Home Schooling

This post is my take on home schooling. If you are a fan of HS you will want to read no further. What I write here is my opinion only. I am always ranting about things that irritate me and this post is no different.

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Home Schooling!! Why do I let this issue irritate me so?? I am not certain of the true reason but I suspect it is due to the people whose paths I have crossed who were self righteously indulged in this form of education. With the exception of one group of home schoolers that I have known I have never known of many (if any) who were providing opportunities to their students equivalent to that of public education opportunities. Most that I have know had ulterior motives!!! All too often the education part of what these students were getting could only be dubbed a scam. They were getting lots of piddle and home time. Sometimes it is being the baby sitter while Mom roams the streets at will to do her tasks. Most often students were not receiving organized instruction to pass off course work needed for a given year with appropriate objectives being taught and mastered. Most parents are not equipped to teach given subject matter(s) in an appropriate way and some are no doubt delving into subject matter they will never and have never mastered themselves as in organic chemistry, foreign languages, calculus or the various sciences. I do know parents (home schoolers) who send their high school students to the local community colleges to pick up advanced subject instruction.

Other than academic needs, students need socialization with individuals, groups, instructors, and the sports, creative, and cultural opportunities found in the public school settings.

So with that said what have I seen in folks who pulled their children from the public school setting to home school.

1. Parent differences with assigned teachers when they could not get students reassigned to another teacher.

2. Parents who were looking for a reason to keep older siblings home to "baby-sit" younger siblings.

3. Problems with school administrators for a year or so -- students were returned to the public school setting once the administrator or teacher was no longer in the picture -- for whatever reason.

4. Some parents who have differences with government -- as if home schooling solved that issue.

5. Students with special needs -- parents felt public school setting was not meeting these needs.

There are lots of scenarios of this --- some justified, some definitely not. When this is the justified situation a parent is able to press to have a school system pay for the educational need of these youngsters. Parents who know in their "heart of hearts" that they are being manipulated by their child usually do not push for this but blame the school and teachers. And there are times when the parent is the problem -- believe it or not.

Now, there are some situations out there where there are some crummy teachers. I do not deny that. In those cases, it needs to be documented and fixed through appropriate channels.