dark side of homeschooling

CBS | nov 18 04 | Monica Spitzer

[dakra]

As a homeschooled individual, I think that the issue itself should be more publicized.

[Darksheare]

We once figured the cylindrical volume of my cat.. and compared that to her rectangular solid volume.
The difference wasn't that big.
*chuckle*
Kearen started out nice trim and thin, but then we had her fixed.
Then she became a large.. Helga the Valkyrie opera singer..

[Ptarmigan]

ZZZZZZOOOOOOTTTT!!!!! ZOT! ZOT!

[Texaggie79]

AWESOME!!! Any time that I can advocate the GOVERNMENT having more control over the children of America than their own parents, I'M ALL FOR IT!!! The GOVERNMENT is the only parent we need..... no really....

[Frank_Discussion]

"There has to be SOME testing in the early years to protect young people like the homeschooled one who started this post..."

This, first off, is a major stumbling block in your understanding of the issue. All standard indicators for troll infestation are fairly well covered by the "one who started this post". Your assumptions about the truth of what the person wrote are wrong.

"How else do you identify teacher incompetence other than by testing students?"

In public school, test the teachers. In home school, it's nobody's business.

The government is tasked with protecting the freedom to pursue an education, not administering or demanding said education. It is NOT constitutionally in their purview to quantify what is or is not in a successful educational curriculum. That said, I don't want an American nation of dumb kids. The high majority of homeschooling parents don't want it either, and that is a prime motivator in going that educational route.

As far as standardization of curriculum and testing, there exists a very booming industry in homeschool curriculum precisely to provide a learning track. Contrary to the assumptions being made, homeschooler parents welcome a structured approach. The demand differs from public schooling in some very substantial ways: the parents get to choose what is taught, and how.

Homeschool testing comes down to basic principal that results matter, and those results must apply to the real world in which we live. Scantron forms and multiple choice in rote learning has its place in education, but it is not the end-all of learning. Often, the real test of learning in homeschool, as in adult life, is how successfully one applies what's been taught.

Just because some demented twit comes onto FR and posts (badly) to his/her horrible experience, don't assume that's telling you the real story.

[Frank_Discussion]

"But there has to be some way of identifying those parents who keep their children home and teach them nothing."

Why?

[PetroniDE]

more kitty caption material....

[Preech1]

http://www.mm13.com/mark/spudead1gif.htm

Homeschoolers can also make great potato guns...can someone link this gif to play on this site?

[womanvet]

there has to be some way of identifying those parents who keep their children home and teach them nothing

Why? If the original poster had been a student, rather than a government-school teacher, no one (other than another gov't-school teacher) would need to test him to see that he had not learned to use the English language properly.

Parents who home-school care about their children -- unlike those who loudly proclaim each Fall, "Thank G-d school is starting! I can't stand having those brats around all day." One cannot help but wonder why those parents bothered to reproduce. Those are the people who teach their children nothing.

[valkyrieanne]

I'm sure you're doing what's best for your kids but - why on earth did this girl you know have to earn tuition? She didn't want to be homeschooled, but didn't want public school either? That just seems goofy.

The parents at first allowed her to go to Catholic school because the public school in her area was academically & socially bad. After she'd been in school awhile, the parents decided they wanted her out - not because the school was bad, but because they needed her to "help around the house." They announced there would be no more money for tuition, so she went to work herself to pay for it. When she was 18 she left home and finished school on her own.

[cavtrooper21]

Powder!
Patch!
Rapid discharge gigawatt capacitor!

ZOT!!

[Frank_Discussion]

Sooooo... It's the government's job to poke its nose into people's homes? Are you REALLY saying that, here, in this forum? You're ACTUALLY saying that the government has an authority to help parents bring up their children?

"It takes a village"? Hillary, is that you?

Under your logic, you wouldn't mind letting the police check out your house, y'know, just in case you have some crack or meth hanging around? Or maybe you'd just accept weekly drug testing (standardized, of course) just in case you're using something illegal? If you're not guilty, then of course you have nothing to fear. :(

Innocent until proven guilty, kid. Read up on it. Be careful what freedoms you allow to be taken from you, more may vanish with them.

Beyond any dire and melodramatic rantings by me, however, the point is moot, given the actual nature of the situation. The numbers show a better general educational result for homeschool kids than public schooled typically, so any assumptions of abuse by denial of education are at odds with the facts.

[Frank_Discussion]

You have to be pulling my leg. Really. This is over the top. "Because we're at war" we need to impose government oversight on Homeschoolers, because it might be subversive?

Well, heck, I guess the Feds need to put a suite of mini-cams in a person's house, just in case they teach their kids something that is not "standardized". [/dripping sarcasm]

They might even teach their children how to use, uh,uh,uh, FIREARMS!! OH NO! Now we're talking some real potential little Lee Harvey Oswalds in our midsts!! [/raging flood of sarcasm]

If we have to infringe rights as you suggest, we've already lost. The United States fought pretty hard to gain the rights you would so blithely throw away.

Re: Muslim homeschoolers and bomb belts, et al: If there are illegal acts being performed by homeschooled muslim kids, the law will prosecute. If they are building bomb belts, a lot of detective evidence would highlight such activities outside of the homeschool regimen.

[Kevin OMalley]

All your dam ties are belong to us.



We have been discussing inexpensive ways to fast track kids through high school to avoid the liberal agenda:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315730/posts?page=84#84

The thread title was not well thought out, because some parents might instinctively skip over it due to attached stigma, whether real or imagined.

[Kevin OMalley]

"Watch that International Baccalaureate program .... You'd better check it out carefully if you are of the conservative persuasion. It is not something I'd put my student in."
***Then would you support the Proposal for the Free Republic High School Diploma?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1316882/posts