Fed Up Minority Families Turn to Homeschooling

Fox News.com ^ | Sept. 7, 2001 | Brian Wilson

[Temple Drake]

It's the first day of school for teacher Joby Dupree, but she already knows her students very well. The pupils

[ChocChipCookie]

"Minority communities are beginning to realize that the system is not going to change overnight, and the promises that are being made are 5- and 10- and 15-year promises," said homeschooling advocate Bernard West, who, like the Duprees, is black. "If you have a third-grader or a fourth-grader, that means that chances are that third-grader is going to graduate from a bad public school."

And yet they continue to VOTE DEMOCRAT!!!! Who do they think has been making, and breaking, those promises for years??? Who stands in the way of school vouchers?? Who consistently kisses the behind of the NEA??? If Sydney, Phillip and Andrew truly do get an excellent education through homeschooling, they'll be voting REPUBLICAN as soon as they turn 18.

[ChocChipCookie]

Just a few years ago, less than 100 home schoolers were admitted in all four of the Armed Services together!

Oh Lord. Give me a freakin' break. As if the military is getting the cream of the crop (crap is more like it)from public schools. I had to deal with Army enlistees when I taught at a DODDS school in Germany. I'd never met so many ignorant hillbillies in my life. All public schooled, of course.

[sonofdemnomo]

We find that homeschool kids are more often than not generally very nice and sociable - but very disobedient.

That's a first for me. Almost all of the homeschool kids that I know respect their parents for the most part. They don't get embarrassed to be seen with them when they are in their teens. There was this one weird homeschooling family who allowed their kids to swear. The son would use the F-word as an adjective. No one liked this family. I hang out with all different types of homeschoolers. Mostly Christian, but some secular. It's too bad that you saw only the bad stuff.

Homeschooling does NOT guarantee that a family will succeed or have perfect kids. We homeschooled for 5 years before my wife and I finally realized that it is not a guarantee for anything. Some people are equipped to homeschool and other aren't

My parents would agree with you on this statement. Not the part about homeschool kids being disobedient. Maybe sometimes. That's what being a kid is all about. In my home there are consequences to bad behaviour or not finishing my school work.

I'm thirteen-years-old. I like being homeschooled. I was in the public schools and hated the cliques, burned-out teachers, hypocritical "character education" and zero tolerance policies that didn't work. I'm not perfect either, but I'd rather be where I am than in a peer-pressured, stuffy classroom that barely covers a subject in thirty to forty minutes.

[joathome]

Frapster,

No, not all homeschooling stories are peachy keen. But even as you wrote your own experiences with the homeschooling families you know, I think you ALSO know that far more homeschooling children are doing well than not, even though your "own" statistics show, otherwise.

[NYS_Eric]

May I just intrude here and say that you come across as a very mature (and WELL-EDUCATED) 13-year old? Your parents have a lot to be proud of. Glad to have you here as a Freeper.

[Frapster]

I can't afford any of the private schools that are out there. I've been out of work for 3 months... just started a new job this week. But my point in my previous thread holds true for private schools as well. You won't escape the realities of living in private school.

[Frapster]

No, not all homeschooling stories are peachy keen. But even as you wrote your own experiences with the homeschooling families you know, I think you ALSO know that far more homeschooling children are doing well than not, even though your "own" statistics show, otherwise.

Statistics of recent years support your statement. I started homeschooling my kids as a result of those statistic. So have many other families in our area. But as homeschooling become more popular those statistics are going to average out. The early adopters of homeschooling were highly motivated and resourceful parents. I'm seeing an influx of families who have dysfunctional and disruptive behaviours and are choosing homeschooling (for the moment) as the path of least resistance. Why deal with complaining teachers and upset principles when you can just keep the kid at home and pretend to homeschool.

There are many successful support organizations in our area. There are many many people who are succeeding. But the dirty underbelly (bet most people don't/won't believe there is one) of homeschooling is just as I've described. For all the success stories there are many families in crisis who refuse to share the struggles that they're facing. Because it's just not acceptable for a homeschooling family to be failing. When we put our kids in public school we were floored by the people who confided their struggles with us.

We had homeschooled, been active in our community - and the moment we looked like someone they could identify with they poured their hearts out. My wife (being a stay at home mom) in particular would share stories with me of families in our community who were in dire straights.

It's shocking to me how unwilling the homeschool community is to acknowledge that there are families in crisis and at the same time be so quick to point to the statistics from past years to point out how successful homeschooling is. Yesterday's mana may not be good for today - in particular tomorrow.

Homeschooling is not for everyone. The public school system is not the devil. Involved parents who teach solid morals and values to their children can and do produce mature adults who grow up to live wonderful lives regardless of a home or public setting. Sending your child to public school does not automatically relegate them to "getting calls from strange girls at midnight" and "not talking to you anymore."

Everyone homeschool organization should have a crisis support group. There ARE families who cannot seem to figure out how to get organized, who stop educating well before the Christmas holidays and who do not resume again until the next fall when they will "surely do better than last year." The truth is out there.... (*X-files them here*)

[LarryLied]

Another alternative was posted yesterday:

Best of both worlds? (New hybrid home/private school education model)

[EdReform]

bump

[jhofmann]

Tax credits for home schoolers appears to be the "third rail" in American education politics. We are only allowed to talk about vouchers (which presumably would benefit corporate schools) and watch from afar as cities like Milwaukee successfully implement them. But mention home schoolers in a room of politicians and teacher unions and it will clear out pretty fast (which is not a bad thing when you think about it). But the time has come for a national leader like W. to take the home schoolers cause up.

[yoe]

Mr. Booker T. Washington long ago reminded his followers and others..."The way for people to gain their reasonable rights IS not by voluntarily throwing them away." And indeed they do in today's social engineered public schools and voting to keep forked tongued politicians of the left persuasion in office. Voting as a block has enabled the Jessie Jackson's of our times to gain the minority support while making rich men of the JJ's., the NAACP, and certainly most of the Democratic Party.

Home schooling will do more to erase the racial overtones the socialists and others keep trying to perpetrate for votes and power. Is it any wonder why the politician's on the left, the teacher's and their unions try to stop this?

[summer]

Thank you so much for posting this uplifting and fabulous article.

(And, YES, I still support public schools as well, and always will -- and, no one on this thread needs to respond and tell me I am wrong to do so. I support ALL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR THE LEARNER -- INCLUDING HOMESCHOOLING, INCLUDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS, and: INCLUDING EVERYTHING ELSE.

Whatever works for the student -- DO IT.)

:)