Home Schools Run By Well-Meaning Amateurs

NEA ^ | By Dave Arnold

[cornelis]

Now that isn't a bad idea...however, it has been my experience that homeschooling parents have the hubris to believe they can really do it all and their arrogance wouldn't allow someone more qualified to touch their kids' brains--(consequently, when we teachers get their children back they are unprepared and over challenged).

Hmm. You're onto something. When you take education out of the market economy it is likely to produce some negative effects. Whether the venue is public or private, it doesn't matter. Either way, some alternate form of competition will be in play. In American society, trust is reserved for the professiona

[ichabod1]

Exactamundo.

[sam_paine]

cementing!

OMG. Doesn't this just speak volumes about the author, the article, and the concept of "professional educators!!!"

Someone who doesn't know the difference between cement, concrete, conglomerate.....yet....is the only person skilled enough to teach a subject like geology to kids. Idiots!

[Wallace T.]

Many local home school groups have co-ops where someone who is particularly strong in one subject teaches that subject. Home schoolers in the middle and high school grades are more likely to participate in such co-ops. Additionally, there are a number of on line schools where home schoolers can deal with professional teachers who review homework, tests, and written assignments from a remote site.

[Sunshine Sister]

Okay...........if I get this right by having read the first couple of paragraphs.......if no one can know everything, how can teachers possibly know enough to give a good education? After all, they can't know everything right?

[Dustbunny]

Yep, this needs a BARF alert

[ichabod1]

And let's not forget the many that think watching popular movies is an effective use of class time.

And then there's the classic Bush Bashing Rant which probably takes up a significant amount of class time.

[WesternPacific]

I am also a public school teacher who supports and encourages homeschooling, but to think of some of the illiterate and or emotionally disturbed aka demo liberal extremist, parents trying to homeschool is terrifying to me. I feel for the child home-schooled by their wacko parents, but then again these are the same parents who have made public schools the way they are today.

[Coldwater Creek]

Not true with most home schooler parents! My whole family, cousins, aunts, grandmother have been school teachers. All are big proponents of home schooling.

Our grandchildren go to several "tutors" that specialize in whatever subject that their parents don't.

One granddaughter has graduated from college with highest honors and double degrees.

Another already had many college hours under her belt before darkening the college doors.
I could go on and on.

[latina4dubya]

--(consequently, when we teachers get their children back they are unprepared and over challenged).

i think the problem is you're just not used to students who can think for themselves... i'm sure this makes your job much more difficult... then you have to expend much energy just to "dumb them down" so they can be at the same level as all your other students... must be hard...

[MissMagnolia]

This NEA jerk just did to homeschooling parents what Kerry did to the military with his recent remarks ......

[meandog]

My cousin is a lawyer and a good one. He wants nothing more than to homeschool his children, but he has serious problems with mathematics. Algebra was a foreign language to him and forget about anything above that. (He made one 'C' in college...in College Algebra). Since he has such issues with mathematics, and the standardized tests put such emphasis on math, how can he, an obviously intelligent person, be reasonably expected to prepare his children for the rigors of math?

Exactly. You're preaching to the choir on this, shag...I also endorse a parent's right to teach his/her kids at home but SO many of them are SO unqualified in all the disciplines needed to prepare students for college. Homeschooling parents are the most arrogant lots you'll ever find, in always knowing what's best in educating their children, and in the end do their kids a disservice. I fully understand the angst against public schools but they would help their children a lot more if they abandoned the idea of homeschooling and opted instead for a job to pay the tuition for a good private school education.

[twonie]

Well-meaning amateurs? Noah was a well-meaning amateur. He built the ark and saved your miserable butt. And I bet he is right now sorry he did that. NEA = union malefactors.

[Madam Theophilus]

Same old straw man argument about parents not having enough expertise to instruct their children. Yawn! Given the fact that homeschooled children outscore all other types of students in standardized testing, it seems that the the evidence does not support this expert's assertion. Why he gets it wrong is that his argument is based on the erroneous assumption that parents who are homeschooling their children are the only ones the children will be exposed to in their education. The reality is that homeschooling parents draw from a wider range of educational instruction than is available to the average public school. Not only do they have the freedom to pick out the best curriculum, but they can also avail themselves of local experts in various fields, or even through the internet. This article also assumes an education degree enables one to be an expert in education. We can all see how the public school record sinks that argument in a second. Finally, this article assumes that the classroom instruction model is the most effective educational environment whereas a mentoring model has been used for thousands of years and has trained the world's best thinkers, inventors, philosophers and leaders. Need I say mroe?

[MortMan]

If you take your car to a mechanic, and it still won't run after you pay him lots of money, why should you trust him to "fix" it again?

Public schools are more than broken.

[ichabod1]

They also might check out Bioedonline.org . I know the people that produce it. I think it may be quite good.

[meandog]

Then why does every study show that homeschoolers do so much better on standardized tests (on average) than their peers in public school?

They don't if the comparison sample is correctly done.

[RightField]

And, for those out there who don't understand the meaning of "hubris", the above quote is a fine example.

Woo hoo ..... rim shot!

[twonie]

Pardon me all over the place. I aimed my previous post toward Dave Arnold, and then posted it to you. Sorry, meandog.

[ckilmer]

the sat's of home schooled children are higher than those of kids educated in public schools on average.