Please explain homeschooling

[Nordic Kid]

1) Not very.

2) I was homeschooled in 8th grade.

3) No idea :<

4) Yes. In Maryland, students must posess the same degree of proficiancy as any student in a
public school unless under a seperate purchased homeschooling curriculm that is approved
by the school board.

5) I didn't have a social life before, I didn't have one then, and I still don;t no net change.

6) Absolutely. I finished the entire speil in 100 days, which freed me up to do everything I really wanted to do (eg study foreign languages.) I was able to work at my own pace, and to date I managed to pick up Spanish and Norwegian, with a backing in Danish, Sweedish, Russian, Welsh, and Greek. They don't quite offer those courses in the public school systems.. Everything else I just zipped through. No sweat. I think the homeschooling curriculum I had was a little light on the workload, though, but I really never thought twice about it- I mean, I was only in 8th grade, back when every kid wants to be done with school fast!

7)Bullying, mostly. I was at the point of killing myself in 7th grade, so I was taken out of the local cesspool. Also, I didn't like how I always had to work at everyone else's pace.

8) I dunno. I really don't care, but I'm sure they exist.

9) It rocked, suffice to say. I wish I could have done it longer, but my mom got too stressed out grading all my papers, so I got booted back into the public school system. But if I had never taken those language courses, which couldn't have happened anywhere other than at home, I'd never have had the opportunity to apply for the NSA's cryptolinguistic ATP program- and thus, I'm greatly indebted to my time at home.

[themuzicman]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

Another question I should have asked before:
Do you sit any formal exams? If not, how easy is it to get accepted into universities?

Two of my kids have taken the ACT and done reasonably well. Colleges and Universities are starting to recognize the quality of education that many homeschoolers get, and work with homeschoolers to find an appropriate placement.

Michael

[Tfbandie]

Two of my kids have taken the ACT and done reasonably well. Colleges and Universities are starting to recognize the quality of education that many homeschoolers get, and work with homeschoolers to find an appropriate placement.

Michael

I think this is the key right now is finding a way to properly gauge students. Relying strictly on SATs/ACT isn't as affectively so many in homeschooling as well as colleges looking at homeschooled kids are devising other types of standardized tests either state tests or college placement tests.

[Smokering]

1) How common is it in your area?

In my area of NZ (in which I and my sisters were/are homeschooled), homeschooling is getting very common. Everyone I talk to seems to know at least one or two families who do it.

2) From what ages were you/your children homeschooled?

My parents homeschooled each of us (six daughters) on and off. I had my first year at school in Australia; moved to NZ, one year of homeschool; Christian private school until 3rd form (er, about age 13), then homeschooled for the rest of school; didn't do 7th form (the final, 'optional' year) but went straight to Uni, two years early, at age 16. Does that make sense? :) My youngest two sisters (11 and 9) have never been to school.

3) Is it legal to homeschool children in both primary and secondary levels of education, or just the former?

In NZ, it's legal.

4) Is there a government standard of education that parents who wish to homeschool their children must meet and if so, what are they (basic literacy, numeracy, etc)?

The tagline is that children must be educated 'as regularly and as well' as in a public school. ERO officers come around to check up on parents every so often, and two bad reports will mean your kids *have* to go back to school. However, it's not very frequent. I don't think I was ever checked--probably because the previous report, for my older sister, established that my family was pretty 'with it' and wasn't going to leave us snivelling in a closet all day.

Two of us did the SAT exams, more for fun than anything. None of us have experienced problems getting into any courses or Universities.

5) What was the impact on your social life? Did you mingle much with the local kids without knowing them from school? Did it affect your ability to mingle in later life?

Heh. My entire family pretty much lines up along the autistic spectrum; I'd describe myself as mildly Aspergic, and I have one sister who's full-blown autistic. So we were pretty much doomed from the get-go. :) I used to be frustrated at school, because most of my 'friends' didn't understand the kinds of things I wanted to talk about, and were more into socialising and sports than academic stuff. When I left school, I kept in contact with my *real* friends, and didn't miss the others--the people I hung out with just because they were around, but with whom I had little in common. I discovered the Internet during my homeschool years and made many dear friends online. Then when I started Uni, I fell in with a bunch of geeks at a swordfighting club, and have had no dearth of similarly unusual friends ever since! (Oh, and one of said geeks ended up being my husband). So, I get by. :) Ruth, my little sister who has never been to school, has an impressively vast circle of friends.

6) Were your parents/you able to give a reasonably comprehensive education in areas like science, history, foreign languages etc?

My education was a leetle unbalanced, although I certainly don't think I've suffered from it. We did a little science, mainly biology; but as I so obviously wasn't good at it, and my parents weren't too interested in it, I never did things like chemistry or physics. People tend to gasp with horror when I confess this, but it doesn't bother me! For one thing, I've never felt I *needed* to know advanced chemistry, simply because it's not my thing. I'd need to know it if I were in a sciencey line of work... but then, if I were in a sciencey line of work, it would be because I *did* like science and *had* studied it. For another, not concentrating on the subjects I found less useful/interesting left me far more time to concentrate on the subjects I did enjoy and was good at. I know very few public-school-system adults who are capable of thinking logically or philosophically; which is a far more important field than physics for the everyday mind, in my view. I was able to explore logic and philosophy at home, because I had the freedom and the time.

In terms of other subjects, my sisters and I have, between us, taken courses and evening classes in first aid, sign language, Spanish, French, ballroom dancing, cooking, food safety, nannying, pottery, pastel drawing, ceramic painting, singing...

7) Was your parents'/your primary motive for homeschooling based on the poor educational standard of your local school or was it for religious reasons (such as creationism or sex ed)? Or was it something else entirely, such as bullying?

Mixed reasons, I think. My mother was actually asked this question in an interview a few weeks ago (she, my sister and myself were interviewed by the local paper in a 'Homeschoolers Who Succeeded' piece; sadly, we were cut down to about two misquotes and a fuzzy picture... such is life). She said that while the desire for a Christian education is one of her motivating factors to continue homeschooling now, it was originally just because my sisters and I didn't fit into the school system. Some of us weren't happy there, none of us were reaching our potential, some of us were being badly influenced by peers, all of us were bored...

8) Are there statistics comparing state school levels of education with homeschooling?

Er, probably?

9) Was your experience of it overall mostly good or bad?

Definitely good. My husband and I will definitely be homeschooling our kids. I'm glad we know that *now*, before we even have children, so that we can start training and teaching them right from the start. (Not that parents don't do that anyway; but there's a different focus). Homeschooling brought me far closer to my family; it gave me a level of autonomous learning and critical thinking which the school system never attempted to (and I include university in that statement); it provided a cohesive, holistic view of education; and it saved me from the many boredoms, perils, grievances, pettinesses and distractions my high-school friends had to face.

[Sheepdog]

Also when the child is older and can get deeper into certain sciences, they can almost teach themselves.

i think that right there is a clue to why the American public school system is more or less a failure. they don't teach kids how to fact find and learn on their own, but rather teach them how to sit still 8 hours a day and follow instructions. that's great if you need a horde of dumb laborers for the assembly lines, but it's terrible for a dynamic, service economy like what we are transitioning to.

that, and they hyper-social darwinism that goes on in schools. whatever socializing benefits that are there are quickly destroyed by bullying and an extreme, harsh pecking order. if you aren't at the top of the social food chain, you are worthless crap.

(then add 2-6 additional hours of homework to that... there are studies that have looked into the dangerously high stress levels of public school kids)

[Jimmy Higgins]

i think that right there is a clue to why the American public school system is more or less a failure.

More or less a failure? That's overspeaking isn't it? The public school system isn't a "failure".

[sylas]

I was home schooled for my first three years of school.

However, my situation was a bit different from most home schoolers. My parents were missionaries in South Korea, and I was taught using the same curriculum that was used with Australian children in the outback, in what was called the "School of the air". Children used to use pedal powered radios in the outback; but we did not have that contact.

For one year of school before returning to Australia I went to a school at a local American Army base.

Cheers -- Sylas

[$cirisme]

1) How common is it in your area?

I was homeschooled because my dad was in the military and we moved around a lot.

In my area, it seems to be fairly common. In all the areas we lived before, I have no idea.

2) From what ages were you/your children homeschooled?

From 4th grade on.

3) Is it legal to homeschool children in both primary and secondary levels of education, or just the former?

Perfectly legal.

4) Is there a government standard of education that parents who wish to homeschool their children must meet and if so, what are they (basic literacy, numeracy, etc)?

Not for the parents, but every year (? mayever every other?) I took the same standardized tests everyone else did.

5) What was the impact on your social life? Did you mingle much with the local kids without knowing them from school? Did it affect your ability to mingle in later life?

No real impact with peers, I've always been a loner and friendships never came naturally, even when I was in school hours everyday. (in fact, I was quite miserable in school because of it)

But I think I learned great skills interacting with people other ages (even adults) because you weren't artificially segregated with 20 other kids your own age.

6) Were your parents/you able to give a reasonably comprehensive education in areas like science, history, foreign languages etc?

Yes

7) Was your parents'/your primary motive for homeschooling based on the poor educational standard of your local school or was it for religious reasons (such as creationism or sex ed)? Or was it something else entirely, such as bullying?

No, I explained above.

9) Was your experience of it overall mostly good or bad?

Thanks.

Mostly good.

[draw2much]

Former USA home schooler here :)

1) How common is it in your area?
I don't know. Though I recall meeting other home schoolers.

2) From what ages were you/your children homeschooled?
I think I started at 11. Had a two year stint at a private school between 14-15, which I hated. Then returned to homeschooling.

3) Is it legal to homeschool children in both primary and secondary levels of education, or just the former?
Yes

4) Is there a government standard of education that parents who wish to homeschool their children must meet and if so, what are they (basic literacy, numeracy, etc)?
I don't know.. I just know I was taught all the basics. I also took a lot of extra curricular subjects too. (I loved economics and history so I took as much of those extras as I could.)

5) What was the impact on your social life? Did you mingle much with the local kids without knowing them from school? Did it affect your ability to mingle in later life?
How do I put this? I'm not a people person, but I'm quite good at socializing. My ability to socialize had nothing at all to do with my education though, and everything to do with the fact that I was a military brat. Military brats are forced to socialize to survive. It's just how it is.

6) Were your parents/you able to give a reasonably comprehensive education in areas like science, history, foreign languages etc?
Homeschooling was pretty self educating for me. The problems I had were pretty basic ones and easy for my parents to answer.

7) Was your parents'/your primary motive for homeschooling based on the poor educational standard of your local school or was it for religious reasons (such as creationism or sex ed)? Or was it something else entirely, such as bullying?
My Mom took me out of public school cause she saw I wasn't getting educated. I was 2-3 grades behind in all my subjects, that's how bad it was. I think she would have put me in private school if she could have afforded it, but she wasn't able to.

To compound the bad education, I had "learning disabilities". (I always thought of this as the nice way of saying "You're stupid.") I had a vision problem that was rare and didn't get diagnosed until I was 15 and took a year to fix. Then I also had some sort of weird memory problem.. some type of mild short-long term memory problem I think. (Never got fixed, just worked around it.. very hard to do during school.) I needed individual attention which I definitely could not get from public or private school.

8) Are there statistics comparing state school levels of education with homeschooling?
I'm pretty sure there are, but I don't know any to give you. However, home schoolers have always seemed pretty smart to me.. in fact, most were smarter than me. They were also a whole lot nicer than they're public/private counter parts.

9) Was your experience of it overall mostly good or bad?
Good. That's not to say it was easy, but it was infinitely better than the alternatives. There's just something wonderful about waking up at 9am, doing your schoolwork on your bed, eating a really nice lunch, and finishing whenever there's nothing left to do. (Which sometimes meant early, and sometimes meant late..)

Oh wait, the one BAD thing about homeschooling was that I could take my school work with me. It meant if we went on vacation and I had extra work (which I had often from being 2-3 grades behind in everything), I would take it with me. Sometimes it felt like a never ending school year....

On the upside, I made up that 1-2 year difference and was only a year behind in the end. I could have graduated with honors if I wanted, but I had to take a "higher" math class to get that last credit. I hate math with the fiery passion of a thousands suns.