I just caught a homeschooler working at Chick-fil-A!

[The Backlash Cometh]

Okay, maybe I'm stirring up trouble where there's none, but I don't know why I didn't connect with this before. It just dawned on me, that they all have to be homeschoolers. Makes sense. The chain is founded by a Christian who closes on Sundays, and all the kids in there, during normal public school hours, look like they're high school age. Go to any other chain and you see more adults than kids working during school time.

So, what are the required hours for homeschoolers? Anybody know?

[LiberalinNC]

1. It is summertime, are the kids not back in school where you live?

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Florida only has a two month summer.

Most public schools opened on August 1st, and private schools a week after that.

[Throckmorton]

2. Its summer Vacation time here in Connecticut

So maybe they don't have school?

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Nope. Everyone else is in school.

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. I don't think there are required hours, per se...

as long as they have a certain number of hours of instruction per week.

[Silverhair]

14. And some don't even have that.

Here in Texas the requirements are:

Education must be occuring in a good faith manner (Undefined)

May be formal or informal, may use video, computer, or internet based instruction

Must cover reading, spelling, grammar, math, and good citizenship. (But there is NO standard)

No testing. No filing with any school district. No supervision of any kind. No requirements on the qualifications of the person doing the homeschooling.

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. Seems kind of loose and undefined to me.

Unless kids have intelligent parents or tutors, sounds like homeschooling in Texas is a prime training ground for future menial labourers - and perhaps fundamentalist ministers and missionaries, given the religious inclinations of many of the homeschooling parents and their reasons for withdrawing their children from the public education system...

[Silverhair]

21. Agreed.

It is a prescription for disaster for the poor kids, with a few exceptions.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Jeesh! That explains a lot!

[name not needed]

4. It's August

might have something to do with it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Nope. Not in Fl.

[Connie_Corleone]

5. Summer jobs. School's not in session in some places.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Every school in this county is in session.

[LeftyMom]

7. Generally there are a certain number of required instruction hours

but they can occur at any time of day and in any distribution around the year in any state I know of. Unless there is a daytime curfew or a work permit condition that forbids it, homeschoolers can work during the day and study in the evening if they wish.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Most logical explanation Sooooo, if you have a higher ratio of

teachers teaching public school kids, would the school day and term be shorter? One wonders...

[LeftyMom]

19. Probably not

There are just certain time wasters in the inherent to institutional schooling. Research generally shows that less then half the school day is "time on task" with the rest going to announcements, the pledge, passing periods, discipline issues, assemblies, getting settled down at the beginning of the class period, etc.

There's just a lot less of that occuring in one's own home. Not having a fixed timetable means there's a disincentive to waste time. When I was in school I wasn't going home before 3:20 no matter how hard I worked. A homeschooling family can pack up and go to the park if they finish up early, which is a fine incentive to get one's work done without wasting a lot of time.

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Isn't that funny. Republicans demand the pledge and prayer in

public school, but there's no way to make sure they're doing it when they homeschool.

[LeftyMom]

26. Please stop assuming homeschoolers are Republicans.

I can't speak for other areas but around here the homeschooling families tend to be more liberal than the general population. :)

[The Backlash Cometh]

29. Understood. But I was referring to Republicans, ergo my statement

was in reference to Republican homeschoolers as opposed to other types.

[wildeyed]

9. I know a family who "homeschools".

Basically, the oldest daughter babysits the younger siblings while mom and dad both work two jobs trying to make ends meets. And yes, they are all Bush voters. Of course. :eyes:

[skygazer]

15. You know, I do hate this assumption that all homeschoolers

are Bush supporters and/or Christian fundamentalists. I homeschooled my daughter at one point as she was having a lot of trouble in middle school. Most of it was social and it was having a huge affect on her grades. Besides that, she was spiralling into a major depression and I took her out of school and we worked at home. By the time she went back, she had gained some perspective and was no longer so uptight about those things - she was also well ahead of her grade level on her work.

Another friend of mine had a child who had ADD and some other issues which made school very difficult - she ended up homeschooling as well. There are any number of reasons why a person might do it and they're not all about being a fundie or bush supporter.

[wildeyed]

20. You are misunderstanding me.

It was the needing to work two jobs and keep the oldest out of school to sit the toddlers while still voting for the source of their economic self destruction that I was commenting on. Not that homeschooling is bad or all homeschoolers are stupid.

My very secular aunt homeschools all four of her children, and those kids are all brilliant. I would consider homeschooling for my kids if the public school thing doesn't work for us.

:hi:

[skygazer]

Ah, understood

Carry on! :hi:

[kick-ass-bob]

23. I took it as since they weren't actually teaching them

and had the oldest babysitting them instead was why they said Bush supporter. You know, the hypocrisy.

Maybe not, though
:shrug:

[The Backlash Cometh]

25. Yes, you're right. But I'm in a strong Repub county and most of them

are not only home schooled for religious reasons, but they're pretty self-righteous about it.

[Montauk6]

28. I agree, Stargazer! I know a very decent family that homeschools

They're NOT cultists or fanatics or conservatives.

This is as bigoted and insane as assuming that all churchgoers are right-wingers; yeah, tell that to the congregations at Abyssinia Baptist Church in Harlem or Little Rock Baptist Church in Detroit.

[Book Lover]

12. It varies by state and even by county

There's too much variation to give you a concise reply, however, as a general rule, one of the points of choosing homeschooling is that you do not have to adhere to the state's defined school hours.

[Silverhair]

18. It does let you avoid a really bad teacher.

For one year we homeschooled, to avoid a horrible 3rd grade teacher. She should have been fired from teaching.

To do it right is a LOT of work. Yes, much homeschooling will be in the evening. Both my wife and I are college grads, and my wife has a degree in education.

The 4th grade teacher was a good one and she was returned to the school system the next year.

[Book Lover]

27. That's something I haven't; considered

We have planned on homeschooling for some time now; once our child is school-age we plan on implementing it, but I didn't think of blending the two methods like that. Definitely something to consider. Thanks :-)

[DS1]

17. It's like school in summertime

No class