Posted on 01/28/2006 7:49:24 AM PST by Clintonfatigued
Education is not complicated at all. Kids are naturally curious, and all you have to do is give them books.
Education majors, however, are dumb as a box of rocks, and can't stand any kid that contradicts them.
It is well known in college, that education majors are the dumbest.
It's the last bastion of a degree.
And they really are stupid.
Hi Kiddo, ALL kids love to learn. It is natural.
The kid asks, "Why, why, why?"
Give them the tools to learn, and let them loose!
Whatever you do, DON'T put them in government schools.
Public schools are hopeless. Sending kids to a public school is tantamount to shoving them into a meatgrinder.
Kids are not all the same. The idea that every kid must go to college is also unrealistic. There should be other methods of educating for the real world, such as apprenticeships.
What to speak of the fact that most universities and state colleges are nests of evil leftists and pits of depravity.
I respectfully disagree. Say, I failed because I didn't visualize behind the blocks. I learn. The next time I will remember and score higher:')
"It is my understanding that unschooling is when the child is allowed to direct himself. There is no curriculum, no set subjects, nothing really structured. The child learns on his own, as he wants to, about what he wants to learn. Deschooling seems to be the term used to describe what it takes to get your child back after he has been institutionalized."
Right. Yeah. PS2 rocks.
I "de-schooled" myself on every time we could find someone 21 to make the buy.
I can cite 2 cases of public schooled students who were passed along, making good grades, but who are far below grade level.
Can you tell me how a 10th grader who reads at a low 6th grade level makes A's and B's? Or how a 9th grader, making overall good grades, can be failing math, because she is 4th grade level in her math skills. They put her in college prep algebra with 4th grade math skills!!!!! Big surprise that she is failing, huh?
I have known all types of homeschoolers, including unschoolers, who are successful. I have also known public and private school students who are successful. Then again I have known some from each of the above groups who are below where they ought to be. I don't think it's a good idea to paint all students from any group as good or bad based on a small subset of any group.
Personally I think the mother of the 2 children I know should remove them from the school system and homeschool. She couldn't do any worse than has been done to them.
As for my family, our daughter graduated from a magnet school in Dekalb Co. GA. Our son was in a magnet school until our move and then we homeschooled. I do not believe homeschool is for every family, it requires a strong committment of time and energy. For those committed it can be a wonderful experience.
No one reads at a "6th grade level." 6th to 8th grade levels entail a range that kids bounce back and forth in. It is too close to really measure accurately. (In reality the only grades that can be measured with a great deal of accuracy are primer, 1st, 2nd and 3rd. There is overlap everywhere else.)There is some wiggle room there. So if she is in 10th and the reading materials are around the 8th grade, then she has a fair shot at understanding. Plus, I would imagine that her receptive vocabulary to spoken materials is high. Therefore, she can take notes from lectures and study those and do fairly well.
The reason she is in an algebra class is probably a county decision. Many counties now are forcing kids into algebra whether they are ready or not. The idea being that if they fail, at lease they should have learned something, then take it again and pass. I don't agree with this approach, but then I'm not in charge.
If you will refer back to my post, you will notice that I said I had seen successes in every area of schooling and that in my experience as a special education reading teacher, I'd seen about 25% at a failing level. That's out of about 20 kids I've come in contact with. Therefore, that is about 5 kids in the last few years. Hardly a stinging indictment of the homeschooling system.
Who knows, in the next 5 years maybe I'll see more successes and that number will change dramatically. But if parents buy into the "unschooling" concept, I think I'll see more. As I read the article, unschooling is a chance for the child to direct his own learning. That is a constructivist approach I reject in my classroom as would many here. It sounds so nice, but without guidance, what keeps it from becoming a front for truancy? Therefore leading to yet more kids in my classroom who know the TV schedule better than their alphabet.
Obviously, this is my little corner of the world. Your's may vary. :)
Bravo! Your son will one day thank you. Of that I am sure!
Post of the day. Shout it from the rooftops!
I think that some kids are more motivated than others.
My son is gifted, and he is the least motivated of my 3 kids. He likes to sit around and play computer games.
My daughters are totally different. One of them loves math and sits around doing math worksheets for fun. The other loves science and reads books and the internet about volcanoes, different kinds of animals, electricity, etc.
However, none of my kids like to write. They avoid it like the plague.
My dictionary defines "truant" as a student who stays away from school without leave or permission.
How is it that you think my son owes you his time?
You cited 2 so I cited 2. I could cite more.
I didn't make the assessment of the 10th grader reading at a high 5th grade/low 6th grade level. That was done by a reading specialist, who the parents took the boy to see at the auggestion of a guidance counselor. My friend, the boy's mother, has the report and I have seen it. I still am amazed that he was able to get such good grades. Although I really know the reason; he was good at the busy work, the extra credit projects.
As for his sister, who is failing algebra. You're correct, the school system wants her in the algebra class. I seriously doubt she will pass it when she takes it a second time. She does not have the basic math skills needed to do so.
As I said I have known successes and failures in all areas, public, private and homeschool including unschool.
I organized the local chapter of the homeschool honoor society and a couple of our students were unschoolers. They were bright and articulate young people.
Unschooling was not for my family and I would not recommend it to anyone asking for my help as they begin to homeschool, but I have seen it work and I support the right of parents to choose the type of education their children receive. I support my friend's choice to leave her children in the public school. She wants them to have a "real diploma" even though I think that diploma, if they ever get it, won't be worth much.
ping
Homeschooling is so very liberating (teaching-wise), and it is a wonderful time where you will get to know your child all over again.
My son was diagnosed with ADD and was recommended adderall. I went with it, and had him on the medication for a year. He has been medication free since last May. Not only is he not falling behind, he is doing things other kids in his class last year won't be doing for two more years. Some of it is the curriculum we use, but more than that it is the one on one (for the most part ~ he has a younger sister) attention that he is getting.
(BTW, We are also in the Dallas area.)
Thanks for the ping, sir. I'm all for unschooling,
deschooling, school-at-home, home education. Whatever gets
the kids and families out of the institutionalized, statist mode.
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