Posted on 09/29/2010 7:45:54 AM PDT by GonzoII
Fifteen-year-old Tess Rodrigues is a typical teenager: She spends her free time at the mall, hangs out with friends and stays connected on Facebook.
But unlike most 10th-graders, Tess is home- schooled by her mother, and supplements her studies in marine biology, Spanish and world history with help from a weekly home- school co-op group.
“My mom and I laugh a lot and have fun,” Tess said. “And with the work, I get to go at my own pace, unlike a regular classroom. I can speed through lessons that are easy, and take time to go over things if I don’t get them.”
Her mother, Lisa Landis Rodrigues, started home-schooling her three children when t hey were in second, fourth and fifth grade.
“I’m not anti-school at all — I think teachers are awesome and I think most schools are great,” said the Rhode Island mom. “But morally, I think they go way too fast. I wanted my 10-year-old to be a 10-year-old, not get caught up in how other kids dress and act, so I decided to home-school them.”
Though such students represent an estimated 3 percent of the population, evidence suggests that home-schooling is a growing trend in America. While most say faith is their primary motivation, others choose this path for a variety of reasons that include dissatisfaction with the local school system, caring for special-needs kids, safety concerns, flexibility to travel and the chance to spend more time with their children.
And, proponents say, the home-schoolers of yesteryear, stereotyped as socially awkward, religiously dogmatic and ill-prepared for the real world, aren’t representative of current home-schoolers who more closely mirror the mainstream.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.msnbc.msn.com ...
I’m a public school teacher who plans on homeschooling my son.
Hmmmm...my 15 year old homeschooled child is in her 5th semester at the local university and hates the mall. This mom is a slacker ;)
Stigma?
Hehe. My filter blocked the MSNBC site.
Yeah, right.
I have heard this same comment, over and over, from those who work in the public schools.
That in itself is a big selling point for homeschooling.
what stigma was ever there?
Maybe there was a stigma to the liberals at MSNBC who wrote this artice, but I never thought there was a stigma as such to home schooling.
Insight into the liberal mind.............
Well, *I* think that some teachers would love to do a better job actually teaching, but their hands are tied by the administration and parents who threaten lawsuits.
My wife trained as a teacher, and my SIL is a teacher--both absolutely hate the system, since it actually prevents effective teaching.
How's that?
I never thought about how my children were just that until I saw many of their peers. Nine year olds that acted like they were in their teens. I thought maybe I was stifling my children, but realized they were still being children, rather than rushing to be adults. My daughter is 12 and physically looks 16. But, she is more interested in dolls than boys and her younger friends are amazed that she plays with them. “You do realize I am only 9,” one has said. My daughter’s makes friends with anyone from toddlerhood to adulthood. She never thinks of age.
I never thought about how my children were just that until I saw many of their peers. Nine year olds that acted like they were in their teens. I thought maybe I was stifling my children, but realized they were still being children, rather than rushing to be adults. My daughter is 12 and physically looks 16. But, she is more interested in dolls than boys and her younger friends are amazed that she plays with them. “You do realize I am only 9,” one has said. My daughter makes friends with anyone from toddlerhood to adulthood. She never thinks of age.
I believe in what I’m doing as a school teacher; however, there are many things that anger me about public education. I want my son to have better. I know that there is vast standardized test cheating as well as many other means to shuffle kids through the system. We are harming them by doing this. I uphold standards in my classroom, but I know that some teachers my son will have won’t.
That should speak volumes to anyone who is paying attention.
We are in our 29th year of home schooling and holding home school clinics for parents.
Have you all been keeping up with Obama’s proposals for longer school years, etc.?
In 1983 an attendance officer in Citrus County, Florida tried to trap me by asking me how many days each year our children are “in class.”
My answer? 365!
>>Hmmmm...my 15 year old homeschooled child is in her 5th semester at the local university and hates the mall. This mom is a slacker ;)<<
LOL!
But seriously, the head of our homeschool group, who knows my daughter very well, told me not to push her into college. This lady’s son graduated with an associates at 17. She said that my daughter may not be ready to start at 14. Not all kids are. I’ll try and put her in with simple classes like Keyboarding and Math. But some kids are made to start it at a younger age.
his is from MSNBC???
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