling me about his one-room school house, which his father, and the other fathers in his town, helped build.
Parents built the school. parents chose the teachers. Parents had a commonly accepted view of what should be taught. Parents set every rule and regulation.
Once again, our statist, “progressive,” ideological, corrupt political nanny-staters, have twisted and are in the process of destroying this superior concept of education.
Do we go back to the one-room school house? Of course not - but like so many things, the bureaucracy must be destroyed, and rights, as well as responsibility, returned to the lowest level.
I know young people who were homeschooled — very well, BTW.
"If the student is motivated and the parent is motivated and they devote the time to it then homeschooling will be successful." I agree that this is the recipe for success.
But..no matter how motivated the parents or students are there is no guarantee with public school because success is partially dependent on the teacher, the curriculum & the other students. The liberal indoctrination, disinformation, low teacher/administration expectations and peer pressure are very powerful forces.
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