Posted on 10/08/2007 4:07:25 PM PDT by ChocChipCookie
In so many ways, we are already there.
When we started homeschooling about 15 years ago, there was less support.
But now, there are classes on DVD, there are Home Satellite Broadcasts (Bob Jones Univ. HomeSAT), many home schooling groups, etc. There are many more companies that are offering affordable curriculum options. It is amazing what is out there now, and it will probably only get better!
Mike
you folks are all wrong. teachers need to make more money for all they do.
The socialists in the socialist run government public school systems are not going to like this one bit!
What is needed is free enterprise for schooling within the city. A decentralization of the traditional school. We need to expand the kind of roles that the YMCA, dance schools, and community youth orchestras have and see centers that teach math (Kumon), sciences (?), and languages (?).
A free enterprise system of schools already exists parallel to public schools.
This took a study? C’mon, everyone knew that the rich kids in the suburbs were doing just fine in public schools, and subsequently in college. It’s always been the public schools in the poorer areas that were circling the drain. There is nothing but room for improvement when you homeschool in such a situation.
Not enough. We need buildings.
Any city of any size has numerous private schools.
If you look at faculty lists of private schools you will see very few education majors (except maybe for elementary).
Private schools want teachers who know the subject.
Public schools want teachers who know the socialist, feminist, humanist, cr** they shove down the kids throats.
I’ve been home schooling two of my grandchildren for a number of years. Sometimes, it’s a struggle. Yet I would rather struggle than put them into the local indoctrination system. WE have far too many activities going on right now.
My apologies, but I understand there are many “schools” there. Enough to teach all the children out there. What I am suggesting—and I trust this makes sense—is a kind of decentralization, of the public school, of the private school, and the school at home.
To the best of my knowledge, those facilities are decentralized — each with its own staffs, buildings, educational philosophy etc.
Probably because they love their kids and want them to do better than they did in life, and they know the public schools don't really care.
$4,000 a year to homeschool?
I think we cracked $1,000 one year with four kids in school. Our oldest is a senior. Conservatively, we have not spent for 12 years to educate between one and four students what some districts pay for one kid per year.
Yeah, like the federal government is decentralized.
Huh? You want a decentralized federal gubmint beyond the division of legislative, executive, etc.? I’m not following at all...
Decentralization involves the dispersion and distribution of educational functions to specialized and independent organizations using their own facilities. Such organizations might be centrally located, but not centrally governed. As I mentioned in my first post, the YMCA does quite well in offering swimming. Programs like 4H have their specialty. Kumon math centers teach math. Dance schools and youth orchestras also flourish independently. What is missing, it seems, are organizatons for language and science. I can imagine that reading centers could find a place in regular malls.
These organizations would receive local or federal funds? Would they charge a fee?
What I’m thinking about is an educational package so complete that parents who have no teacher in them at all can home school by providing a disciplined environment.
The real advantage of such a system is that by not wasting student time, it is possible to give a home school student such an educational advantage that typical classroom educated students cannot compete.
Integrated with multi-level instruction, that is, teaching several subjects at once, such as history, geography and a foreign language, the system needs to be part of an educational Intranet capable of providing resources through college level.
Such a system also has hidden advantages provided by computer in the background, such as tracking student performance compared to their previous performance on particular subjects. The learning curve is uneven, with fits and starts on different subjects that the computer can adapt for, taking extra time when the student is below par and speeding them along when they are “on a roll”. The computer can also subtly help motivate them.
There are times when a particular student is very interested in a subject, and such a system allows them to digress and follow an information path far beyond the rest of the subject. Say they suddenly become fascinated with President Gerald Ford. They can take some “earned” reward time to find out far more than is part of their typical lesson at that age.
From there, they can digress further, say to study Ford’s actions against the Swine flu threat of the time. Once they have learned what interested them, they can return to the main topic they were studying.
Conversely, if there is, say, a particular algebra problem that frustrates them, there might be a dozen different models to examine just that one problem, until it makes sense to them. They can see how in situation after situation, how the correct solution fits into real world examples.
Don’t overly complicate the learning process.
Even Steve Jobs stated a few years ago that computers might not be suitable for much of the basic schooling process.
For example - pre-Kindergarten up to about 8th or 9th grade - there should be minimal use of computers. Students need to focus on learning - and most of it needs to be rote memorization. They need to read lots and lots of books, and they need to do lots of basic math, becoming extremely proficient. Reading - lots of focus on history.
During these “formative years” - they have to pack in lots of basic facts. Later on, the computer might be useful for searching more details from the web site, and digging deeper than what is available in books. But in the earlier years - the computer can easily be more of a distraction than a learning tool (and that was the point that I think Steve Jobs was trying to make.)
Once the student gets into High School - then it is time to develop and blossom; but without the basic foundation of skills that is developed through the rote learning - the student won’t be as successful as he could otherwise be.
And note that focusing on the basics - the essence of success for the early school years, is fairly easy, even for parents without a college degree or any teacher’s credential. And those that focus on the basics are more likely to be successful and developing within the student the ability to be a good independent student when the student reaches high school.
Mike
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