Home Schooling, Anyone doing it?

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Hmmm...

Simple chemistry is possible though. Enough even for some 'advanced' lessons at the high school level. But like Len said- this requires a good deal of preparation.

Hell... I have seen professors who are the best in their fields... yet cannot teach worth squat.

[HAL 9000 96]

Hmmm...

Simple chemistry is possible though. Enough even for some 'advanced' lessons at the high school level. But like Len said- this requires a good deal of preparation.

Hell... I have seen professors who are the best in their fields... yet cannot teach worth squat.

I know exactly what you mean.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Hmmm...

Simple chemistry is possible though. Enough even for some 'advanced' lessons at the high school level. But like Len said- this requires a good deal of preparation.

Hell... I have seen professors who are the best in their fields... yet cannot teach worth squat.

I know exactly what you mean.

and to top the sh1tness of it,.... they are tenured, so don't give a hoot about improving their teaching.

So, back to topic: No, I would never home school my children. No more than I would home-heal them instead of taking them to the physician.

[pedroh 21]

yea because kids learning about Darwin is such a bad thing.. science is evil indeed

When you speak of learning about Darwin's theories... do you mean all, or just the PC ones?

teach them science, period.. if your beliefs don't match sience, it's a different thing.. but science shouln't be ignored, just because u don't agree with it.. only America I guess

[BabyBlueSusie 1]

Hmmm...

Simple chemistry is possible though. Enough even for some 'advanced' lessons at the high school level. But like Len said- this requires a good deal of preparation.

Hell... I have seen professors who are the best in their fields... yet cannot teach worth squat.

I know exactly what you mean.

and to top the sh1tness of it,.... they are tenured, so don't give a hoot about improving their teaching.

So, back to topic: No, I would never home school my children. No more than I would home-heal them instead of taking them to the physician.

There are lots of crappy professors out there who are very smart people. This is because in order to become a professor you don't get much training in how to actually teach. It is a really stupid system, and yes, people who are good researchers but poor instructors will almost always get tenure, because tenure is given with MUCH more emphasis towards publications and research than it is to teaching. Even before tenure though, there is not much incentive to improve ones teaching, and it is often seen as a time burden when they could be spending their time working on more important things like research.

But yeah, I wouldn't home school my kids (that are not yet born) either. Although something interesting that I learned by watching 18 Kids and Counting is that home schoolers can now use computer based programs as a tool, so the education is not 100% limited based on the parents' knowledge. It is still not the same as having a teacher there to answer your questions, but is a step in the right direction.

Edited August 12, 2009 by BabyBlueSusie

[Danno 1,228]

Hmmm...

Simple chemistry is possible though. Enough even for some 'advanced' lessons at the high school level. But like Len said- this requires a good deal of preparation.

Hell... I have seen professors who are the best in their fields... yet cannot teach worth squat.

I know exactly what you mean.

and to top the sh1tness of it,.... they are tenured, so don't give a hoot about improving their teaching.

So, back to topic: No, I would never home school my children. No more than I would home-heal them instead of taking them to the physician.

NOw that you mention it... isn't that also a growing movement with all these herbs and "naturally healing" products?

[Danno 1,228]

Here is a new study that came out recently.

New Nationwide Study Confirms Homeschool Academic Achievement

Ian Slatter

Director of Media Relations

August 10, 2009

Each year, the homeschool movement graduates at least 100,000 students. Due to the fact that both the United States government and homeschool advocates agree that homeschooling has been growing at around 7% per annum for the past decade, it is not surprising that homeschooling is gaining increased attention. Consequently, many people have been asking questions about homeschooling, usually with a focus on either the academic or social abilities of homeschool graduates.

(snip)

The Results

Overall the study showed significant advances in homeschool academic achievement as well as revealing that issues such as student gender, parents’ education level, and family income had little bearing on the results of homeschooled students.

There was little difference between the results of homeschooled boys and girls on core scores.

Boys—87th percentile

Girls—88th percentile

Household income had little impact on the results of homeschooled students.

$34,999 or less—85th percentile

$35,000–$49,999—86th percentile

$50,000–$69,999—86th percentile

$70,000 or more—89th percentile

The education level of the parents made a noticeable difference, but the homeschooled children of non-college educated parents still scored in the 83rd percentile, which is well above the national average.

Neither parent has a college degree—83rd percentile

One parent has a college degree—86th percentile

Both parents have a college degree—90th percentile

Whether either parent was a certified teacher did not matter.

Certified (i.e., either parent ever certified)—87th percentile

Not certified (i.e., neither parent ever certified)—88th percentile

Parental spending on home education made little difference.

Spent $600 or more on the student—89th percentile

Spent under $600 on the student—86th percentile

The extent of government regulation on homeschoolers did not affect the results.

Low state regulation—87th percentile

Medium state regulation—88th percentile

High state regulation—87th percentile

HSLDA defines the extent of government regulation this way:

States with low regulation: No state requirement for parents to initiate any contact or State requires parental notification only.

States with moderate regulation: State requires parents to send notification, test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress.

State with high regulation: State requires parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials).

The question HSLDA regularly puts before state legislatures is, “If government regulation does not improve the results of homeschoolers why is it necessary?”

In short, the results found in the new study are consistent with 25 years of research, which show that as a group homeschoolers consistently perform above average academically. The Progress Report also shows that, even as the numbers and diversity of homeschoolers have grown tremendously over the past 10 years, homeschoolers have actually increased the already sizeable gap in academic achievement between themselves and their public school counterparts-moving from about 30 percentile points higher in the Rudner study (1998) to 37 percentile points higher in the Progress Report (2009).

As mentioned earlier, the achievement gaps that are well-documented in public school between boys and girls, parents with lower incomes, and parents with lower levels of education are not found among homeschoolers. While it is not possible to draw a definitive conclusion, it does appear from all the existing research that homeschooling equalizes every student upwards. Homeschoolers are actually achieving every day what the public schools claim are their goals—to narrow achievement gaps and to educate each child to a high level.

Of course, an education movement which consistently shows that children can be educated to a standard significantly above the average public school student at a fraction of the cost—the average spent by participants in the Progress Report was about $500 per child per year as opposed to the public school average of nearly $10,000 per child per year—will inevitably draw attention from the K-12 public education industry.

Answering the Critics

This particular study is the most comprehensive ever undertaken. It attempts to build upon and improve on the previous research. One criticism of the Rudner study was that it only drew students from one large testing service. Although there was no reason to believe that homeschoolers participating with that service were automatically non-representative of the broader homeschool community, HSLDA decided to answer this criticism by using 15 independent testing services for this new study. There can be no doubt that homeschoolers from all walks of life and backgrounds participated in the Progress Report.

While it is true that not every homeschooler in America was part of this study, it is also true that the Progress Report provides clear evidence of the success of homeschool programs.

The reason is that all social science studies are based on samples. The goal is to make the sample as representative as possible because then more confident conclusions can be drawn about the larger population. Those conclusions are then validated when other studies find the same or similar results.

Critics tend to focus on this narrow point and maintain that they will not be satisfied until every homeschooler is submitted to a test. This is not a reasonable request because not all homeschoolers take standardized achievement tests. In fact, while the majority of homeschool parents do indeed test their children simply to track their progress and also to provide them with the experience of test-taking, it is far from a comprehensive and universal practice among homeschoolers.

The best researchers can do is provide a sample of homeschooling families and compare the results of their children to those of public school students, in order to give the most accurate picture of how homeschoolers in general are faring academically.

The concern that the only families who chose to participate are the most successful homeschoolers can be alleviated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of parents did not know their children's test results before agreeing to participate in the study.

HSLDA believes that this study along with the several that have been done in the past are clear evidence that homeschoolers are succeeding academically.

Final Thought

Homeschooling is making great strides and hundreds of thousands of parents across America are showing every day what can be achieved when parents exercise their right to homeschool and make tremendous sacrifices to provide their children with the best education available.

This report was located on a Homeschooling site,

http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/200908100.asp

[Jenn! 918]

No, I would never home school my children. No more than I would home-heal them instead of taking them to the physician.

Is that really a fair comparison though? I don't think the level of knowledge required to teach (at the elementary level at least) is the same as being a doctor. I think that most intelligent people are capable of teaching their children at home.

Edited August 12, 2009 by Jenn!

[Chica Yeyé 41]

There are lots of crappy professors out there who are very smart people. This is because in order to become a professor you don't get much training in how to actually teach. It is a really stupid system, and yes, people who are good researchers but poor instructors will almost always get tenure, because tenure is given with MUCH more emphasis towards publications and research than it is to teaching. Even before tenure though, there is not much incentive to improve ones teaching, and it is often seen as a time burden when they could be spending their time working on more important things like research.

But yeah, I wouldn't home school my kids (that are not yet born) either. Although something interesting that I learned by watching 18 Kids and Counting is that home schoolers can now use computer based programs as a tool, so the education is not 100% limited based on the parents' knowledge. It is still not the same as having a teacher there to answer your questions, but is a step in the right direction.

tru dat. Although nowadays teaching philosophies and portfolios are becoming pretty central to hiring, tenure and promotion , as are graduate level seminars on teaching and learning as a requirement for PhD granting (if I am not mistaken, in the UK this is a whole compulsory year in discipline related pedagogical techniques); which is awesome!

NOw that you mention it... isn't that also a growing movement with all these herbs and "naturally healing" products?

That and not vaccinating kids. #######.

It's like kids paying for the beliefs of their parents.... crazy #######.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The word pedagogy makes me giggle.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

The word pedagogy makes me giggle.

I know

[HAL 9000 96]

There are lots of crappy professors out there who are very smart people. This is because in order to become a professor you don't get much training in how to actually teach. It is a really stupid system, and yes, people who are good researchers but poor instructors will almost always get tenure, because tenure is given with MUCH more emphasis towards publications and research than it is to teaching. Even before tenure though, there is not much incentive to improve ones teaching, and it is often seen as a time burden when they could be spending their time working on more important things like research.

But yeah, I wouldn't home school my kids (that are not yet born) either. Although something interesting that I learned by watching 18 Kids and Counting is that home schoolers can now use computer based programs as a tool, so the education is not 100% limited based on the parents' knowledge. It is still not the same as having a teacher there to answer your questions, but is a step in the right direction.

tru dat. Although nowadays teaching philosophies and portfolios are becoming pretty central to hiring, tenure and promotion , as are graduate level seminars on teaching and learning as a requirement for PhD granting (if I am not mistaken, in the UK this is a whole compulsory year in discipline related pedagogical techniques); which is awesome!

NOw that you mention it... isn't that also a growing movement with all these herbs and "naturally healing" products?

That and not vaccinating kids. #######.

It's like kids paying for the beliefs of their parents.... crazy #######.

Or having other people's beliefs' imposed upon them. Go figure.

Here in my corner of academia 2 quarters of mandatory TAing are required of all grad students. Not enough IMO. Luckily, many here like to teach, and readily surpass the requirement by several quarters, research permitting.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Here in my corner of academia 2 quarters of mandatory TAing are required of all grad students. Not enough IMO. Luckily, many here like to teach, and readily surpass the requirement by several quarters, research permitting.

That is cool; but I do think it should be part of the compulsory graduate curriculum, provided it is discipline specific. Most TAs and even faculty are unaware of the faculty development services most major higher ed. institutions have; which is a sad, sad thing.

[HAL 9000 96]

At least it is specific enough in most places. Here there's an ability to take a development course to substitute for one of the quarters... and that is usually the course for those that think they need to graduate in less than 4 years with a PhD. They usually end up being the ones that stick around for 8.

[alienlovechild 75]

The whole home schooling thing strikes me as odd. I've never anyone in my life who admitting being home schooled. I'm not saying it's automatically a bad thing but when did it start? The first I'd heard of the idea was when a professor told me he wanted to homeschool his son in 1999.

Given the low numbers, you wouldn't expect to see so many people on this thread claiming to have been raised that way or planning to do so for their kids.