Homeschooling our children

Been wondering about this lately too - though kids aren't happening anytime soon for me.

Academically I'm pretty sure I could do a better job than most schools. Its the social aspect that bugs me....I'm not convinced that can be emulated well enough.

For example, how do you do academic work where teamwork is required? You can't take the place of the teammate because you're not on equal footing.
 
BeVonk! said:
Garyvdh, my kids get minimum input from me and my wife. My kids have been in many state schools due to me moving around for work and by far the majority of teachers we dealt with did a great job (despite the large classes). In Centurion where we lived for a few years my kids were in Hennopspark Laerskool. Brilliant school. When we moved from CT to Centurion everybody warned us about the bad state of state schools in Gauteng. We found it to be nonsense. There are bad schools for sure, but there are a heck of a lot of brilliant schools as well. There is no way in hell that anyone will convince me that a school like Hennopspark is not good enough for their kids. Here in CT are many good schools (primary and secondary) that does a great job year after year.
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That's great! But I fail to see what this has to do with Home Schooling? :confused:
 
HavocXphere said:
Been wondering about this lately too - though kids aren't happening anytime soon for me.

Academically I'm pretty sure I could do a better job than most schools. Its the social aspect that bugs me....I'm not convinced that can be emulated well enough.

For example, how do you do academic work where teamwork is required? You can't take the place of the teammate because you're not on equal footing.
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I'm not sure about those things, I think we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The statistics on homeschooling are very strong though.
 
HavocXphere said:
Been wondering about this lately too - though kids aren't happening anytime soon for me.
Academically I'm pretty sure I could do a better job than most schools. Its the social aspect that bugs me....I'm not convinced that can be emulated well enough.
For example, how do you do academic work where teamwork is required? You can't take the place of the teammate because you're not on equal footing.
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That's why you sign them up for extra curricular activities.

And when it comes to the class room setting, all the kids get involved.

My eldest has started Chemistry this year. Now when he does Lab work, the other kids stop what they are doing and they all gather around to see the experiment and participate.
 
Garyvdh said:
I spoke to one of the Moms at the Karate Dojo last night who is a teacher.

She teaches 8th grade Maths.

She has 43 kids in her one class. All the others are in the high 30's.

I am sorry, but how on earth is a child supposed to get a quality education with so many kids in that class?

Even that teacher said she cannot cope with that many kids.

and that is en epidemic situation across so many SA schools.
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Well I had to sit through school classes having 30-40 kids in them. Some of the teachers managed to control the classes, the others did not. It just places more emphasis on yourself.
 
Nicodeamus said:
Well I had to sit through school classes having 30-40 kids in them. Some of the teachers managed to control the classes, the others did not. It just places more emphasis on yourself.
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And that's great if your parents have instilled discipline in you.
But in a Home School setting you have a guaranteed one on one relationship.
(It still requires instilling discipline though, maybe even more than is needed at a State School... which is of great benefit to the kid later in life).

In my opinion, State Schooled kids are more spoon fed than home Schooled kids.
Home Schooled kids are taught to do their own work and get on with it.
That helps a lot later in business.

State Schooling classrooms are an unnatural environment for business purposes, since your boss is not going to be standing in front of you all day telling you to take out your work books.
 
If you had asked me in the 90s when I was in school whether or not you should home school I would have said definitely "no". The schooling system was awesome back then.

Nowadays I'm not so sure. The schooling system is not what it once was. I've heard of kids coming out of primary school barely able to read or perform basic numeracy.

Then again teaching is a serious responsibility that shouldn't be leapt to lightly. We may have the knowledge but that doesn't mean we can effectively convey it to a child.

Number of kids in a class is neither here nor there. I went to school with 30 or more kids in a class and I did fine. How many kids there are in a class seems far less important than how good the teacher is.
 
Garyvdh said:
And that's great if your parents have instilled discipline in you.
But in a Home School setting you have a guaranteed one on one relationship.
(It still requires instilling discipline though, maybe even more than is needed at a State School... which is of great benefit to the kid later in life).

In my opinion, State Schooled kids are more spoon fed than home Schooled kids.
Home Schooled kids are taught to do their own work and get on with it.
That helps a lot later in business.

State Schooling classrooms are an unnatural environment for business purposes, since your boss is not going to be standing in front of you all day telling you to take out your work books.
Click to expand...

Well I have a few friends whose parents decided to home school them, they turned out just fine and are currently studying with me at varsity. I don't see that they have any academic advantage over me though.
 
I good friend of mine in Pretoria recently shared with me that he and his wife made the biggest mistake of their lives to home school their oldest son. The mom who handled the home schooling is well qualified (occupational therapist). The kid did very well and went to the States to study at a large University there. He couldn't handle the pressure and dropped out after eight months. His dad told me that so many deep cracks are now coming to the fore that is directly attributable to the home schooling culture the kid got into. The kid was never exposed to real life pressures at home.

I'm sure many home school parents are wise about these things and do what is necessary. The above mentioned family invested heavily into the son ... the mom gave up here career to home school him ... and the results disappointed to the point where both feel they have made a huge mistake.

Just an example. I'm sure there are many counter examples/points. I just want to put some light on the risks/dangers.
 
In the end when you look at schooled kids, and homeschooled kids, you will find fault with each one of the options. We as parents are all different, we see thing differently, and we raise our kids as such. We all make mistakes along the way, and we all succeed along the way. I do not see why a home schooled child will be any different from a schooled child. If the parent who homeschools makes sure the child gets all the academics, sports, culture and social activity they need and crave for, I cannot see how they will beg to go to main stream schooling. The point is to know your child. To be involved with your child.

My sister for instance homeschooled. She followed a very rigid curriculum, and the kids, because they have a good relationship, at a point sat down with the parents and said they had enough. It was boring and no fun. BUT at that point they were already in sports, after school activities, my sisters son has played in North Gauteng Cricket with his sports club since he was 9. So the parents adhered, and now they are in school. And they are doing fine!

Parenting is a trial and error. You do what you feel works best for your family. And for us nothing is set in stone. If after grade R we find Daniel will do better with a teacher in a class, then he will go to school, for his grade 1. If we find a school that will take him that is(due to all the politics about how to get your kid in a school- eg area you live in etc). We feel right now personality wise Daniel will do better in home-schooling, we tried the going to school 3 mornings a week thing, it did not work out, it left us with a stressed out, screaming toddler, who would rather try and bite a hole in the fence than go to school!

This is a great thread, and it makes one feel that one has the option to look at other perspectives, and it does help a lot with the decision making. For now we will stick to things as is, and perhaps in the future we will join the normal school runs and all the things that goes along with it. Depends on our kids really!:p

^^ THE WIFE
 
Cerebus and "THE WIFE", as long as you are open minded about this you will do well. As long as you give your kids the option to go with one or the other then great. That is what I'm trying to get to. Don't write state schools off as being inferior as a rule. It has its benefits (and the bad stuff can be good as well).
 
We hear a lot about the large classes where the kids supposedly get less attention etc. My kids have a lot of fun in those "large" classes. They come home with a lot of stories about what happened in class and we have good laughs. There's always the funny ones in class. Why do we always only hear about the bullies?
 
The thing with a large class situation is, let's say for example a child is struggling in a certain arena - perhaps a subject in maths. The teacher is bound to carry on oblivious of the child's uncertainty. The child fails to grasp the fundamentals of the mathematical discipline they're trying to learn - say trigonometry - and because they don't get the basics, they will just do what they need to in order to pass, but meanwhile they've developed a real fear and aversion towards maths in general. Their marks might be on the passing side, but rather than learning to take pleasure in solving maths puzzles and developing, they've learned to do the bare minimum to survive, and that will stick with them.

In school I can hardly remember any other kids who actually enjoyed reading as one of life's pleasures; the great majority did what was required of them and not one iota more.
 
Garyvdh said:
And that's great if your parents have instilled discipline in you.
But in a Home School setting you have a guaranteed one on one relationship.
(It still requires instilling discipline though, maybe even more than is needed at a State School... which is of great benefit to the kid later in life).

In my opinion, State Schooled kids are more spoon fed than home Schooled kids.
Home Schooled kids are taught to do their own work and get on with it.
That helps a lot later in business.

State Schooling classrooms are an unnatural environment for business purposes, since your boss is not going to be standing in front of you all day telling you to take out your work books.
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I agree, but there is also another aspect, and that is being able to work with distractions and with other people in a team environment. I'm not talking about sport, I mean in an academic environment.

There is also the ability to take instruction from someone you deem unworthy. You as the parents of your kids will always enjoy a position of respect with them (hopefully). When it comes to a school environment you have to take instruction from teachers, but also from your peers in the form of prefects, and team leaders who sometimes are some of the biggest WTF choices ever.

Overall I think that home schooling is a great option if the parents are suitable. I have some friends who did home schooling.

The one family started out being my boss, but have since become close family friends of mine where I am now in a position where I am friends with the parents and the children. Honestly home schooling did not work for them. The boys where fine for a couple for years and then went wild. Their mother just could not control them anymore. After threatening and fighting and encouraging and incentivising them, they lost a year messing around they where actually back on par with the public school system. So they put them into school. That didnt work either and needless to say that the boys are a bit of a mess today.

Other family friends of mine, of about the same age as that family did home schooling all the way through (a boy and a girl), the boy (man now I suppose) is studying in the US on a scholarship, the daughter is at UCT.

My point is that I don't think we can take a cookie cutter and just chop out solutions that will work for everybody. Especially where you are dealing with people and personalities.
Be that cookie cutter home schooling, private schooling or state schooling.
 
Cerebus, the lazy indifferent kids will always be there. The bad teachers who don't know and don't care about ALL the kids in their classes will also always be there. That is why parents MUST be involved. My oldest kid - now in Grade 9 - reads a lot. I thought I read a lot but she beats me. This didn't come from the school. Good "State School parents" don't abandon their responsibilities but fill the gaps. I often ask my kids to explain their maths to me to see what they understand and I fill the gaps. I don't need to do everything. One must always monitor the kids in both systems. If a teacher clearly fails to do his/her job I'm at the school in the principals office as soon as possible. Most parents I know will do the same.

It frustrates me when there are so many generalisations doing the rounds. State schools are as good as the parents and teachers working together to educate our kids. It is working in many places. It is not all a failure.
 
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cerebus said:
The thing with a large class situation is, let's say for example a child is struggling in a certain arena - perhaps a subject in maths. The teacher is bound to carry on oblivious of the child's uncertainty. The child fails to grasp the fundamentals of the mathematical discipline they're trying to learn - say trigonometry - and because they don't get the basics, they will just do what they need to in order to pass, but meanwhile they've developed a real fear and aversion towards maths in general. Their marks might be on the passing side, but rather than learning to take pleasure in solving maths puzzles and developing, they've learned to do the bare minimum to survive, and that will stick with them.

In school I can hardly remember any other kids who actually enjoyed reading as one of life's pleasures; the great majority did what was required of them and not one iota more.
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That is where you come into the picture. It's your responsibility to monitor your child's progress by checking homework. Like someone stated earlier, its basically semi homeschooling in a sense.
 
The critiques and the benefits of classroom versus home aren't generalisations - they're the reality. Home schooling DOES have major pitfalls which need to be avoided. But large classroom schooling also does. And largely it's based on our own experiences of being in school. The main issue for us is to create the most optimal environment in which our children can flourish and learn. Schooling isn't a failure, I never said that it was. But is it the BEST? That's the point. Will the children in a state school environment where the status quo is the standard come to love learning throughout their adult lives? Some will, but I feel the environment is not fitted for it. Basic inquisitiveness is discouraged because there just isn't capacity for it.
 
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Madman88 said:
There is also the ability to take instruction from someone you deem unworthy. You as the parents of your kids will always enjoy a position of respect with them (hopefully). When it comes to a school environment you have to take instruction from teachers, but also from your peers in the form of prefects, and team leaders who sometimes are some of the biggest WTF choices ever.
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Agree 100%. Good point.

Real life is real tough. Tough kids make tough adults. What Madman88 says is so true.
 
Cerebus, when you only look at specific things then one thing looks better than the other. The big classroom is a big issue for home schoolers. It can be, but it need not be, and often isn't as bad as it is made out to be. What is BEST? BEST must consider a lot of things. BEST in my mind also includes the tough realities of life that the kid must deal with while learning. When the kid learns to adapt and deal with the realities he/she becomes stronger. When the kid learns to excel in a big class he/she is stronger. When he/she learns to cut out all the distractions and keep the concentration going he/she is stronger. That is also BEST.

As Madman said, life in the real world is full of weird people that your kids will have to deal with. Will they be able to do so? You must make sure they can do so or they will be bright failures.
 
Kids that grow up with germs can handle germs. Kids that grow up in sterile labs can't. The world is infested with germs. In my mind it is best to expose the kids to it so that their bodies can learn to fight back. Indians don't get sick from drinking the water in India ... but we do. Not good to put kids in a protective bubble and then expect them to survive when exiting that bubble.
 
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