Homeschooling Thread

No, it isn’t. A business can fail.

While I definitely agree with your point that government and business are two very separate entities, i also think it very much true that governments can fail.

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Not if it can print its own money. I get the idea that government is not a business but I don’t think the politicians see it that way.

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Well, as much as I love arguing semantics with a prolific contrarian, I’d rather not derail the point of my thread bump… being that I’m hoping to discuss imperfect education options with possibly the only person I know who has experience in these shoes (AKA Brick).

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I did public, private Christian, and homeschooled. Oh, and a Montessori for kindergarten. I actually liked that one a lot. Might do Montessori K for my kid, let them teach the basics like how to read, but otherwise planning on homeschooling him (and any future ones) at least throughout elementary.

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Hey, thanks for the posts in the thread. I can’t say I have much experience considering this is our first year doing it and my wife is doing most of it. As I said in my original post, I was never totally against it, but I did and still do have trepidation, although my five-year old son seems to be learning at a rapid pace. She plans on homeschooling my daughter too.

If we were not going to homeschool, my son would already be at the Public elementary school two blocks from our home. My wife belongs to homeschooling groups and I’m going to start attending a monthly meeting for homeschooling fathers again, when I’m available. We are going to join a co-op and my son has been doing activities with other homeschoolers on a weekly basis. This weekend we’re doing something with a group.

I’d like to post in here more and perhaps those interested can share information with one another.

Again, as I said in my OP, this ordeal caused serious conflict but we are working it out. Having one parent hellbent on medical and educational decisions while the other is torn is a serious matter.

I want to talk more about this tomorrow or on the weekend when I get the chance.

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I would say that the argument against homeschooling which often gets repeated that kids won’t develop social skills is crap. How many school shooters were homeschooled? Just send your kid to a good bjj school to interact with other kids.

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Depends on the kid, the nature of the homseschooling and the age etc. I think for a lot of kids to be home schooled right from the get go (especially if the kid is really shy, introverted etc) you are likely doing them a huge disservice due to the lack of social mixing with other kids and learning (from a young age) how to deal with a of the basic dynamics of social situations among other important life skills.

For kids that are super-confident, outgoing, or have had major issues with regular school it might be ‘just the ticket’.

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This is true.

Are you a homeschooling parent?

I’ve met a few dozen homeschooling parents and I haven’t met one that doesn’t have their kids socializing. I also have read and viewed the personal accounts of neglected homeschooled children who had horrible experiences.

I’m sure plenty of public schools across America are alright. However there was no shortage of maladjusted people I went to high school with in a 4,000-student population. Some are maladjusted to this day in their 40’s and 50’s. Some are even unable to speak and write at a socially-acceptable level.

I’m likely going to buy Vanishing American Adult.

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My kids are homeschooled. My eldest(daughter) went to public school through eighth grade(now in 10th), middle child(son) through elementary school(now in 7th), youngest(daughter) through 1st(now in 3rd). Both daughters dance(used to do gymnastics-eldest to Level 8, youngest just rec classes). Son has played multiple sports-seems to have settled on playing baseball, and piddling with basketball in the winter.

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I don’t have any kids, but I can imagine if I had have been home schooled when I was really young, in some ways it would have better for me (academically) but in other areas, ie making friends/overcoming shyness etc it would have likely generated problems for me.

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Do they have public charter schools in California?

I think I’ve recommended that on here before. Was it to you?

Yeah. I always say it depends on the family. I did a couple of activities here and there, and played rec soccer throughout my youth, but I usually just at home doing schoolwork, work around the house, reading or playing. I’m fine in social situations but I wouldn’t call myself an extrovert and I didn’t force myself to always be out socializing. However, I turned out fine. I credit my family, who is not a bunch of weirdos. The homeschool family across the street, where the dad is a mortician who ranks his children from favorite to least favorite has weird kids. It almost seems painful for them to be at social gatherings. That’s a weird family who has, surprise surprise, weird kids.

So yeah, don’t be weird and chances are your kids won’t be either.

I always like @BrickHead’s point that going to public (or private) school does not, for many many kids, mean they’re going to turn out all right. Again, it probably mostly depends on the family/home they’re coming from.

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Yes, you recommended that book to me.

I have never met a homeschooled adult. I’ve met and know of many weirdos and defective people in my life and they were all public schooled. I mean very… freaking weird and defective.

I’ve worked with a few (in the past and currently) - weren’t any red flags that they were homeschooled … only thing I’d say is they were just nice people. Nothing weird about them - but again, very small and biased sample so…

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We do not have children yet, but my wife and I have discussed this topic many times. We have even spoken to several school teachers that we know in order to get a better understanding of the current state of public education in America. Every single one of those conversations has pushed us further towards homeschooling.

If this is something that we do, we have already decided that we would have to make efforts to expose our children to a variety of different people with various backgrounds and perspectives, and to put them in situations where they have to navigate social situations with people that they don’t know. From where I stand now, I think a lot of that can be accomplished by putting them in some sort of athletic environment with a coach, opponents, and/or teammates, signing them up for “after school” camps and programs, getting them involved in age-appropriate volunteer opportunities (with and without us), and taking advantage of group-education programs offered by museums and public libraries. I feel like this would help attenuate some of the potentially negative social outcomes of homeschooling.

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Would you mind sharing some of this information? Of course you don’t have to if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.

One reason my wife has for homeschooling is seriously politically incorrect and I’m hesitant to state it here, as I don’t care for the theatrics, emotional blackmail, and thread derailment I believe would ensue. Maybe I’ll state it later. For now I’m not.

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Your kids will be fine with homeschool, then. The kids “it” doesn’t “work” for are those whose parents pull them out of government schools because government schools aren’t woke enough and don’t recognize “my truth” enough. But…no school would, because those kids are handicapped by their parents.

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There are parents who do that?! I thought most public schools go along with the woke narrative so woke parents would be fine with public schooling.