5 ms·

Good luck to these people, hope it turns out well. Personally, I can't imagine home-schooling kids. I neither have the time nor patience to do that, which is wh

Good luck to these people, hope it turns out well. Personally, I can't imagine home-schooling kids. I neither have the time nor patience to do that, which is why I appreciate teachers. Besides, I believe school is also a place for kids to socialize with and learn from their peers. I'm very introverted, but I think I would have ended up horribly social-wise if I was home-schooled.

krastanov 3y ago
Just FYI, while I share the overall sentiment, I think you are not up to date on the socialization aspect of homeschooling. Typical homeschooling today includes activities where most homeschooled kids from the town gather together for PE or art or other enrichment activities, maybe even specialized academic activities.
- Loughla 3y ago
  There is no such thing as typical homeschooling, in my experience in education (decades and decades). It is extremely dependent on 1. access to wealth, 2. underlying reason for homeschooling (religion/safety/other item), and 3. where in the country you live (rural v suburban v urban). In that order specifically. Homeschooling is the ultimate class solidification technique. Those with wealth can almost certainly guarantee their children will do really well. Those without don't stand a chance in hell.
  - brodouevencode 3y ago
    > Homeschooling is the ultimate class solidification technique In what ways that are different from any public or private school?
  - AlwaysRock 3y ago
    Yup. There are a few big buckets in the US. 1. Religious Home Schoolers. They are primarily homeschooled because the parents are very religious and don't want them in public schools because of fears their kids will become too secular. 2. Wealthy Home Schoolers. These are very well off people who choose to home school their kids for any number of reasons (like their traditional schooling options being poor) but can afford to hire tutors or teachers or if they teach the kids themselves, there were previously teachers. 3. Group Home Schoolers. These are families that have grouped up to split the duties of homeschooling across multiple families. Sometimes for all classes or just a few. The kids are more likely to have more day-to-day connection with other kids/students other than their siblings. All of these groups have tons of cross over. Religious group home schoolers is a big thing right now. But your opinion on homeschooling is likely heavily built on the type of homeschooling you have witnessed/been involved in. At the end of the day, everyone has their own experience and biases built into schooling from their own lived experiences. For every, "I was homeschooled and grew up to be very social and successful” story, there is a, "I learned nothing and I don't know how to talk to people" story.
  - PuissantSheep 3y ago
    [dead]
  - chasd00 3y ago
    > in my experience in education (decades and decades). are you a public school teacher by chance? your view seems biased against anyone who does not send their kids to public school.
- watwut 3y ago
  Large part of socialization is what happens outside of structured interactions. During breaks, when being with friends you have choosen by yourself and so on. The activities you mention are not even thought about as socialization situation outside of homeschooling context - because kids come, engage in highly structured activity and leave.
brodouevencode 3y ago
When you have kids your perspective on many, many things changes in very big ways. This is more true when the pregnancy is planned for and you and your spouse are both ready to have children. We don't personally home school but have many friends that do. It's a very common thing in our church and community. It's hard to tell what kids are homeschooled versus the ones that aren't. Many homeschools engage in co-op programs and use curricula to drive personal engagement. For instance in one family we're very good friends with they use a curriculum that requires community service for middle school ages and up. There are several charities that they engage with in addition to the community service activities that the church is doing.
303uru 3y ago
Ya, this doesn't end well. The data isn't amazing for homeschooling, but what I've seen shows a strong bimodal distribution. Extremely wealthy home schoolers with tons of resources have kids that perform well in college and have strong lifetime earnings. Everyone else not so much, unprepared for college, earnings well below their peers. Pair this with the fairly predatory organizations offering "learning materials" and education online. Could probably make a few million launching an overnight online school run by a bible trained LLM.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  > Extremely wealthy home schoolers with tons of resources have kids that perform well in college and have strong lifetime earnings. Everyone else not so much, unprepared for college, earnings well below their peers. So... exactly the same as public schools, then?
  - chasd00 3y ago
    right. what they want is "wealthy home schoolers with tons of resources" to suffer in college and have low lifetime earnings in the same way as "everyone else". That's equality.
- WoodEye 3y ago
  Citation needed.
zaphar 3y ago
I think possibly the worst place to learn and practice social skills is from other kids who are just as in the dark as you are. In my experience a home schooled child is significantly more likely to be good at social skills than a public schooled child. They are also adept at navigating adult conversation and social situations much sooner.
- Loughla 3y ago
  My experience is the absolute opposite of yours. In all seriousness, there is a trend of homeschooled kids coming to the local large high school for the extracurriculars, and the school offering Autism testing, because they are so far behind socially. I find it interesting that your experience is the opposite. Where in the world do you live?
  - zaphar 3y ago
    I've lived all over the country. I was homeschooled as well and have a number of friends who were. Anecdotal evidence is going to vary certainly and effect is highly dependent on the parent. But I've been around homeschooling groups for over 30 years now and the balance of them have been significantly ahead of the public schooled.
  - Turing_Machine 3y ago
    > the school offering Autism testing, because they are so far behind socially. Do you have any published evidence for this?
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  My experience is exactly the opposite. Homeschooled kids frequently have to learn how to adult all at once, right as they get dumped into the pool with everyone else to go find a way to make a living. The most successful kids that I see are the ones who have professional instructors by day and excellent support at home. Not one or the other, but both.
  - Turing_Machine 3y ago
chongli 3y ago
Home schooling doesn’t mean setting up the garage with a chalkboard and two kids at their desks with mom or dad playing teacher. Home schooling doesn’t even have to take place at home! Lots of homeschooling parents will take their kids to the library, the (science, art, natural history) museum, to offices and factories, and out into nature preserves. It also doesn’t mean just Billy and his little sister Jenny learning all by themselves. Homeschooling parents often join groups where they can bring all the kids together. The kids can socialize and the parents can share responsibility for teaching and supervising. It also doesn’t mean just the parents participate. At my local public library, the children’s floor has a huge amount of programming aimed at homeschooling families. The librarians run activities with the kids, showing them how to find books in the library for science research, make crafts together (by hand and with library 3D printers), learn about engineering by building cars and robots with electronics components. Homeschooling can of course be done badly and we should worry about kids in those environments. However, homeschooling done right can be far more dynamic and engaging than the best public schools around. It also doesn’t have to be expensive, it just takes time and commitment from the parents involved.
bluefirebrand 3y ago
In Alberta, homeschool is really more akin to "remote school" than homeschool. The kids are still required to pass the same exams to get their high school diploma, and they still get a package of course work and required reading and such. They also have access to a teacher to ask questions to, who can help explain concepts, projects, and such. My wife was homeschooled here growing up and she loved it. She would finish her school for the day in the morning then do whatever she wanted for the rest of her time. She would also finish her courses early and have long summers. Now she has a masters degree and leads teams at work. Definitely not for every family or every kid, but the outcomes don't have to be terrible

krastanov 3y ago

Just FYI, while I share the overall sentiment, I think you are not up to date on the socialization aspect of homeschooling. Typical homeschooling today includes activities where most homeschooled kids from the town gather together for PE or art or other enrichment activities, maybe even specialized academic activities.

Loughla 3y ago
There is no such thing as typical homeschooling, in my experience in education (decades and decades). It is extremely dependent on 1. access to wealth, 2. underlying reason for homeschooling (religion/safety/other item), and 3. where in the country you live (rural v suburban v urban). In that order specifically. Homeschooling is the ultimate class solidification technique. Those with wealth can almost certainly guarantee their children will do really well. Those without don't stand a chance in hell.
- brodouevencode 3y ago
  > Homeschooling is the ultimate class solidification technique In what ways that are different from any public or private school?
- AlwaysRock 3y ago
  Yup. There are a few big buckets in the US. 1. Religious Home Schoolers. They are primarily homeschooled because the parents are very religious and don't want them in public schools because of fears their kids will become too secular. 2. Wealthy Home Schoolers. These are very well off people who choose to home school their kids for any number of reasons (like their traditional schooling options being poor) but can afford to hire tutors or teachers or if they teach the kids themselves, there were previously teachers. 3. Group Home Schoolers. These are families that have grouped up to split the duties of homeschooling across multiple families. Sometimes for all classes or just a few. The kids are more likely to have more day-to-day connection with other kids/students other than their siblings. All of these groups have tons of cross over. Religious group home schoolers is a big thing right now. But your opinion on homeschooling is likely heavily built on the type of homeschooling you have witnessed/been involved in. At the end of the day, everyone has their own experience and biases built into schooling from their own lived experiences. For every, "I was homeschooled and grew up to be very social and successful” story, there is a, "I learned nothing and I don't know how to talk to people" story.
- PuissantSheep 3y ago
  [dead]
- chasd00 3y ago
  > in my experience in education (decades and decades). are you a public school teacher by chance? your view seems biased against anyone who does not send their kids to public school.
watwut 3y ago
Large part of socialization is what happens outside of structured interactions. During breaks, when being with friends you have choosen by yourself and so on. The activities you mention are not even thought about as socialization situation outside of homeschooling context - because kids come, engage in highly structured activity and leave.

brodouevencode 3y ago

When you have kids your perspective on many, many things changes in very big ways. This is more true when the pregnancy is planned for and you and your spouse are both ready to have children. We don't personally home school but have many friends that do. It's a very common thing in our church and community. It's hard to tell what kids are homeschooled versus the ones that aren't. Many homeschools engage in co-op programs and use curricula to drive personal engagement. For instance in one family we're very good friends with they use a curriculum that requires community service for middle school ages and up. There are several charities that they engage with in addition to the community service activities that the church is doing.

303uru 3y ago

Ya, this doesn't end well. The data isn't amazing for homeschooling, but what I've seen shows a strong bimodal distribution. Extremely wealthy home schoolers with tons of resources have kids that perform well in college and have strong lifetime earnings. Everyone else not so much, unprepared for college, earnings well below their peers. Pair this with the fairly predatory organizations offering "learning materials" and education online. Could probably make a few million launching an overnight online school run by a bible trained LLM.

Turing_Machine 3y ago
> Extremely wealthy home schoolers with tons of resources have kids that perform well in college and have strong lifetime earnings. Everyone else not so much, unprepared for college, earnings well below their peers. So... exactly the same as public schools, then?
- chasd00 3y ago
  right. what they want is "wealthy home schoolers with tons of resources" to suffer in college and have low lifetime earnings in the same way as "everyone else". That's equality.
WoodEye 3y ago
Citation needed.

zaphar 3y ago

I think possibly the worst place to learn and practice social skills is from other kids who are just as in the dark as you are. In my experience a home schooled child is significantly more likely to be good at social skills than a public schooled child. They are also adept at navigating adult conversation and social situations much sooner.

Loughla 3y ago
My experience is the absolute opposite of yours. In all seriousness, there is a trend of homeschooled kids coming to the local large high school for the extracurriculars, and the school offering Autism testing, because they are so far behind socially. I find it interesting that your experience is the opposite. Where in the world do you live?
- zaphar 3y ago
  I've lived all over the country. I was homeschooled as well and have a number of friends who were. Anecdotal evidence is going to vary certainly and effect is highly dependent on the parent. But I've been around homeschooling groups for over 30 years now and the balance of them have been significantly ahead of the public schooled.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  > the school offering Autism testing, because they are so far behind socially. Do you have any published evidence for this?
rootusrootus 3y ago
My experience is exactly the opposite. Homeschooled kids frequently have to learn how to adult all at once, right as they get dumped into the pool with everyone else to go find a way to make a living. The most successful kids that I see are the ones who have professional instructors by day and excellent support at home. Not one or the other, but both.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago

chongli 3y ago

Home schooling doesn’t mean setting up the garage with a chalkboard and two kids at their desks with mom or dad playing teacher. Home schooling doesn’t even have to take place at home! Lots of homeschooling parents will take their kids to the library, the (science, art, natural history) museum, to offices and factories, and out into nature preserves. It also doesn’t mean just Billy and his little sister Jenny learning all by themselves. Homeschooling parents often join groups where they can bring all the kids together. The kids can socialize and the parents can share responsibility for teaching and supervising. It also doesn’t mean just the parents participate. At my local public library, the children’s floor has a huge amount of programming aimed at homeschooling families. The librarians run activities with the kids, showing them how to find books in the library for science research, make crafts together (by hand and with library 3D printers), learn about engineering by building cars and robots with electronics components. Homeschooling can of course be done badly and we should worry about kids in those environments. However, homeschooling done right can be far more dynamic and engaging than the best public schools around. It also doesn’t have to be expensive, it just takes time and commitment from the parents involved.

bluefirebrand 3y ago

In Alberta, homeschool is really more akin to "remote school" than homeschool. The kids are still required to pass the same exams to get their high school diploma, and they still get a package of course work and required reading and such. They also have access to a teacher to ask questions to, who can help explain concepts, projects, and such. My wife was homeschooled here growing up and she loved it. She would finish her school for the day in the morning then do whatever she wanted for the rest of her time. She would also finish her courses early and have long summers. Now she has a masters degree and leads teams at work. Definitely not for every family or every kid, but the outcomes don't have to be terrible