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Economy dents home schooling

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response to "tell me this" | 5:08 p.m. March 26, 2009

"Unless you have a whopping amount of college education yourself that somehow prepares you to not only know the curriculum and the teaching technique for the age..."

And what degrees do you posses that prepared you to parent all ages and stages of your children?
I do agree that HS would have a big job in teaching all subjects to their kids, do we not all learn as we go?
And that's the beauty of parenting and education - if you don't know you go find out.

@response to "tell me this" | 8:36 p.m. March 26, 2009

Your analogy is an oversimplication. You may in fact learn as you go, so do teachers. There is no way that you can be competent enough in all aspects of the curriculum to compare yourself to professionals that have spent years mastering their subject You may prefer your home to the school as a place of learning, thats fine, but be really careful when you say that you can learn as you go, implying that you have the same competency.

Cynthia | 10:42 p.m. March 26, 2009

I send my children to public school and have been impressed by their teachers. I stay involved and discuss problems with the teacher before the problem gets too big. Public school works well for our family. I have many friends who choose to home school their children and are doing a wonderful job. Some of them planned to home school from the beginning, others felt a particular need to home school for particular reason or situation. It can be done very well. Certainly problems can and do exist with both forms of schooling, but please stop lashing out with negative emotional over generalizations.

Comments continue below

Helen Bradford | 11:13 p.m. March 26, 2009

Have you checked out on-line curriculum? You desire to educate your children at home is something I understand and can relate to. As a mother of nine children and 23 grandchildren and now I am raising my 2 year old grandson, keeping them safe from the world is so important. Their education, moral and ethical training is more important as this world changes daily. What I have experienced that is extremly positive and exciting is the curriculum from an on-line high school where they write their own curriculum and the bonus, this high school is accredited. You can keep your children at home, monitor their high school education on-line and feel completely comfortable in the quality of information and education they receive. Check it out. This is not a commercial and I have nothing to do with the school. I have just whitnessed first hand the quality of education that was offered to a few of my grandchildren. If you are interested, I would be glad to share with you more information.

anonymous | 7:41 a.m. March 27, 2009

I can think of many worse situations caused by our economy than having to attend a public school. There are many dedicated teachers in public schools and many that are not. It is good for a person to learn to deal with both. Life has opposition, people/children need to learn to deal with it. One of my children was engaged to a person that was homeschooled, one of the reasons the engagement ended was because of the amount of influence the homeschooled person's mother still had in all decision making. Homeschooling seems to have it's own little culture and it appears to me that if they try to mix outside of that culture, it is difficult. Maybe that is why thry are so fearful that they might have to go to public schools.

To Bob | 3:28 p.m. March 27, 2009

"Homeschooling is fun and you learn more."

There you have it folks--all the proof we need. I am not sure what home schoolers learn more of than the rest of us, but apparently they do.

am i missing something? | 8:17 p.m. March 27, 2009

The picture of this family's home seems very nice. I don't understand why we publish stories of people making a choice to continue homeschooling in their beautiful home. Why not publish a story about people who are really suffering in this economy?

JR | 8:41 a.m. March 28, 2009

Everyone has their own opinion about home schooling and how it benefits children. It is interesting, though, that those who do not home school and have never researched it can have such a high opinion against it and be so sure that they are right. A lot of people take the one or two bad examples they know or heard about on the news and apply it to all of the home schooling families. Most people against home schooling have the same thing to say about it, as if they were all programed to say the same thing.

Anonymous | 8:45 a.m. March 28, 2009

I have been forced to take a job because my husband's health has caused him some problems. We still home school. It is very important to us, we just work it around our new life style. The beauty of home school is that it can take place in real life, on week ends and holidays, and any time during the day. It bonds families, rather than splitting them up in age segregated classrooms and other activities, and children learn to be an active participant in their family and community. The amount of time it would take to do homework is usually how much time you would need to do the formal part of your home school day. The rest of the time can be used to be creative and pursue other hobbies or interests, or serve the community. The siblings work together and build strong relationships because they are together.
I love being able to home school, and I know that most home school families feel the same way.

Anonymous | 7:36 a.m. March 30, 2009

I disagree with home-schooling

KR | 9:30 a.m. March 30, 2009

My mother decided to homeschool my brothers and sisters and I when I was in First grade. I have seen socially awkward kids in both homeschool and PS. Homeschooling does not make a child socially awkward. My mother gave is the choice when we reached High school, if we wanted to go full time or if we wanted to continue to homeschool. I chose to go part time and I would not have made a different choice. There are so many rules and you are so limited in the PS system. You can only read certain books, go as fast as the teacher, and are bound by a ridiculous attendance policy. While being homeschooled I was able to pick up any book I wanted on any subject and read to my hearts content. There were a few "required" stuff my Mother had us do before we could do that, but regardless, I had all the time in the world to read and learn about something that I was really interested in. I was not distracted by other students in any way. We were free to take field trips anywhere on the American Continent........

KR | 9:34 a.m. March 30, 2009

Because of that, I love museums. Most PS do not. I could spent hours in a museum without loosing interest. Again, I have found very few PS kids who can and would go to a museum on a weekend for entertainment. My little brothers and sister are now in PS full time. My brother, who is 15, is taking 6 AP classes. He has gotten straight A's the entire year. The counselors told him it would be to much for a kid at such a young age. Because he was able to learn as much as he wanted for as long as he wanted at home, he is able to do more at PS. In no way dose homeschooling hold you back. No matter what form of education you choose, it all comes down to the parents and the child. Are you involved in your childs education? Do you know what your children are learning? I do not believe there is a right or wrong system, I believe there are right and wrong ways to do them. Some of you might comment on my grammar and say, ya you were homeschool, but I never enjoyed writing.........

KR | 9:35 a.m. March 30, 2009

...I only spent the "required" time my mom had for me. I know plenty of PS kids that can't spell and they have poor writing. We ALL have weak areas. I am proud to say that this is my weak area, but to this day, I work on my writing skills. I am just tired of homeschoolers always getting blamed putting a handicap on our society and for always having a bad rap about social skills. Plenty of PS kids have HORRID social skills. Ask your kids.

Anon | 12:29 p.m. March 30, 2009

There sure are lots of positive and negative comments out there. Pretty brave to stick your family out there for the world to ridicule. It shows a lot of commitment to the homeschooling philosophy and to their chosen family lifestyle. Homeschooling will never sit well with the state indoctrinated educationalists who think there is only one way to do things; to educate any way other than in public education is to them unamerican, antipatriotic, and practically bordering on child abuse. I have issues with that! There are problems in every system. Hopefully those involved in the system are working to make it better. The sad thing is, too many of us would like to limit the freedoms of others that don't do and see things just the way we do. The discussion is good. It would be nice if there was more open-mindedness. Perhaps we could even experience a shift in perspective and understanding. Is it possible that both have their good and both have their bad points. Could one system benefit a family more than the other depending on particular needs? It is nice that we are still free to make those kind of decisions.

Anonymous | 4:10 p.m. March 30, 2009

I was homeschooled all through elementary, part time in Junior High and High School. I'm now at BYU on scholarship and graduating next April. I have a great "social life" and love being around people! It is interesting to me how individuals are so quick to judge without really understanding. Have you taken a look at public school kids? Teachers who abuse children in their classes, children who shoot each other in the halls, teachers who are power seakers, etc. To require kids to be a part of a certain academic program takes away freedoms and heads right towards socialism/communism. Read the Manifesto.

Anonymous | 4:11 p.m. March 30, 2009

Public School kids and teachers are not any better than homeschooled children or at home mom's who teach their children. A degree means nothing. How many people actually work in the area they studied in college? Not many. How many wealthy people are out there in the world who haven't even graduated from college? I agree with individuals who are open-minded to the topic. There are weaknesses in both systems. But it does come down to how involved parents are in their child's education. You find socially awkward kids in both educational programs. You find kids who don't know how to read, write or spell in both educational programs.

Anonymous | 4:11 p.m. March 30, 2009

The thing that is interesting to me is I have never read or heard about a homeschooler being rude or mean or impolite or disrespectful or walking around the halls shooting other kids!! Bottom line... I wish people would leave this topic alone. Lets all be more open-minded, stop pointing fingers about this system or that system.. and try to improve the one you are a part of. My cousin was homeschooled K-12 and now is attending BYU and taking some of the toughest classes, such as physics & calculus, as a freshman and has straight A's..... Go Figure

Anonymous | 4:13 p.m. March 30, 2009

Um.. hello... do you know how old her home is? This person decorates well. It's not a new home.. she takes good care of it. I challenge you to live on their income. You can have a pretty crappy place, but that doesn't mean you can't make it look nice.

Anonymous | 4:21 p.m. March 30, 2009

I was homeschooled with my siblings all of my life as well:) My junior I went part-time to high school, served as vice president in the student council, was a part of the swim team, which took state taking 5 gold medals myself, i had the lead in the school musical, and was a model for Alyssa's Bridal. Since then, I have held down three jobs at one time, and have graduated from cosmetology school, and have lived on my own since I was 19. I don't consider myself in any way socially inept. I am happy, love people, confident... this is just so ridiculous that we have to argue over something like this. Who cares where you go to school!! Stop stereotyping HOMESCHOOLERS!!!! We aren't what you think. THANK YOU

Anonymous | 4:24 p.m. March 30, 2009

I don't want to be owned by the state. I want to be free to learn whatever I want, when I want, how I want, and as much as I want... not stuck on some conveyor belt with a hundred other kids getting a stamp on my forehead saying that I passed and I'm ready for life in the big leagues.

Anonymous | 4:48 p.m. April 6, 2009

The ignorance on this board is just... amazing. From both sides!

Why, oh, why the negative cmnts | 12:53 p.m. April 20, 2009

Self reliance. Focused on Values and Eduction. Choosing Family over Fortune. Valuing the Future, not just the Present. Parents who actually Enjoy their children, not thinking "I can't wait to send them to someone else for the day so I can play".

These are timeless and traditional values, the types of values that raise up the next generation of leaders.
These are the types of Values that our "founding fathers" had.

But it's only a matter of time before someone in government trys to take away the rights of parents to choose what they feel is right for their families. Too many non-conformists out there. :(

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