homeschooling

[TwistedCU]

I am all about progression and trying new ideas in an effort to better society. I think the first problem is that they didnt get the parents buy off on it. I wouldnt want my kids (if I had kids) being subjected to something new with out my approval. :roll:

Not to hijack the thread, but I would be real interested on why you guys decided to home school instead of public school. The only people who didnt go to public school that I knew of went to a private school.

TO answer this question fully would take quite a bit of typing, but I'll try to give a concise answer.

For starters, public schools were never great schools, but they have deteriorated rapidly over the last 20 years. Private schools are very pricey and we have 4 children with #5 on the way so they are not an option either.

When my son turned 4 and my wife told me she wanted to homeschool our kids I told her no way, no how. I instantly thought of the US Spelling Bee championship I watched from a barstool one rainy afternoon and remembered the weird homeschool girl who won. She looked like a sheltered "socially retarded" kid and no child of mine would end up like that no matter how smart they were!

My wife assured me this was not the norm and I had met some families who homeschooled and their kids seemed to not be freaks. I agreed to it on the condition that our son (now 8 yrs old) be involved in alot of activities like scouts, sports, etc.

Not even a year into it I was convinced it is the best way to educate your kids. MY kids are way ahead of the kids their age living around us, and they are not subjected to the socialist indoctrination that public educators have increasingly worked into their curriculum. My wife caters to their needs, taking time where they need it and moving quicker when they don't. This makes for a better attention span on their part.

We can teach according to our principles and beliefs, and not fall prey to political correctness.

My kids say the pledge in the morning and say "under God" :!:

I could go on and on, and I'm sure 90Xjay will chime in and probably better explain the advantages but I'm short on time.

I'll be happy to answer any ???? if you (or anyone else) have any

 

[88Wrangles]

I feel the exact same way Twisted! You said it very well.

I think a lot of it depends on the parents though. With people like you, homeschooling is a very good idea. However, it puts a pretty big load of responsibility on the parents to make it work.

I have a friend who is the same age as me (18 and in our first year of college). He was "homeschooled" all the way up to 8th grade, where he then attended a private school, then on to a private highschool with me. But, the only problem was that he had never even learned to read!!! All day, he would just go ride dirtbikes, quads, or whatever he felt like. As for his parents, they are the nicest people you'll ever find! They're house is like a second home to me--with a second set of parents. But, they never taught they're kid a thing! The only thing he learned was how to build anything on/for a bike or truck!

So, I think that it all depends on the situation of the individual family.


Oh, I'll add that my friend is now one of the smartest people I know. All his classes are extremely difficult, and he barely studies and is getting A's in them all.

 

[TwistedCU]

RE: drive shaft angles? what should they be? help!!

Well my 8 yr old gets less days off from school than the kids going to baltimore city schools. The elementary school 2 blocks away seems to have off very often. For what it's worth, my son has dislexia and he can still read better than the kids his age in this neighborhood. Now if I can only get his handwriting to look a little better...

On a side note, I just drove past that school and there are cops all over the place and "caution" tape everywhere. I'm happy to say I have no idea what went on there today.

I just wish I could write all the money we spend on curriculum off on our taxes. There are no tax breaks for homeschooling whatsoever

 

[90Xjay]

The Tenth amendment says that anything not spelled out in the constitution is left up to the states. Read it for yourself. Public education used to be handled by local communities not the Federal Government and if you don’t think they are government schools, you have you head in the preverbal sand. Today’s local independent school districts are bound by so many mandates from the states and fed to teach this or that in this or that manner that they are not truly independent anymore. If they fail to meet these requirements they can loose money and therein lies a big issue. Listen to this: The Federal Government takes tax money from you and me in our local towns and then sends it to Washington DC and then under certain guidelines, sends part of it back to our local school districts. How insane is that? My niece was finished with testing last year, but had to attend three days of school where all she did was sit in study hall and was shown Harry Potter movies, all because the board of education needed to show the attendances in order to get money for those days.

The theory of evolution is taught as “fact” in many textbooks and the theory of intelligent design is either not offered or not allowed to be taught.

Our history as a nation has been changed to be more politically correct.

Morals for the most part are not taught, because some smart kids might ask where morals come from and who says what is right and wrong. This is where you get into the “what is the final authority?” question that is way too involved to tackle in this post.

In summary, when half-truths are taught, as fact, children are not being educated, they are being indoctrinated. My main reasons academically are to prevent the teaching of what I feel is bad information in the areas of science and biology, to be able to teach moral truths that can relate into other subjects like history and finally to guard my children, which God has ordered me to do, from the harmful elements that can be present. Guarding you kids from harm is not shielding them from the world either. As age permits, we will inform them of things that they can handle that they will need to know about to function as young adults, so don’t go down that road with me. One last note, home schooling is not for everyone, and I don’t recommend it unless you are dead serious about the work it takes to do it correctly. And yes, my 6 year old goes on field trips, gym and sports outings, and will have the chance to play several sports partly because we have a 500-member home school support group in my town.

TC, as bad as I hate taxes, I don't want any breaks on homeschool supplies, because you just open up a can of worms. IE, in order to get the tax break you must also teach what they deem...

90

 

[TwistedCU]

RE: Re: RE: drive shaft angles? what should they be? help!!

TC, as bad as I hate taxes, I don't want any breaks on homeschool supplies, because you just open up a can of worms. IE, in order to get the tax break you must also teach what they deem...

90

I think it is ridiculous that I save the taxpayers alot of money by teaching my own kids, yet still pay the taxes and get no breaks. Even more ridiculous is those who have no kids are payng for the failing schools too.

I suppose tax credits/breaks would open the doors for government guidelines, mandates, etc. The bastards just can't help themselves :lol:

 

[judge09]

RE: Re: RE: drive shaft angles? what should they be? help!!

That homeschooling local support group is interesting. I had no idea such a thing existed. Keep in mind I have had no experience with anyone associated with homeschooling. But every time I had heard about it it was always accompanied with a negative social aspect. I really like the idea of teaching your child at the level they can grasp and not forcing them to stay within the cookie cutter curriculum of the public schools. And encouraging them to push themselves with out being hindered by what should be taught at what level. I see this as very beneficial esspecially in the elementary school ages. Once high school comes along I have a feeling I would perfer my kids to be in regular high school. Provided its a good safe school. There are so many memories I cherish that I got in high school....sports teams, band, my prom. I think that I would definitely want my kids to experience that. Plus my best friends I met in high school. I know I could have met them elsewhere but I was around them on a daily basis and "grew" up with them.

Twisted you mentioned your son has dislexia. Is there a home school support group of professionals you can work with to get expert help for your son? Thats one concern I would have. I needed to get straightened out in 6th grade. I dont remember for what or why but something happened and someone helped me and I went from Cs to straigh As. I would seriously have to consider elementary homeschool for my kids (when they come). I would like to hear more about that home school support group and your experiences with social and learning problems you might have encountered.

 

[TwistedCU]

Is Bluetorchfab my only option

We actually tackling that now. We are dealing with a specialist/tutor that deals with dislexia and she will help my wife alter her plans or whatever. To be honest my wife is the one who would better answer that. I do know that it is a mild case, thankfully.

That woman also homeschools her kids.

My very best friend John has dislexia. He quit school in 10th grade because he was tired of being in remedial classes. After working 2 years in carpentry he decided to go to college. When he took placement tests he was asked to take a test for dislexia. This is when he found out he had dislexia.

John graduated from Towson State University in MD with a double major (Psych & Soc) on the dean's list, despite the public school system that had him sitting next to a kid with some handicap in a remedial class.


The negative social aspect is really a common misconception.

 

[Inspector-Gadget]

I would suggest that the public school systems are being painted with an overly broad brush in this tread. The "quality" of public school systems varies from state to state and even within a state. For that matter; within a county.

Nevertheless, I have to express total admiration for anyone with the devotion, motivation and stamina to homeschool their children.

Well done!

Respectfully,

Gadget

 

[bchcky]

I just wish I could write all the money we spend on curriculum off on our taxes. There are no tax breaks for homeschooling whatsoever

nor should there be. i went to public school until high school. then i went to a private high school. as my brother and sister are doing now. my parents didnt get tax breaks for that. home schooling is a choice as private schooling is a choice.

while i dont disagree with your choice of home schooling your children, i must point out that it is a choice. albiet, the alternatives might not be that enticing, but like i said, same way for me and my parents when i was in high school.

 

[ROGLSTUBB]

My daughter who is 2 1/2 has down syndrome and me and my wife have done the best we can for since she was born. Although we knew they were support groups out there we dedided to go on with it on our own. This last week we had to take her for a basic skills test to assess her to go into school at age 3. Alhough she is little behind which is normal she averaged better than some who's parents had been involved them special classes. They are, with mine and my wifes request are going to send out a teacher for a hour two days a week to help us with a few areas that we are having problems with. Mainly we were just looking for a few new ideas of helping.

I think home schooling will work as long as you make it a point that there is some interaction with other children. I think parents have the advantage of knowing how there children learn and can assist there children better at there weak points where a teacher with a classroom full of kids may have a hard time identifying the ones that are falling behind. Its a cruel world out there, but sheltering them from it will only make it harder for them later in life.

 

[geopig]

Re: RE: Re: RE: drive shaft angles? what should they be? hel

Interesting thread, and I have to agree with the sentiments of the "homeschoolers" even though my wife is a teacher in a public school here in Los Angeles (and I'm sure she would hold your sentiments as well but she's not here to read the thread right now!). She gets immensly frustrated by the (for the lack of a better word) "administrative" side of education here in Los Angeles/California/USA. Yes her school gets slammed budgetwise if attendance is poor (this is calculated on a per student/per day basis also!) and test scores are poor or just decrease from previous years. And this "infatuation" with testing and rating here is about the worst thing for a child's education. My wife spends (the minimum she has to because she is a harda$$) an enourmous amount of time preparing kids to write a standardized test when she should be (and wants to) be educating them. Sure they can score 1100 on the SAT but when I get them in university they still can't write a sentence, think critically and problem solve (gross generalization there as well).

So after my little rant (and I could go on of course, especially about the quality of students I get even at the University level!) I was curious to know if your wives are stay at home all the time. I'm assuming that this is the case for TC with the 4 1/2 (only one more and you'll have a hockey team TC!! :lol: ), but can it be done part time or in the evenings with fewer (1 or 2 kids)?

 

[90Xjay]

Yes, my wife is a full time stay at home mom.

 

[laneiac]

Do YJ half doors have locks?

My fiance, soon to be wife on August 20th, was home schooled from 6th grade on. She had a tough growing up because of it, her parents were/are extremely religious and she was required to wear dresses at all times (even when swimming!) and was not allowed to wear makeup or listen to any music other than christian, this led to her rebellious attitude and self esteem issues after she turned 20 and left the house. She did alot of partying and ended up getting pregnant, but lost her son in a drowning accident when he was 1 1/2 years old. But she has since graduated college and is currently going to become a nurse anethetist. She was very bitter for the longest time about home schooling, claiming she was not exposed to everything she should have been, but we have both decided that our children will be homeschooled, its not homeschooling itself, its what you expose your children too and how you teach them to deal with it. If you shelter your kids, yeah they are going to be that wierd spelling bee girl, but if you raise em normal, they will never know the difference....

 

[TwistedCU]

RE: Chevy 350 4 bolt Extra Stuff too !!!!!!!

I think they will definately know the difference. At least I hope so, if not it was a waste.

We firmly believe our kids will get a better education and overall be stronger people because of homeschooling.

Yes, Leigh is a "stay at home" mom, but she puts quite a few miles on the van :lol:

As for painting the schools with a broad brush, yes I have been. While there may be some school systems that will actually provide kids with a decent working knowledge of the "3 R's", they all fall prey to political correctness and all the balogney that goes along with it. As for the local schools here, I could bash them endlessly.

As for the taxes, it is my opinion that the government has no business taxing anyone for schools. I don't think the government should have anything to do with schools. I beleive it should be completely privatized. I know this would never be the case so I say give tax breaks for those who choose an alternative to public schools - homeschooling, private schools, whatever the alternative. This is of course with the mindset that the Gov't should keep it's nose out of it as well. Yes I want to have my cake and eat it too.

 

[88Wrangles]

Is the pass. airbag disable function an option on TJs?

As for the local schools here, I could bash them endlessly.

Same here. I personally went to a private school from preschool up to 8th grade, then went to a private high school. However, I almost went to a local public high school (which was out in the country and we thought it might be easier than driving into town everyday).

After I got into high school, I started to realize how bad the public high schools were. People would always say that you'd pretty much do nothing and be able to get straight A's. Half the people would come in completly waisted, Including some of the teachers. I was talking to a couple guys one time that had came to my highschool from a public high school. They said here were 2 teacher that would actually smoke with them on campus (weed). ANother person said he had a teacher that would put Jack Daniels and other similar drinks in a coffee cup and be drinking it right there in class.

So yes, I think you are definatly doing the right thing in homeschooling your kids Twisted!

I was very lucky to get an EXTREMELY good education. This is my first year in college and all the classes I'm taking are supposedly one course ahead of the one I took the previous year in high school (at least for last term...now I'm one course ahead of that). But, I'm still learning stuff I learned my freshman and sophmore year of high school... :roll: 8)

 

[86cj7Rich]

Here is a different view.

Private School, Home School, Public School (know matter what) don't fully educate our children unless the child has dedicated parents. I have coached children from all three of these areas and I can tell when a child does not have good parental guidence. Yes even some home school children don't have parental guidence! It takes a very very patient and skilled person to home school correctly.

Public Schools. I honestly believe it just depends on where you live but mostly it depends on parent involvment. People that just let their children go to any school without doing any parental involvment have no right to complain! If one doesnt like what is going on at the school, then get involved.

Yes public schools are federally funded, however they DO NOT madate what is being taught. This is done at a local level. I will agree that they set guidlines, but if they mandated it then all schools would have the same exact books and the same exact tests. Heck that isnt even true at the state level.

I just wanted to say that public schools can work if the parent wants it too. I work as a civil engineer, no I dont have a degree so I do not call myself an engineer. Anyone in this industry can probably agree that I have never seen a 40 hour work week, mostly 45's though. That isnt too bad. I coach soccer and football at our school. I am the school advisary councelman, I sit on the District advisory councel for our school. I am even the only man on the PTO. I volunteer about 400 hours a year. I try to spend at least on hour each week in one of my childrens class. I have one in 1st and one in second. I have no problem w/ public schooling, but I am also there a lot.

Sorry to go on and on, but just wanted to put out another opinion. thanks for reading if you did.

 

[88Wrangles]

TJ water leak problem??????

That is very true 86cj7Rich. I definatly agree.

However, some schools are really bad...and there are people who do try and make them better. I live in Eugene, Oregon, which is filled with "hippies". I don't think there's away to make the people in our schools here stop smoking weed...at school. And because of that (including the teachers doing it), a lot of the public schools here are pretty much worthless. The problem here is that the parents are the exact same way...completely trashed 24/7.

That is just one example of the problems with public schools. There are many others, but there are also many, many, public schools that are probably good schools.

 

[90Xjay]

still working on it

86cj7rich wrote:

Yes public schools are federally funded, however they DO NOT madate what is being taught

Firstly, the federal government does not have any money unless it takes it from us.

federal money= our money

Second, since they take our money, and send only part of it back to our schools, it does come with strings attached.

Prayer is banned in government schools, even at ball games
In many schools the 10 Commandments are forbidden to be posted for fear of lawsuits.

The Supreme court in Abington Township v. Schempp, 1963 said that, "it certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may be effected consistently with the First Amendment."
I sure don't know of a government school offering even elective classes in that area, again for fear of lawsuits I am sure.

As long as judges like Judge Thompson who illegally ruled that Justice Roy Moore take down the 10 commandments display and others who still think that the words "separation of church and state" are in the constitution are running around there is not much left for me to embrace. But like TC, I still am forced to pay taxes into that mess, that I do not support otherwise. It used to be "freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Many government school Christmas parties are now Winter or Holiday parties, can't say "Christ" baaad word... But they can have a hey day with Halloween, which can be cultic and religious for some.

90

 

[TwistedCU]

jeeping husband 1.0

Yes and the fed Gov't mandates standardized tests, then reduces funding if performance falls below the bar. This is an indirect mandate that alters the curriculum.

 

[geopig]

Not trying to hijack this thread but I'm curious to know where the problem with separation of church and state is. This concept was a significant influence on the foundation of the USA. Furthermore, if you want to "remove" church and state from the constitution, lets go ahead and remove "the right to bear arms". Throw in a healthy batch of very strict gun control laws and reduce the amount of gun deaths here (in the USA). Nobody hunts with an M-16. Religion has no place in public schools in my opinion, that's what private schools (and homeschooling if one desires), church and the home are for.
Religion is a choice and a personal one at that. What if students attending the public school don't actually believe in your "christ", what if they hold different beliefs and have faith in and practice other religions (i.e. are muslims or buddhists), or god forbid are atheists or agnostic. So the federal government should have the right to say screw you if you don't believe in my "christ" you will pray to a christain god anyhow. Thats not a very christian attitude now is it. Freedom of religion means just that, freedom to choose your beliefs not be forced to practice somebody elses (the federal govt or whoever). How would you feel if the federal govt said, "Well we've decided that the Koran is what we will practice and teach in schools now, Praise Allah!". You bet your butt you would be up in arms (maybe literally) about that.
Finally, the bible is very worthy of STUDY, the key word in that statement is STUDY and not PRACTICE. And yes I agree that public schools should have the right to have a religion class where the Bible and/or other types of religion are STUDIED.

Cheers.

P.S. And before anyone flames me, yes I am christian.

P.S.S. I really thought 86cj7Rich had some great points. Parent(s) are the key.