EDUC I have a question about the nature of home-schooled children

[gunnersmom]

Although I've heard it before, in the past two weeks I've had two different people make the comment to me that home-schooled children were "weird", "different", and basically not "normal" like US gov't schooled kids.

When pressed, I can never get anyone to tell me why they say this. I have absolutely zero exposure to any home-schooled child, but I do recall reading many stories about very talented and bright home schoolers.

Could someone here give me insight into why people say this and what they note as far as personality and such of home schooled children they know?

 

[joyfulheart]

I have 3 boys. All 3 have been homeschooled for years, oldest just started public high school last month.
I constantly get questioned about this. LOL

People tell me that my kids act so "normal" that they do not believe they are homeschooled. They have no problems making friends, they don't act socially awkward, and they "know how to play". (rolling my eyes) LOL

There is a stereotype out there, but I have yet to meet a homeschooled child that actually fits the stereotype.

 

[FREEBIRD]

My neighbors homeschool---kids are bright, sociable, and polite. Two families at my church homeschooled in the past---same thing there.

 

[Meemur]

The ones I've run into think they are better than everyone else in their classes, if they attend college. They frequently have gaps in their learning and should be in the tutoring center, but until they flunk a class or two, they think they are an A student.

Also keep in mind that a lot of autistic students get home-schooled, which may account for some of the "weird" population.

Given what I know of some of the home-schooling parents, probably 1 in 50 of the children is truly "bright." The rest are dull-normal who would get "C" grades or worse, but they have individual attention.

It is every parent's right to educate his or her children, but a number of parents really shouldn't be. They can barely read at the high school level themselves.

Flame away! I don't care. I make money tutoring, cleaning up some of the educational messes from bad parent teachers.

 

[Dennis Olson]

The reason those people say the kids are "weird" is because they've bought into the government "line" about homeschooling being "bad" and creating "unsocialized" children. That's why when pressed, they can't tell you WHAT about the kids is weird. Because, in actual fact, nothing is weird about them. Except that they have actual knowledge and are generally able to think for themselves, which is horrifying to our Marxist government.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Meemer is right that some parents aren't competent to homeschool their children.

 

[celtic-cat]

It depends on the reason that the parents are homeschooling. Is it because of illness, and is that illness physical or psychological? Perhaps the student has social deficits and the parents have decided to homeschool to remove that stress so that the child can learn more effectively. Is it because the parents want a more individual learning structure? Is it because of religion or political ideology?

There are a lot of reasons that a child may be homeschooled, and some of those reasons may also account for a certain "differentness" of the student.

Also, some parents are better than others, as Dennis and Meemur have pointed out. While some homeschooling parents make sure that their kids are well rounded and have ample opportunities for social interaction, some fail to do so. It is not an educational choice which churns out cookie-cutter results, so in a society where uniformity is valued it may make people uncomfortable as well.

 

[Garryowen]

I have many friends who are homeschooled. I can agree that they aren't normal, if you consider the public sector products to be normal.

The home schooled kids generally know how to work, and actually enjoy it.
They usually don't have the latest electronic games and equipment, so they can converse with adults and each other.
They keep appointments and meet obligations.
They earn their own cars.
Most have marketable skills before they graduate.
They behave in a courteous manner, and the boys remove their hats at the table.
Our neighbors frequently have friends over for ball games which involve the whole family.
My eight year old neighbor brought us some cookies she made herself. I think she came up with the recipe herself. Yes, they were really good.

I don't recall ever meeting a home-schooled child who was gender confused. IMO having the parents involved in schooling is probably responsible for that, along with an intact family.

Now, given the condition of our culture in America, such persons would naturally seem "odd." A young woman in my SS class, many years ago now, visited friends in the NE US, and was shocked to find her friends didn't know anyone who remained married to the same person longer than 12 years.

I guess we are "odd" also.

 

[Hfcomms]

I've had two different people make the comment to me that home-schooled children were "weird", "different", and basically not "normal" like US gov't schooled kids.

They are probably right. These home schooled kids have probably been taught to think for themselves, not politically correct at an early age, conformity to the system is not a high priority, ect. In short for many of these kids they are not going to fit the mold of the government automaton with limited intelligence and no critical thinking skills.

 

[NHGUNNER]

Flame away! I don't care. I make money tutoring, cleaning up some of the educational messes from bad parent teachers.

From this quote I take it your only clients are from "bad parent teachers"? Of course the government educated kids don't need tutors.

 

[fairywell]

Many "home schoolers" I have been acquainted with want to shield their children from the bad peer pressure or "influence" their children would be exposed to in the public schools, drugs and alcohol, violence, disrespect, promiscuity and indoctrination to values they do not believe in as the families I know of home schooling adhere to more traditional values. Their children are decent, "not normal like US Govt schooled kids" is a good thing. Then I know of a few families that home school their children that do so because their child is "a problem child" or "doesn't fit in" and they want to either protect their child or make excuses for their child. Some people should not home school, as far as being weird, "not normal" or different I cannot say they are any more so than any not "normal" kid in the public school. Actually, it is getting harder and harder to define what is normal any more, the "normal" kid now a days is actually what would have been so very abnormal 30-40 years ago.

 

[topcat46]

The reason those people say the kids are "weird" is because they've bought into the government "line" about homeschooling being "bad" and creating "unsocialized" children. That's why when pressed, they can't tell you WHAT about the kids is weird. Because, in actual fact, nothing is weird about them. Except that they have actual knowledge and are generally able to think for themselves, which is horrifying to our Marxist government.

Bingo.

 

[Illini Warrior]

Meemer is right that some parents aren't competent to homeschool their children.

you can triple that with ease .... some of the parents that are so-called "home schooling" should be arrested for for education neglect, abuse, fraud and filing false records .....

some of the various reality shows have shown the backside and inner workings of some of these home classrooms .... plowing the "back 40" when the kid can't even count to 50 or read at a grade school level is nothing but slavery ..... learning to conjure a witch's spell instead of good literature is bat crazy ..... solitary studying and taking "open book" tests over the internet is hardly what home schooling was intended to be .....

 

[NHGUNNER]

Meemer is right that some parents aren't competent to homeschool their children.

I also agree. My co-worker's father called the State about my co-worker's sister. The sister was "homeschooling" but the fifteen year old son could not do basic math or read very well. State said the sister had followed guidelines and without some other evidence they couldn't do anything. I think there are good public school kids and there are good HS kids. The reverse is also true.

 

[MtnGal]

I have seen first hand homeschooled kids from a non-liberal family and a very liberal family that lived in my parent's neighborhood many years ago, late 70's early 80's. In those years the laws were different and text books weren't required, many made them up as they went along much like the old Montessori schools.

The kids from the non-liberal family were highly structured in their education, social and civic involvement in the outside world. Today these kids are all college grads with excellent professions including a doctor and orthodontist.

The kids from the liberal family had lots of gaps in their educational program. The mother used to say when they are ready to learn they will. There was no structure, no text books, lots of social involvement. Both boys now have families of their own and are as dumb as a rock.

Those are the only two families I have personal knowledge of homeschooling. Same affluent neighborhood with vastly different concepts of life and education.

Meemur, how does the demographics of the students you tutor line up? Does that have any influence on their learning or social skills?

 

[tm1439m]

I am a people person in the real world (away from tb2k). Pretty much every person I deal with outside my home considers themselves my friend and I they. My son is the same way. I have know a few kids that work in stores we go to that were home schooled. Have gotten to know them well from our brief encounters . In all cases they were kids I would be proud to have as my own. Two in particular were extremely great kids. Nothing abnormal about them except for their excellence in behavior.

 

[naturallysweet]

The ones I've run into think they are better than everyone else in their classes, if they attend college. They frequently have gaps in their learning and should be in the tutoring center, but until they flunk a class or two, they think they are an A student.

Also keep in mind that a lot of autistic students get home-schooled, which may account for some of the "weird" population.

Given what I know of some of the home-schooling parents, probably 1 in 50 of the children is truly "bright." The rest are dull-normal who would get "C" grades or worse, but they have individual attention.

It is every parent's right to educate his or her children, but a number of parents really shouldn't be. They can barely read at the high school level themselves.

Flame away! I don't care. I make money tutoring, cleaning up some of the educational messes from bad parent teachers.

I've had to work with too many Seniors in High school who are allowed to graduate, who can't add double digit math without a calculator and couldn't write a paragraph to save their lives.

No, not all parents should home school by themselves. But most public schools shouldn't either.

 

[Sodbuster]

We homeschooled 3 out of our 4 children.
The 3 we homeschooled are conservative the one we did not is liberal . . . Just sayin!

 

[Mama Ten Bears]

Here is actual data-driven research that contradicts Meemur's anecdotal experience.

http://blog.drwile.com/?p=9303

The first thing the analysis noted was that homeschool graduates had significantly higher SAT and ACT scores than the rest of the population. The homeschool graduates, for example, averaged 115 points higher on the SAT than the rest of the student population. While that is interesting, the really important result is how the homeschool graduates performed in their freshman year at Baylor. In the end, the average homeschool graduate had a freshman grade point average (GPA) of 3.364, while the average for the rest of the freshman class was 3.038.

Now, I will agree with Meemer that in all categories of students, you will find that there are some students who are woefully unprepared, either taught by a teacher in the classroom or by a parent at home.

 

[Melodi]

My experience with the children of others is that it doesn't really matter if the family is liberal or conservative, what matters is if real teaching takes place. No matter a parent's political views or if they homeschool to keep their kids from exposure to "The World" in public school or because they don't want their children's creativity crushed by "The System;" if the kids are taught to learn basic facts when needed, to ask logical questions, learn to find logical answers and how to study and learn for themselves; usually they do OK. Allowing for a lot of creative learning by gaining skills helps here too; math with cooking, knitting, carpentry etc; spelling and English by reading books and writing about them; history by hands-on projects (as well as the needed memorization of facts) etc.

One thing both husband and I have noticed about well home-schooled children, even those whose parents may be very conservative religiously is; they know how to think, they have thought about their own opinions and why they have them, they don't just parrot a party line. The young people may have firmly held beliefs in religion or politics; but whatever they are from Southern Baptist to Wiccan they have thought them out, and you don't tend to see the shoulder shrugging of "whatever" on nearly so many subjects.

That's where all, healthy home schooled children (I'm not talking about the disabled) who are well taught tend to be "weird" or "different" from public school peers, they are still CURIOUS about the world and the universe and they still CARE about learning and see it as understanding themselves and the world, as opposed to a horrible drudgery that forces them to sit eight hours a day in the same spot parroting a text book or a teacher. Even many handicapped children seem happier and live up to their potentials better; this can even happen with a really engaged parent with a child in public school but who does almost a secondary home-school at home; I have a friend who does this and her Down's syndrome daughter is at the top of her class in reading and almost on a par with math.

That said, I have also known people both liberal and conservative for whom "home schooling" really means "no schooling;" this can be anything from "can't be arsed to get little Johnny out of bed in the morning" to "we don't like to put pressure on the poor darlings" or "they are learning, they doing work about the place so they are learning what they need to know (but with no basic instruction to go along with the work).."

Public schools in the US, and to a pretty good degree in the UK and Ireland are simply factories designed to create good little worker bees with no creativity, who don't ask questions and who create as few problems as possible. This isn't new, it has gone on for a very long time; you get pockets where this isn't true, especially in highly educated communities with lots of tax dollars but here the school is expected to "create" future doctors, scientists, CEO's etc; in fact it has to or the parents will just switch to a private school.

In other places though, a young teacher put it best when she was a conference and told they were educating the future "office workers, nurses, factory technicians, soldiers and service industry attendants;" she actually wondered why none of "her" kids were thought of as potential doctors, lawyers, journalists, historians, scientists or CEO's? Their zip codes and perceived social status had them living in communities where the schools were intended to train people primarily to fill those sorts of jobs, when they were even expected to have jobs....

It is true that not everyone can be a scientist, engineer, doctor or even dramatic actor; but your going to insure that children don't live up to their creative potentials or stretch themselves as far as they can, by rewarding them for sitting in seats and manipulating pieces of paper well, sitting in one place for hours at a time and most of all doing exactly what they are told.

 

[Mama Ten Bears]

http://blog.drwile.com/?p=6095

This study is even more interesting. It is worth reading if you really are interested in the achievements of home schooled versus public schooled children.

So despite the fact that the structured homeschooled students came from families with lower incomes and mothers with less education, they were still academically quite superior to their publicly-schooled counterparts. That says quite a lot!

Now for the bad news. In the authors’ analysis, the “unstructured” homeschoolers underperformed compared to the publicly-schooled students. As they note:

…the children in public school had a higher mean grade level for all seven measures compared with the unstructured homeschoolers.

So while “structured” homeschooling produced students who scored significantly higher than comparable publicly-schooled students, “unstructured” homeschooling produced students who scored lower than the same publicly-schooled students.

 

[almost ready]

Have a neighbor who home schooled her kids until high school. Her son, who is now an adult, took off a year of college to go fly doctors around a small country in east Africa as a bush pilot, without pay. Not your ordinary kid.

Very happy to have them as neighbors. True, they aren't wooden or plastic, but very much full human beings.

Those who don't home school because there is no parent at home must inquire about their "lessons" and supplement and expand the kids' horizons, or they'll end up dumb as doorknobs these days. We had to take that path, but the time was well spent. Probably took longer than home schooling would have, but our kids are well-used to dealing with idiots and bureaucracy, and don't get easily thrown by nasty jerks who wrap themselves in "authority".

Do what you can! Get to know your neighbors who home school. Maybe the kids aren't getting social life. In Idaho all home schooled kids are invited to take arts, sports, or other individual courses and get to know the public school and to move in and out of the crowd. It's an important part of growing up, as well. Home schooled kids used to have a tutor - once a week or something - where they would all get together and do group work. Socializing is important. Crowds can be overwhelming if you're not raised dealing with them comfortably.

Gunnersmom, you might get to know the home schooled kids, and see if they are having opportunities to do team play, like band, and sports. It's a big part of life.

 

[TerryK]

Typical public educator response to home schooling is to single out some cases where the parents are clearly unqualified to teach their children. I would point out that many public school teachers have proven themselves to be unqualified to even be around school children much less teach them.

Yes there are unqualified parents trying to home school their children and the outcome for these children isn't very good. But again all you have to do is turn around and look at the tremendous failure rate of the public school system.

So if you didn't complete high school or barely made it through then you should probably bust your ass working and send your kid to a private school. There are many out there that don't cost too much.

However, it has been proven that in households where both parents have college degrees, those kids that are home schooled do very much better than their public school counterparts.

I would say the absolute best type of education is a good private school supplemented by a rich pro education / conservative home environment.

The US government spends over $12,000 per student each year failing to provide a good education to our children.
Private schools do a much better job for much less money.
On average even home schools do a better job for almost no money.


2% of students in this country are home schooled. A little less than 90% attend public schools, while less than 8 or 9% attend private schools.
Yet:

Scripps Spelling Bee - In the 2009 Scripps Spelling Bee, 6 of the finalists were public school students, 2 were private school students and 3 were homeschoolers. In 2010, there were 8 finalists. Four were public school students, 2 were private school students and 2 were homeschooled. Public school students made up only about 50 percent of the finalists in both 2009 and 2010, while private school students made up 18 percent and 25 percent respectively. Homeschoolers made up 27 percent of the 11 finalists in 2009 and 25 percent of the 8 finalists in 2010.5


National Geographic Bee - No homeschoolers made it to the top 10 in the 2010 National Geographic Bee but three out of the 54 participants were homeschooled. Homeschoolers made up 5 percent of the participants. Of the 10 finalists in 2009, one was a homeschooler. 6 In 2007, homeschooler Caitlin Snaring became the first girl to win the National Geographic Bee in 17 years. 7


Apangea Math Contest - The second annual Idaho Math Cup was won by a class from the Idaho Virtual Academy, a public online homeschooling program. 8 Brother and sister Garrisen and Cecilia Cizmich beat thousands of students nationwide to win the Apangea Summer Contest. Both are homeschooled through the Idaho Virtual Academy. 9



3M Young Scientist Challenge - Two of the 10 finalists in the 2010 and 2008 contests were homeschool students. Homeschoolers made up 20 percent of the finalists. One of the 2009 finalists was a homeschooler, making up 10 percent of the finalists. Only 60% of the 2010 finalists and 50 percent of the 2009 and 2008 finalists attended public schools. 10


USA Mathematical Olympiad - This contest has 12 winners each year. In both 2010 and 2009, a homeschooler was among the winners. So homeschoolers made up 8 percent of the winners both years. Only 7 of the 2009 winners were American public school students (approximately 58 percent), as were 8 of the 2010 winners (approximately 66 percent). 11


If homeschooling did not provide any advantages over public schooling, public school and homeschooled contestants should make up a similar proportion to their representation in the student population overall. However, public school students are obviously underrepresented in these contests, while private school students are overrepresented and homeschoolers are significantly overrepresented. The success of homeschoolers in academic contests indicates that homeschoolers are most likely doing much better educationally than their public school counterparts.

 

[Pebbles]

I work for a school. We are in rural Arizona. The kids I have seen who were home schooled by competent parents are generally from ranching families. Usually the child gets to be about 11 or 12 and wants to go to school in town. These children are usually awesome kids. They are respectful to adults, can converse intelligently with adults, they are not all brilliant but they have been taught well by their parents.
They are well rounded because they have had the responsibility of animals, chores, and family. They are like kids use to be. I have found these kids to be well liked by their classmates and tend to end up being leaders within their grade level. I love talking to the home schooled kids because they are interesting and usually have a passion for something - horses, dogs, ranching.
Yes, over the years I have come across the "homeschooled" kid that was homeschooled by creepy, molesting, lazy parents. Usually the situation did not last long and the family moved or the authorities stepped in. Those kids were odd, but no more odd then the kids attending public school from extremely dysfunctional families.

 

[Terrwyn]

I personally know one homeschooled child. He definitely is different. For one thing they are vegetarians-vegans and he isn't running all over the place like a maniac on a sugar high when he comes to visit. He is also interested in everything 2 elders have to tell him. He is polite, well spoken and intelligent. Having said that however, I see the possibility for problems developing with his social interaction with kids his own age. His Mom is way too protective of him. I have no experience with kids at all but how in the heck will he ever get along in the real world?

 

[Laurane]

My 3 nephews/nieces are homeschooled up to Grade 10 or so......then their mother realised that she couldn't manage to teach the higher courses adequately and they then went on the school bus to High School in the country, which is much different to the city school. They are polite and mature and confident and were all star athletes at their school, and all did very well in graduating (one left to go) and off to university.

Their parents are intelligent, but have no tertiary education but have strong moral standards and taught these to their children.

I did genealogical work for a woman in NY state who homeschooled her daughter - I asked her what she had done that week after the teaching part of the day.......they had visited the Statue of Liberty on the ferry, gone to the Smithsonian and an Art Gallery together and had a lovely time discussing what they had seen. That is one side benefit - they have the time after class to do enriching activities.

We met a young woman this last week in another province and I asked her was she going to University when they moved - she said "not yet, I'm only 14".......I took her for 18 or so (she was tall) but she had a maturity when she spoke to us (strangers) and confidence not usually found in a young teen. Her parents were in engineering and she had been homeschooled for 3 years before going to a small city school on the bus from just outside town, but she didn't want to move to the big city with her transferred parents.

Don't know any kids who had bad results - but there must be some, with parents who aren't totally committed to the HS program. I have heard of families who HS'ed and different people taught the subjects they were familiar with, and the kids moved into different rooms for the subjects. Kind of like a mini-school.

 

[medic38572]

We home school our son, we have been asked many times if we home school him. When I say yes how did you know. And every time they tell me he is different. When I ask how? they tell me because he seems smarter, he is more courteous, respectful towards others then government taught children. He is 9 and plays well with the other kids. He is given the opportunity to learn to think for himself at home vs being taught in a class room and being taught what and how to think. At home he has freedom of religion, freedom to worship and is taught family values. Thanks to Terryk for posting the link for the doulingo we are all learning german together. We have a large german population here mostly hutterites who we meet and try to talk to. My wife speaks some spanish also already that she learned to going on mission trips when she was younger. But we do not seem to have a spanish problem here. The town we live in has a small population. Has several families with kids. He is allowed to socialize with the other kids and has a blast all summer long. When school started he is all back to business.

 

[Be Well]

Sometime around 1998 I had a huge garage sale as we were moving and had tons of stuff. A famiy came in with about 3 young boys, oldest maybe 10. The boys were polite, respectful to me and parents, not clingy, not whiny, not terror stricken, interested in what was going on and things they saw, asked me intelligent questions without arrogance, snottiness or being servile. They had an alert, clear "vibe" to them without the layer of "cultural kid-asshole" to be blunt.

I asked the parents - "Do you homeschool"? Answer: Yes.

I've seen other children out and about with their parents with the same "vibe" and I know they were home schooled.

 

[Be Well]

I personally know one homeschooled child. He definitely is different. For one thing they are vegetarians-vegans and he isn't running all over the place like a maniac on a sugar high when he comes to visit. He is also interested in everything 2 elders have to tell him. He is polite, well spoken and intelligent. Having said that however, I see the possibility for problems developing with his social interaction with kids his own age. His Mom is way too protective of him. I have no experience with kids at all but how in the heck will he ever get along in the real world?

He will be a good influence to those around him. Maybe a leader. He will not get sucked into the crap that many other kids fall into. He will think for himself and he will be thankful that his parents sacrificed to home school him rather than put him in the meatgrinders of public screwel.

 

[Be Well]

Typical public educator response to home schooling is to single out some cases where the parents are clearly unqualified to teach their children. I would point out that many public school teachers have proven themselves to be unqualified to even be around school children much less teach them.

Yes there are unqualified parents trying to home school their children and the outcome for these children isn't very good. But again all you have to do is turn around and look at the tremendous failure rate of the public school system.

So if you didn't complete high school or barely made it through then you should probably bust your ass working and send your kid to a private school. There are many out there that don't cost too much.

I was a high school dropout. I home schooled my kids for many years. When they went to school one year because I had to work full time the school authorities were horrified that I had no college degree and said they'd put the kids in the normal grade but they'd test them and the kids might have to be moved (down). They were so freaked out by the test results, one was about 99% in everything, the other 99% in everything except for math, only 70%. They both had to be moved to "talented and gifted" classes.

I only used a regular home schooling cirriculum one year, as I could not afford it again. We just went to the library and got library books and I made my own lessons. I taught many many children over the years, I got them to read and enjoy it, very quickly.

To think that parents need an academic degree is ridiculous.

And now there are online courses for home schooling kids, extremely affordable, I know one mother who is teaching her girls this way.

Please do no discourage anyone from home schooling their children. I am entirely self educated and somehow or other manage to educate my children very well. I did not do high school because of other factors.

 

[gunnersmom]

Thanks for all the enlightening answers! I have no children at home now, and back then never thought home schooling was even a possibility. The one person who told me (with a slight sneer on her face) that homeschooled kids were different was my sister, just this weekend. I don't see her often, and I love her to death, but she can be very condescending when others don't live their lives the way she/they do.

She has five beautiful grandchildren and is very involved with them as all the parents work a lot. She babysat them all till they entered school. I was really surprised when she gave me that answer. I really thought with the time she spent with them that she would be more approving of the concept. I let it drop, but will approach it again when she next comes back here.

 

[changed]

The ones I've run into think they are better than everyone else in their classes, if they attend college. They frequently have gaps in their learning and should be in the tutoring center, but until they flunk a class or two, they think they are an A student.

Also keep in mind that a lot of autistic students get home-schooled, which may account for some of the "weird" population.

Given what I know of some of the home-schooling parents, probably 1 in 50 of the children is truly "bright." The rest are dull-normal who would get "C" grades or worse, but they have individual attention.

It is every parent's right to educate his or her children, but a number of parents really shouldn't be. They can barely read at the high school level themselves.

Flame away! I don't care. I make money tutoring, cleaning up some of the educational messes from bad parent teachers.

Many of our Georgia teachers are like that.

 

[TerryK]

I was a high school dropout. I home schooled my kids for many years. When they went to school one year because I had to work full time the school authorities were horrified that I had no college degree and said they'd put the kids in the normal grade but they'd test them and the kids might have to be moved (down). They were so freaked out by the test results, one was about 99% in everything, the other 99% in everything except for math, only 70%. They both had to be moved to "talented and gifted" classes.

I only used a regular home schooling cirriculum one year, as I could not afford it again. We just went to the library and got library books and I made my own lessons. I taught many many children over the years, I got them to read and enjoy it, very quickly.

To think that parents need an academic degree is ridiculous.

And now there are online courses for home schooling kids, extremely affordable, I know one mother who is teaching her girls this way.

Please do no discourage anyone from home schooling their children. I am entirely self educated and somehow or other manage to educate my children very well. I did not do high school because of other factors.

Good for you BeWell. I'm not saying everyone who doesn't have a college degree should not home school. It depends on your attitude and motivation to make sure your kids do well. And yes, there are some parents WITH college degrees that shouldn't home school. Either they don't have the motivation or they are just lousy teachers.
I would say that caring and dedication definitely count for more than a degree.
I would not discourage anyone from home schooling, but I would try to make sure they were competent and dedicated and at have at least a minimum of academic skills before encouraging them. If someone has an IQ of 80 they are probably not a good parent for home schooling.

You are right about using outside resources. There are so many outside resources, web based training, supplemental instruction and even home school co-ops available that even with a limited education it is still possible for a parent who really cares, to give their child a better than public school education at home.
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Michael Dell all dropped out of college, and proved that a college degree is not an essential to be a success, but for most people it sure does help.

 

[Melodi]

I should point out that about 1/2 of my cousin's children were home schooled (I had no siblings until I was 12, so I was thrown together with 1st cousins a lot as a child during the Summer) both the branches of kids that went to public school and the home-school kids did well but in general the home-school kids were higher achievers in high school. The Home-school young adults seem to have had a slightly easier time navigating the choices of early adulthood in terms of deciding career and/or becoming a house-wife Mother at a young age; the public school young adults have had a mixed bag of it but their are more of them and interestingly enough, at least one also choose to marry young and start a family.

However, the parts of the US were vastly different for the two sets of second cousins; one group (larger) was in Mississippi and the other in Washington State (home school group); also the parents of the Washington group that home schooled were more "driven" if that is the right word, from a young age (like when we were all kids they were the ones staring in every activity you can imagine). So how much was home-schooling, how much was family personality and how much was the individual kids is hard to tell.

The good news is though that no one I am aware of has turned out "bad," even my "Black Sheep" cousin (who I get along with very now) who was the one in my generation riding in leathers and bringing his family to despair has great kids who are being well-known local rock musicians and proud Dad enjoys taking them to gigs and helping with the sound system. I think those kids went to public school but growing up for them must have been interesting..

 

[Freeholder]

I totally agree that a college degree is NOT necessary in order to teach your children. In fact, up until fairly recently, many of the teachers in this country, especially in rural and frontier areas, only had an eighth-grade education themselves, and yet many of their students went on to become leaders of their communities. A college education is not indicative of great intelligence (many highly intelligent people are so bored by sitting at a desk in a classroom all day that they don't even finish high school, let alone college -- I have two brothers like this, though one of them did eventually go to college, when he saw the need for it in his line of work), nor does it indicate any great aptitude to teach. Depending on the college, it may only mean that the person has spent several more years being indoctrinated into political correctness. I'm not against college, but IMO, it should be for those who see the need, and if I was recommending a college education for someone, I would tell them to look for one that isn't politically correct!!

Most of the homeschooled children I've known have been better behaved and better socialized than their public-school counterparts, including my own daughters (we used to get compliments on their behavior from people who didn't know they were homeschooled). There are children who struggle with their schoolwork -- I know one ten-year-old boy right now who, if he was in public school, would be in a special ed classroom because he does have trouble learning bookwork. He's intelligent and active (would also be medicated if he was in a classroom), he is also well-behaved, curious about the world, generally well-brought-up. I think he's far better off at home, getting individualized instruction and care from his parents, than in a special ed classroom on medications! The other children in the family are doing just fine -- they are all a pleasure to know -- I spend quite a bit of time with them one way or another.

Yes, there are parents who shouldn't be homeschooling. I've met two families like that, that I can think of (we started homeschooling in about 1982). One family, the dad had psychological issues. And yet, even though they would hardly let their daughter out the door (they did get to where she was allowed to play with my girls sometimes) would she have been any better off in public school? I'm not sure about that. Another family, Christians, was doing 'un-schooling' and their girls at ten and twelve couldn't read. I saw the oldest girl a few weeks ago when I was at the fair and spoke to her briefly; she's nineteen or twenty now and she seems to be doing all right. Hopefully they'll be able to catch up on their neglected education -- but they are bright, their dad is an engineer and their mom is also bright, and I think the girls will ultimately be fine. Different, but fine!

I have four grandchildren who attend public school (over my protests); they are absorbing the liberal group-think even though they come from a Christian home; their hand-writing and spelling is atrocious. They are readers, which saves them academically. They have no academic or social advantages over being homeschooled, and my fifteen-year-old granddaughter has already had at least two boyfriends (IMO, she's much too young for that foolishness).

I do believe that one of the reasons homeschooled kids do better academically than public-schooled kids is because USUALLY when parents decide to homeschool it's because they really care about their child, and the child's education. Parents who really care but leave their kids in public school can also have children who do well academically. However, they are still being exposed to all the liberal propaganda, and they are still being socialized into a pack mentality by spending most of their time with a bunch of kids their own age. One thing I hate to see is the child who goes to public school, then goes home and the parents spend most of the rest of the day teaching the child in order to make sure he gets the education he needs. I applaud their motives, I applaud their determination and caring for the child. But when does the poor child have time to just be a kid?!? He's doing nothing but school all day long!

I could go on, but much of what I want to say has already been said.

Kathleen

 

[TerryK]

For those looking for resources to help them home school or even to just help improve their own education, I highly recommend the Kahn Academy online.
https://www.khanacademy.org/


A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. We're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.




How it works for students

Students can make use of our extensive library of content, including interactive challenges, assessments, and videos from any computer with access to the web.

Coaches, parents, and teachers

Coaches, parents, and teachers have unprecedented visibility into what their students are learning and doing on Khan Academy.

A world of skills to practice, with help along the way

Practice math at your own pace with our adaptive assessment environment. You can start at 1 + 1 and work your way into calculus or jump right into whatever topic needs some brushing up.

Each problem is randomly generated, so you never run out of practice material. If you need a hint, every single problem can be broken down, step-by-step, with one click. If you need more help, you can always watch a related video.



Learn about anything

Our library of content covers math, science topics such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and even reaches into the humanities with playlists on finance and history.

"I teach the way that I wish I was taught. The lectures are coming from me, an actual human being who is fascinated by the world around him."
—Sal

Your stats, instantly

Every time you learn on Khan Academy, we'll remember what you've learned and where you're spending your time. We keep all of this data private but expose powerful statistics to each user and their coaches. You get at-a-glance information about everything you've been learning and whether or not you've been hitting your goals.

You can drill all the way down from a bird's-eye view of your profile into each and every skill practice problem that you've ever worked on. You'll see real, hard data about your increasing mastery of math.



Badges worth bragging about

We're full of game mechanics. As soon as you log in, you'll start earning badges and points for learning. The more you challenge yourself, the more bragging rights you'll get.

We've heard of students spending hour after hour watching physics videos and 5th graders relentlessly tackling college-level math to earn Khan Academy badges. Some of the smaller badges are very easy, but the most legendary badges might require years of work.

Your classroom data...finally

Teachers and coaches can access all of their students' data. You can get a summary of class performance as a whole or dive into a particular student's profile to figure out exactly which topics are problematic. The coach reports let coaches glance at their dashboard and quickly figure out how to best spend their time teaching.

We've put a lot of energy into making sure that Khan Academy empowers teachers by giving them access to the data they should've had for years. You'll know instantly if a student is struggling in multiplying fractions...or if she hit a streak and is now far ahead of the class.


Over 2000 videos on everything for free to everyone.
Here is his story on TED talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM95HHI4gLk

 

[TerryK]

Some of the major division of courses at Khan


Web page: Arithmetic
http://khanacademy.org/#Arithmetic
Web page

Web page: Algebra
http://khanacademy.org/#Algebra
Web page

Web page: Geometry
http://khanacademy.org/#Geometry
Web page

Web page: Trigonometry
http://khanacademy.org/#Trigonometry
Web page

Web page: Statistics
http://khanacademy.org/#Statistics
Web page

Web page: Probability
http://khanacademy.org/#Probability
Web page

Web page: Precalculus
http://khanacademy.org/#Precalculus
Web page

Web page: Calculus
http://khanacademy.org/#Calculus
Web page

Web page: Linear Algebra
http://khanacademy.org/#Linear Algebra
Web page

Web page: Differential Equations
http://khanacademy.org/#Differential Equations
Web page

Web page: Chemistry
http://khanacademy.org/#Chemistry
Web page

Web page: Physics
http://khanacademy.org/#Physics
Web page

Web page: Biology
http://khanacademy.org/#Biology
Web page

Web page: Finance
http://khanacademy.org/#Finance
Web page

Web page: Current Economics
http://khanacademy.org/#Current Economics
Web page

Web page: Banking and Money
http://khanacademy.org/#Banking and Money
Web page

Web page: Venture Capital and Capital Markets
http://khanacademy.org/#Venture Capital and Capital Markets
Web page

Web page: Valuation and Investing
http://khanacademy.org/#Valuation and Investing
Web page

Web page: Credit Crisis
http://khanacademy.org/#Credit Crisis
Web page

Web page: Geithner Plan
http://khanacademy.org/#Geithner Plan
Web page

Web page: Paulson Bailout
http://khanacademy.org/#Paulson Bailout
Web page

Web page: History
http://khanacademy.org/#History
Web page

Web page: Brain Teasers
http://khanacademy.org/#Brain Teasers

 

[Flippper]

Weird how? Like ignorant folk view preppers weird? Homeschooled kids I have had interaction with are always polite, respectful, smart as whips and can carry on an adult conversation at most any age. This is how school kids use to be before libtards got control of the educational system. One of these days I'm going to scan some pages for you folks, from my 1858 Fifth grade elocution book for the Philadelphia school system. It's far above most college level reading, let alone speech and elocution.

To stupid and/or ignorant people, wise, intelligent people likely appear 'weird' or 'strange'. Just sayin'.

And Dennis you are spot on.

 

[Tristan]

I have many friends who are homeschooled. I can agree that they aren't normal, if you consider the public sector products to be normal.

The home schooled kids generally know how to work, and actually enjoy it.
They usually don't have the latest electronic games and equipment, so they can converse with adults and each other.
They keep appointments and meet obligations.
They earn their own cars.
Most have marketable skills before they graduate.
They behave in a courteous manner, and the boys remove their hats at the table.
Our neighbors frequently have friends over for ball games which involve the whole family.
My eight year old neighbor brought us some cookies she made herself. I think she came up with the recipe herself. Yes, they were really good.

I don't recall ever meeting a home-schooled child who was gender confused. IMO having the parents involved in schooling is probably responsible for that, along with an intact family.

Now, given the condition of our culture in America, such persons would naturally seem "odd." A young woman in my SS class, many years ago now, visited friends in the NE US, and was shocked to find her friends didn't know anyone who remained married to the same person longer than 12 years.

I guess we are "odd" also.

Bingo.

If you consider what's 'normal' today, it may be a good thing that homeschooled kids are 'odd'.

And while it's true that there are homeschooling failures, we all know that the Public Schools never have any, right?

 

[Blue 5]

The reason those people say the kids are "weird" is because they've bought into the government "line" about homeschooling being "bad" and creating "unsocialized" children. That's why when pressed, they can't tell you WHAT about the kids is weird. Because, in actual fact, nothing is weird about them. Except that they have actual knowledge and are generally able to think for themselves, which is horrifying to our Marxist government.

Took the words right outta my mouth...

My two kids are homeschooled, and there's nothing "weird" about them, unless you consider the fact that they're well-behaved and God-loving to be weird. Homeschooling is so far superior to public education that there's almost no comparison. I have said for years that forcing kids to go to gubmint skoolz is tantamount to child abuse, and I still stand by that. I wish my parents had homeschooled my brother and I; it would have spared me so much pain growing up.