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Question to homeschool advocates

Posted on 01/18/2002 2:20:59 PM PST by 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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: braad
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1 posted on 01/18/2002 2:20:59 PM PST by Thoeting
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To: Thoeting
zzzzzzzz.....
2 posted on 01/18/2002 2:24:45 PM PST by daniel boob
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To: Thoeting
Homeschoolers regularly outclass government school students in every way - from spelling Bs to geography Bs, and I have no doubt that they would rather socialize with adults than with the kind of slugs and thugs found in a typical government school.

Homeschooling is growing and it will one day serve as a nail in the coffin for the failed government school system.

3 posted on 01/18/2002 2:25:12 PM PST by Doctor Doom
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To: Thoeting
Wow. I hope you're wrong, too.
My nieces (5, 10, & 14) are home schooled, and I think my sister-in-law is doing a fine job with them. They appear to be intelligent and socialize with other children well. They mix with other children routinely, but are also good with adults. I chalk this up to their being around a large number of adults where their Mom works...and Mom takes them with her wherever she goes...shopping, errands, etc.
It sounds like your 5 had poor home environments (I'll take flak over that!) and were doomed to a slow start.
4 posted on 01/18/2002 2:27:33 PM PST by HiJinx
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To: Thoeting
My goodness! Their reading deficits surprise me, although I can understand them not feeling comfortable in large groups of kids, depending on the social scene at your school (some are so Lord of the Flies it's frightening).

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.

And my little one is not yet 5 and his phonics book has him already reading lots of little words. He can hardly be called "behind."

Again, I am shocked that 4 out of 5 are way below their schooled peers. What were they doing at home, I wonder?

5 posted on 01/18/2002 2:27:33 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: Doctor Doom
If you look at my last paragraph, I do not deny that homeschooling is effective. My question was more along the lines of what keeps it from going very very bad as in these situations?
6 posted on 01/18/2002 2:28:42 PM PST by Thoeting
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To: Thoeting
Which part of the country do you live in? What ethnicity are the students? What sort of "home schooling" did they receive? What are the socieoeconomic backgrounds and educational levels of the parents? I think you get my drift... a lot depends on the particulars. I would argue that most of the "serious" home schoolers will never see the four walls of a public school until after they reach 18, and then, only in cases where they attend a public univeristy. I do not have kids or home school but know people who do. They are all professionals and well educated and their children are held to much higher standards than they would be in any school. It seems to me like you are not dealing with folks who are typical of the "home schooling movement", in fact, they may be lying to you about "home schooling". What you have described sounds very disfunctional and 180 degrees off from the traditional values and strong family ethics that most home schoolers have.
7 posted on 01/18/2002 2:29:57 PM PST by GOP_1900AD
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To: Yaelle
They claim to have doing a curriculum from ABeka(which I know is a respected choice by some) and I have seen work samples from previous years. But what they do now and what I have been shown don't agree.
8 posted on 01/18/2002 2:30:37 PM PST by Thoeting
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To: Thoeting
sounds like these kids were "schooled" by dysfunctional parents. not the kids fault, but not the fault of the parents who do a great job of homeschooling, either. unfortunately, things like this will happen. while we're at it, why doesnt a school's curriculum involve something on BASIC financial skills for living? i took some screwed up classes in high school against my will, one was "home economics." i assure you, it had nothing to do with "economics." maybe just a few hours even, to get BASIC things across to tomorrow's adults, like with enron, if you have a retirement fund or a kids college fund or a new boat fund, dont put it ALL in one place. i submit that they dont teach this because they WANT us to be STUPID AND DEPENDENT on ted kennedy and government to save us from ourselves when were 65 and freezing in the winter in our 1 bedroom apartment. an electorate with a mind of its own is bad for the liberals, and bad for the teachers UNION.
9 posted on 01/18/2002 2:31:24 PM PST by nocommies
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To: Thoeting
My question was more along the lines of what keeps it from going very very bad as in these situations?

Nothing, nor should there be. Children are not the property of the state, nor are their parents.

The last thing you want is more government involvement in education. that's what homeschoolers are trying to escape.

10 posted on 01/18/2002 2:31:37 PM PST by Doctor Doom
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To: Thoeting
Home schooling is HOME schooling. It's success or failure depends upon the character of the home and the ability of the parents. In a stable home with educated parents it will produces good results. When those factors are missing, it won't work.
11 posted on 01/18/2002 2:32:42 PM PST by RLK
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To: Thoeting
To tell you the truth its none of your concern as to what was or was not being taught to these or any other homeschooled child. Your only problem is to carry forth with what you have at this time. Since you are a public servant it is not permissible for you to question your master (IE the homeschoolers parent). It is only your position to serve them by continuing with their Childs Education. The parents are free to instruct their children as they see fit, not as you see fit. This is the foundation of homeschooling and not yours to decide. You are not qualified to decide what is “Best” for the children of these free Americans. Like it or not.
12 posted on 01/18/2002 2:35:59 PM PST by Khepera
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To: Thoeting
Are you a member of the NEA?
13 posted on 01/18/2002 2:36:14 PM PST by IM2Phat4U
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To: Thoeting
And don't take this personally, but I have serious doubts as to the veracity of all government employees, especially when they feel threatened by the free market.

So your story doesn't ring very true.

14 posted on 01/18/2002 2:38:58 PM PST by Doctor Doom
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To: *BRAAD;JMJ333; EODGUY; proud2bRC; abandon; Khepera; Dakmar; RichInOC;RebelDawg; Fiddlstix; onyx...
Homeschooling for Free Americans
15 posted on 01/18/2002 2:39:12 PM PST by Khepera
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To: belmont_mark
It seems to me like you are not dealing with folks who are typical of the "home schooling movement",.....

They are definitely not typical of the home schooling families in my area. This situation is rare.
16 posted on 01/18/2002 2:39:23 PM PST by bearsgirl90
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To: Thoeting
I have alot of friends here in Alaska that homeschool. I have watched them as my son goes to private school. Sometimes you can feel like you maybe are not quite as good a parent because you chose not to homeschool. I have seem some friends do a terrible job and yes, when their kids enrolled in school they were definitely behind. But other friends do an outstanding job. I think it is definitely like anything else what you put in to it. I do agree they seem to socalize alot with the adults and do not mix tooo well with kids of the public school system. How tragic for the kids.
17 posted on 01/18/2002 2:39:32 PM PST by LADYAK
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To: IM2Phat4U
No, nor am I a member of the NFTA or any other labor union.

I was offered materials when I was hired and politely declined. BTW I am also very well known at my school as being both republican and a christian, as are my 2 daughters that attend the same school.

I must admit too that the school at which I teach is quite unique from most schools nowadays. It is a rural community with more of the feel of a school from 30 years ago, rather than the urban jungle that I left (and will never return) years ago.

18 posted on 01/18/2002 2:39:56 PM PST by Thoeting
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To: Thoeting
I'm not a home-schooler but I've seen both kinds of results. Some do extremely well---we have a large family here who is homeschooled and each kid is exceptional but I've seen some who have less than minimal skills. It seems the people who say homeschooling takes effort, much deligence and time do well but those who say it's a cinch, takes only an hour or two a day have kids who don't do too well.
19 posted on 01/18/2002 2:40:58 PM PST by FITZ
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To: Khepera
To tell you the truth its none of your concern as to what was or was not being taught to these or any other homeschooled child. Your only problem is to carry forth with what you have at this time. Since you are a public servant it is not permissible for you to question your master (IE the homeschoolers parent). It is only your position to serve them by continuing with their Childs Education. The parents are free to instruct their children as they see fit, not as you see fit. This is the foundation of homeschooling and not yours to decide. You are not qualified to decide what is “Best” for the children of these free Americans. Like it or not.

Ditto.

20 posted on 01/18/2002 2:41:02 PM PST by IM2Phat4U
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