Posted on 02/08/2011 9:54:44 AM PST by all the best
The home-school movement is expanding rapidly. No one knows how many home-schooled children there are in the United States, but one U.S. government estimate was 1.5 million as of 2008. Another organization puts it at 2.1 million in 2010. This is a large market. It is growing. There is no reason to think that it will shrink.
The rights of parents to home school vary, state to state. It is still a battle, but there is little possibility in the future that the United States will ever impose what Europe has: a system of state-run schools in which home schooling is illegal.
We see a growing market. We also see information-delivery costs at zero: YouTube, WordPress.com, Blogger.com, and PDFs. We would expect to see a large number of videos and curriculum strategies on-line. But we don't.
As is true of almost every phenomenon, about 20% of the curriculum publishing companies control about 80% of the market. The main ones are Accelerated Christian Education, A Beka, and Bob Jones University. There are others: Alpha-Omega, Rod and Staff. These are printed materials. They are expensive. If you print your own, you can buy low-cost, high-quality materials. By far the best for the money is the Robinson Curriculum: $200, once, for the entire family. It is on CD-ROMs.
Then there is the growing influence of the Khan Academy. Salman Khan, a graduate of M.I.T. and the Harvard Business School, teaches mathematics (K-12), physics, chemistry, and business, free of charge, using YouTube as the vehicle.
Think of what Khan has done. He is a man with no experience in teaching for money or in home schooling, yet he has launched by far the most promising secular home school curriculum on earth. His nieces and nephews told him that he is a good teacher.
(Excerpt) Read more at garynorth.com ...
I have my own curriculum for the courses I teach. I’ve taught chem, bio, physics, math, history and english. I tailor it for each student, depending on their requirements.
It’s not ‘government approved’. It is, however, effective...
If homeschoolers needed documentation, I’d be happy to provide it, but it’s not quite the same. ;)
That is just the things he did that immediately come to mind there was more, much more.
Should be
Those are just the things he did that immediately come to mind, there was more, much more.
It is heartening to read your comment. I have long been concerned that homeschooling would result in kids that were not well socialized due to not attending school. Perhaps I was wrong to worry about that. I do think parents who homeschool have to take this into account and work at it.
Your thoughts?
I have had my daughter in for the last 5 years. The curriculum is state approved, but I get to filter and add or subtract as I wish.
It's great.
I know that homeschooling has gone on for enough years that many homeschooled pupils are now in college.
I wonder what the mostly-liberal professors think of them?
I suspect that most of the arguments professors get in the classroom are from former homeschooled pupils.
I put my own curriculum together and wrote my own lesson plans for most of the classes I taught to my son. I have shared my oceanography lesson plans with other home school mothers and it has been suggested that I publish it and a couple others for sale.
I have also given a few small seminars on keeping records, writing transcripts and guiding your child toward success as a college applicant.
The local public school psychologist has my name and number and often directs potential home school parents to me for advice.
In the last couple years those who call seem to be the parents of problem students the schools want out of their hair so to speak. I stress the strong family commitment it takes to home school hoping those who are not willing to make the commitment will reconsider.
The liberal professors teaching my kids loved them. They were eager to learn, personable, conscientious, hard working, punctual, and attentive. They also challenge the party line with good apologetics when they can.
This man knows nothing about homeschooling or homeschooling curriculum. His investigation of the subject is cursory at best. His biggest problem is the current mode of thinking that believes everything should be free. I know there is plenty of curriculum produced by homeschooling mothers but it is not all of it is free. Some of it is expensive. Some of it isn’t. Some actually is free. For decades some of them have sacrificed and lived on one salary. Now that their families are grown up, I have no problem with them wanting to charge for their work. Since I agree with the Bible that a worker is worthy of his wages, I don’t see any problem with homeschooling moms charging for their knowledge.
If this clown doesn’t like that, and thinks everything should be free, let him be the first to give up his salary.
One thing homeschooling moms don’t need from this idiot is another layer of societal guilt.
Grandparents need to step in and help too.
I’m with you and I think we can start by getting rid of the Dept of Indoctrination (currently called the Dept of Education).
Thanks, esquirette, for the info.
I’m glad your kids did so well under your tutelage. They sound like great kids!!
He actually writes:
No more "I'm just not equipped." No more "Woe, woe, woe -- poor helpless me." No more "But I'm so busy." No more "I've done my part with my kids. That's enough for anyone to do."
Gary, do you actually know any home school moms? I know many and I have never heard anything like that. Here is tip. Take it for what it is worth. When you finally meet a home school mom, don't say any of what you said above unless you want that mom to kick your ass. Now that they can do.
Good article, but this is incorrect: “We also see information-delivery costs at zero.”
In order to take advantage of YouTube, WordPress, PDFs, and so on, you need a computer, internet access, and a good printer. That does cost something.
FWIW, my wife and I homeschool our kids.
Frankly, I found just the opposite. I used to joke if we were any more socialized we would never have time to do school.
With all the activities available to home school families today, unless the parents are antisocial and purposefully hiding in their homes, home schooled children are extremely socialized. There are co-op classes, team sports and other activities organized by home schooled parents and organizations.
However I did find my son was often impatient with the immaturity of his public schooled peers.
I do it, read my post 26.
Home schooling is not monolithic. We come to it for a variety of reasons and pursue it a variety of ways. You choose virtual courses while I would not. I enjoyed the “hunt” for resources and writing my own.
It is education truly tailored to the student and family situation.
I agree! In my experience, homeschooling moms are a wonderfully self-confident and also an exceptionally creative group. The last thing in the world I personally wanted to do was to follow the curriculum spelled out by anyone else.
There are already on the market excellent publications for use in each subject area. It is a personal decision to select from them according to the needs and interests of one’s own children.
We used Saxon math texts from grade school through to AP Calculus. Sullivan Programmed reading materials (super phonic instruction) are still available for use, but the old McGuffey Readers are easy to locate and wonderful to use as well. Science and social studies materials are a joy to locate (from libraries, online sources, etc.) and truly can be adapted to the interests and enthusiasms of one’s own youngsters.
Elisabeth, my husband was wary of homeschooling also. He agreed, though, to let us try it for just one year. Perhaps your husband would be willing to do the same. In our case, we first tried it only for kindergarten. We never stopped until the kids were off to MIT and Cornell. All along the way, homeschooling was a terrifically fun and rewarding adventure. May you have the opportunity too!
Awesome!
Yes, I hope to persaude my husband with a trial year. My daughter is in public school kindergarten. We live in a top school district and she also absolutely loves school, so it’s a hard sell right now, but I am hoping that as some of the negative social aspects of public school become clear that my husband will be more receptive. For now I’m “afterschooling” but will keep working on my husband!
Thanks kalee, very interesting.
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