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Currently in my first year teaching in an urban school. It's hard to describe how physically/mentally/emotionally draining it is. I went through an alternate ce

Currently in my first year teaching in an urban school. It's hard to describe how physically/mentally/emotionally draining it is. I went through an alternate certification program and was put in front of a class after a six week summer program. I am amazed that this is acceptable.

jostylr 12y ago
You've been given the task of controlling lots of kids, squishing their natural learning desires and ways. This should be draining as it is against the ways of how we evolved. See for example http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/school_is_a_prison_and_damaging_our_kids/ http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/school_is_a_prison_and_damag... Despite your best intentions, coercive schooling is not a good thing. There are better ways, such as Sudbury schooling, that are both respectful of children and actually prepare them for the world that we live in.
- TheBeardKing 12y ago
  Arguments like this make me wonder whether we should pursue homeschooling. My kids are 2 and 4, and we've been going back and forth on the decision. We couldn't afford private school, and my wife is already staying home. Our county's educational system is one of the best in the state, but it still suffers from the bad practices that plague our national education system.
  - UnoriginalGuy 12y ago
    If you do make damn sure your kids socialise with other kids a significant amount (e.g. clubs, friends, etc). It is anecdotal but a lot of home school kids I've met are a bit "off" socially (e.g. young for their age, anti-social, don't do well in group settings, etc).
  - Mimu 12y ago
    I live in France but I always wonder how homeschool could work. How can one parent (or even both) be as efficient than a whole school?
    - TheBeardKing 12y ago
      Efficiency isn't the question, of course it isn't efficient. You're giving up one person's salary to teach a couple kids. The effectiveness of homeschooling is what's important, which, I think, is largely determined by the education of the parent. I've met several non-college educated parents who don't seem qualified to teach their children through higher grade levels, but others who quit engineering jobs to homeschool who I know are always on the ball and will produce great results in their kids. With a well-educated and energetic parent, the results of homeschooling will far surpass that of the public school system. Research into homeschooling effectiveness is still in early stages, but the studies produced by my google results show homeschooling producing sociable, independent kids who do well in college.
  - yourapostasy 12y ago
    A lot of the result depends upon how much energy your wife has to devote to homeschooling, after childcare and housekeeping. Unless she is above median/average, the answer is usually "not much energy". From the way you wrote, it sounds like you leave the house to work. Even if that is not the case, our field is competitive enough that even an easy "lifestyle business" will see you devote half a day every three days at a minimum to your work, making it challenging for both parents to be heavily involved. If you work at home, like most around here (including myself) you probably work a full 40-50 hours per week if not much more. The erratic nature of much at-home working also wreaks havoc upon the routine many young children crave to establish the level of trust they require; there is some clinical evidence that the successful children in the Stanford marshmallow experiment were successful because they trusted parents, which translated into trusting adults, and hence trusted the adult who told them they would get an additional treat in the future). So really homeschooling on a practical, continuing basis comes down on the shoulders of one of the stay-at-home parents (or the one stay-at-home parent). I can tell you what worked for me, and leave it up to you to collect sufficient data samples to judge your own situation. We bring in a nanny 12 hours a week, on three separate days (8 of those hours are with a nanny who speaks a second language for an immersive experience for the children). My SO taught at home from pre-verbal stage to 4; we turned what most houses would be the "living room" into the school/playroom for the children. Our local homeschool groups don't meet frequently enough to offset some of the lagging social development cues we suspected that were not aligning with our 4-yo's advanced verbal skills (assessed to at least a year ahead of peers), so we placed (for 15 hours per week) our 4-yo into a pre-school that specializes in Precision Learning and Direct Instruction methods (these terms are sometimes associated with developmentally delayed children, but they work even better with developmentally appropriate children). The rest of the time we continue with our homeschooling. Results: within six months, our 4-yo leapt from average to a year ahead in math and reading, and (our suspicions were correct) went from being uncomfortable in groups to being the class clown (never knew the child had that in them). I will tell you straight up front: this is expensive. There is no way around that. Since you mention a state, I assume you are in the US. Using private resources means you will likely pay property taxes partly for a public school system you will not use. One decision we took to mitigate that was to hunt for a house that was only assessed county property taxes, and still as close-in to the metro area as we could manage. We gave up the amenities of urban living, but our city is not densifying and is growing rather dysfunctionally IMHO so I consider moving away a net positive for our particular situation. Between the nannies, part-time pre-school, and third-party activities we signed up for that we don't have the equipment to teach (swimming and gymnastics), it is a significant chunk of change. However, I consider my children my most important investment, ever, and my capital allocation reflects that. As the children grow older, we do anticipate not having to spend quite so much on the nannies / housekeepers, so the situation does improve, but there are no easy answers here.
  - jostylr 12y ago
    I would say that homeschooling is better than traditional schooling, but it really lacks the freedom, responsibility, independence, and socializing that Sudbury schooling has to offer. A good article trumpeting this up is http://blog.sudburyvalley.org/2014/02/sudbury-schools-unschooling-with-babysitting/ http://blog.sudburyvalley.org/2014/02/sudbury-schools-unscho... I was fortunate to discover the model a year ago with a functioning school. They are fairly rare so probably not an option for you, but if it is, they are often in a price range of 6-8k. Before that, I was going to homeschool my daughter (she's 3.5). Now I work for Baltimore's urban Sudbury school and the place is fantastic. I also recommend reading Zero to One and think about in the context of traditional schooling. I am working on a series of posts highlighting the connections starting with http://blog.aisudbury.com/post/102537221611/educational-preparation http://blog.aisudbury.com/post/102537221611/educational-prep...

jostylr 12y ago

You've been given the task of controlling lots of kids, squishing their natural learning desires and ways. This should be draining as it is against the ways of how we evolved. See for example http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/school_is_a_prison_and_damaging_our_kids/ http://www.salon.com/2013/08/26/school_is_a_prison_and_damag... Despite your best intentions, coercive schooling is not a good thing. There are better ways, such as Sudbury schooling, that are both respectful of children and actually prepare them for the world that we live in.

TheBeardKing 12y ago
Arguments like this make me wonder whether we should pursue homeschooling. My kids are 2 and 4, and we've been going back and forth on the decision. We couldn't afford private school, and my wife is already staying home. Our county's educational system is one of the best in the state, but it still suffers from the bad practices that plague our national education system.
- UnoriginalGuy 12y ago
  If you do make damn sure your kids socialise with other kids a significant amount (e.g. clubs, friends, etc). It is anecdotal but a lot of home school kids I've met are a bit "off" socially (e.g. young for their age, anti-social, don't do well in group settings, etc).
- Mimu 12y ago
  I live in France but I always wonder how homeschool could work. How can one parent (or even both) be as efficient than a whole school?
  - TheBeardKing 12y ago
    Efficiency isn't the question, of course it isn't efficient. You're giving up one person's salary to teach a couple kids. The effectiveness of homeschooling is what's important, which, I think, is largely determined by the education of the parent. I've met several non-college educated parents who don't seem qualified to teach their children through higher grade levels, but others who quit engineering jobs to homeschool who I know are always on the ball and will produce great results in their kids. With a well-educated and energetic parent, the results of homeschooling will far surpass that of the public school system. Research into homeschooling effectiveness is still in early stages, but the studies produced by my google results show homeschooling producing sociable, independent kids who do well in college.
- yourapostasy 12y ago
  A lot of the result depends upon how much energy your wife has to devote to homeschooling, after childcare and housekeeping. Unless she is above median/average, the answer is usually "not much energy". From the way you wrote, it sounds like you leave the house to work. Even if that is not the case, our field is competitive enough that even an easy "lifestyle business" will see you devote half a day every three days at a minimum to your work, making it challenging for both parents to be heavily involved. If you work at home, like most around here (including myself) you probably work a full 40-50 hours per week if not much more. The erratic nature of much at-home working also wreaks havoc upon the routine many young children crave to establish the level of trust they require; there is some clinical evidence that the successful children in the Stanford marshmallow experiment were successful because they trusted parents, which translated into trusting adults, and hence trusted the adult who told them they would get an additional treat in the future). So really homeschooling on a practical, continuing basis comes down on the shoulders of one of the stay-at-home parents (or the one stay-at-home parent). I can tell you what worked for me, and leave it up to you to collect sufficient data samples to judge your own situation. We bring in a nanny 12 hours a week, on three separate days (8 of those hours are with a nanny who speaks a second language for an immersive experience for the children). My SO taught at home from pre-verbal stage to 4; we turned what most houses would be the "living room" into the school/playroom for the children. Our local homeschool groups don't meet frequently enough to offset some of the lagging social development cues we suspected that were not aligning with our 4-yo's advanced verbal skills (assessed to at least a year ahead of peers), so we placed (for 15 hours per week) our 4-yo into a pre-school that specializes in Precision Learning and Direct Instruction methods (these terms are sometimes associated with developmentally delayed children, but they work even better with developmentally appropriate children). The rest of the time we continue with our homeschooling. Results: within six months, our 4-yo leapt from average to a year ahead in math and reading, and (our suspicions were correct) went from being uncomfortable in groups to being the class clown (never knew the child had that in them). I will tell you straight up front: this is expensive. There is no way around that. Since you mention a state, I assume you are in the US. Using private resources means you will likely pay property taxes partly for a public school system you will not use. One decision we took to mitigate that was to hunt for a house that was only assessed county property taxes, and still as close-in to the metro area as we could manage. We gave up the amenities of urban living, but our city is not densifying and is growing rather dysfunctionally IMHO so I consider moving away a net positive for our particular situation. Between the nannies, part-time pre-school, and third-party activities we signed up for that we don't have the equipment to teach (swimming and gymnastics), it is a significant chunk of change. However, I consider my children my most important investment, ever, and my capital allocation reflects that. As the children grow older, we do anticipate not having to spend quite so much on the nannies / housekeepers, so the situation does improve, but there are no easy answers here.
- jostylr 12y ago
  I would say that homeschooling is better than traditional schooling, but it really lacks the freedom, responsibility, independence, and socializing that Sudbury schooling has to offer. A good article trumpeting this up is http://blog.sudburyvalley.org/2014/02/sudbury-schools-unschooling-with-babysitting/ http://blog.sudburyvalley.org/2014/02/sudbury-schools-unscho... I was fortunate to discover the model a year ago with a functioning school. They are fairly rare so probably not an option for you, but if it is, they are often in a price range of 6-8k. Before that, I was going to homeschool my daughter (she's 3.5). Now I work for Baltimore's urban Sudbury school and the place is fantastic. I also recommend reading Zero to One and think about in the context of traditional schooling. I am working on a series of posts highlighting the connections starting with http://blog.aisudbury.com/post/102537221611/educational-preparation http://blog.aisudbury.com/post/102537221611/educational-prep...