Home: Where the school is

AIA-FL Bloog ^ | June 3, 2010 | Malcolm A. Kline

[bs9021]

Home: Where the school is

Malcolm A. Kline, June 3, 2010

Apparently, staying at home not only helps you get over an illness, it can also help students recover from public schools. “Home schoolers scored 34-39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests,” the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) claims. “The home school national average ranged from the 84th percentile for Language, Math and Social Studies to the 89th percentile for Reading.”

“The study also found that whether or not parents were teacher-certified had no impact on these scores.” Thus do home schoolers need to tread carefully: When you are living proof that a government program doesn’t work, proponents of said public work may put you on the Endangered Species List (ESL).

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization could give the U. S. Congress the chance to do just that. “As Congress prepares to reauthorize ESEA, we respectfully urge Congress to retain Section 9506 in ESEA to protect home schools and nonrecipient religious and private schools from any regulation by the federal government,” the HSLDA asked in a letter to lawmakers on May 25, 2010. “Section 9506 was inserted into the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001.”...

[Pollster1]

“The study also found that whether or not parents were teacher-certified had no impact on these scores.”

I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that certified teachers are as good as untrained parents. The NEA/AFT are less destructive than I thought.

[SnakeDoctor]

>> “Home schoolers scored 34-39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests,” the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) claims. “The home school national average ranged from the 84th percentile for Language, Math and Social Studies to the 89th percentile for Reading.”

It seems to me the study might be more useful if it was controlled for parental involvement. When you average the kids of know-nothing carefree drug-addled parents in with the public schoolers, it may skew the numbers a bit.

My guess is that public school students who have parents that are very involved in their education would yield educational results that are similar to homeschooled students.

SnakeDoc

[darkangel82]

ping

[dalebert]

Not true...We sent my grandson to K and as the year progressed his performance whent down in the class room..He was and over achiever when he started and by the end of the year he was scribbling on his work at school..Now i think he needs a shrink

[Retired Greyhound]

I will never send another kid to public school.

[metmom]

This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.

The keyword for the FREE REPUBLIC HOMESCHOOLERS’ FORUM is frhf.

[TheConservativeBanker]

Having home schooled my sons for 8 years (fourth grade through high school), we found that there really wasn’t any public or private school option which compared favorably with home schooling. Even the best formal schools have to “teach to the average”, while we were able to completely customize curriculum and pace to match our sons’ individual needs and aptitudes.

We were very involved in their schools prior to home schooling and still were not pleased with the educational environment.

We would never push home school for all families, nor are we apologetic about home schooling either.

[metmom]

“The study also found that whether or not parents were teacher-certified had no impact on these scores.” Thus do home schoolers need to tread carefully: When you are living proof that a government program doesn’t work, proponents of said public work may put you on the Endangered Species List (ESL).

Which bursts the bubble of the rabid anti-homeschool, public school defenders who seem to think that it's essential that parents be certified otherwise they wouldn't be as *good* as public school teachers.

BWAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!

[metmom]

I'm pleasantly surprised to hear that certified teachers are as good as untrained parents. The NEA/AFT are less destructive than I thought.

Nothing like the right perspective.

Thank you...:)

[John Leland 1789]

“My guess is that public school students who have parents that are very involved in their education would yield educational results that are similar to homeschooled students.” (SnakeDoc)

---

You could be correct, but then all the stuff beside reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic that gets drilled into their heads six hours a day in public schools (making liberal and progressive voters by age 18) is still a very major concern.

[MrB]

Parents who care about their kids’ education will be inherently over-represented in the group that opts out of public schools.

This works in insurance coverage as well. When the “higher risk” group is being subsidized by a “lower risk” group - the lower risk group will try to “pool” with other lower risk groups instead of subsidizing the others.

[metmom]

It’s irrelevant. You’re addressing the wrong issue.

For years the public school defenders have implied that parents need to be *properly* trained or certified, and that parents without *proper* certification were not, or should not be, allowed to teach their own kids.

This goes to show that that certification is irrelevant to the parents being able to educate their own children into the top 15% or better of the academic spectrum.

[Chickensoup]

Would this be an approprriate venue to let people know that I have a fair amount of homeschool items to sell/give way?

[tutstar]

bttt

[Osage Orange]

How do you know the parents are “untrained”?

[Tax-chick]

People who get degrees in education have far lower test scores, lower high school and college GPAs, and lower class ranks than other college students. It makes sense that a randomly-selected group of other adults would tend to be sharper, on average, than a group that skews toward to lower end as much as the teaching “profession” does.

[Pollster1]

How do you know the parents are “untrained”?

Based on the original article: “The study also found that whether or not parents were teacher-certified had no impact on these scores,” I assumed the parents under discussion were untrained, at least in the sense that our beloved unions value. BTW, there may have been just a touch of sarcasm in my post.

[metmom]

Based on the original article: “The study also found that whether or not parents were teacher-certified had no impact on these scores,” I assumed the parents under discussion were untrained, at least in the sense that our beloved unions value. BTW, there may have been just a touch of sarcasm in my post.

The problem with the premise that an education degree qualifies someone to teach is in presuming that someone with an education degree is trained to teach. That isn't the case.

Both my best friend and my sister-in-law went to college for their teaching degrees (neither of which person is in the lower anything percent, in these cases). Anyway, I asked both of them (separately) the exact same question- "Did you learn how to teach in college as part of your teaching degree? IOW, did they teach you to teach?"

They both (also separately ) gave me the same answer, which was *No*. You were expected to learn as you go once you got a teaching job.

Lot of good a teaching degree does, eh?

[Osage Orange]

Sarcasm??

No way!! Here!?!?