Top Ten Reasons to Home School
 

These are each described in detail in the article text below. 10. Less exposure to sexual aggression and predators. 9. A drug free environment. 8. More positive peer pressure. 7.Tailored curricula. 6. Belonging is family centered. 5. Pure motives. 4. Academic rigor. 3. Academic integrity. 2. Time with parents ...
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"Ten. Less Exposure to Sexual Aggression and Predators – Fifteen years after the press and the US Senate gave the President a free pass on having sex with an intern in the Oval Office, the teens whose moral compasses were shaped by those events are now teachers and administrators of public and private schools. This reshaped moral compass gives tremendous latitude to sexual behaviors of students and teachers on campus, and everything from electronic pornography to sex on campus is widely tolerated. Many schools still have impressive written rules, but the reality is most adults on campus look the other way even when actions constitute criminal behavior. The number of high schools where consensual sex between students is no longer against the rules is also surprising.

In our family home school, we ensure safety in this area by following the guidance of pastors and Christian counselors regarding appropriate chaperoning of mixed sex activities and appropriate parental monitoring and boundaries of electronic communications. "






First I'd like to say, posting of the top 10 reasons on a message board gives us permission to comment... So I don't wanna hear of any that "don't like it, don't click on it" stuff. See my thoughts below.



1. Sorry, but Bill Clinton getting is junk swallowed by that chubby intern has nothing to do with high school kids having sex. It has happened long before this incident. Sexual curiosity in post pubescent teens is a scientific fact and has in no way, shape, or form been affected by a sitting Presidents sexual exploits.

2. I’m sure your kids have access to electronic pornography with the phones in their pockets right now. Or are they not trusted by the temptation with such technology ? Also, I highly doubt sex on high school campuses are allowed. If so, I wish someone would have informed me of such when I was a student. It would have been a safer environment than on the side of a gravel road at night.

3. Have you read “many schools” written rules to qualify them as impressive? What standard are you using to base your judgment of these policies? If so, exactly how much time did you spend on each campus to compare their policies and what actually happens in these situations? Furthermore, how many incidents did you witness that could be constituted as criminal behavior?

4. I didn’t realize the schools could dictate what children do off campus outside of school hours. I’m fairly certain a teen’s sexual activity is the responsibility of the parent.

5. The entire last sentence reminds me of this clip from the movie “The Candidate” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOtG6uzhwX4

I'm not against home schooling kids as I have a few friends who were home schooled, but I have to say that they do miss out a bunch on social activities. I'm super glad I wasn't home schooled. I enjoyed being in the social environment with all sorts of different people. I enjoyed all the school dances, sports, even just hanging out with everyone for lunch, not to mention all the other festivities that we had, and I would have hated to miss out on all that. I feel that I've gained something more than what my home schooled friends have by getting to experience all of that. There's some good and bad to it for sure, but I think as long as you've taught your kid what's a good choice and bad choice that they would be just fine. Of course, the level of education may be different but as long as they are in a decent school, I think it would be more beneficial. Just my opinion, I hope it doesn't offend anyone.

I know quite a few ppl who were homeschooled and most of them regret it. Mostly bc they are very socially akward bc of it.

There is a sense of school spirit and pride that you will not get while being home schooled. I have friends with children that are home schooled the sporting events just aren’t' the same. Before anyone says anything yes I believe sports are a very important part of young kids lives. The social skills you learn in school are very important. You have to learn to get along with people rather you agree with them or not. Rich / poor, black / white, you have to make it work. The few home schooled employees that I have had never really fit in with our culture at the office. Maybe I just had a bad sample but they were always a little “different”. Maybe because they never had to learn how to fit in before? Who knows…...

I have 17 nieces and nephews, 6 of that group were homeschooled for most of their lives then thrown into modern sociality after that. Their Parents and Church were always there for them and preached/taught following Gods will. They were taught Morals and how they should behave outside of the home. These 6 individuals have had an extremely hard time being reintroduced into society after home schooling. Ironically, the oldest ones have had the most issues in life because they were home schooled the most and the youngest has had the least amount of problems because they were introduced into a school system in middle school.

Don't get me wrong, these kids are very smart and my sister did an amazing job of teaching them core classes but you can't teach real interaction in that environment. Although they interacted with people of their church on the weekends, they never dealt with adversity or temptation at a young age. They were taught to avoid it and denounce it but when it came down to real life, they had lots of trouble doing so due to so little real World practice.

After seeing first hand the outcome of home schooling, I do not see it as a smart choice. I went to a catholic school from K-12 and was taught the same things as my nieces and nephews, only difference is that I was able to practice what was preached to me and learned to stand up for what I was taught. My Nieces and Nephews never had that privilege and were blindsided by the real world when introduced to it.

P.S. They are all over 25 yrs old now and doing well, but it was a hard and bumpy ride for their youth.

Social skills are the biggest thing missing from a home schooled environment. I have seen both sides of it, as well as my wife. We were both home schooled at one point, but also in public schools at times (i was also in a Catholic school for a year). I enjoyed the home schooled years because we were done early, didn't go to school all year, could take trips whenever. But when I went back half way through the school year, I was lightyears ahead of my class.

I disagree with the "more positive peer pressure" assertion, because you aren't among your peers. You can't have peer pressure when you aren't among your peers, and younger or older siblings are not the same as kids your same age.

If kids aren't getting what they need to out of school, it is ultimately on the parents. There are good schools and good environments for kids to learn in. You just have to find them.

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Thanks for posting this... sounds much better than how i said it.

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Social interaction is a big thing for home schooled kids. My son is home schooled and he seems to handle himself ok in social situations. We have him in cub scouts, he plays rec sports and he goes to church. Surprisingly I've found he's had to deal with situations in kid's church that I wouldn't have expected, or at least when I was his age I didn't have to deal with them. Due to Internet access he knows a lot of stuff I wouldn't expect him to know since he's not around other kids all day. We've found there are home school groups that kids can get involved in to provide more interaction. I think a lot of home schooled kid's social skills when they get older will depend on the kid too. I know some kids that are finished with home school and some are fine and some are strange. I think it's one of those things where you do what you think is best for your kid and hope they turn out right.


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What do you do after you "graduate" home school? Do you go to home college and then get a home job. How do you get a girlfriend? How do you learn to deal with bullies or unfair teachers etc?

I'm sure everyone of us started a funny story with "remember in high school when we...."

Yes your kids will be better at math and science, but at what cost.

[QUOTE=Pull n Pray;790914]What do you do after you "graduate" home school? Do you go to home college and then get a home job. How do you get a girlfriend?


Everyone knows you get a HOME GIRLFRIEND! LOL:p

X2......on the home schooling. I personally would never home school my kids.

The ones I know who home school their kids is because they do not want to send their kids to public school; however, they are too cheap / tight to pay for private school cost like I do. So there is really no other choice but to home school them.

For example, my oldest son who is in 10th grade has a few buddies that are home schooled. He says they are the biggest HORN DOGS when it comes to girls when they go somewhere in public.....:rotfl:

X2
I believe too much "sheltering" of our kids will only increase the "shock value" the day they are officially turned loose in society. As stated above, many opportunities in their young lives will be missed. Many friendships will never happen. High school team sports is something that they will only hear others talking about in conversations. High school proms, class trips...the list goes on. Don't get me wrong...I understand how you feel about our kids. I just think there is a much bigger downside than upside.

Some of my best life memory's come from school and friend I made there
From your 1st heart break to 1st hangover
I

The biggest thing about home schooling to me, most parents are not educated enough to understand teaching! Some are, did well with their kids, kids went to college & graduated with honors. But they are only friends with "homeschoolers" and don't interact with the real world very well. Yes I am a very conservative Christian, BUT, don't believe in homeschooling.

Y'all can say whatever y'all want about MG and his home schooling. Just don't say it within 1, 000 yards of his sons ;)

I will say this. I have had the pleasure of meeting and fishing with all three of MG's children and will tell you he is raising some dang fine young men and lady.

A bunch of liberal bs is what I'm reading. You decide how/who you will be. Stop blaming the outside world. Hell half the public school kids don't talk to anyone unless it's online. Awesome social skills there.

To me the main downside to it, is when you enter the work force, it's going to be more difficult to take on a position within a corporate structure which puts you in a leadership role. When you've dealt with the peer pressure, immaturity, bullying, clicks, drugs, etc. through your school yrs. it's easier to deal with those same types, cause their in the workforce also.

Lots of interesting feedback. Sure, there probably are still some good schools where parents can depend on their children being well prepared academically for college. But having taught at both the Air Force Academy and a big state school (physics and calculus), I can tell you that in most states, the majority of students with ACT scores near and below average are poorly prepared for these college courses both in their study habits and in their skills and knowledge in science and math.

Sure, students also need to be well prepared for the onslaught of temptations that await them in college. An 18 year old college student should be better prepared to face temptations to common excesses of college years. However, in many public schools direct exposure to these destructive behaviors can become very common in middle and high school. Home school provides a way to reduce exposures to destructive behaviors and related temptations until the student is sufficiently prepared to resist them. Having taught in several public schools, my wife and I have seen that these schools' efforts and abilities to provide learning environments with manageable levels of these destructive behaviors and temptations is far, far less than it was when we attended public schools 30-40 years ago.

The view of home schooling that assumes that parents and siblings are the only peers is skewed and demonstrates that those commenting did not even read the original article. One wonders if public school advocates and graduates have a habit of commenting before actually reading. Most home school students have increasing amounts of peer interactions through middle school and high school. 10-20 hours per week is typical for high schoolers, including sports, youth groups, college classes, high school coursework, clubs, and other extracurriculars. In addition to lots of extracurriculars and sports, our approach is for our students to gradually acclimate to college work and life starting with at least one college course in 10th grade and increasing to five college courses in the 12th grade.

Having taught both high school and college, I am surprised at the high esteem many posters have for the socialization skills of public school students. Public schools are churning out vast numbers of graduates today with an entitlement mentality and woefully inadequate comprehension of personal responsibility as well as woefully inadequate communication skills. Even now, nearly every time I drop my students off at a local college campus, I see tons of public school products walking around with their heads buried in a cell phone. Is that the social diversity and skill set my home schooled students are supposedly lacking? No thanks.

It's very clear that you're more than qualified to administer home school for your children and they are excelling. That's an understatement.

I agree that public school is very different these days even in relation to someone like me that graduated from a public school in 2001. My child attends a private school that I, along with an entire community feel provides our children with a great education and all that comes with it. The test scores( good or bad it's the only way to objectively evaluate progress) and abilities I see my child demonstrate day to day prove to me he is a getting a fantastic education.

You feel what you're doing is superior to all the other options. That's ok, it's your opinion. However, it's fact that public and private schools are producing highly successful people every day. Home school is right for your family. It's not the right choice for everyone.

It's clear this is an attempt to undermine public education. He pretty much said so much in his last post.

"One wonders if public school advocates and graduates have a habit of commenting before actually reading."

Then there is his comment about public schools churning out "vast numbers of graduates with an entitlement mentality". And that is the school's fault? When did it stop being the parent's responsibility to raise a child that did not have a sense of entitlement? How is that the school's fault? What are they teaching to give these kids a sense of entitlement?

Last I recall, schools were teaching math, science, english, art, and physical education. Where does social decorum fit into that curriculum? The molding of a productive young adult begins at home. If they are not taught at home how to behave and what is expected of them, how is that the school's fault? Afterall, from kindergarten to 12th grade, there is only one constant in most every child's life, and that is the parents. Teachers, administrators, even friends, change, but parents remain the same.



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Home school???? I send them to school so I can get a break. Kidding on this but, I am not prepared enough to educated my kids. I graduated from a great private college but in finance not childhood education.
Besides couldn't agree more on the atmosphere aspect of high school. Greatest 4 years of my life playing sports, flirting and enjoying friends.

With an average ACT score of 19 or so for graduates, Louisiana is doing a fine job undermining public education without my help.

Yes, it is ultimately a parent's responsibility to ensure high school graduates accept responsibility for their choices and educational accomplishments. But it is increasingly difficult for parents to accomplish that if their children spend 35-40 hours per week in LA public schools.

Because that is so different than any other point in American history?

Come on, MG. You might have pulled the wool over someone's eyes before, but that right there is pure garbage. Kids have been going to school for 35-40 hours a week for decades. So how is it any different now?

It's the parents, man. All these parents that let their kids do and say whatever they want are the problem.

I know quite a few hard working people that didn't score much higher than that on an ACT, by the way.

Don't EVER try and undermine someone because of a low test score on a standardized test!

I used to have a lot of respect for you. Now, you just come off as some ***** trying to preach his way to the masses, as if he is better than everyone else and knows best how others should lead their lives.

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For anyone interested here's a link on average ACT scores nationally:

http://blog.prepscholar.com/act-scor...highs-and-lows

From what I gathered from this article due to percent of students that don't take the ACT varying by state in favor of the SAT determining the quality of a states education by ACT scores isn't that accurate. It's not a big secret though that Louisiana is on the lower end of the spectrum in quality of education. From reading through this thread socialization is what's influencing most people's opinions on home schooling, not quality of education. I tend to think people skills and how you get along with people are extremely important. I somewhat disagree with most in this thread that home schooled kids are automatically going to be at a disadvantage socially with all the resources that are available to parents today. Yes, some will have poor social skills, but judging by my interactions with college and teenage kids at restaurants and other public places and adults in the workforce public school isn't a guarantee of adequate social skills either.

Homeschooling is definitely not for everyone. Some parents don't want to do the work involved to do it right and it is a financial sacrifice in this era where both parents usually work. Everyone has to make an educated decision on what they think is best for their own kids.


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I'm sure you're a great parent and it sounds like you're raising some wonderful kids, but I can't weigh the pros and cons of homeschooling vs public or private school and give homeschooling the win. There are simply too many life lessons to be learned in middle/high school that I feel can't be replicated by sheltering children from society. At some point, these children are going to be thrown out in society, and yes, some will be fine, but others will be faced with situations that they may not be able to cope with as easily as someone else who has faced these types of situations while growing up in school.

I was fortunate enough to go to Catholic schools growing up, but I have just as many friends who went to public schools. I'm halfway through my second college degree (mechanical engineering) and I can tell you that student's schooling background means very little at this point. Some of the best students I know were not great student's in high school and did not make above average grades on ACT tests. Parenting and one's own determination to get through school are the two most important factors.

You seem to put an emphasis on math and science, but in all honesty, 90% of real world jobs are not going to require vast knowledge of either subject. I hear that people interviewing engineers for jobs and internships would rather have someone with average grades and great personalities/people skills than a brainiac who is socially akward. To me, this is the point where attending regular school over homeschool comes into play.

Like many have previously posted, there were just too many good times and too many lessons I learned growing up going to school and playing sports. I couldn't imagine having it any other way. Bottom line is that if parents do a good enough job, sending their children to public or private schools should not be an issue whatsoever.

I do pretty well with my private school education that landed me a solid 19 ACT score, and zero college education. My parents were solid, and my kids will do just as well because of solid parenting.

We put too much emphasis on "education", teach kids to live and be hungry for more and they will find their way happily and successfully.

Need a study on how the weir openings affect ACT scores. Probably a significant factor

Once again, if parents are educated enough to teach homeschooling, fine, but I personally know many who homeschool their kids and they definitely have no business doing it, because they can't figure it out themselves! Public education always has and always will begin at home, how you raise your kids to respect teachers and adults as a whole. But again, I know too many that can't socialize even with other Christian kids, or adults, they will only socialize with other homeschoolers. Everyone's choice, it's not the education system, it's all in the parenting.

I couldn't wait to get out of my old mans house, I wanted my own truck, my own house, my own family, don't get me wrong my father was the greatest man I ever knew, I just wanted to make my own way. My house, my rules, His house, his rules, but he was a great role model, that's probably all we can strive for. Just my simple way of thinking.

Gosh, I wonder how the founding fathers were not socially
 

awkward since I don't know that any of them attended public school? Most of them had private tutors so no peers to learn with either. Guess Tim Tebow missed out on more than he thought as well. I think most folks are scared of what they are not familiar with, and therefore look for reasons to support their methodology whatever it may be. To each his own as each parent is ultimately responsible for the upbringing of their God-given children, but there is no question that the social rot consisting of no bible or prayer in public schools, sex education without proper morals, teaching of evolution, political correctness, revisionist history, man-made global warming, aka climate change and other far left liberal lunacy have done much to undermine the moral fabric of this country. I've got three boys the oldest of which is in 8th grade this year, and home school with daily classroom videos of master teachers is all they know. They seem to be doing well....course, suppose I should watch out for that all important "socially awkward" thing. I do agree though that the biggest issue facing kids today just as it always has been is MIA parents.

Those are all good points, but you can only hold them under your wing for so long then their gonna have to learn how to fly

I somewhat understand the home school idea; your children will be isolated from many negative experiences (and you must admit positive as well) and sheltered until you send them off to College.

This is my real beef with homeschooling:
You can live anywhere in the world; but yet your so mistrusting of the general public you must isolate your children from the community you choose to reside.


I just don't understand the mindset of isolation. Many parents make tremendous sacrifices to educate there kids, maybe you should move.

That "social awkwardness" thing is a real concern. Particularly if it's combined with arrogantly assuming home schooling or their religious upbringing is superior to others.

These kids could end up as annoying as their parents.

Socialization is important for any child. The ability to adapt to environments and opinions that may be different from what they know will help them in their journey through life.

A dose of humility and respect for others may also be helpful.

It takes a village to raise a child. - Hillary Clinton

It's not so much a distrust of the general public, so much as a recognition of the failure of government in the area of education.

If you don't trust government with your children's healthcare, why trust them with your children's education. Please, if you have signed up for Obamacare, please let us know, so we can't unjustly consider you inconsistent. In what other areas do you trust the government to do a better job than motivated individuals or the private sector?

Home schooling is not isolation at all. Our children all spend 10-20 hours each week with their peers outside of our home. But it's the inadequate education and supervision in the government schools that is problematic for us.

We have a great church and have also found a wide variety of sporting and extracurricular activities that our children participate in. Our children also attend courses at a local college. I often tell my wife and children that I don't think a college degree from that school would be worth very much, but it does make for a good high school experience. In areas where the local college is weak, we've had our children do distance learning courses through UC Berkeley, Rice, Duke, and other institutions.

Why not move? Louisiana has a tremendous amount to offer both adults and children in just about every area of life other than public education. We can easily make up the education gap by home schooling, but the other quality of life gaps are much harder to make up in other places. We may relocate to qualify for in state tuition in a place with better universities. But I'm sure we'd work hard to return to LA as soon as that is squared away.

Ultimately, I'd like to live either on Holly Beach or Grand Isle. I recently turned down a job offer that would have provided living accommodations on Holly Beach, because it would have been unfair to my children who really need a bunch of closer recreational activities (their favorites, not mine) and college classes.

What school District do you live in Math Geek?

My wife is rather insistent I keep that private. I can say that the public school we most closely considered was Baton Rouge Magnet, and after some of their teachers met our students at the science fair they really wanted our children to enroll there. We had a close look and discussed the possibility with our children, but ultimately decided to continue home schooling.

Our family has some close connections with Christian Life Academy, and since they have an average ACT score of 28 and a pretty good environment, we also had a strong look and some careful conversations. Ultimately, we felt we could do better continuing to home school for academic reasons more related to how government regulations and accreditation requirements are holding them back combined with our students' desire for real accredited college classes and the scheduling and transportation difficulties arranging that when attending any brick and mortar school compared with flexibility of home school scheduling.

In the end, home schooling has been a family decision after weighing the available options.

Yet another advantage in home schooling is that the scheduling flexibility opens up employment opportunities that are generally unavailable to public school students. The laws of supply and demand being what they are, public school students face significant employment disadvantages since their availability is limited to times when there is a huge oversupply of other public school students also available for work in a local market (after school, weekends, over breaks). Home school students seeking work have the schedule flexibility to provide needed services at times when the supply of available labor is much smaller.

Schedule flexibility is also huge and supports family trips and vacations any time of year. There is no need to risk confrontations with the truant officers to take your children on longer hunting or fishing or hiking or camping trips during the school year. Weather and hunting seasons don’t carefully follow the breaks in the public school calendar. Home schooling allows breaks to be taken at any time, or it allows the educational process to go mobile as long as state mandated requirements for subject matter and the length of school day are met.

In addition to preserving our faith-based values, home schooling has empowered our children to travel much more and have both academic and sporting accomplishments that would have otherwise been much harder. Just as the most competitive tennis players and gymnasts are often home schooled to allow for their travel and practice schedules, we’ve found home schooling allows a much higher level of focus on our children’s chosen sports.

Yes, killing crabs for cut bait is an integral part of our home school curriculum. You really want to cut it the other way, though: between the eyes from front to back.

Plug was pulled, DNR.

Hmmm, my grandson attended public school, had a 3.97 gap in advance curricula, made a 34 on first try ACT. So evidently its not the school fault for failure, but how the parent raises children and how the student applies themselves in curricula. Making A,s in ccollege.Pretty good I would say for public school!

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Looks like pappy needs tie learn how to type! Hehe

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There are a lot of college programs that are very easy to earn As in. I recently read about one big state school with hundreds of perfect or near perfect GPAs last semester. Academic rigor is a thing of the past at many colleges these days.

Ok we get it, your smart, your kids are smart but your self righteousness is so overwhelming your losing your audience.

which one? I can use another college degree

Yeah, no kidding, huh? Maybe something useful. Nobody gives a crap about Liberal Arts degrees. Everyone knows those are a crock.

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MG, what is the end game of such academic rigor?