Question to homeschool advocates

[Thoeting]

I have a question to homeschool advocates.

I teach English to students with learning disabilities in a small (500 students) middle school. I work mostly with 6th graders. These are students who are 11-12 years old.

This September, we had 6 students enroll who were previously home-schooled. Each set is coming into the public school system for different reasons. In 2 families, the parents have split up and both parents must now work. The others either just wanted to try it, or were tired of home. or moved from a large city. Of the 6, 1 enrolled in the school's gifted/talented program. Of the others, all 5 are coming in with deplorable skills. 2 of them (siblings) are unable to recognize all letters of the alphabet, and are also quite weak in math. They can count to 100, and do 1 digit addition and subtraction. Of the other three, 1 cannot recognize cursive, 1 can spell nothing beyond four letters, and the last one reads at about a 2nd grade level.

Everyone one of the 5 that I work with have "iffy" social skills. None are comfortable around large groups, and 3 of them are actually afraid of the other kids. All of them prefer to be with the adults.

I work with these 5 in an English class. Because of their discomfort with large groups, I requested to have only these five for this year. I enjoy their personalities greatly and I am thrilled every day to watch them grow. However, even though they are of normal intelligence, it is likely, that most of them will not learn to read at a 6th grade level before leaving middle school, which means they will continue to be behind considerably into high school.

I know that there is a large homeschool contingent that read FreeRepublic and I would like to know if anyone here has seen a situation like this before. Is there anyone out there looking out for kids to make sure they are actually being instructed? At what point do homeschool parents start to get worried? Is there any type of agency that oversees homeschool parents? As I have conferenced with these parents over the course of the year, NONE were aware that there was a problem! Yet some of these children were up to 6 years behind.

Please don't take this as a slam against homeschooling. Obviously something went wrong in these situations, but I think (or at least hope!) that the majority work well.

[artios]

Do you think you can assess homeschoolers in general (millions of them) based on a sample of 6? That is what you laid out. I would say there are some critical thinking skills deficitis were you come from as well. Homeschooling or private, or parochial schools are all better choices than the corrupt, morally bankrupt cesspool of decay called the public school system. On the other hand, if you happen to like witchcraft, hatred, variance, strife, murder, drugs, blackmail, extortion, gangs and other social skills predominant in the public shcools, then you may want to keep you kids in them. As Martin Luther said, public schools have become the gates of hell.

[Judith Anne]

Just an aside--we were surprised to learn that the math is Saxon in our local public high school. Not too common, is it?

[Diva Betsy Ross]

YOur question about what keeps Homeschooling going into a bad, bad situation is the amount of decication from the parents. I am surprised by your story. I wonder if it is the community in which you live. Homeschooling is and will always be the best way to educate the brightest students who have dedicated parents. It is unfourtnate that these children of yours are lagging behind, however, they quite possibly represent in homeschooling the percentage of government educated children that are "poor preformers". IMHO

[markn]

Don't hijack the thread with your superstitions. Stick to the subject.

Hmmmm... As I recall it I wasn't the one who brought the unrelated topic of the validity of creation into this thread. I simply replied to your hi-jacking.

[kassie]

No it's not.

[Judith Anne]

There was quite a struggle for the district HS math instructor to get it in the system, but the kids in this little town can make change...not that we have a McDonald's (nearest one is a 74 mile round trip, no loss). Some parents and students objected to the memorization of rules, axioms, theorems, and the fact that answers on tests were either RIGHT, or WRONG, and thus were objectively graded...poor dears...;-D

[Judith Anne]

That's if I remember correctly; the big flap was about ten years ago...

[Doctor Doom]

No, I cited an example to prove a point about homeschooling, and you tried to turn it into an evo/creation debate.

Drop it.

[stanz]

How do you know what kind of an education I had?

[stanz]

Mine, too.

[stanz]

Thanks for pointing out the hypocrisy of certainer posters. The freeper you were referring to flamed me just because my original response merely suggested my concern for certain parents who are not well-equipped to homeschool and not any negative connotations about homeschooling on its own merits.
Although I disagree with certain people from time to time, I never demean them. I wish they would read my messages for what they are and not attach other meanings to them. Some Freepers are downright rude while claiming to be compassionate.

[stanz]

What typo?

[stanz]

So where did the mom get her education? A government school, perhaps? Hmmmmm?

I really don't know and I don't care either. All I do know is I would be very concerned if someone teaching my daughter couldn't spell.
I also happen to know that this particular mother does not know that drug-taking is going on right under her nose and she doesn't know it. I also know that her daughter never does assignments and has never gotten her high school diploma and she is now 20 years old. She would not have gotten away with that in the school she attended with my daughter, which, by the way, was NOT a public school.

I am not condemning homeschooling. DOES EVERYONE HEAR THAT? I am saying again that is reason for concern. Period.

[Khepera]

I never claimed to be compassionate. As far as I know you have no education.

[BibChr]

No, I cited an example to prove a point about homeschooling, and you tried to turn it into an evo/creation debate.

I guess I see your point, after looking over the posts.

I mean, just because I might say that everyone who embraces the fairy tale of evolution is a credulous, philosophically bankrupt naif who can never adduce a moral principle with any credibility doesn't mean I'm trying to start a fight on the subject.

Good point!

Dan
Why I Am (Still) a Christian

[stanz]

Well, floods are apparent, drips often go unrecognized. If a kid gets less than decent grades across the board, you know something has to be looked into. If a kid gets consistently good grades with one dismal one, you can zero in on the teacher and find out the problem. In any event, you need to confront each situation and take necessary action. It might mean changing schools or turning to homeschooling if the fault lies in the teaching. This has often been the case. But, in institutionalized schooling, public or private, there's a mechanism in place which sends up a flare when there are inconsistencies. One has to reckon with problems because the problems are brought to the forefront. I would think that sometimes, this goes by the wayside in a homeschooling situation. That's all. No big condemnation of homeschooling. It works for many.

[stanz]

You are not worth answering to any longer.

[Wordsmith]

Well, I read the whole thread (so far, anyhow), and I'm truly frightened. My wife and I are thinking of homeschooling our 3-year-old daughter. We have older sons who survived the public schools here, but we are concerned that a little girl would have more trouble. We are well educated and can easily teach most subjects at an elementary level or better.

The problem we keep wrestling with is socialization. There are few children in our immediate neighborhood, and we have no nearby family members with small kids either. We would try to get involved with a homeschool group, but, frankly, some of the people who homeschool strike us as fanatical, to speak charitably. I think many of the responses to your very thoughtful post more than confirm our worst nightmares.

Take a deep breath, keep an open mind. My wife and I continue to successfully homeschool all our boys - ages 3, 6, and 9 - and the beauty of it is that it is truly a vocation. Unlike public schooling, the educational approach of other children really doesn't have to have an impact on you and yours. We've mingled some with other homeschoolers, but not much. Our boys play with each other, with us, with a couple of friends at Church, with a couple of decent kids they bump in to at the library. And they don't suffer for it. The socialization controversy is overblown. Really, how many close friends from your elementary school years do you still have? Raise them well, give them access to the whole world through literature, consider yourselves to be on a adventurous quest of growth and learning. Homeschooling is the natural outgrowth of a good marriage - and is very similar in its mutuality. And like the blessings of a good marriage, the rewards and sheer fun of homeschooling are impossible to convey to those who haven't experienced it.

[ShadowAce]

I was blessed with my oldest child teaching himself to read at age 2.5, and he is 10 and reads anything well. I would say that his vocabulary usage is above his age level, though he has great difficulty writing, both manually (he is good on the computer) and creatively, but he does have autism so I think that creativity is hard to tie in to written expression still for him. I know he will get there.

Our eldest (age 7) sounds exactly like your eldest. My wife was researching some of his problems and we have (unofficially) diagnosed him with Asperger's Syndrome. It's nothing to be alarmed over (my wife and I both believe we are also somewhat affected as well), but more like something to be aware of when dealing with/teaching him. You might want to look into it and see if your situation would be like that.