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The facts don't line up with your opinion. A 2016 study by the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) indicates homeschoolers scored between 15 and

The facts don't line up with your opinion. A 2016 study by the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) indicates homeschoolers scored between 15 and 30 percentage points higher on standardized academic achievement tests and usually scored higher on the SAT/ACT. https://www.nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/ https://www.nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/

troupe 3y ago
> Homeschooling is guaranteed to increase inequality, not decrease it. Your statistics support the previous claim. If you have a group out performing the public school by 15 to 30% there will be more spread in educational outcomes. Many would see that as a good thing when some kids get closer to reaching their potential, but not everyone wants that.
glitchc 3y ago
No, that's not a fact. It's an observation that shows how people with training and resources can do a better job than the public school system. But as more affluent kids move out of the school system, funding will decrease, leaving the kids belonging to poor or uneducated parents stranded, until they too are forced to homeschool. It's funny how people will gut the foundation of public education over decades, then turn around and point saying "Look, it's shaky." Of course it's shaky. It's chronically underfunded, teachers have no say over student behaviour and no control over the curriculum.
- yashasolutions 3y ago
  > But as more affluent kids move out of the school system, funding will decrease Why? Public schools are funded by tax money, not by the kids. Less kids using public schools mean more resources for the kids left. No? I am not following your reasoning.
- graemep 3y ago
  If you look at more detailed studies you will see that many of them correct for parental education and income etc. and home educated kids still do better on average. This is true across multiple countries - I know of studies in the US, the UK, and Australia.
  - Jensson 3y ago
    Last time I looked home educated kids didn't do better on average when you corrected for parents. They even did worse than average in STEM fields, but of course since they were on average equal they did better on average on non-STEM subjects. This makes sense since it is mostly moms that home school and women are often weak at STEM themselves. Can look at some links about this: https://www.nheri.org/home-school-researcher-the-impact-of-homeschooling-on-math-education/ https://www.nheri.org/home-school-researcher-the-impact-of-h... https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/the-homeschool-math-gap/ https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/the-homeschool-math-gap...
    - graemep 3y ago
      Your first link dares back to 1995 and a lot has changed since. The data from Alaska is based on "students are enrolled in the state’s popular correspondence programs". If that implies state control of materials and syllabus it is more like school than real home education. I think you are right in so far as there is a particular sizeable group (affluent hippie women in my experience in the UK) of home educators tend to encourage humanities and creative arts. It looks from these UK numbers (also admittedly not recent) that HE kids do better at maths here: https://core.ac.uk/download/108200.pdf https://core.ac.uk/download/108200.pdf (page 298). In general, the internet has been of huge help to home educators: online classes, better access to resources, online advice and community (only useful thing I have ever found on Facebook are HE groups!) so I would expect that to have had a major impact. We also survived covid lockdowns rather better.
- thatwasunusual 3y ago
  So much this. This is the most worrying thread on HN I've ever read. :/

troupe 3y ago

> Homeschooling is guaranteed to increase inequality, not decrease it. Your statistics support the previous claim. If you have a group out performing the public school by 15 to 30% there will be more spread in educational outcomes. Many would see that as a good thing when some kids get closer to reaching their potential, but not everyone wants that.

glitchc 3y ago

No, that's not a fact. It's an observation that shows how people with training and resources can do a better job than the public school system. But as more affluent kids move out of the school system, funding will decrease, leaving the kids belonging to poor or uneducated parents stranded, until they too are forced to homeschool. It's funny how people will gut the foundation of public education over decades, then turn around and point saying "Look, it's shaky." Of course it's shaky. It's chronically underfunded, teachers have no say over student behaviour and no control over the curriculum.

yashasolutions 3y ago
> But as more affluent kids move out of the school system, funding will decrease Why? Public schools are funded by tax money, not by the kids. Less kids using public schools mean more resources for the kids left. No? I am not following your reasoning.
graemep 3y ago
If you look at more detailed studies you will see that many of them correct for parental education and income etc. and home educated kids still do better on average. This is true across multiple countries - I know of studies in the US, the UK, and Australia.
- Jensson 3y ago
  Last time I looked home educated kids didn't do better on average when you corrected for parents. They even did worse than average in STEM fields, but of course since they were on average equal they did better on average on non-STEM subjects. This makes sense since it is mostly moms that home school and women are often weak at STEM themselves. Can look at some links about this: https://www.nheri.org/home-school-researcher-the-impact-of-homeschooling-on-math-education/ https://www.nheri.org/home-school-researcher-the-impact-of-h... https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/the-homeschool-math-gap/ https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/the-homeschool-math-gap...
  - graemep 3y ago
    Your first link dares back to 1995 and a lot has changed since. The data from Alaska is based on "students are enrolled in the state’s popular correspondence programs". If that implies state control of materials and syllabus it is more like school than real home education. I think you are right in so far as there is a particular sizeable group (affluent hippie women in my experience in the UK) of home educators tend to encourage humanities and creative arts. It looks from these UK numbers (also admittedly not recent) that HE kids do better at maths here: https://core.ac.uk/download/108200.pdf https://core.ac.uk/download/108200.pdf (page 298). In general, the internet has been of huge help to home educators: online classes, better access to resources, online advice and community (only useful thing I have ever found on Facebook are HE groups!) so I would expect that to have had a major impact. We also survived covid lockdowns rather better.
thatwasunusual 3y ago
So much this. This is the most worrying thread on HN I've ever read. :/