COMMUNITY : FORUMS : OFFBEAT

Hey not all of the homeschoolers are like that! I am homeschooled but I also am in a pretty nice group called 4-H. there I get to "socialize" with other youth my age and younger, I also work at two farmer's markets and have met many good people there that share some of the same ideas and princles that I value. I was taught many of the life skills that I will need . And once Igraduate from High School I will be going to collage paid for with the money I have earned through 4-H and at the farmers market

But that won't be the case with all of us. Each one is different.

Pfft!

As a homeschooler, I both disagree and agree. The only part of my social life that I could declare that has truly suffered is, well, my sex life (obviously I don't get as many chances in a day to get layed as your average public schooled horny teenager *sigh*).
I feel that I am more intelligent than the average person my age, my social skills I feel are very strong, and I get lots of socialization at my various groups I participate in (library for the most part). However not all forms of socialization that I have are open to other homeschoolers, far to many of the homeschoolers I know are God-fearing, I-shan't-ever-socialize-with-the-heathens-out-there, I-shall-never-get-on-the-computer-or-meet-people-who-aren't-exactly-like-me, crazies. I find it really sad, as it does fit the stereotype. On another note, "rural" homescoolers fit the previous steryotyoe, wheres "urban" homeschoolers (such as myself) usually have a social life on par with public schooled children. Another note: Our public schools here are mostly crap, if we had teachers nearly as interesting as yourself, I'd be most willing to go to school. But on the whole I would describe the school system around me as a day-care center with million dollar football and athletic programs. I personally hate most of the public school teachers I know, I find them to be pushy, nosy, smart-asses in need of a life. I also hate most of the students they turn out. Most seem to be lazy and shiftless, with very little grip on life.

So in short, if your parent's aren't nutters, and you've got a high-speed internet conection, then your good : )

But if you live in a country were the school system is well maintained, and you have teachers who are in fact trying to teach something to their students (and not get into their pants), then by all means go with that.

Yes I might not get a lot of PDA's, but I feel I will be more successful in life then the average person churned out in the nutter factory but a few blocks away.

I personally hate most of the public school teachers I know, I find them to be pushy, nosy, smart-asses in need of a life. I also hate most of the students they turn out

Half the fun of school is letting them know you're actually smarter than them.

Heck, I could teach all the dumbass (pardon my french) english teachers I've had. And I just loooove correcting all the mistakes they make.

On a side-note:

Wow, there's a lot of homeschooled people here. Most , you wouldn't really expect. Except you though......you're a bit odd......You wouldn't last a minute in public without yelling about pasta....

oops : I also hate most of the students they turn out wasnt supposed to be there.

Hehe...

_{rocketscientist... sex life... lol}

My good man, I will have you know just last night my tounge was in the oral orifice of a beautiful female, whilst my hands did wondrous things to her sensitive areas...

...Then you woke up....

No... The library closed :P

Its very true, I have a few friends that have been home schooled and in two cases I'm the only friend they talk to, having a habit of talking to strangers mean I managed to engage them, they have little in the way of social lives and usually the jobs they end up doing is all isolation, thankfuly I.T/ jobs like that can be had alot now. The same thing happens with all boys schools, moreso than all girls schools, there's a big school that's all boys and it seems to screw them all up, they either end up hyper competitive psychos that can't relate to women, very introvert and underconfident or have complexes about being gay, mainly due to jeering and the like. There are exceptions to this but it's a fairly big majority... I suppose life experience comes back to it, imagine a small town full of teenage boys, plus a few middle aged men, that's the kind of thing it turns in to. I really believe in mixing of every social level to be a big part of life experience, my mum grew up in a small village in scotland, when a black family moved over they were awfully confused, coming out with things like 'is that a darkie?' thankfully it wasn't rejectionist since kids tend to be a bit more accepting... Having the widest possible range of experiences at a younger age seems like a big deal, at least to me... Sheltering and excluding make for bad lives...

Kiteman, I hope your not generalizing. I have a handful of friends who have benefitted from home schooling. You mentioned that your cousin missed out on social settings; what about all the after-school programs that kids can choose from today? Community sports organizations, for example.

It has been my experience that home-schooling families tend to socialise with other home-schooling families - they are, after all, similarly occupied and interested.

Similarly, children from any social group tend to socialise with others from their social group (that's how they end up as social groups, after all).

My school has clubs every night, for pupils of the school. So do all the other schools in the area. Several high-schools run night-classes, but they are intended for adults.

Consequently, home-schooled children tend to miss out on "normal" social activities.

At my own school, a family of children were taken out of school to be home-schooled by their parents. They did not move house. Two terms later, they came back to school, because their parents had to work longer hours. When I told my class that one of their ex-classmates would be returning to the class, the response was typified as "who? Oh, we thought they'd moved away".

My school has clubs every night, for pupils of the school.

Hmm. In the US (or at least my area), public and even private schools usually allow home schoolers to participate in extra-curriculars.

Some states have laws that force public schools to accept homeschoolers for chosen classes or activities. We have a good relationship with a local private school and my kids are often in contact with those students. We kind of (but not entirely) avoid the "homeschool community" events because too many homeschoolers are weirdos.

Oh, now EO has come up I have to put in a £0.02.

My older brother and I were taken out of primary school when I was year 1 by my parents because they were utterly disaffected with the primary school system (my mother taught in one of the schools I briefly attended, so this wasn't armchair criticism) and various bits of politics.

We were briefly formally taught, possibly to appease the schools people more than as an attempt at actual teaching, but were mostly left to our own devices. The house was full of GCSE textbooks and study guides, we made regular trips to the library and I was very lucky to have two teachers as parents who encouraged an enquiring attitude. There were also monthly-ish EO meetings where the children would run around outdoors somewhere and the parents (presumably) discuss how they were finding the experience. Many of these children were secondary school age and had been home educated for many years, some their whole lives, and I found them no more or less difficult to get on with than school children or those that had recently been taken out of school.

When I was 9 and my brother 11 we were put back into the school system for four terms at a good primary school (Bendarroch for anyone in East Devon who wants to see the best primary school in existence) to prepare us for secondary school- this was a mild culture shock, dealing with getting up in the morning, sitting still for lessons and the usual playground stuff but was nothing too serious.

On the back of home education and a brief stint at primary school my brother and I both got places at good secondary schools and from then on had a pretty "normal" education experience, apart from the slightly odd situation of being approaching GCSE standard at our "favoured" subjects at 11/13 but having a more patchy knowledge of the less favoured ones.

I didn't realise quite how unusual this was until I was into my teens, and only recently have I realised what a great opportunity home education was. I also realise that this model wouldn't work for everyone, the combination of having teachers as parents and having a naturally enquiring mind is probably necessary, but I thought I'd stick up for home education as
a) not always producing completely socially inept people
b) instilling enough curiosity and imagination to tide a child through the seconday school system without being completely crushed by it.

I still believe that home education is a great idea for those who are able, and I would love to see some of the lessons learned from home education put into formal education. I say home education rather than home schooling because I believe education does not automatically equal schooling. You can learn without being sat down and lectured to.

I hear, and I forget; I see, and I remember; I do, and I understand.

Please note- I am not dismissing the value of school education, nor the life skills they teach, just trying to put an alternative viewpoint to "all you learn is what you learn in school".

PKM stated it well. My kids are homeschooled. James turns 12 this week, and Dave is 14. They have been homeschooled for about 3 years. Before that it was private school. They have never been to public school. It's not like we're "too good" for that, it's just that when we started their education, public schools were not an option. There has been good and bad in homeschooling: Bad- Discipline and schedule keeping; My kids are average at best. Teaching algebra can be trying. My wife stays at home and can't really supplement our income. We pay taxes to support the local schools, and then have to pay again for our kids' materials. Good- I can teach REAL history and world events without interference. I can teach the kids how to work. (James is a welding wizard, and Dave is a master of small engines.) I can teach investment strategies. My kids can read real literature. (The schools here no longer teach the classics.) My kids can go hunting or fishing anytime they want, day or night, as long as their school-work is done. My kids can substitute hiking, boating, skeet-shooting, and yardwork for netball,dodgeball, wiffleball,pickleball, etc. My kids teachers are real-world adults that include: a mechanic, a commercial pilot, several farmers, a cop, an accountant, etc., not to mention my wife and myself who teach the "standard subjects". We both have university degrees, are both multilingual, and are able to spend about 10 hours a day on 2 students. Where else would you get that amount of one on one attention? The issue that comes up most often is socialization. People are afraid my kids won't learn to socialize. My children are taught to socialize with well adjusted adults. They need to know how to adapt and respond in an adult world. My wife and I are fortunate enough to have kids that are welcome pretty much everywhere. My kids mow lawns for widows, and visit elderly neighbors on a fairly regular basis. They get along fine with other kids, but find little interest in Pokemon, Bratz, etc. They'd rather be helping fix motorcycles, or snake-hunting, or selling stuff on Ebay. To the parents who are considering homeschooling: It is not to be taken lightly. We know too many homeschoolers who are semi-literate, maladjusted, lazy future drains on the welfare system. But that being said, homeschooling done right, rivals the best education money can buy. C'mon, you're not going to trust your kids' future to those state run institutions (subject to societal whims, and political correctness) are you?

how to fight, how to win!, how to tune people out, how to sleep with my eyes open, im serious on that one, and how to sell stuff really well, oh eah, and how to scam people you dont like...lol

I'm not saying homeschooling is bad, it's just how you deal with your social life, about half the people that were homeschool that I know are normal, the other half... I can't say

I'd say about half the people that either went to homeschool or private school and then went to public school are normal. Others have short attention span, don't socialize well, and are just in general the kind of people that you wanna beat up, but you don't wanna stoop to there level. For example, in Tech-Ed I was about to use a router, I unclamp the vice and start putting my wood work in the vice. Then out of no where this short little weird kid (who I'm not going to reveal the name of) shoves me out of the way and quickly puts his wood in the vice. I say "I was using that" then he says "well too bad, I got here first" I felt like punching him in the face, or take the router and say "Well I have the router first" but I didn't and just walked away before I did something stupid.

What's wrong with private schools?

I'm in a private school and I turned out ok!

See?

Hey, I tought I'd let you know, if you click "REPLY" under the last comment, it works better. The "Add Comment" puts it at the top and makes it a bit hard to follow. But yeah, I rode a motorcycle around the Cairns area, and learned to surf (a little) up north of Brisbane. Sydney was cool, but Kings Cross was ... unusual/interesting.

Cool, I've never been to WA. I made the rounds in NSW and queensland years ago.

Where are you in Oz?

I suppose you could also say that there's a lot of homework :-)

You could say it was ALL homework :-)

Haha! LOL!

(Pah-Dunh-Duh!)

ummm, of course you know that going to public school teaches you something about the world.... in a real job, you cant go have a snack whenever you like, you cannot say "oo i want to do this work instead", you sometimes need complete mastery in a job. going to public school teaches you things you need in life. btw if you dont like public school because it doesnt meet your learning needs, go talk to the staff about it. you pay them with your taxes, so they work for you.

oh and i forgot to say: i did learn to cook, its called foods class...learning about nutrition and how to make a healthy diet. also i learned how to sew, and work with electronics, wood, plastics, cars, and metal.

just to let you know, when your doing a job, you do the same thing day after day a lot of the time. btw in public school teachers switch things up often...well at least mine do.

i go to public school and i know how to cook, do laundry, ect. public school teaches you things by trained teachers. Not only that you learn how not to have to sit around and have your parents be "flexible" with you. you have SET hours and SET deadlines and SET rules with REAL punishments (for example getting kicked out). just like you would in a real job. you also learn the social aspect of work, (for example getting along with other people and working together). you learn how to deal with people, and you can make some good friends along the way.

I try and not be biased, but I think ledzeppie is right. I learned to cook, do laundry, everything. I also just learned how to weld ;) I'm really advance, I skipped 2 grades of math, skipped 2 electronic courses, taking challenging honors courses, etc. Plus I think public school is good for you, learn better social skills, make more friends, etc.

HIGH FIVE for shop class lol, ive had the teacher ask me questions before (but only about 3 times).....not saying that im smarter than him. hes really smart...