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It's important to distinguish between a core competency and something of extreme importance. Obviously education is extremely important but that doesn't mean a

It's important to distinguish between a core competency and something of extreme importance. Obviously education is extremely important but that doesn't mean a parent will inherently be any good at doing it, other than of course caring a lot, which may or may not help depending on how that energy is channeled.

NegativeK 4y ago
I know this is coming from a viewpoint that a lot of people don't or can't share with me, but I'd rather move to a good district than homeschool. The stakes are high, and teaching is _hard_.
- jlkuester7 4y ago
  Teaching is hard. Absolutely! But sitting one-on-one with your child helping them understand something is _way different_ than trying to manage a classroom and explain concepts to 30 people who are all at different levels of knowledge and development. The beauty of homeschooling is that it does not really have to scale. To steal an analogy from the tech world, when homeschooling you can approach your "students" as pets instead of livestock. None of this means that homeschooling is easy, but in my experience (was home-schooled myself for 12 years and now my wife and I are homeschooling our children) a lot of the skills you need to effectively teach your children at home are the same basic ones that are necessary for being an effective parent in the first place. (As I mentioned before, though, this is a very different set of skills than is required to be an effective teacher in a classroom environment...)
jlkuester7 4y ago
This is a very good point! I would just like to add, though, that teaching does not have to be one of your "core competencies" to consider homeschooling. Many folks like in places with terrible public schools, but also cannot afford to send their children to private school. As a friend recently remarked to me: to be successful in homeschooling, you do not have to provide a perfect education. As long as it is better than the alternative, it makes sense to have the option on the table. (Of course, deployment of energy and resources must also be considered. Homeschooling is a TON of effort and might not be worth it for only marginal gains...)
- jjk166 4y ago
  Counterpoint, you can always supplement your children's education at home even if you're not homeschooling them to make up for deficiencies in a local school while still reaping the benefits. Even a terrible school will be able to teach some things, it's incredibly difficult for kids to get nearly the same social interaction with kids their own age while being homeschooled as they would at a public school, and having the kids out of the house for a few hours a day is extremely beneficial for both the parents and the kids. For homeschooling to be the best option, the local schools need to be not only worse than you, they need to be net negative. There are some places with such terrible schools, but if you have the disposable income to spend all day at home teaching the kids, use it to move someplace with better schools.

NegativeK 4y ago

I know this is coming from a viewpoint that a lot of people don't or can't share with me, but I'd rather move to a good district than homeschool. The stakes are high, and teaching is _hard_.

jlkuester7 4y ago
Teaching is hard. Absolutely! But sitting one-on-one with your child helping them understand something is _way different_ than trying to manage a classroom and explain concepts to 30 people who are all at different levels of knowledge and development. The beauty of homeschooling is that it does not really have to scale. To steal an analogy from the tech world, when homeschooling you can approach your "students" as pets instead of livestock. None of this means that homeschooling is easy, but in my experience (was home-schooled myself for 12 years and now my wife and I are homeschooling our children) a lot of the skills you need to effectively teach your children at home are the same basic ones that are necessary for being an effective parent in the first place. (As I mentioned before, though, this is a very different set of skills than is required to be an effective teacher in a classroom environment...)

jlkuester7 4y ago

This is a very good point! I would just like to add, though, that teaching does not have to be one of your "core competencies" to consider homeschooling. Many folks like in places with terrible public schools, but also cannot afford to send their children to private school. As a friend recently remarked to me: to be successful in homeschooling, you do not have to provide a perfect education. As long as it is better than the alternative, it makes sense to have the option on the table. (Of course, deployment of energy and resources must also be considered. Homeschooling is a TON of effort and might not be worth it for only marginal gains...)

jjk166 4y ago
Counterpoint, you can always supplement your children's education at home even if you're not homeschooling them to make up for deficiencies in a local school while still reaping the benefits. Even a terrible school will be able to teach some things, it's incredibly difficult for kids to get nearly the same social interaction with kids their own age while being homeschooled as they would at a public school, and having the kids out of the house for a few hours a day is extremely beneficial for both the parents and the kids. For homeschooling to be the best option, the local schools need to be not only worse than you, they need to be net negative. There are some places with such terrible schools, but if you have the disposable income to spend all day at home teaching the kids, use it to move someplace with better schools.