Posted on 07/20/2005 12:13:49 PM PDT by Little Bill
What is "definning"; removing a fin?
Well said
As far as I'm concerned, government education is NOT an option. It's hard enough to raise up a child in the way he should go. Who needs the government trying to coax him in the wrong direction? So the gov't can demand my money and there's not much I can do about it. But they won't get my kid. No way! My child will not be taught by people proud to have no moral values.
I'm an area admin for a private ISP for homeschoolers. I have a few single parents schooling their children at home..quite successfully. :o) They have family and friends who help out so they're not the lone ranger.
"22.7% of all the statistics you'll see or hear in any given day are pulled out of thin air."
Some of that "air" isn't too thin, as it appears that the another 50% of the stats we see are pulled out of someone's a$$.
Start in vestigating and watching homeschool groups in your area. Depending on where you live there are many homeschool support groups that come together to provide those extra curricular things.
"scholar Kyle Williams has been a political columnist for WorldNetDaily.com"
I went and checked out the reviews for his book and the liberals had a good time writing nasty things about this young man.
Sorry .. I don't buy it .. just because someone has the "qualifications" doesn't mean they are a good teacher. Also - unfortunately for teachers they just aren't allowed to teach.
Someone said earlier that there is so much wasted time in school - and there is.. honestly sit down and TALK to some kids about what it going on... it's really very sad. There's so much time spent on the whole concept of "social skills" that there is very little time left for the kids to learn.
We start first grade on August first. My son loves homeschooling, and so do I. I can't help but think that because he's not reading (other than a few sight words) yet, my son would already be carrying a lable in public school. However, reading is just not going to be his "natural" strong point. The kid's adding more than one numeral in his head, loves science, and begs almost daily for a chemistry set. (He's 6, by the way.)
Thanks for posting a great read!
It has taken me a lot of time and observation to learn each of my children's different learning styles. Teachers with many students do not have as much time to learn the learning styles of each individual student and tailor the curriculum to them. With only five students, this is an advantage I have.
Most homeschool groups have lots of activities. In fact, with ours there's the distinct possibility of having too many. Beyond that, there are the city and county sports associations. My son played t-ball this summer, and is enrolled in soccer for the fall.
Have you seen this site?:http://www.starfall.com Also, you have a dog or cat? If so, when he starts sounding things out he might want to read to the pet. These are things that have helped my daughter. She is an auditory learner, so it has been more difficult for her to learn reading than for my oldest son. Yet, she can remember things in amazing detail.
Thanks for posting another wonderful article from Izzy! I had the good fortune to get to know her when I lived in CT.
We homeschooled my son back in the 70's and it was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I eventually had to put him in regular school when his Dad died but he already had been "formed" and didn't let any of the NEA scum teachers intimidate him.
Dear HungarianGypsy,
Homeschool at the high school level: Well, many homeschoolers choose to go back to more traditional settings for high school. It is a greater challenge to adequately homeschool once one gets past the elementary years. Unlike the caricatures and stereotypes foisted by the homeschool haters here at FR, the vast majority of homeschoolers aren't anti-schools. It is that we are anti-being-forced into cookie cutter views of education that may not work best for our own children, and we are anti-being-evaluated by entities that have failed in their own educational missions.
From our perspective, it is more reasonable that homeschoolers perform oversight over public school authorities than vice versa, in that homeschoolers nearly always succeed in their educational mission, while children in public school succeed educationally often in spite of their teachers, administrators, and higher-up NEA-goon muckety-mucks.
Be that as it may, homeschoolers can successfully pick and choose between the options available to them, and often go back and forth between their options, depending on the current needs of their children.
I know of a family with three children that homeschooled the older daughter through 5th grade, and then sent her off to a local public school in Montgomery Co, MD (a so-called good public school system). In retrospect, it was a mistake, because the local middle school wasn't that good. However, the high school was pretty good, and she is doing well there, coming up on her senior year. The family learned from this, and when the mother fell seriously ill, and could not continue homeschooling the middle child (the youngest isn't yet school-aged), they chose a nearby private Christian school, and are happy with that choice.
I've known other families that would homeschool a few years, use public or private schoos for a year or two, and then go back to homeschooling. Based on the needs of the child, rather than the needs of some bloated, overgrown, self-serving public school bureaucracy.
Anyway, back to high school and homeschooling, when we started homeschooling five years ago, we knew almost no one who homeschooled through high school. However, in those five short years, in our area, we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of families that decide to "go all the way." Available to us is a sort of "homeschool high school" where a number of families have pooled resources to provide for an informal schooling experience for their children. As well, the local community colleges and four year colleges are now welcoming of homeschoolers, especially once they're 16 years and older. Thus, homeschooling at the high school level becomes an issue of expanding resources and methodologies. And yes, it must be largely self-directed by the student. Thus, students who are unwilling to be self-starters may not be well-served by this approach. However, the proportion of self-starters among homeschooled students is high, so it is likely a worthwhile approach for most homeschooled students.
I notice this is already occuring in my own sixth grader's packaged curriculum (Calvert School). This year, it's his job to determine what are his assignments, and to work through them, rather than my wife, each day, spelling out his assignments in detail. My wife's job is more just to keep an eye on things to make sure he's doing what he's supposed to be doing, to teach the parts that need teaching, and to administer the tests, accept the assignments, and provide assistance where assistance is required. This year, our older son is much more on his own, much more responsible for his own education.
He was a little hesitant at first. But now, after a few weeks, he likes it a lot, especially in that he can set his own pace, and is now several days ahead of the curriculum schedule.
Our younger guy would like to homeschool through graduate school. ;-) I'm completing an advanced degree mostly on-line, and they view it that I'm homeschooling, too. Thus, the younger guy's question is, why can't I do that? Just stay home and go to college and grad school on-line? We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Anyway, yeah, your thoughts about homeschooling and high school are dead on. A child who is educated properly through the elementary years, who learns self-discipline and self-motivation, is an excellent candidate for a largely self-guided high school career.
sitetest
A big not-yet-coffee-filled BUMP for my typo: lable = label.
Really. I'm just now starting a second cup...
my husband and i offer our children Classical Christian education in our homeschool... it's rigorous and exciting... and we do not do "grades." i am sure if you have children, you have helped them learn something along the way without actually grading them... but you still assess where they are...
you know if they have grasped a concept or a skill... you know if they need further assistance or if they simply need practice... though we as parents may not hand out report cards to our children, the truth is, we still assess them in many areas of their lives...
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