Posted on 06/02/2005 12:55:33 AM PDT by baseballfanjm
ESPN.com ran this article, intending for it to be an amusing take on how to predict the winner of the National Spelling Bee. However, the last "formula" irked me.
Here's what it says:
"Stay away from home-schooled kids.
It goes without saying that these kids don't get out of the house much. There are 34 home-schooled competitors in this year's bee, including speller No. 142 Jack Ausick and speller No. 217 Benjamin Zachary Walter. The first home schooler won in 1997 and others followed, including Lala in '99 and Thampy in 2000. But kids that actually interact with other children at school have won three out of the last four bees."
While he has other "stay away from" picks that fit the joking manner of the article, that one struck me as just lame and as a swipe more than a joke.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Wow. You are really out of touch. Most towns have dances for kids which are open to ALL Middle School and High School kids. Teen homeschoolers have teen groups and they do tons of stuff - even go to college during high school. My 10 year old knows who Sargon is, who William Tynsdale is, who Muhammad is, who William Wallace is....etc and etc. Do you? Does your kid? One day, my kid will be your boss :-)
Wow. You are really out of touch. Most towns have dances for kids which are open to ALL Middle School and High School kids. Teen homeschoolers have teen groups and they do tons of stuff - even go to college during high school. My 10 year old knows who Sargon is, who William Tynsdale is, who Muhammad is, who William Wallace is....etc and etc. Do you? Does your kid? One day, my kid will be your boss :-)
LOL, indeed. Good post. :)
Your experience with homeschooled children is either regionally myopic or nearly zip. I'll bet I've dealt with a thousand times more products of that educational choice than you and I'd say the experience is overwhelmingly positive and beneficial. If you really want to make a subjective and misleading observation, then look at any mugshot in the post office...all products of the public school system.
I'm an area administrator for a private school *for* homeschoolers (private ISP if you will). Of 1,500 registered families, we have 350 Russian families, some who choose to be quite active in coop classes, field trips and other activities. The students speak perfect English while most of their parents choose their native tongue. I have a translator always at the ready.
This spring the high school students enjoyed a Spring Formal. Girls in formals, boys in dark suits. Music...not the bump and grind kind, thank you very much. On New Years Eve there will be a Masquerade Ball. The students begin preparing for this this month, gaining knowledge and practive on the custom of the Victorian Era complete with dances, style of dress, manners, music and more.
The homeschool choir in our greater area split due to the amount of students. Now one choir has 75, the next has 60 and still the next has 80. We also have available drama club, band (both wind and string), yearbook club and many coop classes for academics. Many high school students take 1 or 2 college classes per semester.
This season our junior high girls won 1st place in California's private school basketball tournie. Other sports choices include Track & Field, Wrestling, and Volleyball.
Socialized? You have your own opinion on that one.
Civilized? Yes. Far more than most of their peers in government school.
I'd suggest you do research on a subject before blindly posting your opinions. By *not* being fully educated on this subject you run the risk of appearing totally and completely ignorant.
Have a delightful day.
practive = practice
You really need to go back and check the post of people that you are accusing of be ignorant about home schooling.
I AM AN AVID FAN OF HOME SCHOOLING. WE HAVE SEVEN GRANDCHILDEN EITHER THAT HAVE BEEN OR NOW BEING HOME SCHOOLED.
My apologies!!! I should have been clear in WHO my post was meant for, while pinging others who are clear supporters.
You are forgiven!!!!!!!! Keep up the good work with home schoolers!!!!!!!
thank you. :o)
I remember my son getting crud from the neighbor boy who told him because he was homeschooled he would never have a date and never get to do anything. My son is 11 and not really interested in dating. (vast improvement from his boy crazy mother. lol) My son later asked the boy if he knew what continent he lives on. The boy could not name North America.
So THAT's how this thread grew to over 200 posts!
FYI, I just graduated (as a returning student - I'm 41) from college with a BS and plans to teach school, but among the population at our school were about 3% homeschoolers. thing is, ALL of the 13 served in leadership positions in their classes, clubs, and societies. One was the president of her class from her freshman year (how does a social misfit win a class election in a room full of strangers?) all the way through and was Miss(College) in her senior year.
See, anecdotal evidence can cut both ways, eh?
Your error is in the assumption that sich socialization can or does only take place in the school where the child is a captive audience. You also don't account for negative socialization wherby the culture a child is forced into in the school impacts his life for harm...and before you wax eloquent about the value of the home, check with the parents who did everything right - so they thought - and still ended up with a childthat acted like the thugs he'd been "socialized" by.
Before I graduated, I had:
Never met a drunk (in school)
Never met a drug addict
Never met a homosexual
Never met a Hispanic
Never met an Asian
Never met anyone not born in my home state
Never met a convicted felon
Never met a really wealthy individual
Never met a Lesbian
Oddly, I did not curl up into a ball and start sucking my thumb the first time i DID meet any of these as an adult. IF, as you say, school is NECESSARY for a child to be prepared for the diversity of people they will encounter "in the real world"...then how did my little country school with 30 white kids and 12 blacks (in my class) and none of the things listed above manage to prepare me for all these frightening things?
The answer: it didn't. Nor did my parents who never whispered the first word to me about tolerance and diversity.
Raise a well rounded and well informed child, and as an adult he can handle such situations with grace. Socialization - as a specific goal - doesn't mean jack. It's a myth propagated by those who either don't want kids outside the indoctrination center, or don't have the intestinal fortitude to do what they know in their heart is the best thing for their kids because the Almighty Dollar forbids it.
You seem to have bought into the lie.
If homeschool was good enough for America's first 16 Presidents. It's good enough for my kids.
apend to my former post...I never met a person who was not an evangelical protestant either....
Dance?
Even Mississippi has a Symphony Orchestra made up of homeschoolers...
The statistics are that over 40% of Americans are functionally illiterate, and that another 25% are minimally literate.
You need to recheck your assumptions about American education.
A few minutes of research shows that your statistics are way above the generally accepted illiteracy percentages. The common numbers I was able to find are that about 18% of Americans are functionally illiterate.
That's not a particularly high number once you factor in immigrants and illegals who speak and read spotty English.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.