Schooling options

[mzteris]

Hi - I hope it's okay to post this here. If not, please delete and let me know.

Just as an FYI, though, I wanted to let people hear know here is a Homeschooling group on DU (yes, there are liberal homeschoolers!! )

If you have any interest in learning more about this alternative learning environment, we're here to discuss it with you. There are many on the spectrum who have found hs'ing to be the best - and sometimes only - option.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1125

[KamaAina]

1. Like any other form of schooling, homeschooling depends on the quality of the instuctor

Garbage in, garbage out. If an empty-headed fundie mom is teaching little Nevaeh (an actual name!) out of a book that has pictures of Jesus riding a dinosaur, learning will not take place. But if a DUer does it, and uses actual science texts, it will. Prime examples are occasional DUer Ava, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_Lowery and artist/Occupier Sunaura Taylor, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunaura_Taylor .

[mzteris]

3. Just wanted to let people know

we're here.

[hunter]

2. I've got three occasionally home-schooled nieces. They are intellectual, athletic, and doing well.

Public schools failed me from seventh grade on. I quit high school for college. Clueless, klutzy, queerbait Hunter got tired of the torture, got tired of struggling to be invisible for fear someone would beat him up or vandalize his stuff.

One of my friends in college was admitted directly to a PhD program without any high school or college but both her parents were scientists working in very remote places. She had the ultimate "home schooling" experience. Her parents and their colleagues were digging up the knowledge that would eventually be watered down and mangled beyond recognition in high school textbooks by publishers who didn't want to offend the dim-bulb fundamentalist politicians who paid them.

But even kids who are not so brilliant as my rocket-scientist autistic spectrum grandpa, kids like me, and kids who can't find any way to "fit in" deserve a place that's safe.

Sometimes home school, private school, or something else entirely are the only options.

I've got people in my family tree who were never fully functional in "normal society."

It's not even a disability except as seen by enforcers of the "normal." My insane grandma had a job and good retirement benefits. She was a welder. She knew hot metal. She could make and put shoes on a horse. She got along well with cattle, horses, dogs, and cats, the nastiest biting kicking mules on earth, but not so much people. But in the desperate times of World War Two she was hired to work in the shipyards and she worked until she retired. She was extremely odd, eccentric, but productive in the business of ship building.

She wouldn't have had that opportunity today. She'd have been just another bag lady found dead behind the supermarket.



I think every human makes our society stronger whether or not they are "productive" by current economic standards. You are human, you are here, welcome to this world. We gift you freely with the tools to be the very best you can be, and however it turns out we will always love you.

[mzteris]

4. Your grandma

sounds like an amazing woman. I'd've liked to have known her.

[SheilaT]

5. I often tell young parents that they need to think seriously about homeschooling their kids.

Not because home schooling is necessarily the best choice, but because it forces parent to think very hard about what they want for their children.

I gave a lot of thought to home schooling, especially when my oldest was young. In the end I decided against it. Partly because I came to understand that I did not personally have the skills to be a good teacher, and partly because we lived in places with very good public schools.

But by thinking about it so hard for so long, I wound up making sure he got lots of enrichment along the way.

And that's what I often tell young parents. Think seriously about home schooling. Think about what you really want for your kid. Do your best to make that happen.

[mzteris]

6. Do what is best for YOUR child.

Last edited Sun Oct 6, 2013, 10:52 AM - Edit history (1)

Please don't think you're not "smart enough" or have been "taught the skills" - one-on-one supersedes ANY "college training" (poor that it is in so many cases. Though not all, of course). There are too many resources available to make sure your child receives the education they need and deserve.

School is good for some and not for others. Some places have good/great schools and teachers. Some not so much. Some - even if they have outstanding schools/teachers - are still not the right place for some children.

School is not the best choice for every child. Neither is homeschooling. For some children, in truth, homeschooling is the ONLY option. (Unless, of course, you can hire a private tutor for the duration.)

Do not EVER sell yourself short as a parent on whether you can "do it or not". You CAN. It takes work. It takes effort. It takes time. But infinitely doable if you have the desire, the drive, and the determination. It's not about how "smart you are" or if you "know how to teach", it's about dedicating yourself to learning your child. How they learn is the most important aspect of that. And seriously, learning that little bit of information is much easier one-on-one than in an overloaded classroom of 30+ kids.

Individualized learning has long been recognized as superior to every other method. Very very very few schools - or teachers - are capable of doing that in today's classroom climate.

Please do not denigrate, question, or impugn another parent's choice of homeschooling for their child - even by insinuation. It's not your call.

I'm not anti-school. I'm pro-choice. Which is how every good liberal should be.

[SheilaT]

7. I, personally, lack the patience necessary to

be a teacher of young children. I'm very good at enrichment sorts of things, but teaching reading, writing and arithmetic? No. I'd be worse than a lousy teacher.

Of course, in a very fundamental sense parents ARE a child's first teachers, and too often don't recognize it. I know I did do well by my kids by how they turned out.