http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2009-05-26/news/myword_1_child-education-child-at-home-f-schools I love when people write articles like this on some type of forum where you can't comment and call them out on how little they know about the topic they are writing on...cowards..
Anytime I hear the child wouldn't do well at home with the parent all day, I feel like what they are really saying is THEY don't want to be home with their child all day.
The most irritating argument I hear against homeschooling is how you need to be a professional. Hey, I *was* a professional. News flash: we don't take classes in HOW to teach. We take classes in how to manage a classroom of 20+ kids. We take classes in ethics and law so we know what we can get away with when dealing with 20+ kids that aren't our own. We take classes in making up lesson plans that meet the state requirements so the state can look at our lesson plans and see that we're meeting them--- we don't actually use THOSE lesson plans, though. They're made to look nice for the state; we do something entirely different come class time. So, to the idiot who wrote the article but was too cowardly to let people point out their idiocy to them, pray tell me what on earth the professional credentials do to help a person teach a couple of kids that are actually your own? Aaaaarrrrggggghhhhhh!
I find it encouraging when I read a slanted opinion against people who leave a system that they find flawed. Why am I encouraged? Because many good things in the past have happened when people spoke out against a flawed belief or did something to show disatisifaction. Some could argue that we should stay and try to make the system better and not leave. I don't find that valid, because while we would be fighting the giants our children would be suffering. I think we are simply choosing another option. If we don't want to shop at Walmart because we don't like the way we do things we have other options. The same is true with education.
The funniest statement from that article is the one asking how home schooled kids can be compassionate to the community if they aren't in it!! My kids have far more opportunity to show compassion in our community being home than they ever did in ps. That article is written in total ignorance and I wish I could find a way to get in touch with the "journalist" who wrote it!
yawn. Who wrote this? A sixth grader? probably went to one of those F schools mentioned, with unhappy results. I love how she says we can still help them in areas that need improvement, yayy!! Oh, but wait, wouldn't we need a professional tutor for that?
My older son spent 5 years in PS and was constantly behind his peers in SOO many things because of a learning disability that took forever to diagnois. He was slipping through the cracks because he is very articulate and soaks up infomation like a sponge, but he struggles with putting anything on paper. He wasn't able to keep up in math because he couldn't copy questions off the board correctly, just forming recognizeable letters was difficult for him, spelling and forming complete sentences was a nightmare. He has come sooo far in the last 7 months that we've been hsing. We've been taking it really easy this year, concentrating on just the basics so he has a good foundation to move forward with next year. His printing has improved dramatically, he has made leaps and bounds in his math. Our PS, as wonderful as it was (many members of the staff are members of our church, and I volunteered at the school for years, and even worked lunch duty) just wasn't the environment for our younger son, either. With his ADHD he found the classroom environment very distracting and rarely participated in class. He was constantly in the principal's office for ignoring the teacher. He wouldn't complete assignments, and spent most of his time wondering or climbing the furniture, standing on his chair or desk. During his learning assessment he placed in the superior to very superior range in almost everything -- but reading and problem solving, and math skills were particularly high (99.9 percentile). Things that he tested lower in the psycologist didn't feel she had his attention -- he was climbing and spinning in his chair and generally being silly. Now homeschooled, able to work one-on-one with me and work at his most optimal time (8am -- the school he attended didn't start until 9:30 -- by then it's much harder to get my son to pay attention) he is currently about to start grade 4 math (he's 7 in grade 2). People who write articles like this assume that every child is the same and should be forced into a "society approved" mold. Well, my boys are much better off acedemically, and they are lacking the negative worldly influences to boot. A win-win for me!
I find it interesting that the author of this article stated no facts to support her arguments against homeschooling. She gave her obviously uninformed opinion about it. Period.
I see that this article was written in 2009. I would LOVE to know if this womans opinion has changed at all in those years. I only say this because my dh was absolutely against HS when we first had children. NOW, he can not see it any other way. He loves that the kids are learning so much even when we do not open a book. That and I got really irritated by the "community" part. My children for one are very involved in the community. They do not have to attend a crappy school in order to know what a community is. And while I am on that tangent, just because someone is in PS doesn't make them any more important in the community than someone who is HSed. My children have more time to devote to something in the community...so there. (That was childish, but, this is a really dumb article)
