I was wondering, how many users here on the duck are/were homeschooled?
Tell me why or why not and how long/what grades, I'm curious.
Feel free to share more information if you like.

Myself? I was homeschooled my whole life until high school. Mostly because there was an established high violence and mortality rate in the local district were I grew up.

I thought of homeschooling for sometime as alot of the schools here are very prejudice. However on further thought I realised I enjoy school for my friends. If I didn't get to socialise a little bit things probably wouldn't end well.

Two of my friends have homeschooled and both of them hated it for the fact they couldn't see their friends (or anybody) so much.

I’m half way through my Bachelor of education degree and home schooling has me generally worried (and I do realize that I have a somewhat bias option with not being home schooled myself and studying education).

As mentioned in the post above me, the child does no get the same amount of solicitation as they would if they went to school. Many life lessons are learnt in the playground (like not to make fun of someone bigger than you).

I’m also pretty sure that the parent (or garden) that does the home schooling does not need any formal qualifications. I know that I have to spend 4 years a Uni before I am allowed teach and I would like to think that home school teachers should have the same qualifications.

Most worrying of all, I feel that a lot of home schooling takes place so that the parents can teach their own agenda. I’ve heard of students who have been taken out of school so that they don’t have to learn about “the gays” or other such minorities.

Nope. Public school from 5 to 18 years old. It was fine by me. I had a lot of friends when I was in elementary/middle school. Not so many in high school. People were kinda mean to me because I was a nerd and my parents were teachers, but it didn't bother me. I also had a girl threaten to beat me up, but nothing came of it. I still enjoyed high school because I did have one or two friends my age and was friends with several of my teachers.

The only thing I didn't like was the later years when the schools started following all that “no child left behind” crap. All the classes were dumbed down excruciatingly and the curriculum changed to basically teach for standardized test scores and nothing else (no art, no music, no hands-on stuff, and no challenges…) For an intelligent (or even averagely intelligent) child, it was torture. – For that reason alone, I think I'd seriously consider private school if I have kids – but not homeschooling. Most cases I know of, children really benefit both from socialization and from being away from home. (I think parents benefit from it too.)

I was home schooled for 1 month when I was expelled from elementry school once. Other than that, I've been in public school my whole life.

My oppion on it, IT SUCKS.

My mom offered to homeschool me when I was young and let me decide. I decided to go to public school, and I'm glad, mostly because making friends isn't easy for me and it definitely would have been harder if I never went to public school, which is where nearly all of my friends are from.

I was home schooled from 5th grade to 9th grade. My parents let me decide for myself since my siblings were all being home schooled (one was getting picked on horribly). I stayed out of public school until 10th, since I started feeling afraid of being left behind. Or being dumber than my peers. I was surprised to find that I wasn't stupid. =)

The home schoolers in our locale (around 15 of us) would get together every week or two to hang out and do stuff. Also one of the parents taught Spanish once a week (for a year or two). Between that, church, my siblings, and the neighbors, I had a fair amount of socializing. Although, I've always been a bit on the shy side. It works better for me to have few people to socialize with.

I believe parents who home school are required to have some minimum education (at least in NC), but I'm not sure if it's just a high school diploma or an associates degree. I remember my mother had to get something in order to teach us. It's kind of funny, she was asked by a public school to come tutor their students.

I personally believe, that our education system would benefit if more parents would home school their children until they are high school age. I think many parents drop their kids education first chance they get (day care, preschool, etc), and the children really need to learn respect for others, beginning with themselves and their family.

Home schooled my whole life, I must admit, and it hasn't damaged my social life at all. Or if it has, it did very little permanent damage.

It's not always easy, especially not for the parents (all of my four siblings are also home schooled) and I'm sure many parents do use it to push a specific agenda (but then, Pineapple, so does public school ;)) but not in my household. My mother just had, and still has, an epic mistrust of the school system, and after seeing how most of the kids I knew who went to the local schools turned out, I am in no way disappointed with not going, even though it complicates certain matters.

I am not personally against public schooling, but I believe most people have silly, outdated ideas on what a home schooler is. Most think the parents are religious nuts and want to corrupt the minds of the young with God (as though the drugs, violence, and cruelty of High School doesn't corrupt them enough) but with at least my family that is not true.

I feel that, due to my unique education, I am more able to grasp both sides of an issue instead of jumping the gun and going for whatever the common opinions are. I form my own ideas and have from a very earlier age. I buck trends, refuse to follow the crowd when the crowd doesn't go in the direction I want, and I always learn about a subject before forming my own opinion on it.

Remember, none of the founding fathers of the United States had a proper education (what most people consider proper nowadays) and yet all of our current politicians have. If that isn't the best argument for home schooling, I don't know what is. ;)

I guess none of us could say that we have an unbias view on this issue unless we have spent considerable time in both situations. The trend seems to be going that if you were homeschooled, then you're an advocate for homeschooling and if you weren't, you think homeschooling is the devil.

orly? I've known plenty who're the exact opposite. They were homeschooled but desperately wish they could have been social butterfly's at that wonderful place the normal and cool kids all go. And plenty of public schooled kids who despised the teachers, mediocre quality education, and cesspool mentality of the student body. It really is a mixed basket even for students who started as one type and ended as another for varied amounts of time.
It really seems to vary on how long you were educated in one or the other and the quality and type of time you had.
The numbers show home schoolers are smarter, precocious, hard-working, and socially well-adjusted for the grown up world often exhibiting mindsets considered highly advanced for their age-group. This is usually attributed to being taught by experienced adults and older siblings in a learning by good example model instead of the experimental model of trial and error found in wide open school settings.

The quality of education can be a strong concern as well, with many questioning the qualifications of parents to teach. Test scores don't lie though and pejorative thinking doesn't change that. The stereotype of home schoolers being smarter is one that is actually true. In the cases of child abuse cases were the child isn't being taught (rare but highly publicized when found), are really just that: child abuse. Even if these children were public, privately or religiously schooled the children would still be the victims of malicious or neglectful parents.
The same systems that find traditional abuse cases work just as well in un-school cases though and homeschoolers no more need special government cases than any other home in America.

Sorry, I should be more clear. When I say “trend” I mean in this thread.

Hmm, I went to public school for kindergarten, home schooled 1st, public schooled 2nd, 3rd, 3rd (repeated third because I was behind), 4th. Then was home schooled for 5th & 6th (in the same year), 7th, 8th, 9th. Then back to public school for 10th, 11th and 12th.

Eight years in public school, five or six (depending if you count the two grades I did in one year as two years or not) in home school.

I was the only one of us who graduated from public high school. And I was also the only one who did not graduate from high school early (the others all graduated a year or so early)(I'm a procrastinator & lazy). Now we've all got at least an associates degree.

Home-schooling really didn't exist 30 years ago, so I was sentenced to 13 years in public schools. (Then Four years in college, a couple of professional certifications, 11 years in the Army, and doing a lot of self-education, but a decent cup of coffee still costs $1.50)

If parents want to take on all the work and responsibilty to homeschool, more power to them. Though they must work on their BS filter to make sure they don't fall for a lot of the Religious Right/Wacko Left/Survivalist propaganda out there in the material for home schooling.

bravo1102
Home-schooling really didn't exist 30 years ago, so I was sentenced to 13 years in public schools. (Then Four years in college, a couple of professional certifications, 11 years in the Army, and doing a lot of self-education, but a decent cup of coffee still costs $1.50)

If parents want to take on all the work and responsibilty to homeschool, more power to them. Though they must work on their BS filter to make sure they don't fall for a lot of the Religious Right/Wacko Left/Survivalist propaganda out there in the material for home schooling.

Homeschooling has always existed since the concept of education emerged, though its modern form emerged in the 1930s with teach at home kits commissioned by various state governments for families that could not send their children to school for whatever reason.

Most curricular materials are made by the same companies that manufacture textbooks for regular schools. Additionally parents are smart enough to recognize the way they want to teach their kids and have enough direct control of the subject to ensure that the kinds aren't getting brainwashed with somebody's agenda.

Better to choose your own BS filter then get the bureaucracie's BS forced on you.

Home schooling is very old. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln were home-schooled, yeah I know. In the 1970s it was very uncommon, downright rare and almost unheard of outside of survivalists in enclosed compounds waiting for the downfall of civilization.

Read Lies my Teacher Told me.The people who write textbooks aren't to be trusted and you need that BS filter. You should have seen my teacher's edition, I had half the stuff in the section on the Middle Ages crossed out as it was inaccurate and more mythology than history. It was worse in my US History text.

Most history texts are written to appeal to a certain Textbook board in the USA and not to necesarily reflect the current established scholarship or even tell what happened and just spit-up outdated mythology. Science texts have to satisfy boards who know nothing about the scientific method or how to judge what they're looking at. They dance around controversial subjects or don't treat them at all. Those school boards are made up of the same kind of people who homeschool.

Parents need that BS filter read Why do People Believe Weird Things No matter what anyone may tell you, critical thinking is rare and most people's BS filter just doesn't work and many homeschoolers do so because of agendas. I've searched the sites when looking for additional class materials and the majority of it had agendas.

From the POV of many educator types homeschooling is only so effective because of small class size. If every student had that low a student/teacher ratio they'd all probably perform as well.

I'm homeshooled! I love it, it's much better than my (limited) experience with schooling. I only went to school through 2nd grade so I have no idea what highschool or junior high was like at all.

Normal school. I mean…Your in the school with your friends and thats better than just yourself.

Public school from K-6th. Homeschooled 7th-half of 9th. Got my GED and went to college at 16.

My mom pulled me out of public school for religious reasons.

kiandranishan
Public school from K-6th. Homeschooled 7th-half of 9th. Got my GED and went to college at 16.

My mom pulled me out of public school for religious reasons.

Would you mind telling us what they were? It just reflects a post that I made earlier and seems like a very popular reason for parents to want to homeschool their children.

Could I ask a question? Everyone goes on about the (probable majority) of parents who homeschool due to religion, but why is that such a big deal? Often, from what little I admittedly know, it doesn't seem to vary a huge amount from most of the basics. Reading, writing, and arithmetic is still taught, right? The rest of it is all debatable in some form, from the history you're taught, to the way you learn about things like biology.

I just feel this is missing a point by usually decrying these parents as the “wrong” ones and the regular school system as the “good” ones. Both have problems in my opinion, and I wouldn't prefer to be taught by either.

Also people assume that you'll be teaching “religious material”. Similar to how religious schools change or skip content to skew it in favor of their own views. Very often thats not the case, even when the parents cite “religious” causes for homeschooling. Many parents simply have a religious objection to sex ed, controversial science subject, or any number of other things that schools teach that belie the lessons a parent wishes to give their child. That or they simply want their kids to be able to pray, or have a bible class on top of their normal curricula. They pull the kid out and give them fairly non-denominational course most of the time.

Around that time my mother disallowed all secular things. I wasn't allowed to listen to secular radio or music, watch secular TV, and to even hang out with someone that didn't go to our church. I was to go to church 6 days a week, study at least 5 bible verses each week, and volunteer at church at least once a month. She burned all our vhs, books, and toys that were not “conducive to our spiritual health.” It wasn't that I was learning about evolution and other sinful things at school but I was being exposed to godless heathens too *rolls eyes*

My mom has since has stopped being this psycho…still psycho but not as bad.

That is pretty psycho – wow! Okay, being a nondenomination Christian, I get particularly offended when I hear of people using their spiritual beliefs as an excuse to be prejudiced, especially when they look down on people who don't share their exact beliefs.

I'm glad you survived the experience.

My wife and I very badly wanted to homeschool our kids, especially our oldest son. As a very intelligent, independent, creative answering (i.e. - not a "cookie-cutter) kid, the Austin ISD had no tolerance of him and wanted him on Ridlin and literally removed from interaction with other students. You should have seen how mad they got when we had him tested for ADD and ADHD (at their request/demand) and we showed them the results, that he did not have either. And even still, the teachers always assumed he was at fault, no matter what – and it didn't take the other kids long to pick up on that and use it to get him in even more trouble. It was bad. I know not all teachers are bad, but that school system perpetuated some very bad behaviors and attitudes.

We also know our kid isn't perfect. We've worked with him to overcome everything from stuttering (a good speech pathologist knocked that out completely in less than six months) to developing good social interactions (ever an ongoing process) and building self-esteem in the face of this strange form prejudice (not racial prejudice, either) from the school system, while also trying not to produce an egotistical kid. It's never easy, that's just parenting.

But lots of things got in the way of us homeschooling. We're the type of people that we won't do things halfway – it's all the way or no way. A compromise was to put him in a charter school for a semester. That was excellent. Then we moved and got the boys into a neighboring school system (not Austin ISD) and it's been wonderful ever since.

kiandranishan
Around that time my mother disallowed all secular things. I wasn't allowed to listen to secular radio or music, watch secular TV, and to even hang out with someone that didn't go to our church. I was to go to church 6 days a week, study at least 5 bible verses each week, and volunteer at church at least once a month. She burned all our vhs, books, and toys that were not “conducive to our spiritual health.” It wasn't that I was learning about evolution and other sinful things at school but I was being exposed to godless heathens too *rolls eyes*

My mom has since has stopped being this psycho…still psycho but not as bad.

I went to private school up until I moved to North Carolina – yeah, ugly uniforms and all. I didn't even really know what homeschooling was until high school, haha. Sitting here at the computer and looking back on it, I wouldn't have wanted to be. I lived in the city, but I was deathly shy (still am, to an extent) so I only had a few good friends. Going to school was my only real chance to get out of the house sometimes.

Well that, and I don't know who would've taught me. My father was – and still is – on constant call for work, and my mother's both to cheap to hire a tutor and too dumb to do it herself :P

And kiandranishan, that is frightening! Now I feel bad for hating going to CCD every Tuesday when I was younger. I feel relieved for you that your mother has let up a bit.

As a teacher, I find your reasons for being homeschooled pretty sad and shocking. You're basically saying your parents pulled you out of school because they didn't want you to get hurt…or killed. It's tragic to hear - in ANY community. Reminds me of East St. Louis.

The flip side can be said then that if your neighborhood is that bad, you probably could get killed walking your dog. In fact, why be outside? Bullets can travel through walls.

The reason I usually hear that a student is being pulled is for religious reasons (Just like you all have said). I respect those sensibilities. Still…funny story, I knew a set of parents who did just that to their daughter…Deeply religious people who dragged their kid out during middle school because she was groped by another boy. Long story short…it turned out she was a bit slutacious anyway.

The concept of homeschooling is interesting and my comic (BLNT) will be touching on the social ramifications of it down the line (It will also come up in BLNT:Synchronicity very soon).

Homeschooling is and can be effective, no doubt. Especially if the “classroom management” of the parent is solid - because if they say we can't do the job, they sure as hell better put up or shut up at home. In the end, classroom management (i.e. solid curriculum, stable-minded and assertive instructor, consistent discipline) is the most important key for effective learning. Due to that fact, homeschooling is okay for SOME (Especially the small-group learning environment aspect)…not all kids should be homeschooled because of the poor adjustment they make socially (Whether by poor management of a parent, or poor adjustment on the part of the child).

If a student is going to ushered back to public/private education, it should happen by his/her high school years. Homeschooling is definitely key around the 'tween years (third grade to eighth grade).

One thing that helps is your local community. Enough people homeschool now that you can find a local group in your area of other homeschoolers. These groups can help arrange social functions, science fairs, and even proms depending on your needs and wants. One of my nephews was homeschooled his entire life, yet he grew up with friends, competed on a homeschool football team through high school, and went on to college. When he graduated the parents pooled resources and got them a full graduation ceremony. Replete with rings and diplomas.

This system is not new, small gatherings of homeschoolers have been finding each other for years. Though recent increases in the homeschooled population have made it more … complete.

Blntmaker, your post is just as biased as any of ours is going to be. You're a teacher, no surprise you feel strongly about public education. I, on the other hand, am equally biased due to my quite successful (if I may be so bold as to say) homeschooling experience.

It's silly to say that our reasons are the right reasons, because for other people they aren't. For some, they are the wrong reasons for being either taught at home or in the public system.

No one will ever have a perfect solution. Homeschooling or public schooling, both can and will fail on occasion, and both will turn out good and bad experiences. In essence, we can't tell another person what would be best for him or her to do in any given situation, including education, because we aren't that person, and our beliefs and feelings can be as different from theirs as night is to day.

dueeast
Austin ISD had no tolerance of him and wanted him on Ridlin and literally removed from interaction with other students.

I had this same problem when I was in the Austin-area schools (Leander, actually). Truth is, I was bored ALL the time - the coursework was easy (UsedBooks said it best - everything was focused on standardized testing and leave-no-child-behind). I'm like Johnny 5 - NEED INPUT! So when I wasn't getting it, I would fidget. Fidgeting obviously equals some sort of learning disability. Psh.

I was in public schools all my life, but based on my experiences, I think I want to home school my (potential) children.

EDIT: Not to say my entire public education experience was bad - I had some wonderful teachers and some wonderfully challenging courses - those were just few and far between.

Went to Catholic Private Schools K-12 and don't regret it. Yeah, there was a bit of going to church and such, but they didn't really care if you weren't christian. My schools more focussed on the learning rather than the religion.

The only problem I had was in my last year of primary where we had this teacher who liked to think we were all still 5-year-olds (We were 11-12 at that time). When they started sex-education, we had to work with the other classes because she refused to ‘Pollute our minds with such filth’. Anyway, a few times when the other teachers started talking about the more, shall we say, personal stuff, she'd leap in with these absolutely stupid comments. For example, she told us that when you wanted to have a child, you needn't actually have sex. Just strip off, lie there and maybe read a magazine or watch TV or something. And no, I am not kidding. You don't even want to hear how she tried to ‘purify’ wet dreams.

But, other than her idiocy, it was fine. Made a lot of good friends and got a good education. But apparently public schools are just as good down here, so I don't know which I would have preferred

Geez. You guys are all so earnest ^^
I didn't take learning seriously till I was doing my post grad stuff at Uni.

I went to a private Catholic school when I was little, but my parents pulled me out of that because they thought it was too religious. lol!

Then lots of public school…
Round about grade 4 my family went off for a half year holiday. My sister and I were meant to be taught by our parents and do all this course work we were given, but it just never worked out. Eh, we still managed ok in the end, missing out half a year. I never did get long division though -_-

I my case, I can't see how the schooling system was to blame. I did brilliantly at what I was interested in, excellent in intelligence type tests etc. (as you'd expect Haw haw haw :P), but no teaching method ever made me care very much about learning.