For lovers of alternative education for children

I used to think home schooling was a bit absurd.  Learning a bit more about public education (my sister is a middle school teacher, friend is a public grade school science teacher), I say, go for it!  If you are in an iffy school disctrict, it would be hard to do worse.

As someone else mentioned (and as my sister tells me), it's ALL about the parents!  This will be true in public or homeschooling!

Regarding socialization:  I can assure you, if you kid is shy / reserved, they will be shy / reserved just as much in a public school.  If you have a wildly social kid, public could be good for them, but also might be VERY distracting.  As SVreX noted, I suspect the biggest thing they will miss out on are the "Memes" of public schools (e.g. they won't get some jokes).

In reply to aircooled :

For a short time, my oldest son went to a public school. There were 850 students in that school. 

3 parents showed up to back to school night. That’s a horrible turnout. 

Yes, you’re right. Education has a HUGE amount to do with the parents. But sometimes it’s not even parental qualifications. It’s parental INVOLVEMENT. 

Homeschooling has nearly 100% involvement of at least one parent. Some public schools, like the one my son was at, have nearly zero percent parental involvement. 

In my shop classes of 24 kids, in a 1.25hr period, your kid gets 3.125 minutes of personal, one-on-one time, ASSUMING I do not do any lessons whatsoever.

If the class time is 1.25hrs and a class size of 30 (typical), your kid now gets 2.5 minutes.  If I teach a lesson for 30 minutes, your kid now gets 1.5 minutes of direct one-on-one help.

Let that sink in. 

One point five minutes of help. Per kid. Per class.

For the love of mercy, be involved in your child's life.

SkinnyG said:

In my shop classes of 24 kids, in a 1.25hr period, your kid gets 3.125 minutes of personal, one-on-one time, ASSUMING I do not do any lessons whatsoever.

If the class time is 1.25hrs and a class size of 30 (typical), your kid now gets 2.5 minutes.  If I teach a lesson for 30 minutes, your kid now gets 1.5 minutes of direct one-on-one help.

Let that sink in. 

One point five minutes of help. Per kid. Per class.

For the love of mercy, be involved in your child's life.

Skinny,

I don’t know you. I don’t have any kids in school or otherwise, but I have multiple close friends who are teachers. Your sentiment is sometimes echoed by them. At the end of the day no matter how invested you are as a teacher you just can’t make up for parents who are not willing or are unable to invest in their kids.

1SlowVW said:

SkinnyG said:

In my shop classes of 24 kids, in a 1.25hr period, your kid gets 3.125 minutes of personal, one-on-one time, ASSUMING I do not do any lessons whatsoever.

If the class time is 1.25hrs and a class size of 30 (typical), your kid now gets 2.5 minutes.  If I teach a lesson for 30 minutes, your kid now gets 1.5 minutes of direct one-on-one help.

Let that sink in. 

One point five minutes of help. Per kid. Per class.

For the love of mercy, be involved in your child's life.

Skinny,

I don’t know you. I don’t have any kids in school or otherwise, but I have multiple close friends who are teachers. Your sentiment is sometimes echoed by them. At the end of the day no matter how invested you are as a teacher you just can’t make up for parents who are not willing or are unable to invest in their kids.

 

 

Especially true with DE. I get 6 hours of in-car instruction over a semester. Parents are required to do 40. Too many make up much of that time and the time they do spend with them is woefully inadequate.