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Blog article re: home schooling is not right for everyone


IsabelC
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I'm not sure I agree. My thought is that home schooling is not right for everyone because not all parents are interested or motivated to homeschool -- regardless of socioeconomic status or educational background. If the parent is not on board, it's not going to be a good fit for the family. 

 

Right. And comments basically saying "it's right for your kid, even if it's not for you" are ridiculous.

 

If the parent is doing a completely inadequate job at it, it's not right for the kid either.

If the parent and the kid can't work together, it's not right for the kid.

 

These ridiculous, "my way or you're a bad mommy" statements do nothing but increase divisiveness.

 

(that being said, it seems to be an older post).

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This is an old article.

 

That said, Penelope Trunk really only exists the poke the hornets' nest.

 

You may be right there. I had never seen any of her stuff until today (linked from somewhere else) - now that I have had a bit more of a look around her site I'm less inclined to worry too much about anything she says...

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Whenever anyone asks me about how to get started homeschooling I always tell them the single most important thing needed to HS is to have both Mom and Dad enthusiastically on board.  If one of you isn't supportive of the idea no matter how well off you are, how smart your kid is or how terrific your curriculum is, HSing will be phenomenally hard.  

 

 

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What a deeply unsettled, angry woman.

This sounds like a rant to me that isn't even necessarily rooted in homeschooling? I always tell families the #1 ingredient to successful homeschooling is a willing and engaged parent and preferably 2. I do not think everyone should or wants to homeschool. Heck, sending boy to high school has been a topic of discussion here lately.

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So glad Tara shared that this is Penelope Trunk. That'll save us a lot of time here, for those of us who know who she is, and it prevents me from accidentally giving her site any traffic.

 

How about I delete the OP link, and then talk about the oops the Honey Boo Boo People instead lol

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I did not read it yet (I have to go and homeschool in a minute here).  My first thought is since when is one thing right for everyone?  Except maybe something like breathing.  We should all probably be breathing. 

 

 

Sheesh...there are SO MANY reasons why homeschooling might or might not be a good fit for a family. Why do some people feel the need to make it an absolute? That said, I can definitely get behind everyone breathing. All in favor?

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Yes, I've encountered so very many different types of homeschoolers because I teach paid classes and also at the local community college.

 

I've had parents who were doing their kid's work that was turned into me.  Yes, even at the community college level, which meant that I had to turn them into the administration.

 

I've had parents who justified plagiarism because "the assignment was too hard."

 

I've had parents who told their kid not to turn in anything because "character is more important."

 

I'm teaching a kid now in a paid class who is a teenager and is barely literate.  They're probably reading and writing at a 3rd grade level.  There's no way that they are going to pass, and the only way it will turn around is with one-on-one tutoring, which the parents are uninterested in.

 

Homeschooling is a major commitment. If you're not going to be serious about it, don't do it. But no one usually asks me...

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There are people who:

   need to believe that everyone can,

        so they can believe that everyone should,

          so they can believe that they have no other options,

            so they don't have to make hard choices.

 

From staying home to nursing to working outside the home to growing your own vegetables to hiring a cleaning lady--chances are, barring extreme, 1 in 10,000 disabilities, you have a choice. Own your trade-offs, people.

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For the record, I'm pro breathing for everyone.

 

Without the article, I do think it's a worthy discussion.  Is homeschooling for everyone who can do it and still feed, clothe, shelter and provide medical care to their children? I have to say no.  There are just people who aren't cut out for it and I'm not talking about mentally unstable, abusive, illiterate, drug addict, parents, or even parents who just don't want to.  I’ve homeschooled long enough in a big enough homeschooling community to see that there are people here who shouldn’t be.  Most do just fine but there really are people who should find another way to educate their children.  

 

I think people who have unrealistic ideas about what kind of academics are required to prepare a child for the adult world, parents who are extremely permissive or rigid, parents who just can't seem to follow through or be somewhat consistent, parents who have far too much on their plates like 7 severely special needs kids in and out of the hospital on a regular basis in addition to their 5 not special needs kids, parents who don't believe any socialization beyond siblings is ever necessary, parents unwilling to outsource no matter how badly it's going with teaching their kids themselves, parents who are chronically negative and pessimistic, etc. are people who shouldn't homeschool.

 

My red flags go up when I hear things like, "We're raising saints, not scholars." "We prioritize character over academics." "Any homeschooling is better than the public schooling." "Homeschooling isn't hard because the answers are in the back of the book." "I don't want my kids to go to college because colleges are liberal indoctrination camps.†I think these things, that I have actually heard people say to me, are extremes that justify lower quality academics in their minds.  The either or mentality is troubling. The idea that higher learning eliminates the possibility of genuine faith is not true because we all know people of faith who went to college.  We also know people who are not politically liberal who went to college. There are public schools whose students have a solid, basic education and some with more than a basic education. Having the answers is not a substiute for teaching.

 

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