Do you personally know anybody who is home schooled?

[bluestateguy]

What are they like? The only time I ever met a kid who was home schooled, I found him to be VERY anti-social and not very bright either. But I realize that one anecdotal example should not be treated as a rule.

What has your experience been like? Have you found home schooled children to be bright, dull, dumb, introverted, extroverted? Religious wacko or not? Learning disability of some sort or not?

[provis99]

1. yep. the local minister's daughters.

Right-wing fanatics convinced that liberal churches are the spawn of satan, evolution is a satanic plot against the faithful, public schools are training grounds for atheists, etc. The typical home-schooling parents.

[mzteris]

16. Come on over to our DU hs group

and call us that, eh?

[alp227]

2. AFAIK one of my friends from elementary and middle school

did independent study after 10th grade because of diabetes. He's now an Eagle Scout and attending community college.

[tblue]

3. Yes. They're fine.

I have a good friend who homeschooled her children, a boy and a girl. They are bright and normal in every way that I can think of. They are well behaved. Never, never been in trouble. They clean their room and make their bed. Yes, they are VERY VERY religious. But they seem like normal kids to me. But then the parents are both very sweet and friendly and good, kind people. A bit judgmental about gay marriage, which I do not like. Not too sold on evolution. But my friend does have a very dear friend who is gay, so she's not a total bigot about anything else. Just thinks gay people shouldn't be allowed to marry. It's gotten to where we don't talk much about politics at all because we'll never agree on those kinds of issues.

[jobycom]

4. A few. Most are pretty cool.

My daughter has a friend whose parents are old artist/hippies, and they are home schooling her. She's quite well adjusted, very smart, and great around people. She says every year they have a "Back to No School" party where all the home schooled kids gather near a bus stop and laugh at the kids going back to school.

I know a few other kids, or mostly I know their parents, who are home schooling their kids, mostly for religious reasons. They are mixed. Some are as religious as their parents, some are rebelling against it--pretty much the same mix you'd see in school.

It's not a choice I'd make, but the idea that all home schoolers are growing up to be Norman Bates is overblown, from what I've seen.

[jody]

5. Yes, over a dozen and they all went to college. Two completed PhDs and one MD. n/t

[rurallib]

6. Not exactly. My daughter (public HS science teacher) was asked by a fundie

friend if she(my daughter) would help her home school their kids.
The parents wanted to remove them from what they perceived as a wicked school system. Of course they expected this would be free.
To say the least my daughter turned them down immediately.
Her 'friends' said they were a bit hurt. Honestly?

[IggleDoer]

7. Typical lemming in training

His mom was so proud of him as he was first in his class

[Bitwit1234]

8. All my grandchildren

AND guess what they all have received ABOVE AVERAGE grades when tested by authorities.The state tests them periodically. My daughter in law is sorta kooky but she has done a damn good job with the older ones who have graduated and moved on, and is doing the same thing with the three younger ones. They know a lot of stuff she has taught them that kids in public school do not. I think if you have a good teacher, and the personalized attention, she as the teacher can give them, really shows in the long run. Of course they don't have the interaction of classmates, but they were sent to music school to learn to play an instrument and enrolled in a drama players group so they could learn that interaction. All in all in this case she and my son did a good job.

[salvorhardin]

9. It depends

I know two families that home school locally.

The first family has two parents that both attended top colleges (one is an MIT graduate). They have two kids, both of whom are wicked smart, sociable and extremely charming. The parents go out of their way to make sure they are involved in a range of activities with a good number of friends, incorporate trips to the library multiple times a week (our downtown library is fantastic), and use a curriculum of their own devising, supplemented by commercially produced educational materials. The last time I was in their home the dining room had been transformed into a chemistry lab. The mom is very active in a local group of secular home schoolers. In my opinion the kids are getting an education superior to the public schools.

The other family are evangelical Christians. The kids are also bright, sociable and charming. And like the other family, the parents insure they are involved in a range of activities and have active friendships. Unlike the other family though, they use a curriculum and texts produced by and for fundamentalist Christians. Their knowledge of science and history is incomplete at best, and bizarrely skewed at worst. Their kids do pass the GED though, so there's that I guess.

Home schooling doesn't have to be a bad thing. In some instances it can be a very good thing and it's an option I think parents should have. Sadly, some parents use it to keep their kids from learning stuff that conflicts with their religion and ideology.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. I've had several students who came back to school after being homeschooled

All were way behind their classmates.

I've heard stories about kids who did well but I haven't known any personally.

[dyingnumbers]

11. They're not for everyone.

Although I personally enjoyed this alternative, other students prefer to get their GEDs after passing the proficiency exam. Yet still homeschooling doesn't offer the same time-honored high school experiences that many students prefer even now (like the Socratic method in the classrooms, or unprotected sex in the public restrooms, namely).

My high school was "capped" which resulted in dangerous overcrowding. After I tried but failed the state exam to get my GED, homeschooling later proved to be a viable option, since I succeeded and earned a diploma.

Class of 2001.

[grasswire]

12. that's an interesting point about the socratic method. n/t

[mzteris]

17. what makes you think that hs'ers don't use

the Socratic method?

From what I can gather, most classrooms don't have this anymore anyway - it's more of a learn this, repeat, color in the bubble, NEXT.

The HS'ers I know are generally superior in the "critical thinking skills" department.


(But you're right, most I know don't allow the kids to have unprotected sex in the bathroom. Oh - and no swirlies, either.)

[Kali]

13. yes

all good kids, bright and mostly better educated than the masses

a few are overly religious, but the majority are not

I kept one of mine home for a semester in 6th grade and wish I had been in better health/better organized had more info, I would have liked to give all of them the experience for a year or more since foreign exchange wasn't in the cards for us

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. Yes, including mine (partially)

Its really a mixed bag, depends heavily on the parents and why they are home schooling them. The fundies produce fundies which can be a problem, but the rest of the home schoolers should not be defined by them. There is growing curriculum base as well.

One of the problems I have seen is when you attempt to return them to public or even private schools. They are used to independent study and moving along at their own pace that they often much further ahead of many of their peers, even the fundie ones. They also have little or not experience with the group behaviors and rote teaching methods used in many classes. Frustrates both them and the teachers.

In our case we did supplemental home schooling while abroad in an effort to make sure our daughters were at grade level in all subjects when we returned to the US. Turns out both of them were academically well past high school. Typical for a their age in foreign schools but that too lead to some things that in retrospect are amusing. They put my daughter in a foreign language class she was already fluent in. She ended up correcting the teacher in accent and usage a few times. It did not go over well.

[mzteris]

15. Step over to DU's homeschool forum. . .

Or - do you remember AVA of DU fame? She was homeschooled. Now she's at NYU.

Would you like to meet my son?

I personally have found homeschooled children to be bright, dull, dumb, introverted, extroverted, Religious wacko and not. Learning disability of some sort and not.

They run the gamut just like any group of kids.

Sometimes the REASON a person homeschools is because their kid "doesn't fit in" with the "public world". They are NOT "different because they hs", they hs because they're "different".

Many ARE Learning differenced in some way - many we know are gifted and challenged. This combination is very difficult for traditional schools to deal with.

Many are just "out-of-the-box" thinkers - so far out, they'll debate whether or not it's actually a box what exactly does "in" or "out" mean???

Kids who are natural learners. Self-directed learners. Global learners. Top down learners. Whole to part learners - these kids wither up and DIE in a classroom of NT kids.

As for socialization - the kids you meet who are a tad "odd" - would be "odd" - and probably even MORE ODD - if they were in a regular school.

Are there some religious fundamentalist whacko's out there? Well, they'd still be just as whacked. They'd be sending them to a private religious school of their design anyways - and THAT might suck in some unsuspecting types for them to brainwash in their "school".

I personally know autistic children, kids on the aspie spectrum ranging from mild to VERY, kids who are dyslexia, dysgraphic, hearing impaired, speech impaired, physically impaired - these are the kids who are like blood in the water to the sharks you find in most schools.



I'm on some groups - (I don't go there much anymore because mine no longer hs's; he was fortunate to find an alternative highschool full of kids who are "quirky"!) - there are two - one is for gifted learning disabled kids who homeschool, one is for gifted learningn disable kids who attend regular schools.

Itis amazing the differences in those two groups - they're sponseored by the same organization so you get the same overal demographics.... - the school groups - have constant posts about IEP's and meds and routines and homework and programs and discipline and BULLYING!!! lots and lots about bullying - by other students, by the teachers, by the admin - about the constant problems with trying to get their kids to fit in and also be successful in the classroom.

The hs group - not so much. there are posts about curricula and testing and some "socialization" type questions - especially for the newbies. You have posts about doctors and gifted schools and accommodations. It's just so much EASIER so much BETTER for these kids. They learn. They grow up without the constant bullying and push to "conform" to some non-existent AVERAGE they would never ever reach. They love learning and that is encouraged and supported - in a way that makes sense to them. They grow up HAPPIER.

Look - most homeschoolers are NOT sitting at home isolated from the world. They have co-ops and playu groups and group classses and clubs and outtings and workshops. They socialize with a very wide group of kids - the ages are not +/- 1 year, the older ones help the younger ones. You treated as equals. No one gives a rat's f'ing ASS what you're wearing, or reading, or listening to. You're allowed to just be YOU. Even if that YOU changes from week to week. You're allowed to BE A KID for far longer. HS kids still play make-believe up until puberty sets in. School kids - you're ridiculed for "make-believe" by what - 4th grade? 3rd grade?

You interact with the REAL world. You don't raise your hand to go to the bathroom. You work at something until you understand it. You don't have to have "grade" to know if you KNOW something. You aren't COMPETING at something that shouldn't BE a competition.

I could keep writing for hours.

Should some kids NOT be hs'ed? Absolutely. But I can guarantee you that there are thousands of children who would benefit from a good hs'ing environment.

damn keyboard!!

[Greyskye]

24. Glad I read your post before I bothered responding to the OP.

It would have covered most of the same points. Spot on. :thumbsup:

[LWolf]

18. Yes.

I meet home schooled kids all the time; it's popular in my area.

Some of my students are home schooled because locals don't trust "government" education, and can't afford the local church schools. They get pulled out of school somewhere in middle school, when content gets more specific and adolescent desires to create a social sphere outside of family emerge. They usually end up getting GEDs, because they can't finish or pass high school course work being taught at home by parents who aren't educated themselves.

Some are home schooled because they have busy lives outside of school; school interferes with hunting seasons, rodeo season, calving season, etc.

Some I know because parents try home schooling them, it fails, and then they bring them to us to "fix" things. I had an 8th grader this last year who had never attended a public school; she was a product of both home schooling and church schooling. Her mother was shocked at the level of expectation, both in academics and personal responsibility and work habits, and how far behind her daughter was. She insisted that she be tested for special ed, which she did not qualify. She had no learning disabilities, and made astounding growth over the course of the year.

I also have known a very few home-schooled kids who thrived. That's because they had well-educated parents who had the time, the commitment, and the resources necessary to ensure that they were well-rounded both academically and socially.

That's really the key.

Home-schooled kids run the gamut academically and socially, depending on the home and the parents.

So do publicly schooled students; they just have more exposure to ideas, knowledge, methods, etc. outside of their home environment.

[Maat]

19. Yes, I homeschool my daughter (13-1/3).

Technically, it's "home-study," as we go through a charter school, and meet monthly with a fully-credentialed, public school teacher. It's been great because we've designed a unique program for my daughter. She's doing very well; this would not have been the case if she had remained in the conventional classroom.

I really don't participate in the homeschooling group here much - as I have become a Green, and don't hang around D.U. that much anymore. Moreover, I can't speak freely with other homeschoolers here, as virtually any other DUer is free to read, and comment upon, anything that is said. That results in an uncomfortable situation, as I do not wish to put the topic of my personal life, and that of my family, up for debate.

I have a Bachelor's in Business, a Master's in Psychology and a law doctorate (juris doctor). My husband has an M.B.A., a Master's in Engineering, and a J.D., as well as a Bachelor's in Engineering. So, this does help in terms of educating our daughter.

[Dinger]

20. There Is A Homeschooling Forum. Maybe You Should Ask There

Just sayin'. mtzeris is right.

[Kerrytravelers]

21. I'm an Independent Study Teacher. I work with kids who work from home, from

community college and from learning centers.

There are all kinds of kids, families, learning styles, reasons and results. You can't fit them all in one box together. I also work with students and families of all religious perspectives, from super conservative to atheist. They come in all political stripes. I live in an extremely liberal area and a huge percentage of my students are from very liberal families.

Since we're a public school, they are required to meet the CA State Standards. However, because they are working independently, they usually meet these faster than one teacher and a classroom of 20-35 students. It is common for them to pick other areas of interest to learn, to move ahead to the next grade's standards, etc.

I was a classroom-based teacher for years. I fully believe in the traditional school setting, but I realize that it's not for everyone. The kids in our program are here by choice, and if Independent Study isn't working for them, I will recommend returning to a traditional setting.

[Maat]

22. Thank you for your response.

:)

[knitter4democracy]

23. I've known many. I've known good ones and bad ones.

It is entirely dependent on the child and upon the parents. Parents who are good educators who take it seriously who have hard-working, intelligent kids have great outcomes; parents who blow it off or only teach what they're good at don't so much.