Homeschooling - are you in favor of it?
@hippiemomdiaries (815)
Philippines
September 30, 2010 3:26am CST
There has been some write-ups about the benefits of homeschooling kids especially during the toddler and preschool years. What do you think are the benefits? With the exorbitant tuition fees, is this something that we parents can resort to without sacrificing the knowledge and learning experience of our kids?
1 person likes this
8 responses
@sender621 (14893)
• United States
30 Sep 10
There are some great bebefits to home schooling. The advantagess greatly outweigh any disadvantages. Education is about learning. it isnt just the social aspect of it. Children have great experiences in home schooling. i have participated in both public and home schooling. I was always pleased with home schooling results.1 person likes this
@hippiemomdiaries (815)
• Philippines
1 Oct 10
I guess you're talking from experience and it's good to hear that you were pleased with the results.
@peavey (16936)
• United States
30 Sep 10
Homeschooling in many ways is superior to public schooling because kids are taught one on one instead of in a large group where they may have to wait on slower kids or be dragged along by faster ones. Everyone learns at their own pace, so being allowed to is a big benefit.
Homeschooled kids learn to interact appropriately with people of all ages, not just other kids their own age.
They learn that they can be independent learners and don't need to be led every moment of the day, in opposition to public schooled kids who are punished for being creative and taking the initiative - two things that we reward them for when they're older.
They don't pick up bad habits or worse, from other kids if the parents are free to decide which kids they want their children to play with.
And on and on... yes, I think homeschooling is a good option for parents if they have good relationships with their children and are interested in continuing to teach them what they need to know to get along in this world.
1 person likes this
@hippiemomdiaries (815)
• Philippines
1 Oct 10
Good to hear this point of view. I see in movies that the rich and royalty in the past have their private tutors, perhaps they've seen even then that homeschooling does have benefits.
@sexysilver (928)
• United States
20 Oct 10
I feel homeschooling is great. It provides an excellent opportunity to socialize children. After all, in "real" schools, a child in kept in a room with their peers, raise their hands before talking & only if spoken to first, taught to conform to predetermined "acceptable" ideas, and gets 2-3 breaks of 15-30 minutes in length. In homeschooling, a child is socialized with people of younger age groups, same age groups & older age groups, they learn to speak and communicate in ways that are appropriate (opening with a greeting with the bank teller instead of walking up to the bank teller with a raised hand).
Also, a child's education is not restricted by homeschooling. Instead, it can greatly be expanded in areas they are excelling in. A 4 year old maybe doing "1st grade" math, "Kinder" spelling, etc.
But it does take commitment & working with your child & patience (especially when there are health and/or learning difficulties are added to the equation)
@sexysilver (928)
• United States
20 Oct 10
It also offers greater flexibility. A seriously ill child can work at a slower pace year round, or have more frequent breaks, or have their schooling revolved around Dr appts and during long-term hospital stays. Whereas, in public school they may fall seriously behind & maybe held back for lack of completion of work (even if they fully understand the material)....
@sexysilver (928)
• United States
20 Oct 10
And a lovely favorite of mine :) Famous Home schoolers. :)
PRESIDENTS
-George Washington
-Thomas Jefferson
-James Madison
-John Quincy Adams
-Abraham Lincoln
-William Harrison
-Theodore Roosevelt
-Grover Cleveland
-Franklin Roosevelt
-John Tyler
-Woodrow Wilson
GOVERNORS
-Patrick Henry
-Charles Pickney III
-Richard Spaight
-William Livingston
-Richard Bassetti
US SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN
-William Johnson
-George Clymer
-John Mercer
-William Blout
-William Few
SCIENTISTS/BUSINESSMEN/INVENTORS
-Blaise Pascal
-Booker T. Washington
-Thomas Edison
-Benjamin Franklin
-Andrew Carnegie
-John Stuart Mill
-Michael Faraday
-Oliver Heaviside
-T H Huxley
-Erik Demaine
-Alexander Graham Bell
-John Moses Browning
-Peter Cooper
-Elias Howe
-Sir Frank Whittle
-Orville and Wilbur Wright
-Amadeo Giannini
-Horace Greeley
-Soichiro Honda
-Ray Kroc
-Dr. Orison Swett Marden
-Adolph Ochs
-Joseph Pulitzer
-Colonel Harland Sanders
-Dave Thomas
US SUPREME COURT
-John Rutledge
-John Jay
-John Marshall
-Sandra Day O'Connor
COLLEGE PRESIDENTS
-John Witherspoon (Yale)
-Timothy Dwight (Princeton)
-William S. Johnson (Columbia)
-Jill Ker Conway
-Fred Terman
-Frank Vandiver
RELIGIOUS LEADERS
-John and Charles Wesley
-John Owen
-Johnathan Edwards
-William Carey
-Dwight Moody
-John Newton
-Hudson Taylor
-Joan of Arc
-Brigham Young
AUTHORS
-Mark Twain
-George Bernard Shaw
-Irving Berlin
-Charles Dickens
-C.S. Lewis
-Hans Christian Anderson
-Margaret Atwood
-William Buckley Jr.
-Willa Cather
-Robert Frost
-L. Ron Hubbard
-Christopher Paolini
-Beatrix Potter
-Walt Whitman
-Laura Ingles Wilder
PHILOSOPHER
-Charles Montesquieu
FAMOUS WOMEN
-Abigail Adams
-Mercy Warren
-Martha Washington
-Florence Nightingale
-Phyllis Wheatly
-Agatha Christie
-Pearl S. Buck
-Susan B Anthony
-Clara Barton
GENERALS
-Stonewall Jackson
-Robert E. Lee
-Douglas MacArthur
-George Patton
ARTISTS
-John Singleton Copley
-Andrew Wyeth
-Rembrandt
-Claude Money
-Ansel Adams
COMPOSERS
-Anton Bruckner
-Mendelssohn
-Mozart
-Francis Poulenc
-John Philip Sousa
MUSICIANS
-Louis Armstrong
-Hanson
-LeAnne Rimes
-Jonas Brothers
ATHLETES
-Venus Williams
-Serena Williams
-Jason Taylor
-Tamara McKinney
-Jim Ryan
-Lia Del Priore
-Taylor Gladstone
ACTORS/ACTRESSES
-Dakota Fanning
-Jena Malone
-Charlie Chaplin
-Whoopi Goldberg
-Jennifer Love Hewitt
-Frankie Muniz
I'll conclude this with famous homeschooling parents
-Will Smith
-Michael Card
-Mike Farris
-Robert Frost
-Christopher Klicka
-Len Munsil
-Paul Overstreet
-Kelly Preston
-Mike Smith
-John Travolta
-Lisa Whelchel
-Darrell Waltrip
@hippiemomdiaries (815)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
Thank you for the lengthy but very informative response. this is truly an eye-opener for me. I didn;t realize this before. This is such an amazing list you have here. Thank you for this great answer. Parents do really have a choice now.
@daliaj (5674)
• India
30 Sep 10
I am not in favor of homeschooling and I will never give homeschooling to my children. Childhood or being a student is the great time in the life of a person and every child has the right to be with other children in the school and have fun. Not only they are studying various things at school, they are also having fun by making friends and interacting with other students. Parents should not be cruel to take it away from them.
@hippiemomdiaries (815)
• Philippines
1 Oct 10
There are really 2 sides of a coin. But agree with you that in school you really are exposed to socialization and being able to adjust to different types of people.
@genevy04 (793)
• Philippines
30 Sep 10
If I were to decide whether to get my kid a home schooling or not, then I would definitely choose to enroll her in a 'real' school. We not only aim that our dear kids would learn something from school, but also we parents aims that our kids learn how to socialize and mingle with other kids as well..
That way,their characters are build up and they would gain more friends and I think it would be happier to study with kids their age too.. If we home school them , yes they will also learn.. But not the things they would learn if they go into a 'real school'.. Kids also need to be with other kids as well..
Home-schooling can't give kids the chance to experience how does it fell like being in a school with other kids..
@hippiemomdiaries (815)
• Philippines
1 Oct 10
Socialization is one of the major learnings that a school can offer. Agree with you on that.
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
26 Aug 11
I see I'm coming late to this discussion. As I've read all the responses, it occurs to me that the country you live in may have something to do with what you would choose.
I have taught in both public and private schools here in California, and I've also homeschooled my own children for three years after they had been in both public and private schools. My only regret is that we didn't start home schooling sooner.
In some countries, socialization in the schools may be a good thing. Here in California much of the socialization is bad. Other students teach bad language, disrepect for adults, and encourage substance abuse of all kinds. This can happen even in private schools. My son had a much better social life after he left schools and came home. He had more time to make friends and had more opportunities to meet interesting people of all ages. He had friends his own age, and adult friends and friends among younger children he had met at church. He had friends at scouts, too, and in the home school support group.
Our children also had more opportunites for enrichment in our curriculum, because we could travel with my husband when he got jobs in other parts of the country instead of having to stay near a school. We visited national and state parks and historic sites, and saw where our country was born in Massachusetts and Virginia. We saw how our government worked in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. I could go on and on.
Our son loved home school because he was free after his lessons were done to help with projects the seniors were doing at church, visit his friend who was a fireman, and even meet and talk with a geologist on a construction site in the neighborhood. His fireman friend even took him to visit his firestation and get his picture taken in firefighter clothes in front of the fire engine.
The home school group itself had a science camp in San Diego and we expanded the trip into a week in the area visiting missions, museums, the desert, and the harbor, as well as Sea World and the Zoo. Public schools don't have the funds for those kinds of trips.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Oct 10
Well, my youngest son is four years old now and I've been working with him at home since the time that he was two years old. I will most likely send him to public school when he is old enough for kindergarten because I don't think that I can do everything that kids need to learn in the early years of school.
However, my oldest is almost eight years old and I think that there are a lot of things that she needs that the school is not providing for her. I've signed her up to be tested for full time gifted and talented, but if she is not accepted into that for next school year, I'm leaning toward homeschooling her so that I can fulfill her needs.
@angelic123 (1108)
• United States
1 Oct 10
I think it will be healthier for a child to go to a real school.He will learn the social skills that is learn from interacting with different kids and environment. I know that tuitions are so high but there are schools that offer minimal amount like some community centers.
