Can Homeschooling Provide More Opportunities?

I was homeschooled most of my life and I’m now a junior in college studying computer information technology. I have my own LLC doing iPhone development and develop websites for freelance clients. I will have my bachelors degree before my 19th birthday, and will then attend graduate school.

With my experience being homeschooled, I think it provides a more custom learning experience, allowing you to choose what interests you. I think anyone that has the ability to homeschool, should.

Thanks for talking about this!

I was homeschool most of my life (including all of high school) and it gave me a chance not only to learn what I needed to learn (the basics), BUT also learn on top of that what I WANTED to learn (website development, graphics, audio production, etc…). Homeschooling certainly is not for everybody, but if you are a self-starter and can work independently then I think you are a good candidate for homeschooling.

I’m a homeschooling parent, and we’re in our 12th year homeschooling. In 2004 I graduated one daughter from homeschooling, and still have three more children being homeschooled.

We found homeschooling to offer many more opportunities for homeschoolers, and as Colin was quoted above, dual enrollment in community college, while still at the high school level is one such advantage. Homeschooling allows a child to fully investigate and explore their areas of interest and to take that knowledge further with higher level training, hands-on learning in that field of interest and offers even greater socialization and experiences than their public school peers would get.

My daughter had a full graduation ceremony through our homeschool support group, complete with caps, gowns, diplomas (even a signed certificate from the Governor of our state!) and a graduating class of 34! She was then accepted at all three colleges to which she applied.

Like you, I don’t have kids. Yet. I know I will one day and have already started reading parenting and education books. I agree that homeschooling can be a great thing for some people in some places. If you live in New York City and have smart and well-meaning parent, then you have a great opportunity. On the other hand, if you live in the middle of nowhere in Central Iowa, with no major towns for hundreds of miles, and your parents are only suited to working the soil, then not so much.

It also depends on the kids. If the kids just wants to play video games and not explore the world, then it might not be a good things for them. If the kids are still inquisitive, then they have a chance.

There is no one standard answer. I’m just glad that homeschooling is legal in all states (some restrictions may apply).

Ever met a kid who was home schooled? 99% of them are complete idiots. Maybe it’s genetic, since their parents think they can do a better job than a professionally trained educator. Or maybe it’s because they don’t learn how to get along with kids that aren’t their siblings. Either way, unless you want your kids to be jackasses you should probably send them to school.

We decided to homeschool both of our boys during only 1 year of their total schooling. We found that one year, although VERY taxing on us as parents, allowed each of our boys to overcome areas of challenge because we were able to focus on those areas. Also, it allowed us to find the areas which were really important to them and to encourage them to become spectacular in those areas.

This has allowed us to see the pros and cons of home-schooling. In the end, DO WHAT WORKS best for the child.

Yes, I totally agree with Colin! I’ve also been homeschooled all my life, and at age 16 began attending TWO local community colleges. Homeschooling gives you much more oportunitys to focus your schooling on what you want to learn. I’m personally training to be a Website Developer and Profesional Helicopter Pilot. Want to learn more about me? Check out my website, but be warned, its a work in progress. ;)

I know a couple of homeschool kids, they are incredibly smart! They took Algebra I in 7th grade. I think my public school is limiting me.

I have had teh chance to be homeschooled, private school and public school. During homeschooling, it was before the internet, I still learned more due to 3 main factors.
1) Person attention – My parents were able to focus on my learning style, and teach me in a way I liked.
2) It was disciplined and actually shorter due to the focus and individual attention.
3) Also, the coursework could be related to something I understood instead of abstract principles.

With the internet today, the amount of knowledge is constantly updated, but one drawback, is that proper referencing from reliable resources should be taught much earlier. Many times, proper research skills and referencing isn’t taught until Highschool when a need for APA or MLA formatting is needed.

I think Traditional ‘Government’ Schooling, is nothing more then a Liberal Indoctrination Camp.

Home schooling is superior In my opinion. You can cut out all the Government Crap and focus on actual needful skills and knowledges.

I have 2 kids both were pulled from public school when it failed to give them what they needed. Homeschooling has been a wonderful thing for my oldest. He is so far ahead of his friends that at the age of 16 he is about to graduate high school, and is looking into college. My youngest child is in charter school now and is excelling in all areas. I think homeschooling is awesome, and if you have the time and energy to put into it; it can be a great experience for both child and parent. However if you don’t have the time or your chiId is speacial needs I would suggest charter school as an alternitive to public school.

I believe the biggest distinction between traditional and home schooling is the socialization aspect.

It shouldn’t be hard to replicate or exceed the traditional curriculum.

My limited personal experience with home schoolers is they lack the normative social skills one would expect.

My wife was home-schooled, and the college I went to (Hillsdale College) had a high number of home-schooled students. Like with anything or any group of people you have the good and the bad. Homeschooling can be an excellent alternative to the public school system provided the student is motivated. Like Colin mentioned, you have so many more resources at your disposal. I do think that home-schooled students should make an effort to be involved with some social groups to help develop that aspect of their person. Many of the home-schooled students I knew in college where very smart, but were socially awkward.

In my personal experience, kids who were home-schooled into high school more often than not have absolutely crappy science literacy and usually low maths literacy. Even if they weren’t home-schoold for conservative religious reasons to keep out things like “evil-lution”, their parents really didn’t have the science chops to teach them what can be very complicated subjects.

As a result, in addition to lacking basic sciences & maths literacy they also lack basic critical thinking skills.

They’re ones one who believe in pseudo-science crap like astrology, accupuncture or homeopathy.

They’re the one’s who’ve fallen for Jenny McCarthy’s anti-vaccination nonsense.

They’re the ones who think that the 2nd law of thermodynamics means evolution can’t happen even though their misundersanding would also mean that refrigerators wouldn’t work either.

They’re the ones who think a single cold winter invalidates decades of climate trending and thus they “know” that global warming is bogus.

They’re the ones that believe conspiracy theories like the moon hoax and they’re the ones who forward those stupid Internet chain-emails to you when all it would take is a quick check at snopes.com to see that it’s simply not true.

Now perhaps I’ve only met the stupid high school home-schoolers, but I’m in my late 30s and you’d think that I’d have met one by now. I’ve never met one yet that went to university fro anything other than a liberal arts degree.

Where are the smart, science literate home-schoolers?

In all honestly, I will have my kid decide.

Homeschooling is great, you let your child learn whats necessary. No clutter or junk.

But, public school is great too. The social interaction. Making friends, girlfriend/boyfriends. Experiences in life.

In homeschool you don’t get that. You get a lonely life, or some “hook”ups from your family. A play mate.

It’s understood, that public school is a “bad” place. Bad influences, Bad people (kids), and bad atmosphere.

But, if you discipline your child correctly, he/she should have no problem.

Highschool is a one time deal. Your homecoming dances, your senior pranks, and your prom.. It’s something a kid can dream to.

Later in life, a young child needs to learn how to interact with other people. Their parents or the computer won’t be their business partner. I’ve seen several home schooled kids struggle to make friends. They struggle to interact with other humans… And it makes me sad.

So, let it be up to your child. List then the pros and cons, and don’t you dare forget something important. Because it’s their future.

Not yours.

Home schooling hurts the students. educationally and socially. Parents that do are afraid to let go, and smother their children with their own ignorance. There’s no way one or two people can have the ability to teach as well as a professional school system. Kids need to learn social skills with their own peers Children are also held back on their cultural skills in that isolated atmosphere. In many cases religious intolerance is taught because there is no comparison with other faiths. Just say NO to home schooling.

We did both with our children, but if we had it to do again, we’d likely do the homeschooling longer than we did, especially for our oldest (who actually spent the fewest years not being homeschooled, but who was more strongly influenced by her peers than her younger brother… who, fortunately, learned much to avoid by learning from his sister’s mistakes, minor though they were at the time *sigh*).

We home schooled our children as well and the experience was great.

I do not agree with homeschooling due to one reason. The interaction with the other kids. That is such am important aspect of growing up and can lead to lonely lives.

I home school my two teens and have schooled all 3 at one point. My oldest is now through with schooling.
Home schooling helped my oldest, who is Autistic with Asperger’s Syndrome.

As a single mom, home schooling is tough but also very rewarding for all of us. My kids love it because they don’t have to sit up until midnight doing homework like all of their public school friends.
My daughter is also enrolled in Virtual School the public school offers. She is doing well in it and this gives her the discipline she needs to learn about deadlines and structure.

My youngest is 12 and does high school level work. ( except math)
We concentrate heavily on math because that is his least favorite and weakest subject.

We also belong to a home school group and we meet often so the children can interact.

We co-op teaching subjects so the children can enjoy structured learning in a stress free environment.

My children has the free time to read, play , learn musical instruments and other things they enjoy.

My kids have common sense, they volunteer and has earned a Presidential Award for their efforts and they love to learn new subjects and looks forward to going to college to take the courses they want and plans on taking online or vocational training for a certificate to fall back on while they continue with their education.

My daughter is planning to take a Medical Coding and Billing course at a local health care training center so that she can be certified by the time she turns 18. She then plans to get a part time job and go to school for things she wants to learn. She also plans to CLEP out most of the subjects she is confident with.

Home schooling taught all of us alternative learning and not just going to school to get a piece of paper without really retaining like I did as a student.

I wish I had been home schooled as a child. I would have made better choices in life instead of doing what the society told me to do is the right thing.

Home schooling gives my children control of their life choices and the paths they wan to lead, while still being a responsible citizen contributing as much as possible to make everyone around them happy.

I am glad that I am able to give them the best start I know for my children.

I’m struggling with the decision to homeschool my son. My family members think homeschooling is weird, but I truly believe I can do a better job than the schools can. A few issues I still need to get over is the socialization aspect. I want to make sure that my child can socialize in the real world and not feel like a sheltered child. How can one overcome this?

Zzoren,

You’re exactly why I “unschool” my children. You couldn’t have possibly met homeschooled kids. My children are wonderful human beings and far from idiots. It wouldn’t even occur to them to call someone an idiot regardless of the method of education. The name calling speaks volumes on your character and shows your ignorance.

I’ve met people that lack social skills and not one of them was homeschooled. Lacking social skills certainly isn’t the worse thing that could befall an individual anyway. I would much rather meet an individual with little social skills who is kind than one who gets on a public forum and calls a group of individuals he/she doesn’t even know a bunch of idiots.

There is not one negative thing you can say about homeschooled children that you couldn’t find in the public educated child.

Please back up your silly 99.9% stat that you espouse too. Since you won’t be able to do that, it means anything else you have to say isn’t credible.

I think homeschooling has much more benefits. Not only does the child have a good one on one support, but school is all about school. Not about who’s going to kick who’s ass during lunch time or who’s talking about who, or who’s more popular than who, or all these other insecurities that kids get caught up in that have a chance of ruining their life forever.

If you really want to see a unique and very successful alternative method of schooling…have a look at the Sudbury Valley School website.http://www.sudburyvalley.org/ This “school” has been running for about 40 years and has about 200 kids per year. It makes you wonder about “normal” public school education. I, for one, would have gladly attended such a school. No classes, no curriculum, no teachers. Kids play all day. Have a look! Hopefully more schools like this will be started. It’s like the ultimate homeschool!