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Homeschooling

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Tightrope, Jun 23, 2013.

  1. Tightrope

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    I've met some very religious people who are homeschooling their children. I never thought much about it. Now, I'm starting to wonder what this is about. Is there anything they want to keep their kids away from? When kids grow up, they'll be exposed to quite a bit, and may not be prepared for it if they were sheltered.
     
  2. Candace

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    My parents always told me that they'd never homeschool me since I would not have any social skills. So...it's not as awesome as people say it is (in my opinion).
     
  3. Hefiel

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    This is an issue I've observed a lot amongst kids who were homeschooled. They have 0 social skills, and little capability for critical thinking because they are never faced with opposing information to what they've been taught.

    It's because of this that I'm against homeschooling. I think it's very harmful to the children.
     
  4. Tetraquark

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    Religious people typically homeschool because they want control over their children's education. They typically think public schools are too secular and want to make sure their children learn about subjects in a way that is consistent with their religion. The most obvious area effected is, of course, the sciences; it's not uncommon for religious homeschooled children to be taught that the Earth is only 6000 years old, for example. Another area potentially effected is history. Some conservative religious people believe that the way history is taught in public schools does not give proper credit to Christianity and is too concerned with being "politically correct" (i.e. focuses on achievements of women, racial minorities, queer people, etc).

    If this topic interests you, I recommend the blog Love, Joy, Feminism. The writer, Libby Anne, spends most of her time talking about homeschool culture in the US, what their goals are, and the effects it has on children.
     
  5. BMC77

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    I'm pretty sure one reason many religious conservatives who home school is because they want their child to be isolated from the modern world. Also they can make curriculum decisions, like studying Genesis rather than evolution.
     
  6. Tightrope

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    I have a few observations since no one in my peer group was homeschooled -

    - the two couples that are doing it right now are very religious and both of the husbands are excessively homophobic

    - I know one person who works at a place I patronize who was homeschooled and his social skills are very good, but that's just one, so he developed them somewhere
     
  7. drwinchester

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    I was homeschooled for most of my high school career but was lucky enough to recieve a secular education. Well... Part of that was because I ended up schooling myself, relying on Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson because, believe me, no one seems to market curriculum towards anyone but the crazy fundamentalists.

    Fundamentalism is a huge problem in the homeschooling community. Religious indoctrication is common place and many of these families are Quiverfull, which is a movement where (in a nutshell) the duty of a woman is to churn out babies to fill "God's quiver" and the father is the patriarchal, unquestioned head of house. Not only are many of these families isolated, making them ripe for undocumented abuse, but they promote a sexist, fundamentalist culture that emotionally and mentally damages both the young men and women trapped in these households.

    And there's also the issue of these Quiverfull households influencing modern homeschooling culture into a more religious, creationist based movement.

    So a lot of problems all around. I suggest you read this blog, full of accounts of survivors of religious abuse at the hands of Quiverfull families. Possible trigger warnings for abuse but eye opening all the same: No Longer Quivering

    I'll be perfectly honest. If I could do school all over again, I'd do public school. I feel like I've missed out on so much in terms of developing social skills and experiences. I'm raised in a home where I'm actually responsible for helping to homeschool my sisters and I spent my high school years depressed partly because of how isolated I felt as a secular homeschooler (and gender issues but that's a different story). I often wonder what kind of person I'd be now if I'd gotten to stay in public school...
     
    #7 drwinchester, Jun 23, 2013
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  8. Tetraquark

    Tetraquark Guest

    This isn't actually too surprising. The thing about homeschooling is it puts the parents completely in control of their child's development. If the parents know what they're doing and have their child's best interests at heart, then it's perfectly possible for the person to not just be at the same level socially and academically as their publicly schooled peers but to even be ahead because their curriculum was tailored to their specific needs. Unfortunately, most parents don't have the training and resources that public school staff do, so it is much easier for them to slip up and not do as good of a job as a school would. [Edit: Obviously if the parent is driven by ideology, this would create problems, too.]
     
    #8 Tetraquark, Jun 23, 2013
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  9. BMC77

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    These are valid concerns, but these problems may not be problems 100% of the time. Some parents home schooling make an effort to find ways for their children to interact with other children. And in home schooling one could possibly actually learn more critical thinking than in many public schools if the curriculum is good enough (that is, not something entirely aimed at forcing the child to take the parent's view on the world).
     
  10. Well, parents who homeschool their kids for religious purposes. However, most of the time, they homeschool their kids because schools are pretty overpopulated these days. Parents who homeschool can conform to their kid's needs. I think it's to protect their kids from certain events that can be dangerous like bomb threats and school shootings.

    The downside is that homeschooled kids don't develop enough social skills. I've known plenty of homeschooled kids that are very introverted. I'm sure most of us go to public school and our class schedules change to level out class sizes. I think homeschooled kids may not be exposed to change and other social changes. At school, there are elective classes like foreign language, marching band, wood shop, newspaper, yearbook, AP courses, drama, photography, just to name a few. Homeschooled kids may not have the opportunity to take these classes.

    Overall, I think it's best to go to public schools. There are many more resources to be able to pursue your future career.
     
    #10 anthonythegamer, Jun 23, 2013
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  11. wittyusername

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    My parents are not religious at all, but I am homeschooled. The reason my parents homeschooled us was because they believed that the public school system in the US is pretty screwed up. And, as I have been to public school for a few years, I agree with that. I will agree that homeschooled children have less social skills than kids who go to school, but I don't think that homeschooling is always the reason for that. Many parents homeschool their kids because the kids are introverts, and don't get along with other kids because of that. But there are lots of homeschooled kids that are very social. My family has had people call us "socially backwards" and "socially awkward". No matter how you state it, it's still somewhat offensive. Some kids are shy, and introverts, and some kids are very outgoing and extroverts. Everybody's different, and I don't think you can say every homeschooled kid has "0 social skills". I don't think that homeschooling is harmful to children, and if it is, it's because of the parent who is teaching them. Just my opinion.
     
  12. StefaniW

    StefaniW Guest

    My parents homeschooled us and they were extremely religious and used to try to indoctrinate us constantly, and this caused me and my sister (who's a lesbian) a lot of mental turmoil growing up. We both learned to hate ourselves and think we were going to hell when we were pretty small. It was honestly a really bad environment, and now I don't even have a diploma cuz she didn't put the work into making sure we had transcripts and everything we need to graduate. So I have to study like a crazy woman to get my GED now (I am caught up in every subject but math and do really, really well in some, but still).

    Homeschooling is just...not a good idea.
     
  13. Hefiel

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    I was speaking in general, perhaps I should've mentioned it.

    My biggest worries regarding homeschooling comes from the qualifications (or lack thereof) of parents to act as teachers. The parents have the general control over the curriculum, and if they decide that they don't want to teach science at all and instead teach creationism, well that raises many red flags for me and the kid should be taught in school instead.

    Although I'm against religion, "I don't mind" that religion is taught so long as science is taught appropriately (a.k.a don't go teaching that Jesus lived with Dinosaurs). However, how can we tell if the children are being taught appropriately or not? That's the difficult thing to answer and why I'm wary of homeschooling even though there are reports that homeschooled individuals who've entered University do quite well.
     
  14. justjade

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    I was homeschooled for just a couple years, and even that made me really socially awkward. I do not recommend it. From what I've gathered, it's used by parents to make sure their kids don't get in with the "wrong crowd" or to raise their kids the way the parents think they should be raised. Yes, religious people usually do this. I didn't even know about the existence of the F word until I was probably 16 or 17. Talk about crazy.
     
  15. wittyusername

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    [/QUOTE]I was speaking in general, perhaps I should've mentioned it.

    My biggest worries regarding homeschooling comes from the qualifications (or lack thereof) of parents to act as teachers. The parents have the general control over the curriculum, and if they decide that they don't want to teach science at all and instead teach creationism, well that raises many red flags for me and the kid should be taught in school instead.

    Although I'm against religion, "I don't mind" that religion is taught so long as science is taught appropriately (a.k.a don't go teaching that Jesus lived with Dinosaurs). However, how can we tell if the children are being taught appropriately or not? That's the difficult thing to answer and why I'm wary of homeschooling even though there are reports that homeschooled individuals who've entered University do quite well.[/QUOTE]


    Right, I see your point. I have a friend (also homeschooled) whose parents won't let her get a job because they don't want her exposed to the outside world. That just doesn't make sense to me.

    What?! There's an F word?! Haha. (kidding) :lol:

    Edit: Apparently I don't know how to work the quote thing. Sorry. Haha.
     
    #15 wittyusername, Jun 23, 2013
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2013
  16. Hexagon

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    Evolution. Secularism. Social skills. Critical thinking. Human contact. Other religions. There are plenty of things they might want to protect their kids from.
     
  17. AlamoCity

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    My sister was homeschooled for one year when she had to miss a lot of classes due to asthma and I went with my mom to the homeschooling conventions where they had all of the materials used to "teach" kids. At least 75% of all of the science books had a Christian/Creationist angle. I really didn't like the crowd because they were mostly the kind of folk who don't want to mix their children for fear that Satan's world will corrupt them. Thankfully, this only lasted one school year.

    Besides the sheltering part, an issue with homeschooling is the quality of the education. I believe that the person teaching should at least have the education necessary to teach that level. I think many parents do their homeschooled children a disservice if they lack the formal education necessary to teach; plus, even college educated parents may lack the pedagogical skills necessary to be effective educators.
     
  18. Sarcastic Luck

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    I was homeschooled my entire life. Hated it, never had friends, I'm essentially a social outcast, hate people in general...And yeah.

    Homeschooling is a fail.
     
  19. Tightrope

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    And these are the kinds of parents who will be doing a disservice. They are very well educated, but their limited slant on life in terms of viewpoints is what is problematic, in addition to the fact that they have no formal training in pedagogical skills, as you say. I think it's different when you are affecting the formation of young kids than an adult just taking a night class from someone who has another job during the day. That's why there's so much controversy over methodologies in the school system, right down to reading lists.
     
  20. biggayguy

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    I knew a lot of kids that were home schooled. They did alright as long as they stayed within religious circles. If they went to a secular university they either began to think for themselves or transferred out to a Christian college. The thing that helped inoculate me from a Christian education is that I'm a voracious reader. Reading lists are a form of censorship IMHO.