Know someone who was?

Why the homeschooling route versus public or private?

7/29/2016 12:27:59 AM

my Ph.D. advisor has 5 kids and they're all homeschooled by the wife. Since there's five of them, they get lots of interaction, and the parents also take them to homeschool kids events and shit. They seem like pretty normal, well-adjusted kids.

I think the motivations for homeschooling the kids are
1. School sucks, and they want to spare their children all that suckiness
2. They want to protect the kids from the evils of the outside world. (Like, this family hands out pencils on Halloween. They're good people, but fuck that )

7/29/2016 12:42:07 AM

My mother in law wanted to homeschool our kids, but she mainly wanted to do it to keep the away from the godless heathens of the world. She is uber Christian conservative. Several other friends did it and the majority were poorer and couldn't afford private school and were Christian. I think charter school availability has whittled it down some though.

We did it for a year with my wife running it a while back with our oldest. We lived in Halifax County which has the worst schools in the state. At the time the city schools would not let employees bring their kids to school unless you lived in the district, so we paid for a private school out of town. Wife got a new job that put her closer to home but also an hour plus drive from the school, so we homeschooled for a year (her job was part time). The job went almost full time and her mom tried to help out but she didn't do shit if our son complained so his last year was a waste.

After that I said fuck this, got a job at UNC and we moved to Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools. Both the kids really like it and have lots of friends and a lot more opportunities to do stuff.

7/29/2016 5:45:59 AM

I work with a guy the same age as me who was homeschooled. Smart dude. He's pretty normal. Less fucked up than the average American, I believe. His parents did it because the public school options sucked in the area. He started in public school, but they got fed up with the bullshit.

7/29/2016 8:41:50 AM

My wife's half brothers were all homeschooled by her step mom. They were supposed to get a stronger education that the county couldn't provide as well as a good moral upbringing by including the teachings of the church. They lived in Johnston County NC and spent most of the day dicking around and playing video games while their mom had an affair. They were consistently YEARS behind other Johnston County kids.

The oldest got his GED eventually since he was rising the ranks at Amway and saw the need. The middle kid couldn't give a shit and is just working shit jobs. The youngest is still school aged and was enrolled in the high school a couple years ago and just doesn't go.

7/29/2016 9:55:37 AM

i got homeschooled when I lived in London for a semester in the 8th grade. my dad was teaching a semester at the University of London, so my mom taught us (my bro was in the 5th grade at the time). we came back to the states ~2 months ahead of everyone else, even though we followed the planning from the teachers. that's just how far behind they get dealing with classrooms. on top of that, we were done every day in the early afternoon and only "went to school" Monday to Thursday, so we had 3 days a week to travel and go to museums and whatnot. I also got a 2 week fall break to go to scotland in there. it was far superior to being in school for the time we were there. it also helped that my parents are both incredibly smart and driven people.

having said that, i would not want to have done that for more than the time we lived abroad

[Edited on July 29, 2016 at 10:50 AM. Reason : .]

7/29/2016 10:49:22 AM

Quote :

"I think the motivations for homeschooling the kids are 1. School sucks, and they want to spare their children all that suckiness 2. They want to protect the kids from the evils of the outside world. "

Yeah I figured the reasoning was usually:

Quote :

"she mainly wanted to do it to keep the away from the godless heathens of the world"

[Edited on August 2, 2016 at 11:38 AM. Reason : but obviously that's not always the case]

8/2/2016 11:38:17 AM

I realize I'll probably get some flack here, but homeschooled kids are the worst. They are some of the most socially awkward people I've EVER met.

I can almost ALWAYS tell if a person was homeschooled or a single child.

8/2/2016 12:19:21 PM

You shouldn't catch any, because that's the damn truth.

8/2/2016 12:27:32 PM

Another observation:

I have 4 friends from highschool (that I know of) that are homeschooling their children. All 4 were, themselves, social outcasts and many times awkward as fuck when we were in school. It makes me sad that they are making these decisions for their children based on their own bad experiences in middle/highschool.

I guess we all make decisions for our kids based on our own past experiences, but sometimes you have to wonder if the kid is actually benefitting or if they're being held back due to the inadequacies of the parents...

8/8/2016 11:39:04 AM

One of my FB friends (from college) posted that she was going to homeschool her kids, because god told her to.

8/8/2016 12:23:18 PM

Maybe it's just the people I'm around, but the motivation for any desire to homeschool is to keep their children away from the evils of liberal education. Like, in no way shape or form do they want their children exposed to evolution.

That isn't a statement of agreement, just how they feel.

8/8/2016 12:32:44 PM

i know a guy that home schools that claims the earth is 7k years old. i tried to explain to him astrology proves that to be false but he said god made the light beams we see at the same time as the stars 7k years ago. oookay then

8/8/2016 12:56:27 PM

Astrology, huh? Somehow I doubt you made a convincing argument.

8/8/2016 1:07:19 PM

yeah just how we can see stuff WAY farther away than 7k light years was main point

[Edited on August 8, 2016 at 1:10 PM. Reason : mentioned a supernova from 150k years ago too ]

8/8/2016 1:09:36 PM

Its a great way to ensure your kid is an awkward adult with no social interaction skills.

I had a neighbor who was homeschooled growing up. When we were 12-13 years old she still liked to crawl on the ground and pretend she was a dog. Only classical music allowed in the house, no cable TV. I am sure she does wonderfully at job interviews.

8/8/2016 1:10:57 PM

LOLOLOL @ astrology

8/8/2016 1:17:04 PM

beatsunc is a sagittarius but the dude was being such a taurus

8/8/2016 1:46:22 PM

Quote :

"i know a guy that home schools that claims the earth is 7k years old. i tried to explain to him astrology proves that to be false"

Oh goddammit, come on dude

8/9/2016 12:05:44 AM

Best case, he thinks he's funny.

[Edited on August 9, 2016 at 12:24 AM. Reason : but i don't think that's the case]

8/9/2016 12:23:48 AM

I was homeschooled so I wouldn't end up like beatsunc.

8/9/2016 1:22:31 PM

Bttt

10/25/2019 1:20:32 AM

lol u drunk bro

10/25/2019 1:21:21 AM

What is this, relive synapse's time on TWW day?

10/25/2019 8:39:58 AM

Exactly!

10/25/2019 10:20:30 AM

Great way to give your kid a shitty immune system and lack of social skills. Not a parent...but if i was my kids would have their ass at school with all the good and bad that comes with it. The crap you deal with as a student is just a precursor for what real life has in store.

12/5/2019 11:59:04 AM

I'll try and offer a serious response.

We currently homeschool our 3 kids who are 15, 13 and 11 years old. We started doing this 2 years ago.

My oldest was in public school through the end of 2nd grade. He was at one school for K and 1st and then we moved and he went to a different public school for 2nd grade. At both schools teachers were telling us he was ADHD and telling us about various attitude/behavior issues we just weren't seeing at home. We took him to the doctor and did some testing and they told us he wasn't ADHD and the problem is probably "environmental" and that we should try private schooling or homeschooling.

At the time we couldn't afford to do homeschooling so we found a private school that gave us financial aid. It was a non religious school if that makes any difference. And our son flourished at the new school that was quite rigorous. So from 3rd grade through middle of 8th grade for our oldest they were in private school (K-middle of 5th and K-middle 3rd for our two younger kids).

The last year or so they were in the private school we just started to feel there were still some gaps in their education and weren't quite getting the quality we were hoping for. Our youngest was also displaying some learning challenges that was causing her to fall behind. And even though we still felt the private school was doing better than the public school would do, it is still a school and kids can't always get as much help as they need.

Since my income had gone up over this time, we were now in the position where we could homeschool if we wanted to. But I will admit, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea. As like a lot of people, I went to public school and always heard about the weird homeschooled kids. But I'm sure everyone can agree that there are a bunch of weird kids in public school too. Homeschool kids don't have a monopoly on that

After doing some research (and living it these past couple of years) I was unaware how much homeschool has changed in the last ~15 years with the internet (much like everything else I suppose). You can do entire schooling online with professors teaching all the classes if you'd like. There are also "CO-OPs" where kids meet for small classes that are often taught by regular teachers/professors who have now decided to either work just Part-time or are stay-at-home themselves. And there are countless social groups you can join. So much so, that if you wanted to, you could spend all day everyday doing outings and events instead of schooling. So I think that has really helped with the socializing issue.

One of the biggest benefits we've found, is that we are able to pick the curriculum that works best for our children. Each of our kids have different subjects they like and learning styles and challenges. We can pick curriculum based on those that make it best for them to learn. We aren't forced to use whatever curriculum/textbook the school is using. We can also go as fast or as slow as we need to go. Our oldest son enjoys math so he is able to knock out assignments and move on quickly. He finished an entire year of algebra in under 4 months. But geometry is harder for him so we are going a little slower now. And he isn't the greatest in stuff like English so we are going slower there when we need to.

Yes we are a typical homeschool family in that we are conservative/Christian. But thats not why we homeschool. And to be honest, we don't just pick curriculum because it may or may not match our beliefs. We find the curriculum that we feel will work the best with that particular child and subject. And if its from a Christian perspective, great. If not, thats great too.

12/6/2019 12:23:08 AM

I'm sure smart people can sufficiently educate their children in a home school scenario, but there isn't any way to replicate the social experience. That doesn't mean they can't be wonderful functional members of society, just that they won't be able to relate to a lot of things that other people can.

12/6/2019 12:56:52 AM

QFT

Quote :

"I can almost ALWAYS tell if a person was homeschooled or a single child."

12/8/2019 11:25:44 AM

all right so wolfpack0122 is 100% racist, right

12/8/2019 8:58:44 PM

A conservative Christian that homeschools? They probably teach their kids that black people started the civil war to try and kill whitey.

12/8/2019 9:09:47 PM

I didn't draw that conclusion. What did I miss?

12/8/2019 11:31:44 PM

That was just a joke, I don’t actually think that person is doing anything racist based on their post

It’s just a stereotype of homeschooling Christian people

12/9/2019 7:15:30 PM

Yeah I should have done a ^^. Was mostly talking to frosh.

[Edited on December 9, 2019 at 7:44 PM. Reason : ]

12/9/2019 7:43:35 PM

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z34ane/neo-nazi-homeschool-ohio

Quote :

"Inside a US Neo-Nazi Homeschool Network With Thousands of Members"

fuck homeschooling

1/30/2023 12:52:13 PM

They even owned a German shepherd.

I don't agree with homeschooling. I feel like it just creates very awkward children, and to the article mentioned above, there definitely needs to be some oversight. Very interesting that this network was able to grow to 2400 members.

It isn't fair that my daughter's 4 grade tests are all proctered by a teacher, whereas these homeschool shits can just take whatever test with their parents handing them the answers.

1/30/2023 2:49:23 PM

I wonder how many undercover fbi agents are in that group

1/30/2023 2:50:19 PM

Quote :

"It isn't fair that my daughter's 4 grade tests are all proctered by a teacher, whereas these homeschool shits can just take whatever test with their parents handing them the answers."

Why does that bother you? How does that harm your daughter? Is your daughter disadvantaged because of that? And how can you just casually say "their parents handing them the answers"? Have you seen it happen? Is it endemic in the homeschooling communities?

One day they will all be on level ground competing for the same jobs. Actually before that, they will be applying for the same universities, so it will all balance out. Or maybe they don't want to end up in the rat race like your daughter most probably will?

It's weird that it bothers you so much in such a specific way. Homeschool your child if you are capable of it.

1/31/2023 4:08:42 AM

Quote :

"One day they will all be on level ground competing for the same jobs. Actually before that, they will be applying for the same universities"

Yeah, for real. When it comes time for your daughter to prove what she knows, she will be well ahead of the homeschooled kid.

1/31/2023 10:17:44 AM

Then the homeschooled kid doodles a hand grasping a bunch of arrows in the margin of their test and gets passed anyway by the fucking infiltrator teaching the class.

1/31/2023 12:43:15 PM

Quote :

"It's weird that it bothers you so much in such a specific way. "

I think it's based on the worry of the "downfall of society" that boomers keep talking about. With all these homeschooled chirren getting handout answers, how are we gonna keep our status as the best country in America?

1/31/2023 1:28:15 PM

Imagine watching Indiana Jones and pulling for the Nazis.

1/31/2023 4:17:25 PM

homeschooled kids dont do school shootings though

think about it

1/31/2023 4:19:33 PM

(the Sandy Hook shooter was home-schooled)

and this is interesting : https://www.hsinvisiblechildren.org/when-homeschoolers-turn-violent/erin-caffey/

[Edited on January 31, 2023 at 5:03 PM. Reason : ]

1/31/2023 5:01:04 PM

[bookmarked to watch later]

VICE News: The Secret Power of Homeschoolers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kuNycfklN4

2/2/2023 4:11:19 AM

my neighbors 5 boys are homeschooled. they are out playing basketball by lunch

2/2/2023 6:47:31 PM

I can definitely see the appeal of that. I think 3-4 hours a day of hardcore school would be enough, and then just play some b-ball after that

2/3/2023 9:49:04 AM

Bttt

7/16/2023 12:36:00 AM

Chatgpt can homeschool your kids now

7/16/2023 12:52:42 AM

^^^ & ^^^^
"Shootin' some b-ball outside of the school!"

7/16/2023 6:33:35 AM