Originally Posted By skinnerbox Unfortunately, most home schooling these days does not reflect wende's situation. If it did, then it wouldn't be a problem. Home schooling now is mostly done to keep the kiddies from "negative influences" at public schools. And the majority of that home schooling is done by conservatives with political agendas, and not moderates and liberals trying to give their kids a better education from responsible and caring "teachers."
Originally Posted By Mr X The political agenda thing really makes me wonder...if they think this country is in such bad shape, that their government is evil and wants to do them harm, and that even sending the kids to school is unthinkable, why don't they immigrate to a country more in line with their beliefs? Unfortunately there's no theocracy for them to escape to (They hate Iran and the Vatican is very picky about immigration), but perhaps a country that is far more tolerant of Christian ways like Brazil or Italy would be more to their liking.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 My aunt has home schooled my cousin all along and in this state (Washington) home schooled students have to pass the same standardized testing as everyone else and they have to take an additional test in order to receive a high school diploma. My cousin was home schooled exclusively until 7th grade and then they joined a co-op school for the higher level math and science that my aunt did not feel she should be teaching. The teachers at the co-op school include former college professors and an MIT graduate. She also takes art classes and is in several sports and clubs. I think that denying children an actual education (one based on facts) is incredibly wrong but, if done properly, can actually be a very positive experience for children and parents.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Being thrust into the jungle of the schoolyard and finding your place in that world is as important as the crap you learn in class. Because whether you are ready or not, you're going to have to face the real thing someday.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***Because whether you are ready or not, you're going to have to face the real thing someday.*** Not necessarily. Some folks manage to live in an insulated bubble their entire lives. The sort of folks who were absolutely *stunned* by the fact that Barack Obama got elected even though "everyone HATES him!", for example.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "Some folks manage to live in an insulated bubble their entire lives." How do they manage that?
Originally Posted By Mr X And by spending all their time with like minded people, ideally in a church community which shuns and rejects outsiders and outside ideas.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 But if a home schooled child is allowed to join other (non religious) activities, they still get socialization and learn about other things. As long as parents let them freely interact with people from all walks of life, I do not think there is any harm in home school. School is not the only place that children can learn those skills. My aunt (the one in my previous post) decided to home school because the school district they live in is one of the worst in the state but they can not afford private school (the co-op school that they use now is not very expensive-all of the parents have to take turns volunteering to do things like grade papers to cut down on the cost of the teachers). Homeschooling was the best way for my cousin to get an education and not get stabbed by some punk on the playground, which has in fact happened more than once in that particular school district.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>Maybe we're in the minority, but not all homeschool is bad. I find it sad the extreme cases are the ones that always seem to make their way into the news & draw the most attention.<<< I don't think you are wahoo. Same with my brothers in college now. They are frustrated by how easy the work in their classes are, and how inarticulate many of their fellow classmates are. But they have made loads of friends and are partying this weekend, and they are scoring between 95-100% on all their assignments so far. We considered home schooling our kids so we could travel more and I would get to see more of them. I reluctantly put them in school when I realised Sarah may not be able to offer everything they need when I am away, and I cannot offer enough consistency. Besides, I do think home school kids can miss out on the socialisation experience, but as wahooskipper has shown, this is overcome with exposure to other group activities. I loved it once, I went with my brothers to a homeschool day at the British National Space Centre. They were briefed and performed a simulated training session for a flight in space. It is rare that schools do these sorts of things.
Originally Posted By ChurroMonster Utahjosh: "Gay marriage is not an equal rights matter." You are an idiot if you actually believe that.
Originally Posted By Mr X But Churro, that's one of the talking points you see. Any gay person can swallow their sexuality and marry the opposite sex if they really MUST be married, what they are looking for is EXTRA rights!
Originally Posted By ChurroMonster Yes, extra. Equality is more than we deserve apparently, according to some. I'm sure Josh is going to feel he is the one being attacked here (once again) but his continuous insistence on injecting his beliefs into civil or scientific matters is going to open himself to attack. Equality. It's an American ideal. Should we just give that all up?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>Equality. It's an American ideal. Should we just give that all up?<<< Actually, it is a human ideal. Marx was the biggest preponant, a german writing in England. And the foundations of the Russian Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century. The quest for equality is not only the bastion for the American people, it unites humanity. However, it is ironic that many Americans seem anti equality (healt hcare debate, anti socialist sentiments, immigration frothing, gay marriage debate).
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Gay marriage is not an equal rights matter.< Easy to say when it's not your rights being denied. But back OT, there are definitely examples of home schooling being just fine, as wende's example shows. Generally, it's when there is some coordination between the home school parents and the schools themselves.
Originally Posted By dshyates "Any gay person can swallow their sexuality and marry the opposite sex if they really MUST be married, what they are looking for is EXTRA rights!" I am gay and I was married to a woman for 18 years. It led to nothing but a lot of pain and wasting a large part of our lives. It wasn't fair to her and a very selfish thing for me to do. I can never give her back the years I wasted. We did get 2 wonderful daugheters that mean the world to me, but that didn't make it the right thing to do.
