Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for December 04, 2013

Remember that old saw about how a defendant, who represents himself, has a fool for a lawyer? Same thing applies to home schooling…..

Katie may be a good girl but she has her sneaky mischievous side. That’s why Danae is in trouble, now!

Home schooling means your children don’t have to learn “A People’s History of Amerika”. You can actually teach Thomas Paine, The Federalist Papers, John Adams, James Madison, Plato, Cicero and a few others. Fun, too.

You think the school hasn’t thought about that? Welcome to remedial school for recalcitrant students, Danae. I look forward to see how you make THAT in your own image. Oh, yes, and no Lucy.

Daddy thinks he has wet his pants.

The home school kids where I grew up were required to take the same standardized tests we were in HS. They consistently averaged higher than the HSers. Not sure what’s wrong with home schooling, that people knock it, when they’re doing better.

I have a niece and nephew who were home schooled from elementary through high school. Both are successful functioning adults now but they both tell me how they feel they missed out so much on social learning and friendships.As a result I find home schooling to be cruel to children.

Defunctdoormat, It can work for middle class families, especially ones that have a parent that can stay home. If both parents are working 40 hrs a week, it becomes more difficult. It also doesn’t seem to work in low income areas, especially if the parents can’t read or do math well…..

coz, that is actually my main concern…..

Danae 24/7/168 — shudder!

naive is no backup for the precocious ….

LOL!!

Home schooling, done correctly, can be very good. It seems that most of the home schooled children are there so that they can be taught only one point of view, such as literal Bible translations. You may believe that, but the children should also be taught opposing views, if they are to live in society.Many people are pro vouchers. The problem there is there is no oversight on the schools the children attend. Many will end up in remedial classes(public funded, of course).Even Catholic schools teach to the class of students. If you go to the school in a upper class area, you get a good education. The ones in the “other” Catholic school are taught how to kneel and accept their fate.

The difference here is it was HER idea , not his.

I think a few months of detention would do her good….practice run for when her “reality” hits the real world and she ends up in prison for trying some of the things the Government has tried with less success of course!

“My parents couldn’t agree on my type of school.My learning was all done at home,which is why I’m such a fool.”

Leaving aside the argument that religion is a bad motive for home schooling, parents have to realize that educating the child in this manner, is a lot like tele-commuting, or working from home. It requires an extrordinary amount of self-discipline, organization, and energy. Not everyone is equipped for such a challenge. It’s a wise parent who realizes this and delegates this responsibility to a professional.That’s why the weathy hired a governess and special tutors for their little darlings, before packing them off to boarding school.A great many things can be taught by the parents in the home environment as an addendum to the school cirriculum.

We have all had bad teachers in our lives, but the problems with public education aren’t necessarily the fault of the teachers even though they’re the easiest to blame. The bigger problems usually extend to elected officials to school boards, state and local governments, and beyond where they’re not required to have backgrounds in education. Those people are more interested in budget cuts to help out their cronies, the public education system (and the public, in turn) be damned.

Let’s not read anything more into this than the gag: Joe thinks homeschooling for Danae is so ludicrous he can’t stop laughing. Which means Danae is going to have to face the music at school for burning her bridges.

@Varnes: I was homeschooled and I’m pretty successful. Well on my way to becoming a Chemical Engineer…

I’ve only known a handful of homeschoolers who didn’t excel. On the other hand, as someone who worked in the public school system as a mathematics tutor, I can say quite positively that there are more delinquents in the system then there are homeschoolers. Because of my experiences on both sides of the coin, I will never put my kids in a public school.

Public schools are breeding grounds for ignorance and mediocrity.

…Have to admit though…I wouldn’t want to homeschool Danae, no matter how good homeschooling is....Of course, if she were my kid, she would behave a lot better too…

No matter how loving, a parent who is poor at math, has reading disabilities, or has two jobs will not be able to provide the background needed for a kid to compete in today’s job market.

Kate is not boring

Here in Texas I knew a couple who home-schooled their kid. They wanted him to learn science. It helped that the father had a PhD in clinical psychology and the mother an MS in elementary education. Then I remember Walt Kelly’s “speakeasy schools” Pogo during Massive Resistance and have often considering starting one to cover what the public (and most private) schools won’t.

Most schools that don’t work are in low income areas in some cities….Make up you’re own reason why… But you really wouldn’t believe what is going on in rural communities…..People are flocking from the cities to nearby rural schools, just so their kids are part of a peer group that wants to learn… It costs them more, but it is worth it….The biggest difference is that the students come to school with an urge to learn….Hire good teachers, pay them well, and you’ve really got something going on….

I compare education to building a highway from sea to shining sea. Do we want to build it across the whole country, or just part of it? Oh, sure it doesn’t cost much to build a highway in Iowa, or Nebraska, but what about the Rocky Mountain range? What’s THAT going to do to the cost of building the highway? Why spend more money in Colorado, than in Iowa? Isn’t that just throwing money at the problem? That’s what they call it when inner city schools have more difficult problems to solve than other districts, and therefore cost more money……..

I homeschooled my daughter 7th and 8th grade. She learned more and did more then when she attend a regular school. For gym she did gymnastics and swimming at the Y. For art she took classes at the art museum. She was in Girl Scouts, Basketball, Softball …She had her own desk at my business and access to College students and College graduates to assist her with anything she was doing. She did fantastic on the Standardized tests and HS entrance exams. Don’t knock homeschooling until you know something about it.

Teaching is only as good as how qualified the teachers are, whether home schooled, public school, or private school. There are qualified people to home school their children, but they are in the monority. Most are only interested in keeping their dogma uncontested by reality.