Homeschooling - just curious

[MissESL]

I don’t really have any opinion on homeschooling. I don’t really have enough information or experience with it to say if it’s good or bad, but my feeling is that it can be either, depending on how it’s done.

This year alone, we have had four kids’ parents withdraw them from school to homeschool them. I don’t recall this happening more than maybe 2x is my whole career prior to that. I’m not sure why it’s a trend to do that.

The children who are being withdrawn actually make me feel like it’s a bad idea or some misguided sense of power - I don’t like you giving my kid consequences so I’m pulling them out of school. 3 of the 4 had truancy or serious discipline issues that were (to put it politely) not taken well by parents. The 4th is not a child I know.

Has anyone else seen a trend like this or have any thoughts?

 

[Linda/OH]

Many many years ago in one school that had only one teacher per grade level, several families withdrew their kids. The 4th grade teacher was known to be "mean". She was ! She was also very strict. I didn't personally care for her style but it wasn't a reason to take your kids out! There could have been more to the story but that's what I heard. Guess what? They all came back for fifth grade and most were quite behind academically. I was a Title 1 teacher then and worked with them.

It's been my experience that homeschoolers often lack skills like time management and social skills too.

 

[Cassyree]

I've been retired a while now, but the last few years we had a number of parents (who weren't remotely qualified to homeschool) remove their children because they were being pursued for truancy and chronic tardies or they were tired of dealing with the problems their kids were in at school. NC makes it criminally easy for ANY parent to homeschool. We'd often see them back again in a few months or a few years, basically unschooled for the time they were gone.

I know some parents are conscientious about homeschooling. I'm not usually a proponent. These parents are unhappy with schools for a number of reasons. They have circled the wagons so they feel their children are "safe" from many things, especially the threat of them being exposed to ideas and people they feel will conflict with and undermine their values and worldview (a big word in some circles of wagons).

 

[Ima Teacher]

We tended to get more kids entering from home school because the parents were not as comfortable with the higher level work. They were usually great kids who were advanced.

There were a few who withdrew to homeschool, but it was often to avoid truancy charges or discipline issues. Usually I was not sad to see those kids leave.

 

[cruxian]

I haven't seen a huge trend towards more homeschooling at my school recently. I have known a fair number of kids who have been homeschooled and honestly it seems to be one extreme or another. Either the kids are fabulous, together, academically on the ball and have had wonderful experiences that they might not have if they had been at school; or they 're a hot mess. There seems to be very little middle ground.

 

[Luvetc3]

I'll speak from personal experience. We withdrew our youngest from high school this year. She was struggling with mental health and was triggered almost nonstop. We aren't homeschooling though. She is completing her diploma via an online school. She is so much happier now and moving through her course work.

 

[Haley23]

We had numerous kids who were "homeschooled" for a large part of last year because parents didn't want them to have to wear masks. Some of them ended up in other districts that dropped masks before we did (we were the last). Others came back when we dropped the mandate, and it hasn't been pretty, because they weren't really doing school at all that whole time.

I've seen three cases in my career where parents pulled kids for homeschooling due to behavior. One, we never heard back from. I have since wondered how she turned out! The other two ended up back in school and in the self-contained affective needs placements we'd originally recommended.

I grew up very religious and as such, knew several people who were homeschooled. These parents tried to "do it right" and it just did not work. Academically, they were fine. Their parents really taught the curriculum and one family even did AP classes/the kids passed several AP tests, and they'd do things like meet up with other homeschool families for field trips every Friday. But, those kids just never learned how to navigate the real world and deal with people in positions of authority who aren't your parents. In the AP taking family, all four children dropped out of college within their first semester. One claimed it was "too stressful" (the breaking point was getting locked out of her dorm for like 20 minutes at like 6 PM), one claimed her professors were mistreating her (she thought if she told her professor she'd been up all night helping a friend, she'd get to retake her exam), one ended up being an alcoholic, and one claimed they couldn't complete the work without someone "making" them do it. I can certainly see the downfalls of public school, but IMO it does prepare you to deal with a huge variety of real life situations and personalities, real life problem solving, etc.

 

[TAOEP]

In my state, there is basically no oversight of homeschooling. The result is that the quality of education for homeschoolers is either terrible ("supervision" by a non-educated parent) or outstanding.

In our extended family, several nieces and a nephew have had a year or two of homeschooling. One was taught at home for a year because of middle school social drama and then attended high school and college. Another attended a small religious school through 9th grade. Then there weren't enough high school students to offer classes, so her parents (well-educated) taught her at home. She went to boarding school for her senior year and then on to college.

 

[MissESL]

Growing up, the 2 families I knew homeschooled for religious reasons. They were lovely people, but I was too young to really comprehend if it was “working” for them!
I do think school provides a lot of social balance. Maybe involving the kids in community sports or park district classes would be helpful.
Maybe that’s the answer - remote learning triggered this idea that anyone can teach? That sort of sounds snobby but just like anything, some are good and some are not!

 

[PrivateEyes]

I think that sometimes as teachers, it is very easy to get a skewed vision of home-schooling because for the most part, our experience is with the failures. Parents who withdrew their students for the wrong reasons, and then returned them after a year or two because it was too much work. For the most part, our contact with successful homeschooling families is limited.

When my children were growing up, they belonged to a regional youth orchestra. About 1/2 of the children in the orchestra were from home-schooled families. It was one way they "socialized" their children.

 

[EdfromBama]

Good morning to all-
I retired after public school teaching for almost 40 years, and I got to see quite a few "home schooled" kids who moved in and out of the public system,
Regardless of the reasoning behind parents pulling their kids out of public school, it always came down to the parents' beliefs that the public schools were not good for their kids. Either the schools were too hard or unfair on the kid or the public schools exposed their kids to "bad influences" or whatever.
Many of these home schooled kids came back to the public schools, and I can honestly say that few came back better than when they left.
I never thought the public schools were perfect, but I do believe that we do a better job of educating our assigned kids than most parents can.
I have family members who homeschool their kids, and these girls seem to be doing well. Good for them, and I am happy for them. But I also saw many kids who were "homeschooled" who turned out pretty awful.
Parents have the right to do what they think best, but I do believe the public schools with all our faults and shortcomings are much better than most parents at academically educating their kids.

you all be safe and keep well- Ed

 

[luvtulearn]

Over the years families have chosen homeschooling for various reasons . It could be an excellent experience or a detriment for students depending on the adult who is in charge of the learning process. If public school offered more hybrid approaches or more flexibility with cohurts or learning pods many families would not go the homeschooling route. One district I know of has a hybrid approach to where the parents do 2-3 subjects at home and the rest of the subjects are at school . This program has a two year waiting period for acceptance. The charter schools and magnet school programs have far more flexibility but are scarce in my state. Long waiting lists as well.

I believe education needs to be more progressive if it is to succeed in our society.

Going 5 days a week physically in a desk for 7 hours per day may or may not meet the flexibility needs for many families lifestyle. In heavily rural areas (like farming) many small school houses have closed and students are now bussed 60 min. at time. With multiple students a parent could spend 2 hours at the bus stop alone per day.

Unfortunately our governor doesn't share my concerns . He wants to increase students at school for 9 hours a day and turn schools into a dumping day care.

I would try to home school myself if that would be the case.