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Annexus Quam 926 posts |
Apr 21, 2002, 12:59
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Inspired by the earlier thread and by the fantastic article in the U-Know section last year, I have been wondering if anyone has got any practical experience in educating their kids without having to resort to a school. I'm not in search of a long "is-school-better-or-worse" / "my teachers sucked" thread, as everyone will have their own interests, experiences and lives for their children, and many will agree with me that, ideally and in theory, schools are a bloody waste of time and kids can learn so much more from living in the right environment, say, living in camping sites or more intensely in touch with the natural and with other lay-back folks. I'd like to know if anybody here is already rearing them up in a non-school environment and what their *practical suggestions* or experiences are. Or if you've heard about someone already doing it. And what are the prospects in academic terms for the kids? Are they inevitably led to a dead end with a lack of degree / lack of further education? Or how can they get into the system later if they so wished / needed? I imagine it is easy not to send your kid to a kindergarten if you are going to educate him/her yourself at first but it gets harder and harder as the kid grows up and reaches school age...
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cancer boy 977 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 10:42
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I've got no personal experience of this but I know a couple of people in the US who were taught at home by their parents, it seems to be a lot more common there. For instance, one of them is from Alaska, where his parents lived made it impossible for him to attend a day school. For the same reason, lots of kids in rural Australia are homeschooled (see: http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/regional/Australia.htm for more info) If you do a search on Amazon or similar for 'home schooling' there's loads of books on the subject, maybe one of those will be some help for you.
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FourWinds 10943 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 10:49
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There was a documentary a few weeks back on this very subject. The basic outcome was that the kids taught at home by far exceded those that had gone through the school system. It was something I really considered doing for my kids 'way-back-when' and now wish I had done so.
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spirit 182 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 14:19
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'far exceeded' - kind of depends what you're measuring doesn't it the only person I've ever met - so far as I know - who was educated at home was Ruth Lawrence and whilst she was academically brilliant she never seemed very happy and she didn't mix that well but she might have been unhappier if she'd gone to school - that's the trouble with life you only get one route and a sample of one probably doesn't count for much xx spirit
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FourWinds 10943 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 14:37
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She was a sad case though. Pushed to extremes by parents who didn't care about her well being - just her results. There are obviously different reasons for teaching your child at home. You can do it to boost the kids chances of getting into University by the age of 10 or you can do it to ensure a balanced education. I can only go from stats (lies, lies and dammed lies!) and they show that a greater percentage of kids taught at home achieve high grades. Obviously the majority of people who teach at home do just want SUCCESS, SUCCESS, SUCCESS by modern material standards, but if you want to be certain that your kids are brought up with a balanced outlook then you can do so easier. HOWEVER, you will also have to prevent them from playing with other kids until they are 18 years old! My daughters never wanted a Barbie until they went to school. Five minutes interaction with other kids can fuck up anything you've done over the previous 5 years.
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spirit 182 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 15:15
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think that was the point I was trying to make - perhaps a bit obliquely (like not at all) - isn't one of the reasons that children educated outside school get better academic results the fact that certainly a large minority (if not a majority) of those parents involved want to hothouse their kids and are interested only in producing youngest person to get A in A level whatever. Not in producing ye olde well rounded person. 2 points against as I see it are 1. you exercise a good deal of control over who your kids mix with (if you educate them at home) & despite your best efforts they are probably not going to meet the range of people whose views substantially differ from yours - I assume, for example, no-one on this site is best mates with anyone who is in the National Fromt - but your children may well meet children at school whose parents hold those sorts of views - you may want to warn your kids away from them or leave them to judge for themselves - but you may close down access to some of the less palatable facts of life if you're operating from a hypothetical standpoint. 2. Would you have wanted your parents to educate you at home or do you feel you might have missed out on some of your best mates/experiences etc? on the topic of Barbie/girlie pink I'm trialling an overdose strategy. ie they can have Barbie on anything & everything they want (waste bins, pyjamas etc) rather like letting them eat ice cream every meal for days on end in the hopes they get sick of it xx spirit
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Estelle 89 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 16:02
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My brother drew beautifully pre school. Mixed colours, observed scale and details. Glorious. One day at school and he walks in with a stereotype kiddie drawing, two circle people. Told me that was how everybody else did them. A vivid memory, struck home how strong peer pressure is. Iv taught in state schools. It is not an effective method of educating anyone in anything other than how to survive incarceration with people who cannot be reasoned with.
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cancer boy 977 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 16:19
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I'm no expert on the subject but rather than running an intellectual hothouse and trying to get your kiddies into university before they're out of nappies, it might be nice to use the increased proportion of 'teacher time' they get devoted to them (so it presumably takes less time to learn the stuff) so that you could still take the same number of years but let them out to play for half the day instead. Also, if you could find some like minded parents with kids of similar ages, doing it as a communal thing would avoid them ending up like the home schooled kids on South Park if anyone saw that episode, especially if the parents involved have a variety of backgrounds (arts, sciences and so on). Estelle's comments about school only teaching you "how to survive incarceration with people who cannot be reasoned with" are true enough, but you shouldn't underestimate the value of this skill in later life ;)
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necropolist 1689 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 16:30
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The main reason home educated people do much better statistically is that they are an overwhelmingly middle-class bunch! With well-educated parents themselves and all (or at least most of) the resources they need at home of course they’re gonna do well – just as they would if they’d have gone to school – even one of those nasty working-class schools. I also doubt whether they will really get a more balanced outlook from home. Far from it they will get far more of the parents outlook. Often this may be that of a decent liberal human being who genuinely gives a shit about the world. But they will be missing those views of people who don’t give a shit – and that’s not actually a good thing. Because those people do exist in the real world, and everyone should learn what such people think, and WHY they think it, and how to argue against it (if they want to) And finally, what if the poor little tykes hate their bloody parents (a constitutional right I think!) – where are the poor sods gonna go if they haven’t got school?
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spirit 182 posts |
Apr 22, 2002, 17:02
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that's what I obviously singularly failed to say but meant to thanks xx spirit
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