Originally Posted By Lisann22 <<<It is in this instance because I am asking you for your opinion. And I feel that with their hunger for media attention, the Duggars invite people to have an opinion about them as well.>>> Exactly. I certainly do not hate them but their way of thinking and beliefs do concern me. If this dude gets into political office it could become a BIG issue as it could potentially influence the way other people are to conduct their lives.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Was Baal Tom Hanks or Meg Ryan or someone else?<< I think you're thinking of Lucille Baal.
Originally Posted By jonvn "No, that would not pass the legality test I mentioned..." If it was part of everyone's religion, it'd be in the laws. But you see, these things were outlawed in the first place because religious beliefs were questioned.
Originally Posted By jonvn I happen to have a great deal of faith in Baal, and am offended that you people are making light of him. This is my religion.
Originally Posted By sherrytodd Well, you know that this dead horse debate has been beat once Baal shows up.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad <<<But, are you criticizing ALL of homeschooling?>>> No, just the vat majority of it. There are certainly parents who do a fantastic job with home schooling. But there are plenty to do not. Home schooling is not something that I feel I can do a better job with than the schools that my children attend, however, I will quickly admit that isn't the case, depending on where you live, your available school system, and of course your religous (and other personal) beliefs must come into play. I don't say that ALL homeschooling is bad. But I'm NOT able to do it, and do it right.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper I'm not inclined to do homeschooling either (though I could make a case for it considering I live in Broward County, Florida). But, I have seen great success stories with home schooled kids so again, I think it is an error to just blanketedly chastise the practice.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad RUN FOR THE HILLS!!! <<<Just because something is not illegal does not mean you should do them without concern. And just because something is a "religious belief" does not mean it should not be held up to the light of examination. >>> jpnvn has posted something I agree with! Great, now I have no archnemesis. <--- walks away pouting.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad I have no way of confirming this but... I SUSPECT... That there are overwhlemingly MORE cases of home-schooled kids NOT doing "well" (and who knows what "well" means) as young adults, than there are cases of home-schooled kids doing (again allow the vagueness of the word) "well." What do these kids put on their college applications? When do they take the SAT or ACT and how do they do? How does the rural, farm mother who has 6 kids and homeschools them, how do they learn Advanced Chemisty or Calculus in high school? What about Spanish, German, French, and of course English? And some people say that these kids are involved in high school sports, clubs, and activities? Where and at what school do they do this? It isn't that way anywhere I've seen. Okay okokokok... Let me fall out of the window of my ivory tower. Maybe I'll crack some sense into my hard head. I know that there are good home schooling situations, but I personally do not know of ANY. Someone please provide an example of a child that was homeschooled, grew up, went to college, and can be looked at as a home school success story. And bear in mind that the word "success" has a subjective meaning. To me, if the child is happy, content, contributing to society in some small meaningful way, and responsible for their own actions, to me that is success, and you don't measure it in dollars.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal As much as I hate to defend homeschooling, as I think that overall it's insufficient and poorly done, I do know two people (brothers) who have been homeschooled and are incredibly successful. Both of them went to the U.S. Naval Academy - one just graduated and is now a Naval Warfare Officer and one is in his first year. That said, their mother is a credentialed teacher and only has the two boys. She's not trying to teach 12 different grades at once. They took the SAT's just like any other high school junior/senior. When you are homeschooled, at least in California where they live, you must register with the state that you'll be homeschooling and you are given a curriculum to "cover". I suppose it varies wildly family to family as to how much of the information is actually covered. The younger of the brothers is a whiz at science and he spent a lot of time actually doing science instead of just reading about it and doing the odd experiment competing for the teacher's attention with 20 or so other students. He's majoring in electrical engineering and is doing very well in college. Anecdotes are not the definitive word on anything, but in this one case these boys who were exclusively home schooled are doing very well. Both of their parents are well educated and that, I'm sure, has a lot to do with the real-life education these boys received. Crap. Now I can't rail on homeschooling in general!!
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Jefferson, Ansel Adams, Mozart, Lincoln, FDR, Sandra Day O'Connor, Sally Ride (Astronaut), George Patton, Venus Williams... ...all home schooled. wahooskipper.....not home schooled.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad imadisneygal, that is awesome! It is comforting to me to know that there really are successful home-schooled kids. wahoo, that is truly an impressive list.
Originally Posted By jonvn "that you'll be homeschooling and you are given a curriculum to "cover". " Those are only suggestions, and are not required. This is what I was told. So, basically you can say your kids are home schooled, and teach them almost nothing, which is the situation I've seen. Now, studies have shown that home schooled kids often do as well if not better than regular school kids. I find that hard to believe, though, and aside from that, I think home schooling also has some social ramifications as well. The only home schooling I've seen, and I've only seen a couple instances of it, has been abysmal, and again, I'd say it's abusive towards the children in that the parents are willfully (and they have been college educated) raising their children to be ignorant.
Originally Posted By jonvn Actually, in one case the father was college educated, the mother not. And extremely religious. Seems to be a pattern where the women are kept uneducated, it looks like.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<What do these kids put on their college applications? When do they take the SAT or ACT and how do they do?>> I pulled some data from the Admissions database where I work. Non-Home Schooled students do better on the Math portion of the SAT, but Home Schooled students do better on the Written and Verbal portions of the SAT. Overall, Home Schooled Students average Total SAT score was higher than the Non-Home Schooled Students. (I cannot give you the actual numbers because that would violate our confidentiality policy.) Obviously those applying to college are the Home School 'success stories'. But to dismiss all home schooling as being inadequate is just not based in fact.
