It's good that you have thought through all the reasons for the kind of schooling that you've chosen for your child. Far too many homeschooling families choose to keep their kids at home out of fear of "government schools" and "godless education." My husband and I homeschooled, but we re-evaluated every year to make sure it was working for us. And the kids turned out pretty well. Our oldest only went to one or two classes at the public school a year, and our youngest did the same thing until his junior year of high school when he went full-time until graduation. And that worked well for our family. Public school is great for most families. Private school works for some. And, homeschool works for some. Unfortunately, there are some homeschooling families who are oversheltering their kids, others who are abusive, and others who engage in educational neglect. I've seen all of those, both when I was working as a physician and when I was going to homeschool meetings. But, not all public school parents are angels - my husband is a math teacher and he sees kids with neglectful parents, kids with abusive parents, kids with helicopter parent. The issue is not so much schooling choice, but parenting choices. So, we do our best. And it sounds like you are making well thought-out choices for your kid. Bravo!
You make a lot of valid points here and I’m 100% supportive of your choices as a parent. My kid is now a YA and I’m frankly very relieved to be done with her primary education. She attended a variety of schools (we moved a lot due to my ex’s career) private, public and then homeschooled 8th grade through high school during the pandemic with a secular, accredited distance learning program. We lived in AR which only requires that parents notify the state Dept of Education that we intend to homeschool. There is zero oversight of curriculum and it shows in the general population’s high level of ignorance…lots of Christofascist people teaching their kids that the Earth is flat and that the solar system is geocentric (I 💩 you not, you can’t make this stuff up). My child was very glad to be spared the toxic, racist and misogynist social environment and active shooter drills of public school and fortunately the distance learning program was excellent. My mother was an excellent public school teacher for 40 years and I do believe that public schools should be well funded, most teachers work incredibly hard. But the forces of hate and ignorance are destroying our schools in many parts of our country. When our thriving local library was defunded because the Christofascists didn’t want them to have LGBTQIA+ materials in the library it was the last straw. We moved to a blue state and kiddo is working for a few years and plans to attend college abroad.
The forces of hate and ignorance want to defund public schools to the point where homeschooling is one of the only options. It feels like a lose-lose situation sometimes, but I’m committed to fighting for public school funding and responsible home education regulations.
But I think it’s notable that despite all the material, credential and data advantages of public schools, they still can’t actually definitively prove they’re better at the job than some Christian housewife.
I guess it depends on how we’re defining “definitively prove” and “better at the job”? It’s hard to prove anything when there’s no decent data on homeschooling for comparison.
I mean maybe the studies I’ve seen where homeschooling does better have data problems.
But I view this as the public school’s burden to prove, since they’re petitioning for govt funded, no refunds monopoly. It shouldn’t be that hard to just make homeschoolers take the ACT or SAT until you have a few years of data from the whole population
That would be fantastic if we could get that kind of data. But since many states don’t require homeschoolers to do standardized testing—let alone prove they’re doing ANY kind of instruction—I’d say the burden is on the homeschooling community to push their students to take standardized tests.
I’d also love to see longitudinal studies now that we’re into the second generation of homeschooling. We could actually assess success factors for homeschool alumni who are now in their 40s.
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. Public schools teach kids from all sorts of family situations and economic circumstances. They also serve (many) kids who are English language learners and many kids who receive special education services. There are districts near us with 40% absenteeism rates but those kids’ test scores (if they happen to take the test) still affect district averages. Homeschooling families are more likely to have parents who are invested in their kids’ education, reasonably well-educated themselves, native English speakers and not limited by significant learning impairments.
Tbh all of that could be controlled for in an econometric model: but only if education majors knew math.
But tbs, yeah the teachers themselves are the least important part of the education . Which is part of why I don’t take the institution or profession seriously. It *is* all the child’s home life, so who cares?
It's good that you have thought through all the reasons for the kind of schooling that you've chosen for your child. Far too many homeschooling families choose to keep their kids at home out of fear of "government schools" and "godless education." My husband and I homeschooled, but we re-evaluated every year to make sure it was working for us. And the kids turned out pretty well. Our oldest only went to one or two classes at the public school a year, and our youngest did the same thing until his junior year of high school when he went full-time until graduation. And that worked well for our family. Public school is great for most families. Private school works for some. And, homeschool works for some. Unfortunately, there are some homeschooling families who are oversheltering their kids, others who are abusive, and others who engage in educational neglect. I've seen all of those, both when I was working as a physician and when I was going to homeschool meetings. But, not all public school parents are angels - my husband is a math teacher and he sees kids with neglectful parents, kids with abusive parents, kids with helicopter parent. The issue is not so much schooling choice, but parenting choices. So, we do our best. And it sounds like you are making well thought-out choices for your kid. Bravo!
I like that! "The issue is not so much schooling choice, but parent choices."
You make a lot of valid points here and I’m 100% supportive of your choices as a parent. My kid is now a YA and I’m frankly very relieved to be done with her primary education. She attended a variety of schools (we moved a lot due to my ex’s career) private, public and then homeschooled 8th grade through high school during the pandemic with a secular, accredited distance learning program. We lived in AR which only requires that parents notify the state Dept of Education that we intend to homeschool. There is zero oversight of curriculum and it shows in the general population’s high level of ignorance…lots of Christofascist people teaching their kids that the Earth is flat and that the solar system is geocentric (I 💩 you not, you can’t make this stuff up). My child was very glad to be spared the toxic, racist and misogynist social environment and active shooter drills of public school and fortunately the distance learning program was excellent. My mother was an excellent public school teacher for 40 years and I do believe that public schools should be well funded, most teachers work incredibly hard. But the forces of hate and ignorance are destroying our schools in many parts of our country. When our thriving local library was defunded because the Christofascists didn’t want them to have LGBTQIA+ materials in the library it was the last straw. We moved to a blue state and kiddo is working for a few years and plans to attend college abroad.
The forces of hate and ignorance want to defund public schools to the point where homeschooling is one of the only options. It feels like a lose-lose situation sometimes, but I’m committed to fighting for public school funding and responsible home education regulations.
It’s sorely needed! ❤️
I mean it’s your own life and your own family.
But I think it’s notable that despite all the material, credential and data advantages of public schools, they still can’t actually definitively prove they’re better at the job than some Christian housewife.
You’d think they’d be more embarrassed about that
I guess it depends on how we’re defining “definitively prove” and “better at the job”? It’s hard to prove anything when there’s no decent data on homeschooling for comparison.
I mean maybe the studies I’ve seen where homeschooling does better have data problems.
But I view this as the public school’s burden to prove, since they’re petitioning for govt funded, no refunds monopoly. It shouldn’t be that hard to just make homeschoolers take the ACT or SAT until you have a few years of data from the whole population
That would be fantastic if we could get that kind of data. But since many states don’t require homeschoolers to do standardized testing—let alone prove they’re doing ANY kind of instruction—I’d say the burden is on the homeschooling community to push their students to take standardized tests.
I’d also love to see longitudinal studies now that we’re into the second generation of homeschooling. We could actually assess success factors for homeschool alumni who are now in their 40s.
It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. Public schools teach kids from all sorts of family situations and economic circumstances. They also serve (many) kids who are English language learners and many kids who receive special education services. There are districts near us with 40% absenteeism rates but those kids’ test scores (if they happen to take the test) still affect district averages. Homeschooling families are more likely to have parents who are invested in their kids’ education, reasonably well-educated themselves, native English speakers and not limited by significant learning impairments.
Tbh all of that could be controlled for in an econometric model: but only if education majors knew math.
But tbs, yeah the teachers themselves are the least important part of the education . Which is part of why I don’t take the institution or profession seriously. It *is* all the child’s home life, so who cares?
Yes! Understanding that adults have different perspectives (and why!) is such an important part of learning to think critically.