Where do homeschoolers place with their international students?

[TracyR]

I read so much about how children in the U.S. are "behind"(that's a whole other topic we can discuss there). But we never hear about the homeschooled children. Where do they place as far as education is concerned? I always read about how the kids in U.S public schools are behind in education. But what about the U.S homeschoolers?

I'm sure if I googled enough I could find some info but would love to hear from other families both U.S and abroad have to say.

:confused:

[Quiver0f10]

Interesting question! :lurk5:

[Dayle in Guatemala]

Well, I can't tell from here. The public schools here leave a lot to be desired. But it is an interesting question. I hope there are some good answers!

[Laura Corin]

Hard to say. In terms of exams, to go to an English or Welsh university, you need to take A levels (roughly AP level). So AP-equivalents are not a way of testing out of requirements, or an entry ticket to a prestigious university - they are almost always a basic prerequisite for entry. A normal entry to university would require three A levels relevant to the degree course chosen, and at least six GCSEs (SAT subject test equivalents).

 

So, if the average college-bound US homeschooler is at a level to take around three APs, then that might equate to a UK university-bound pupil. Not that the UK has a wonderful education system either....

 

Laura

[abbeyej]

I don't think there's any way to tell. There's no reputable study that has shown the level of work of home schoolers -- the studies that exist are old and/or they represented an entirely self-selected, self-reporting group of home schoolers. My own experience with home schoolers is that the quality varies *wildly* as one would really expect... Some home schoolers blow their public school peers away and could truly compete with other young people on any academic measure. Others haven't achieved even a minimal public school level education at 17-19 years old.

[angela in ohio]

You won't find anything objective googling. There are no studies of homeschoolers natinwide that are not limited to a specific kind of curriculum or to a group that volunteered (lacking a random sample.) The much-touted statistics that homeschoolers do better on standardized tests are based on students using BJU packaged curriculum. I agree wth abbeyey, homeschoolers are *all* over the place.

 

Oh, and don't even get me started on the international tests. Not even remotely scientific....

[Peela]

Well its not like homeschoolers all meet some particular standard. There are plenty who dont reach for a high academic standard because its not their focus- to jump through the same hoops everyone else is trying to jump through. If a kid can maintain a love of learning and a freedom of spirit throughout their childhood, but never learns higher levels of chemistry or math- which most of us never use anyway- how to evaluate that? Supposedly, we hear, we do better than kids in the school system, on average. But what does that mean for any particular family? I know many mothers who wont put their kids in school because they are too freaked that their kids wont do well there, because they havent really focused on giving them an education.

My kids did very well on national testing recently, but they did the testing at home- whether they would do as well in a public testing environment, who knows?

I don't homeschool for purely academic reasons, so its not such an issue for me. I don't think you will ever find an objective answer, either. Surely the educational system varies widely in the U.S., from school to school, and state to state? It does here in Australia too, although probably far less than over there because we have far fewer people.

[Anne Rittenhouse]

He comes in in the middle of the pack. He could come in a bit higher, but he enjoys being "in the middle".

[Anne/Ankara]

Well, I can give you an anecodotal reply... we recently moved to Ankara, Turkey, into a prestigious university preparatory IB high school, and my kids are doing fine-- in some areas they are well ahead of their classmates (English of course, and math) but in some areas they are behind (Turkish of course!) and some courses are right at their level: science, sports. This is a school that sends a few kids to places like Oxford and MIT, and many kids to good universities in this country and abroad.

 

So, in a nutshell, I would say that homeschooled kids do not necessarily outshine their international peers in every area, but certainly bring unique talents that schooled kids in any country don't have.