Posted on 05/31/2009 1:48:40 PM PDT by aberaussie
Homeschooling: great for self-aggrandizing, society-phobic mother…… but not quite so good for the kid.
Here are my top ten reasons why homeschooling parents are doing the wrong thing:
10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm (whether or not the offender was home schooled or not). And… say what you will… but it doesn’t feel nice to be considered an outsider, a natural outcropping of being homeschooled.
9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf (not at the same time I hope). It also shouldn’t be where the family gathers to watch American Idol or to play Wii. Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study. In modern society, we call them schools.
8. Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families. To take these (I’m assuming) high achieving students out of our schools is a disservice to our less fortunate public school kids. Poorer students with less literate parents are more reliant on peer support and motivation, and they greatly benefit from the focus and commitment of their richer and higher achieving classmates.
7. God hates homeschooling. The study, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, notes that the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. To the homeschooling Believers out there, didn’t God say “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? Didn’t he command, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”? From my side, to take your faithful children out of schools is to miss an opportunity to spread the grace, power and beauty of the Lord to the common people. (Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…)
6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me? Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…
5. As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off. (That’s good enough for #5.)
4. Homeschooling could breed intolerance, and maybe even racism. Unless the student is being homeschooled at the MTV Real World house, there’s probably only one race/sexuality/background in the room. How can a young person learn to appreciate other cultures if he or she doesn’t live among them?
3. And don’t give me this “they still participate in activities with public school kids” garbage. Socialization in our grand multi-cultural experiment we call America is a process that takes more than an hour a day, a few times a week. Homeschooling, undoubtedly, leaves the child unprepared socially.
2. Homeschooling parents are arrogant, Part 2. According to Henry Cate, who runs the Why Homeschool blog, many highly educated, high-income parents are “probably people who are a little bit more comfortable in taking risks” in choosing a college or line of work. “The attributes that facilitate that might also facilitate them being more comfortable with home-schooling.”
More comfortable taking risks with their child’s education? Gamble on, I don’t know, the Superbowl, not your child’s future.
1. And finally… have you met someone homeschooled? Not to hate, but they do tend to be pretty geeky***.
*** Please see the comments for thoughts on the word ‘geeky.’ But, in general, to be geeky connotes a certain inability to integrate and communicate in diverse social situations. Which, I would argue, is a likely result of being educated in an environment without peers. It’s hard to get by in such a diverse world as ours! And the more people you can hang out with the more likely you are to succeed, both in work life and real life.
One last note, to those homeschooling parents out there: it’s clear from the number and passion of your responses that TeacherRevised is missing an important voice in the teaching community. If any of you are interesting in writing for us, send me an email: jessescaccia@gmail.com. I would love to have you as part of our conversation.
Let’s see here....my oldest (you all know him, UltraSonic007) was homeschooled through high school, nailed his SAT’s and was offered multiple full-ride scholarships (Colleges are catching on...)
He took a full course-load year-round and graduated very early, Magna Cum Laude, in Mathematics minoring in History. He received a full-ride scholarship for his Master’s in Mathematics, and starts tomorrow on that.
His younger brother is moving at the same pace.
Besides the better education and overall life-preparation that homeschooling provides, my kids are the kindest you will ever meet. Why? Because they were educated by people who loved them, and were prepared to be in the world, but not OF the world. You can not get that anywhere else.
When you really take a step back and think about it, it is insance to think a situation where kids are surrounded only by people their own age is normal. Our kids understood freedom from an early age, and are able to associate and converse properly with people of all ages — because that is the reality after high school and in the workplace, and those that are not homeschooled don’t understand what a benefit that is.
Its that simple.
I used to get worried about the anti-homeschooling folks, but they are just wasting their breath on me.
It was scary at first, but turned out to be the best decision I ever made. Bar none.
Not all are in the position to be able to afford it, but if you are — I recommend it highly.
Is this for real? It almost seems like bad parody.
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And don't even get me started on my children "being in the real world". What world do they live in?
These people are never-ending whiners and complainers. They complain about the lack of parental involvement, lack of funding, classroom overcrowding, etc. They gladly take my tax money and squander it while I have to pay that tax PLUS spend out-of-my pocket to educate mine.
Bwahahahahahahahaha! to her comment on a "learning-focused place to study".
I've got better things to do than spend any more of my time responding.
An example of museum quality ignorance by one of the usual suspects...
The piece reads as if it were written in 1992. Only our highly trained education professionals and people who live in caves believe this sort of thing today.
Let them blog. Homeschooling is growing whether they like it or not because more and more parents are figuring out that the ed establishement is controlled by money grubbing ideologues who all too often lack basic knowledge and reasoning skills. We don’t need their approval - particularly since they are rsponsible for 2/3 of our expensively schooled 4th graders not being able to read at grade-level and for creating such educational paradises as Detroit, D.C., NYC, LAUSD, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, and Philly public schools. In fact, now that I think of it, highly trained education professionals who don’t have their own children enrolled in such districts are obviously being selfish...
“and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor”
Any kid that needs counseling for preping for college isn’t college material.
You might want to check your motivations for responding to anti-homeschooling types. Seems like this activity is similar to trying to argue with a liberal...neither gratifying nor productive. Your time could be better spent clearing your mind and preparing to teach.
government schools need to be banned.
6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me? Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…
Academic credentials are only part of the equation. How do you handle disruptive students in the class? Do you care if students can spell or not? I am not a math or a history teacher but if I home-schooled our son (and I don't) he would be working through the Saxon math books and reading the Hakim books on US History. He does not know it yet but he will be doing those things away.
Also, you call homeschooling parents arrogant. What a crock.
The very tone of your comments reek of arrogance and elitism.
One of your points 8 reeks of racism and classism-students from poor less educated families can only learn by being around students who families are well educated and wealthy.
That is absurd. I knew lots of such kids in high school-they were not interested in helping kids from poor less educated families.
that leadership issue must terrify the institutionally less than average intelligence public school teachers. Those leaders will know that public school is a scam.
arrogant?
please.
“You think your kids are better than these kids? Well thats arrogance. How can you think your kids deserve a better education than all the rest?”
“Which, I would argue, is a likely result of being educated in an environment without peers.”
I wasn’t home schooled.
I was raised to converse with adults as equals from the time I was born.
I basicly shuned kids my own age and ran with ones that were 8-10 years older than I was.
I knew where I was going and what I was going to do in life bu the time I was in the 6th grade.
In other words, not worldly, which is something to be PROUD of. ___ But the #1 reason, and reason 2-10, is because homeschooling takes power away from the government and the teacher's unions, and empowers parents.
She makes the case for homeschooling beautifully. If this is what homeschooling parents are up against they have little to worry about....
God hates homeshooling!? The Father “homeschooled His Son” The first time they sent Him to “public school” he was bullied and crucified!
Someone should tell her that her poorly educated students may call homeschoolers “geeky” in college, but in a few years they’ll be calling them “boss”.
Stopped reading after the first line.
The IDIOT wrote:
“10. “You were totally home schooled” is an insult college kids use when mocking the geeky kid in the dorm”
And those dumba$$ college kids matter why?
“9. Call me old-fashioned, but a students’ classroom shouldn’t also be where they eat Fruit Loops and meat loaf ... Students–from little ones to teens–deserve a learning-focused place to study. In modern society, we call them schools.”
I think students should have a place to study as well - in fact most homeschoolers do as well. That’s why they set aside a room in their house if they can for no other purpose. Also, look at any public school and you’ll see texting on their cellphones, not learning, buying drugs, etc. That’s modern society.
“8. Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families.”
Yet you condemn homeschooling? Let me get this straight. You admit that increasingly the best families in terms of wealth and education are choosing to homeschool and yet you make no connection between that fact and the families’ wealth and education SUCCESS? So they should send their kids to crappy public schools to be UNSELFISH? You’re a moron. Clearly you went to public school.
“7. God hates homeschooling. The study, done by the National Center for Education Statistics, notes that the most common reason parents gave as the most important was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. To the homeschooling Believers out there, didn’t God say “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”? Didn’t he command, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me”? From my side, to take your faithful children out of schools is to miss an opportunity to spread the grace, power and beauty of the Lord to the common people. (Personally I’m agnostic, but I’m just saying…) “
You’re saying that you’re a moron. Kids can be great beacons of light in dark places, but they also have to be properly cared for and raised AND EDUCATED. If parents decide that means homeschooling them, then guess what?
“6. Homeschooling parent/teachers are arrogant to the point of lunacy. For real! My qualifications to teach English include a double major in English and education, two master’s degrees (education and journalism), a student teaching semester and multiple internship terms, real world experience as a writer, and years in the classroom dealing with different learning styles. So, first of all, homeschooling parent, you think you can teach English as well as me? Well, maybe you can. I’ll give you that. But there’s no way that you can teach English as well as me, and biology as well as a trained professional, and history… and Spanish… and art… and counsel for college as well as a school’s guidance counselor… and… and…”
Again, you’re an idiot. Homeschoolers don’t need guidance counselors. They can learn almost any subject that is taught in a regular school with greater speed and retention than the poor deprived kid stuck in a classroom. Also, they will avoid child rapists working as teachers, liberalism couched as lessons, morons like yourself and other fools who think that education is only reducible to pieces of colorful paper called degrees (I have five of them by the way so cut me some slack. I know what I’m talking about.)
“5. As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off. (That’s good enough for #5.)”
Why? Why would success and family togetherness piss you off? Isn’t that rather childish on your part? Do public libraries also piss you off? Gee, someone might be learning something in their without you controlling them!!!
“4. Homeschooling could breed intolerance, and maybe even racism.”
And, gee, we know public schools have no problems at all with racism or intolerance or, for that matter, anti-Christian attitudes, liberalism, socialism, communism, homosexuality, “free love”, drug use, anti-Americanism, reverse racism, affirmative action, waste, fraud, low standards, stupidity, ignorance, etc. Right?
“Unless the student is being homeschooled at the MTV Real World house, there’s probably only one race/sexuality/background in the room. How can a young person learn to appreciate other cultures if he or she doesn’t live among them?”
First, why exactly does he have to appreciate other cultures? Is this America? Last time I checked it was. If I raise him to appreciate America - the country he lives in - how am I in the wrong? Also, why do you assume that “other cultures” is analogus to racial identity. That’s racist in itself. There is no American race. You might want to look at a successful school - a public school - unlike the one you work at. Look at the American Indian Charter School in Oakland, California and then realize what a typical liberal fool you are. The LA Times just did a fascinating - and sadly left wing - article on that excellent school yesterday.
“3. And don’t give me this “they still participate in activities with public school kids” garbage. Socialization in our grand multi-cultural experiment we call America is a process that takes more than an hour a day, a few times a week. Homeschooling, undoubtedly, leaves the child unprepared socially.”
BS!!! The most socially retarded morons I ever met - like yourself - were products of public schools.
“2. Homeschooling parents are arrogant, Part 2. According to Henry Cate, who runs the Why Homeschool blog, many highly educated, high-income parents are “probably people who are a little bit more comfortable in taking risks” in choosing a college or line of work. “The attributes that facilitate that might also facilitate them being more comfortable with home-schooling.” More comfortable taking risks with their child’s education? Gamble on, I don’t know, the Superbowl, not your child’s future.”
They aren’t gambling on their kids’ future. Notice, they’re not sending them to public schools!!! I would want my kids to be risk takers. They might fail often, but they will also find success most likely. If I left them to you, you would sissify them and make them dependent upon Uncle Sam. You would make my children left-wing, empty headed wage slaves/parasites like yourself. I have to support your lazy, barely working, unionized carcass with my tax dollars and for what? So kids can graduate barely able to read? Idiot!
“1. And finally… have you met someone homeschooled? Not to hate, but they do tend to be pretty geeky***.”
Strange. I always thought of the homeschooling kids I met as successful scholarship students at major universities. One I know especially well is studying for a PhD. Others I know have gone to college, gotten degrees, married, had kids, work good jobs and don’t put self-embarrassing crap on the internet as you have. Who’s the geek here?
“One last note, to those homeschooling parents out there: it’s clear from the number and passion of your responses that TeacherRevised is missing an important voice in the teaching community. If any of you are interesting in writing for us, send me an email: jessescaccia@gmail.com. I would love to have you as part of our conversation.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Wow, you threw in the towel pretty quickly. You went from hating them to wanting to hire them! Fools.
Touche!
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