Homeschooling

[LadyShea]

Looking for thoughts and opinions on alternatives to public education. I have been reading about Waldorf, Montessori, Enki (sp?), free schools, Friends Schools, homeschooling based on these as well as secular homeschooll curriculums and various other educational philosophies. Waste of time and money? Serious improvement over public education, especially with No Child Left Behind in place (what are the real consequences of NCLB anyway?)?

[Petra]

Zoe went to a Montessori pre-school, and it was most excellent. She really thrived there, and if we'd had Montessori available in our area to continue with through primary (elementary) school, we would have stuck with it for sure.

I don't know much about the others (if anything at all), but I can heartily recommend Montessori, without a moment's hesitation. Brilliant.

[LadyShea]

Niece did Montessori preschool as well and it was excellent for her. Unfortunately they have no programs in my area, but I would possibly consider homeschooling based on their philosophy. Obviously we are a long way off from kindergarten, but I have just been a-linking the last few days and this was one topic of interest.

Initial research indicates the only legal homeschooling option in my state is if it is with a "church school". That can't be legal, but that is the requirement. Huh.

[Petra]

You never know, by the time Cade is old enough to be at kindy, etc, Montessori may have arrived in your area. Fingers crossed!


Y'know, I think you'd make an excellent Montessori teacher, LS.


One of the nice things about a group of kids doing it together is the interactions and the way they celebrate things like birthday rituals an' stuff for each other. Puts them with their 'peers', y'know. And it's so delightful to watch them all share in that learning experience. It's lovely.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

Initial research indicates the only legal homeschooling option in my state is if it is with a "church school". That can't be legal, but that is the requirement. Huh.

That might not be as scary as it sounds. I Googled looking for Reggio schools in Alabama, and found The Renaissance School. They integrate some great approaches like Reggio and Montessori into their program, and they offer cover school services for home schoolers.

[LadyShea]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

That might not be as scary as it sounds. I Googled looking for Reggio schools in Alabama, and found The Renaissance School. They integrate some great approaches like Reggio and Montessori into their program, and they offer cover school services for home schoolers.

I found several similar hands-off "church" schools, formed specifically to fulfill the state's requirements without offering/pushing a curriculum, nor requiring a statement of faith. You choose your own curriculum, OR NO CURRICULUM. Homeschoolers under church cover schools are not subject to any requirements by the state...no grades, no tests only attendance. If you choose to go to the museum every day, that's attendance. Wow, that's really heavy when you think about it...you could do truly anything you wanted.

Renaissance sounds interesting.. I truly don't know that I have the patience to homeschool, but stranger things have happened.

[The Lone Ranger]

For what it's worth, practically every public-school educator I've known has insisted that NCLB is an absolute disaster. Of course, that's hardly a scientific survey, but it seems that the more you know about NCLB, the less you like it.

Cheers,

Michael

[Javaman]

Some links for you if you wanna check 'em out:

MONTESSORI HOMESCHOOLING

The Montessori Method (from the Home School Learning Network)

[trientalis]

Here's a book that might be useful for teaching Montessori preschool exercises at home, Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Preschool Years by Elizabeth Hainstock. It's available on amazon (but I don't know how to do the special link thingy, so you'll have to check it out yourself. Sorry). It tells you how to make your own equipment which is cheaper than buying the real stuff.
Hope this helps.

[LadyShea]

I am bumping this old thread of mine, because the homeschooling idea has actually become a serious discussion in my household. Yes, he's only two, but that two years has flown by, and I want to think about it now, and have a plan.

Hubby and I have one main disconnect, that I would like to hear others' opinions on before I share my POV with y'all, and that is whether traditional school is necessary, or optimal, or helpful for proper socialization/social development

[1Samuel8]

If you give a damn about what I think, my comment is simple: do it... if you have the time.
Homeschooling requires an immense commitment on your part and if your able, do it. I think you should be proud of yourself.

Also, decide for yourself what you actually want your kid to learn. [Myself, I think a lot of bullshit is force-fed to kids too early in both public and private schools.]

Check out this site: http://www.unschooling.com/ for different perspectives on the expectation of child education.

[Corona688]

Tradidional school socialization made me what I am. That is, forced socialization with people who wished I was dead and devoted suprisingly large amounts of time to making me miserable. I'd count that style of socialization as a negative point against public school.

[godfry n. glad]

Two things...Since everybody is giving glowing recs to Montessori, I'll note that I've several childbearing friends who've availed themselves of a variety of Montessori programs locally. They all really like it, but the kids all go through a "gear-grinding" session when they attempt to transfer into other mainstream educational programs, public or parochial. It seems though, that Montessori students still do better than those involved in public education only.

I have very good friends who did not like the offerings of the public, or religious parochial (Catholic, Episcopalian and Adventist) locally, so they, and a smallish group of parents started their own Waldorf School. They liked it and it continued to grow to the point that they had to purchase an old public elementary school to house their eventual high school program. Their primary interest was developing their children's "creative" aspects. From the outside, it looks to me to have far too little emphasis on hard science and too much emphasis upon arty stuff....insufficient balance. But both children have gone on to university. All I have to say is that Rudolf Steiner is the genesis of the Waldorf program, and he's way too woo-woo for me.

Then...homeschooling. My SO had both of her sons homeschooled by her husband, who had a teaching degree along with a degree in outdoor recreation. They had seven plus acres with a creek and were always active. Plus, mom is a mechanical engineer, so they got their maths and sciences. They also had their technology desires fulfilled to excess, thanks to her weakness for new gadgets. The problem was that dad died of esophageal cancer during their early high school years (an education in itself), so mom placed them in an expensive private school to complete their education. Her assessment: Home schooling can be great, but it will collapse upon the weight of the teachers' weaknesses. She's glad the boys got some writing experience with a doctorate in English at the private school, because between her and her husband, that was the primary skill set they had ignored. The boys are great...really decent and reasonably intelligent. One's in college, and the other decided to get a commercial driving license to earn a living in the short term. They're both nerds to the max, complete with some social retardation, but I doubt they'd have fallen any further from the tree in a public setting.

[lisarea]

How much socialization do kids really get in public schools, anyway? Most of the 'socializing' when LM was in school amounted to sitting quietly even though he was bored. (I even had teachers tell me this was some kind of life skill.) He had friends at school, but he met most of his good friends just hanging around riding bikes and stuff.

Anyways, in some states, IIRC, homeschooled students can participate in public school activities like sports, and even in some classes. If that's not available, there are other options, too, like city sports leagues, those homeschooling field trip dealies, community center classes, things like that.

If I could have homeschooled the Little Muffin, I would've done it in a heartbeat.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by lisarea

Most of the 'socializing' when LM was in school amounted to sitting quietly even though he was bored. (I even had teachers tell me this was some kind of life skill.)

Well, it certainly describes at least half of the meetings I go to pretty accurately.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Adam

Well, it certainly describes at least half of the meetings I go to pretty accurately.

Yeah, but as skills go, sitting there is kind of a crap one. The real skill is getting out of them. Maybe I should teach some kind of class in doing that.

In fact, I'll be happy to provide 'getting out of meetings' lesson plans for interested homeschoolers.

Originally Posted by lisarea

Yeah, but as skills go, sitting there is kind of a crap one. The real skill is getting out of them. Maybe I should teach some kind of class in doing that.

In fact, I'll be happy to provide 'getting out of meetings' lesson plans for interested homeschoolers.

Hell, if you can set up a correspondence course, I'd gladly take the class.

[Adam]

Would we get extra credit for cutting class?

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by Adam

Would we get extra credit for cutting class?

Not 'extra' credit, no. You just fail if you show up.

[LadyShea]

Well, it seems like anytime I bring up homeschooling, someone yells "socialization". To me, school is such an artificial society, it's hardly analogous to "real life".

Basically, in school, you are socializing with people because you are the same age and live in the same neighborhood. It also doesn't teach to socialize with people of different socioeconomic levels (for the most part same neighborhood=same SE), different backgrounds and experiences, different ages etc. and your pool of possible friends aren't based on similar interests or compatible personalities. Just kinda doesn't make sense to me that it is necessary, or even preferable.

[lisarea]

Well, a lot of homeschooled kids are spazzes, but it'd be a mistake to assume it's all causation.

School is probably better socialization than certain types of homeschooling parents provide, but I don't think it'd be an issue for you.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

To me, school is such an artificial society, it's hardly analogous to "real life".

Basically, in school, you are socializing with people because you are the same age and live in the same neighborhood...not because you have similar interests or compatible personalities.

If you replace "are the same age and live in the same neighborhood" with "have similar skill sets" that sounds very similar to most work environments. I dunno if that's what you had in mind when you said "real life" but, when you come down to it, most of us spend nearly half of our waking lives socializing with people for no better reason than that we happen to work in the same place.

I don't really have a strong opinion here. I just don't think the "school is nothing like real life" argument is very convincing. To me, school is very much like a great deal of what I encounter in my so-called real life. You go there because you have to, you do things because the people in charge want you to do them, you put up with a random assortment of people you don't care for, and you learn to sort out the people who are worth getting to know and carve out some mental space for your own interests.

I've seen several studies that claim homeschooled kids have no socialization issues, so there's that, but I've only ever seen them at pro-homeschool sites, so I'm sort of suspicious, but it's really not something I've investigated deeply, since I don't have any children, and don't have any immediate plans to do so.

[Corona688]

Originally Posted by Adam

If you replace "are the same age and live in the same neighborhood" with "have similar skill sets" that sounds very similar to most work environments.

Unfortunately, they're not even remotely equivalent.

I hated school. Hate hate hate. But I love real life. They're nothing like each other.

[ChuckF]

I got what I consider to be a very good education at a small, rural public school. K-10, I was with the same people across three different schools, and I made some good friends. It was also very much a my-dad-grew-up-with-your-dad example of small town networking. But looking back I think that my parents were vastly more important in the 'socialization' process.

I'm an only child, and I grew up with my parents, my parents' friends, and their children, who were for the most part also only children. So I basically always sat at the grown-up's table. In school I had a hard time connecting with many kids my own age because I felt like I didn't speak their language. It was very easy to converse with adults or other kids like me, thanks to my home environment.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Corona688

Unfortunately, they're not even remotely equivalent.

I don't follow. What aren't?