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I have a young daughter and have come to the same conclusion; not to teach her too much before she starts school. My own parents, being teachers themselves, tau

I have a young daughter and have come to the same conclusion; not to teach her too much before she starts school. My own parents, being teachers themselves, taught me as much as they could before I attended school. I remember being bored senseless in classes and, whilst doing great in tests, started to harbour a deep resentment against education from a young age. "Like, why is everyone forcing me to do this 100 times?! I get it already!" Gradually realising that the other kids hate your for being too smart didn't help. I don't think you can call this irrational, it's just accepting of human behaviour.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago
How about, teach her at home, period? Then you don't have to stifle her just so the state can have an easier time domesticating her. Home schooling is for more than religious nuts these days.
- philbarr 12y ago
  Because I also believe that one of the most important aspects of school is learning about social interaction.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Its a myth that home-schooling shorts social interaction. Its part of the curriculum like anything else. You manage it with outings, sports, music groups. Instead of dumping your child into a zoo for 5 hours a day to fend for herself, you can plan her socialization like you plan her dental hygiene for instance.
    - ska 12y ago
      It's true that home-schooling does not necessarily short on social interaction, but I've met enough people who were home schooled and did poorly in social setting to wonder how many people do well at this aspect of it for their children. Outings, sports, music etc. are great but not enough on their own. For a lot of people doing home schooling, it must be difficult to arrange for several hours most days in the company a largish group of children with varied backgrounds and personalities. Not having this can make it difficult for children to develop socially.
      - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        Scouts. Camping clubs. Summer camp. Volunteer at the library/hospital/senior center. Its not hard at all.
        ska 12y ago
        Hey, it's great if you manage to get your kids into several hours of group activities with a mixture of kids on the majority of days. But in my experience, many parents who home school mostly fail on this "not hard" task. So maybe it is harder than you're making out? Or maybe my sample set isn't very good, it's not like I've done a broad study, I'm just taking this from families and adults (who were home schooled) that I know personally. This may be a bit of unfair stereotype, but in my experience there are plenty of real world examples backing it up.
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        You don't have to be like the average. That's actually the point in the whole home-schooling thing. You can do it right. Its clearly not hard to join social groups; look at all the people already in those groups! They did it. I'd not take the failings of some, as a condemnation of the whole practice. The only one who matters to you is you - can you do it? Start with a small step - join a group with your student, see if the quality of social interaction is different from their public school experience. How do you tell? You ask your student.
        ska 12y ago
        Sure, I get that - but how is that a response to peoples perceptions, which are based on averages in some sense. You said "it's a myth", maybe you really meant "it doesn't have to be that way". The latter is clearly true.
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        Pedantic: its a myth that 'home schooling' shorts social interaction. The only thing that shorts social interaction is ... failing to provide social interaction.
- gambiting 12y ago
  I am not trying to be offensive, but I have never ever understood how can home schooling possibly work. The sheer amount of knowledge that is covered at school seems like way too much for a parent or even two to teach. How can you give your child expert knowledge of physics, mathematics, history, biology, foreign language of choice and sports? Or do I understand how it all works wrongly? Where I come from home schooling is incredibly rare(partially because it's illegal, unless you have a disability).
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Art, sports, machine shop - you turn to professionals for these. But for the rest, any well-educated adult is able to teach up to middle school for instance. It becomes harder in high school. Many home-schooled students attend regular high school when they are ready for it. And they are ready years earlier than those in the state-sponsored track. Don't imagine that the average parent can teach a class of 30 better than a trained teacher. Nor can they tutor a single student better. But neither of those things is happening. The average parent can tutor a single student better than a trained teacher can teach a class of 30 (or 40). That's the tradeoff you have as a parent. And yes, you sure can do better. Consider: if that teacher did nothing but give individual attention to students all day for 5 hours, your student would get 10 minutes of individual attention per day. You can do that in the first 10 minutes of your home-school day. You can do 10 times better than that. In fact home-school 'school days' are generally just an hour or two, during which the student progresses further than the public-school student does in 5 hours.
    - gambiting 12y ago
      Oh yes I agree that if each teacher gave you their undivided attention it would have been fantastic. But while I could teach my child maths or physics quite well, I would not know nearly enough history or biology to even start. So I would need to stop working and consider education of my child to be my primary job. I think that's a massive sacrifice that's completely unnecessary, but hey, that's just my own opinion - maybe there are home-schooling parents who work full time at the same time,but I can't see it work. And if they are not working,but staying home to teach their children then the net benefit to society is.....negative? That's just my guess though.
- ovi256 12y ago
  School is not just for teaching, it also accomplishes the task of keeping the kids safe - and everyone else safe from the kids - while the parents are working. Given that both parents are working in developed countries, this is very important.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    School as babysitter is probably the place they fail the most. They fail to keep your kid safe from other sociopathic kids. They fail to occupy them sufficiently. They fail to feed them well. If your public school were a babysitter, you'd fire them.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

How about, teach her at home, period? Then you don't have to stifle her just so the state can have an easier time domesticating her. Home schooling is for more than religious nuts these days.

philbarr 12y ago
Because I also believe that one of the most important aspects of school is learning about social interaction.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Its a myth that home-schooling shorts social interaction. Its part of the curriculum like anything else. You manage it with outings, sports, music groups. Instead of dumping your child into a zoo for 5 hours a day to fend for herself, you can plan her socialization like you plan her dental hygiene for instance.
  - ska 12y ago
    It's true that home-schooling does not necessarily short on social interaction, but I've met enough people who were home schooled and did poorly in social setting to wonder how many people do well at this aspect of it for their children. Outings, sports, music etc. are great but not enough on their own. For a lot of people doing home schooling, it must be difficult to arrange for several hours most days in the company a largish group of children with varied backgrounds and personalities. Not having this can make it difficult for children to develop socially.
    - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
      Scouts. Camping clubs. Summer camp. Volunteer at the library/hospital/senior center. Its not hard at all.
      - ska 12y ago
        Hey, it's great if you manage to get your kids into several hours of group activities with a mixture of kids on the majority of days. But in my experience, many parents who home school mostly fail on this "not hard" task. So maybe it is harder than you're making out? Or maybe my sample set isn't very good, it's not like I've done a broad study, I'm just taking this from families and adults (who were home schooled) that I know personally. This may be a bit of unfair stereotype, but in my experience there are plenty of real world examples backing it up.
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        You don't have to be like the average. That's actually the point in the whole home-schooling thing. You can do it right. Its clearly not hard to join social groups; look at all the people already in those groups! They did it. I'd not take the failings of some, as a condemnation of the whole practice. The only one who matters to you is you - can you do it? Start with a small step - join a group with your student, see if the quality of social interaction is different from their public school experience. How do you tell? You ask your student.
        ska 12y ago
        Sure, I get that - but how is that a response to peoples perceptions, which are based on averages in some sense. You said "it's a myth", maybe you really meant "it doesn't have to be that way". The latter is clearly true.
        JoeAltmaier 12y ago
        Pedantic: its a myth that 'home schooling' shorts social interaction. The only thing that shorts social interaction is ... failing to provide social interaction.
gambiting 12y ago
I am not trying to be offensive, but I have never ever understood how can home schooling possibly work. The sheer amount of knowledge that is covered at school seems like way too much for a parent or even two to teach. How can you give your child expert knowledge of physics, mathematics, history, biology, foreign language of choice and sports? Or do I understand how it all works wrongly? Where I come from home schooling is incredibly rare(partially because it's illegal, unless you have a disability).
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Art, sports, machine shop - you turn to professionals for these. But for the rest, any well-educated adult is able to teach up to middle school for instance. It becomes harder in high school. Many home-schooled students attend regular high school when they are ready for it. And they are ready years earlier than those in the state-sponsored track. Don't imagine that the average parent can teach a class of 30 better than a trained teacher. Nor can they tutor a single student better. But neither of those things is happening. The average parent can tutor a single student better than a trained teacher can teach a class of 30 (or 40). That's the tradeoff you have as a parent. And yes, you sure can do better. Consider: if that teacher did nothing but give individual attention to students all day for 5 hours, your student would get 10 minutes of individual attention per day. You can do that in the first 10 minutes of your home-school day. You can do 10 times better than that. In fact home-school 'school days' are generally just an hour or two, during which the student progresses further than the public-school student does in 5 hours.
  - gambiting 12y ago
    Oh yes I agree that if each teacher gave you their undivided attention it would have been fantastic. But while I could teach my child maths or physics quite well, I would not know nearly enough history or biology to even start. So I would need to stop working and consider education of my child to be my primary job. I think that's a massive sacrifice that's completely unnecessary, but hey, that's just my own opinion - maybe there are home-schooling parents who work full time at the same time,but I can't see it work. And if they are not working,but staying home to teach their children then the net benefit to society is.....negative? That's just my guess though.
ovi256 12y ago
School is not just for teaching, it also accomplishes the task of keeping the kids safe - and everyone else safe from the kids - while the parents are working. Given that both parents are working in developed countries, this is very important.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  School as babysitter is probably the place they fail the most. They fail to keep your kid safe from other sociopathic kids. They fail to occupy them sufficiently. They fail to feed them well. If your public school were a babysitter, you'd fire them.