The assumptions about homeschooling: Part 2
Another misconception is that homeschoolers are lazy. Everybody seems to know a homeschooling family whose kids are out playing all day long or using homeschooling as an excuse to have the kids at home helping with the parent's job. The truth is that while these families do exist, most are not like that. Most homeschooling families keep lots of records to prove that they are completing the required number of hours of school per year that they are supposed to.
Finally, people often believe that the public school has equipment that homeschoolers cannot access. Again, this may be true in certain cases, but I know that our homeschooling group was allowed access to a college biology classroom, and a college level biology teacher guided the lessons and we did certain followup work at home. For a time, there were acids, lab equipment, and even a dissecting pan at my house. Normally, this would be considered "creepy," however nobody thinks that a high school science lab is creepy because it has test tubes. This was my classroom, and when the equipment was being used, it was not my home, it was science class, and lab standards had to be followed carefully. In my biology class, we did certain amounts of making our own equipment. There was a need for a certain length of bent glass for one experiment. We had to bend it because we did not have the luxury of classes who had come before us. Not only did I learn how to make my own lab equipment, but I learned the science that allows glass to bend.
In closing, my point would be that there are many things people believe about homeschooling which are not correct. It is still an unknown thing, and many people are content with their own education, and want to believe it is superior. Having experienced both, I can confidently say it isn't superior. It's just different. There are benefits to each, and the decision to homeschool should not be made based on these erroneous assumptions.
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Good post...
I would, though, just add that there are, similarly, a lot of assumptions that homeschoolers (I know that is generalizing, but this whole post is built on generalizing) make about public schools and public school kids. That is all. Im a teacher and I just dont like to see either side mocked or degraded in any way.
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I'm not mocking or degrading
I'm not mocking or degrading public school in any way. If you read part 1, you will notice that I have done both.
I personally never saw any homeschoolers "mock" or "degrade" public school in any way. They certainly may be a bit defensive at times because they have been told that theie parents are not qualified to teach them, or had someone threaten to call the truancy officer on them when they are on a field trip at the science museum. All in all, homeschoolers are not nearly so concerned about what is happening in public school. But in all honesty, I cannot say the same thing about public schoolers being concerned about what goes on in homeschooling. That is why I wrote this. I am attempting to clarify some misconceptions that I read recently in a blog.
Read more closely and you'll see that I have not bashed public school in any way. I am disappointed that it seems you have not seen it this way.
Good day.
useful
srjasfer
Interesting to read
Thats not what I said
In fact I was praising you for NOT saying anything bad. THe thing is whether it is you, me, or some other teacher or homeschooler, we only know what is in our immidiate circle of knowledge. The homeschoolers you know are one way or the other, the ones I know or have encountered are another.
I would say that in my situatoin, we dont care as much what is "going on at home school" as say, the state does. In fact, Denver and Aurora public schools have homeschool programs where they work with parents.
I didnt mean to give you the impression that I thought you were bashing. I was saying I hear both and I hate it both ways. I dont like being told that a public school is inferior, and I dont like to hear that homeschoolers are (I have a relative who home schools and obviously am also around public schools all the time)....but, alas, I do hear both ways.
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My apologies.
Sorry I misunderstood. There's been a lot of times I've had to deal with people telling me I don't know a thing about public school (even though I spent 10 years in it) and telling me that I'm obviously biased (when I have just finished telling them how much I love public school and the opportunities I had there). Hearing that for over a decade can make anyone a little on edge. Sorry again.
education is education
No matter who is doing it. It is not who is better, but what is best for a given child. In the end, everyone wants the same things. Obviously everyone thinks their own situations is best, but that may only be for them. I, for instance, could have NEVER been home schooled. I had enough trouble with socializatino anyone and needed to be thrown in with the masses. I also, though my mother is very intelligent, cannot imagine her teaching me.
For others, there is simply no other option because they either think public schools are failing them, that their children dont like public schools, or a variety of other reasons. For them, my situation seems foreign.
I actually wrote recently about how the whole world is very polarized in recent decades. Everythign is white and black right and wrong, which is rediculous in education, war, politics, etc.
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