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If this was my exposure to homeschooling I’d be alarmed too. I’ll just say there are also a lot of homeschoolers in NYC who do it for very different reasons - t
by eduction 3y ago
If this was my exposure to homeschooling I’d be alarmed too. I’ll just say there are also a lot of homeschoolers in NYC who do it for very different reasons - to give their kids individualized instruction, more freedom to learn in idiosyncratic ways, and even for some a chance to go deep on STEM stuff before it’s in the official curriculum yet (this obviously varies based on the kid and parent).
There are also people who do it for a 2-5 years and end up then putting their kid in public schools. I’m not sure 5, 6 and 7 year olds were meant to sit still indoors for 6-7 hours a day and there is a good argument for giving them more time for free play. Also the gap between specialized teacher knowledge vs motivated parent knowledge widens as the material gets more advanced. (Though with homework, you still end up needing to do remedial education on yourself in either context).
- crazydoggers 3y agoI definitely believe that’s the case, and it’s a similar case for private schools. To be clear, I’m in Texas; and there’s been a push here for vouchers for example, and it’s all politically/religiously motivated. So I’d just say we need to be aware of the bigger picture. The “need” for homeschooling is a red flag, and although for some students it’s a positive choice; for others it has massively negative consequences. So awareness of those issues, and a powerful right wing religious lobby pushing an agenda shouldn’t be ignored because homeschooling works for some kids. When these groups lost the battle for teaching creationism in schools, they literally took their textbook and did a “search and replace” with intelligent design. Luckily that attempt got shot down in court. So they have moved on to vouchers and homeschooling in many states.