Homeschoolers

[Hedonologist]

Do your children get home schooled? If they do what role do you play as a father? I am planning on homeschooling my children when they are at the right age. It is still uncommon but gaining ground, especially in Europe. Often the networking facilities are poor, but locally we have a great support network and hope to play a part in it over the next few years.

As a part stay at home father I'm not sure what to expect. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[Niceness8000]

We have discussed homeschooling because there are a few advantages that specifically suit our needs.

We don't trust public school educators. The child gets one-on-one attention. I believe that statistics show home school kids outperform kids who attend public school cl***es.

We want to travel freely, even during the school year. Either the teacher can travel with us, or the place we go can offer schooling services (if we stay for more than a month).

The argument against is that the kids who are home-schooled lack social skills. I will counter that by saying that the child still can join clubs, sports teams, and take extracurricular cl***es like martial arts. If we home-school our kids, we will require that they participate in at least two socially interactive programs per week.

 

[BigDaddy]

While I respect homeschooling I wouldnt do it. I feel my children need to learn to listen and interact with lots of different personalities.

 

[Don]

The argument against is that the kids who are home-schooled lack social skills. I will counter that by saying that the child still can join clubs, sports teams, and take extracurricular cl***es like martial arts. If we home-school our kids, we will require that they participate in at least two socially interactive programs per week.

I've known two families that taught their children at home. In both cases, once the children got out in the "real world" the kids went wild. I told my wife that it kind of reminded me of whatever that custom is called that the Amish have their children do.They send the teens out into the world so that they can experience it and then they have to decide whether to come back home or not. A lot of them apparently don't.

 

[ghanashyam]

I do not think home schooling can replace regular schooling, at least not in my country, though in India, internet connection is lot cheaper and affordable. The grooming of a child to man, requires that he interacts with people or boys from different walks of society, in addition to the information from the books.
That is the reason that home schooling or as it is called elsewhere " postal tuition " (with somebody, probably father as the mentor is not popular anywhere.

 

[themdno]

Personally, I'd go for a combination of the two. I think it's important to have the socialization factor of public schools, however I think the actual education they get there is severely lacking. I definitely wouldn't trust the public school system to actual educate my kids on much.

I think it's important to teach them at home, on top of and beyond what they are learning in their cl***rooms. I feel like the stuff they learn at school, could be the extremely basic, starter knowledge. At home, we'll really learn about this stuff, in detail, at the correct pace.

 

[Miller]

I have a teaching background, and I see the positive aspects of both methods. A combination is best, with parents supplementing as much as possible. To me, that is the job of a parent. Too many expect the schools to do everything, which they cannot possibly do.

 

[writer811]

I'm a homeschooler. After going through high school and college I realized that public education is really lacking in the education part where I lived. I had four history classes throughout my time in high school and they were all nearly identical. It wasn't until I got to college that I started learning new things about history. So yeah, I prefer to homeschool my kids but I also keep them involved in community activities so they develop their social skills.

 

[Victor]

I think homeschooling can be done really well and benefit many kids, particularly those who don't fit well into the school mold. My wife and I considered it, but decided we probably didn't have the discipline to be good homeschoolers, so we will try public school and see how things develop.

 

[Hedonologist]

I suppose some situations warrent it while other don't. The issues can sometimes be that a parent cannot afford to send to private school, but doesn't want their children to go through public school.

Sometimes if you live in a very deprived area, removing children from socialization with the public schoolers is probably best. Clearly socialization is important, but sometimes removing the children from public school is the only way to make them seem normal. They have to experience the real world clearly, but mass drug abuse, assault and frequent stabbings do not constitute normal. If I lived in a nice area public schools would be reasonable, but you can move out of a bad area home school seems to be the only way.

 

[Victor Leigh]

I would very much prefer homeschooling because I do not have much faith in the way they are teaching the children in the schools. However, my work takes me away from home most of the time so I have the shelve the idea.