Homeschooling vs Public School

[Garak]

Homeschooling vs Public School, which do you prefer for your children?

[Peter]

I frankly do no understand the economics of homeschooling. It seems very wasteful to have a parent making himself expert on all the subjects, buy  material and teach. Maybe it can work, if the children are motivated enough in all the subjects.

Instead, I would expect that families would pool the education and hire teachers to do the job to their liking. The tastes of the families cannot diverge so much? When the scale is big enough (100 families?), teachers, rooms and material can be shared; it is called a private school. That should be financially viable.

[Aegis]

I frankly do no understand the economics of homeschooling. It seems very wasteful to have a parent making himself expert on all the subjects, buy  material and teach. Maybe it can work, if the children are motivated enough in all the subjects.

Instead, I would expect that families would pool the education and hire teachers to do the job to their liking. The tastes of the families cannot diverge so much? When the scale is big enough (100 families?), teachers, rooms and material can be shared; it is called a private school. That should be financially viable.

The economics of it is basically where schools originated.
In many cities, there are homeschooling groups that pool resources.  However, there is another economic principle that discourages too much collaboration from taking place, and also motivates the decision to homeschool in the first place.  Buy-in.  Having one's own chips on the table.  When they aren't your own kids, one's level of effort goes from the most you can do to the most you can be bothered to do.  The economics of buy-in scale to about a dozen home-schooled kids.  Homeschoolers often belong to a group of about a dozen kids that meets a couple times a week.

[Garak]

Economics? Is that more important than education?

[Stallywood]

From what I have seen, Homeschool kids come out pretty damn good. But i cant afford to do it. So F'ed up Public School it is.
Stally

[Bobx23456]

Homeschooling vs Public School, which do you prefer for your children?

My friend "homeschooled" his children, by which he meant that he never sent them to public school nor provided organized "lessons" for them either.   By the time they were 20 they knew a lot more about a lot more things than most kids who had wasted years in public prisons called "schools." 

The literacy rate in the USA was HIGHER before public "schools." 
The kids would be better off and know more if they were burned down.

Blessings

Bob

[Mr. X]

I read that in New York it costs $75k a year PER KID to put a kid through one year of regular school. Think if schools were deregulated and the state didn't have a monopoly on schools. Two or three adults could open a small neighborhood school that caters to maybe 40 kids. At 1/10th the cost ($7,500 a year per kid) that's $300,000 a year to spend on a rental property for a class room, some books, lunches and good salaries for the teachers. Plus, like any other business, the better little schools can charge more and do better.

Plus with home school or deregulated schools youy can expose your kid to what you wish to expose them to. Send your kids to the gay school if you like, or the christian school, or the science school, or just teach them at home.

[The Gonzman]

The kids would be better off and know more if they were burned down.

As in arson, an act of violence.

6. No advocacy of violence.

[Peter]

How do parents plan and perform  homeschooling so that the children get uniform knowledge? I see a risk that knowledge may be unbalanced if a family has special interest in some subjects.

How much does it cost?
How is it coordinated with other interested families?
Are there ideological problems with coordination?
How big wind are there in time, cost and results?
How are tests done? I guess you need some feedback to check that some areas  are not neglected.
How do you convince the authorities that the children get educated?

Are there any good books and websites on the subject?

Still, my first question remains. Why not choose  a privates school? Why not start a private school?

[The Biscuit Queen]

There are many ways to homeschool. I did two ways, as I homeschooled each child for 6 months at different times to get them through a bad school year.

One I ordered a program called Trisms, which was a historical view of education. You started studying early history, then added math, science, literature based on when they were discovered or written on the timeline. It was a great program, and my son excelled at it. We added a marine biology unit because he was interested in it, and we followed the school math text so he would not be behind when he went back to school. We went to kick boxing for gym.

The second child we pulled due to the state testing. The teacher was an ogre about the tests, and that is virtually all she taught. SO we used the state tests as guides, and added other things. The math tests were studied by making all the problems part of D&D type gaming.  We had a large science/health componant where we raised vegetables indoors, planned a garden, and studied food and the various guides, then planned and cooked the meals according to the plans.  The english was addressed by writing stories.  Gym we cross country skiid. My husband worked with an engineering program with him on the computer.

Basically home schooling is what you put into it. The public school syllabus is simply what some people feel is one way of being well rounded. You have full access to those guidelines, so designing a program for your child which meets those requirements is not rocket science. I think the danger is complacency, and high tech may be a problem with some kids, but all those resources are out there in other ways, such as science centers, workshops, etc. I think it is more important your kids are well adjusted, confident, excited to learn, and have the skills to be able to learn well. You can pick up the specifics in college if they choose. I see a lot of students who may understand chemistry and physics but have no study skills, cannot manage their time, and have no purpose.   I will take the former child.

[devia]

The best education my kids ever received was in a small Catholic school (about 8 kids per class) which didn't even have a computer at the time. For the primary grades it was perfect, and as a parent I was encouraged to be in the classroom with my kids whenever possible. The education they received there set them up to succeed in higher grades (education including how to act respectfully in a classroom).

The best schooled kids I've ever met are my friends six daughters. His kids are simply brilliant, and light years ahead of my 13 year old. His wife was a former teacher so she has the ability to teach all grades to her kids, but like others have said they co-teach with other home schoolers.

[dr e]

I wonder if grandparents and retirees would be good candidates for filling home schooling positions where a specialty is needed.  It would be great to see a movement get started that would challange the silliness and female-centric public school system. 

[Aegis]

I wonder if grandparents and retirees would be good candidates for filling home schooling positions where a specialty is needed.  It would be great to see a movement get started that would challange the silliness and female-centric public school system. 

It's a pretty big movement right now, and I'd say it's growing.  But it will never become the mainstay because of the sacrifice that it requires of the stay-at-home parent.  Sacrifice is an uncommon virtue these days.  And female-centric as the public school system may be, I certainly wouldn't want my daughter in it, especially past primary school.  The Mean Girl problem is now out of control in public schools.

[Cordell Walker]

I do think that we need to have more of an emphasis on trades and skills at the secondary level and public schools are elimnating shop  wholesale from what I know

[Mr. X]

How do parents plan and perform  homeschooling so that the children get uniform knowledge? I see a risk that knowledge may be unbalanced if a family has special interest in some subjects.

And what makes you think this will happen in public school?