[Clave]

I wrote a letter 3 days ago on behalf of a friend/relative.  Basically she wanted to take her 2 boys out of school and teach them at home for the following reasons:

1.  Class size average is 35-40, meaning each pupil gets about a minute per lesson.
2.  There is a huge ethnic mix at the school, which is not a bad thing in itself, but the standard of English is very poor because the teachers have to work at the level of the kids who have English as a 2nd language.
3.  Bullying and intimidation are rife - there are two staff supervising 4,000 kids at break times.
4.  Both boys are skipping lessons anyway, mainly through fear, and wandering the streets in school time.

5.  A minor point, but having no car, and walking to the school twice a day takes a huge amount of time, and crossing roads with high-speed traffic is stressful and dangerous.

So, from a legal position (UK) there is no law requiring you to send your kids to school, BUT you must provide education.

I think this will work out for her, because she will know where they are, and that they are safe (the older boy was was virtually kidnapped last year by a known car thief) And if nothing else, they will get more than 5 minutes attention each day.....

[mitac]

That's the difference. Schools are not that big over here. My school had ~800 pupils at most. Plus the ethnicity is mixed, but not to a level where the native language of the country becomes a problem. Yet, my view is rather biased, as my school would qualify as a grammar school in the UK, thus more likely attracting the folks that are willing to learn and work, rather than making trouble - as in that story of your friend, Clave. Personally, I never experienced that or anything similar.

But I'm pretty sure the situation is different in other parts of my country, or even in the other schools in my town. Reasons see above. I probably was lucky.

[redmenace]

Some ass holes in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania tried to require all students to go to the public or private schools. Personally I think the teachers unions were at the core of the it all.

I thought Europe was supposed to be so free and accepting of different beliefs and lifestyles. lol

[Clave]

Yeah, it's a matter of quantities.  What happened is that there was an influx of people from all over the place, and the govt decided "Lets put them in that new town over there, where there's no infrastructure and jobs for them"  So, instead of spreading them around to be integrated into communities across the country, they are becoming lumped together, and of course you get a ghetto mentality and gangs of kids divided on racial lines wandering around with nothing to do.  

I hate 'New Towns' they were designed in the 60's to cater for people with cars and only that.  There is no 'soul' in those places, only roads, shops and car parks.  While not as creepy as places like the US, there is still a sense of alienation.  Hmmm... maybe being bought up in the countryside has warped my view, but I still think that acres and acres of concrete and tarmac is not a fun place to hang out....

[kasperl]

I agree with you on that new town bit, Clave.

As for home schooling, well, I can't compare since I'm going through the Dutch public schooling system. Mind, I can see that for some kids, it is a great way of learning. But the social bit is quite important too. Mind you, class sizes are not as bad here as in the UK, we're looking at 30-35 for primary school and 20-30 in secondary, but that's too big as well.

[Unknown Target]

Originally posted by Goober5000
I'm very much in favor of homeschooling.  There are so many things wrong with public schooling nowadays - dividing classes by age instead of ability; the playground subculture that gives rise to bullying; the caste system of nerds, jocks, popular kids and unpopular kids; I hardly know where to start.

Or you could just deal with it, same as every school kid has been doing for years
I'm sorry, but I really don't think bullying, unless it's excessive and violent, is a good excuse for home schooling. I was bullied a lot, but I learned to bite back and they dont' bully me anymore. You just have to adapt to your enviroment.
Granted if you start to have the kids afraid for their safety and/or lives,  it's a good enough excuse to leave, imho.

[Liberator]

I have some second cousins that are Home Schooled.  The oldest is one of the most naive 16 year olds I know.  

They claim to have lots of friends but the only contact with people their age seems to be from church, this in and of itself isn't a bad thing of course, but the only churches around are small and typically populated by 50+ year-olds.(It's Michigan)  It's really their mother who's the problem, she's over-protective and over-bearing, if you even suggest that they might be better off socially in a Public/Private School, she slips into a Hulk like rage spouting off stats about the amount of violence that is rampant in public schools.  I think she honestly believes that every public school is a Columbine-like bomb waiting to go off.  It's really quite rediculous.

[WeatherOp]

Homeschooling is OK. but the state is stupid cause we still have to take english. And down in the south, we'll its very hard to use "proper" english. And the reason I don't want to go to public schools in my area is because most of the people are wackos, and because I have 1 year left.

[an0n]

Originally posted by WeatherOp
Homeschooling is OK. but the state is stupid cause we still have to take english. And down in the south, we'll its very hard to use "proper" english.

And anywhere else, it's hard to use Southern dialects in writing and spelling.

So when you're writing out a mortgage application to a national bank, it tends to be handy to know what it says.


And in regards to bullying - Running away from a problem never sovles it (mostly).

If people don't learn how to inspire fear in prospective predators, they'll be eaten alive in the real world.

[WeatherOp]

When I said proper English, I ment words like Ain't, whitch I don't think is a real word.

[an0n]

You realise this was all caused by you ****ing up a perfectly good language, right?

[Corsair]

I think especially in high school, home schooling isn't really worth it. I mean, for elementary school and middle school, it's fine. Sure, parents are completely capable of teaching their kids reading, writing, some basic history, some basic science, and algebra. But what do most parents know about say, molecular orbital configurations (what I'm doing right now in AP Chemistry)? Could your parents teach you calculus? Mine couldn't. How about Spanish? My mom speaks a bit of French, but she probably couldn't really make her way around Paris on what she knows.

I'd say my mom, who was an editor for a while, could probably teach me English decently, but that's it. My dad's a Civil War buff, so I'd learn a lot about that, but that's as much history as I could get.

So, you really want a high school education? Make sure your parents bone up on what they learned before you get home schooled. Otherwise, just go to high school.

[WeatherOp]

I leaned what I need to know for me to go to college. My SAT scores last year showed me, got basicly 10- 11 grade in everything except in Science and History where I scored College.

[Clave]

There are degrees of bullying, and retaliation, but when it is one boy getting the crap kicked out of him by a gang of ten, where's the merit in letting that continue?...

[Rictor]

Bullying is a part of growing up, like learning to ride the bike. Sound evil, but its true.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Clave
There are degrees of bullying, and retaliation, but when it is one boy getting the crap kicked out of him by a gang of ten, where's the merit in letting that continue?...

Yeah, but that's a reason for reforming the schools, not abandoning them.

[Deepblue]

My thoughts: Public school is ok as long as you are in advanced classes AKA with all the other smart/non criminal/creative kids your age. However if my school didn't offer many advanced/honors/AP classes I would most definitely want to be Home Schooled by my quite intelligent parents (Father dual-mastered English and Business - AKA knows a ton of stuff about those subjects as well as science, mechanics, and computers) (he was a full-blown geek in his time but no more, he does a lot of paragliding and recently purchased a sweet motorcycle).

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by Goober5000
I'm very much in favor of homeschooling.  There are so many things wrong with public schooling nowadays - dividing classes by age instead of ability; the playground subculture that gives rise to bullying; the caste system of nerds, jocks, popular kids and unpopular kids; I hardly know where to start.

You find that mostly anywhere though.

[Carl]

Carl was home schooled.

education is better, social life is worse.

[IceFire]

I've met only one person that I knew to be Home Schooled.  She seemed pretty normal for the most part...definately the more conservative academic type and probably with enough self discipline from the start to do this sort of thing.

I wouldn't have been able to do as well or achieve what I have without the goods and particularly the bads of public school education.  Not that it wasn't painful sometimes, but probably necessary.  That socialization process is a long, complicated, and interesting one.