As home-schooling moves to mainstream, stigma fades

MSNBC ^ | 9/27/2010 | Vidya Rao

[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.

[backwoods-engineer]

Thanks for posting from a homeschool dad (we just passed 7 years homeschooling our 2 kids).

[RJR_fan]

The goal is indoctrination and the making of two classes of citizens - unthinking workers and indoctrinated elitist “rulers”.

Actually, the original Prussian model called for three classes of subjects. 1.5% -- the children of the elite, got tutorial instruction that stressed reading, writing, thinking, problem-solving. 4.5% -- the higher-level servitors of the State, the pastors, preachers, professors, pettifoggers, pencil-pushers -- went into the "Talented and Gifted" program. While tools of the ruling class, they were a step above the 94%, the docile factory hands and cannon fodder who followed orders, knew their place, stayed there, and made sure all their peers did, too.

A number of kids from a local residential school for gifted kids attend our church. I tell them to look up the word "Janissary." You can run an empire of slaves, with slaves, as long as the slaves you are running it with are alienated and privileged slaves.

[cyclotic]

When we started home schooling, we thought we’d get some flack from my aunt, a former teacher, school superintendent and employee of the state board of education.

WRONG. She was a great supporter.

[longtermmemmory]

at what point does it reach the tipping point when public schools can’t demand as much tax money?

[buschbaby]

As a brand new homeschooling family, I must say we LOVE it. Our daughter hated public school and was bored beyond reason. Her teacher thought it was a fault my child didn't lie and got upset by children who did! I'd had enough and the closer the school year got the more stressed we became. I just couldn't send her back to that place.

We found a great Christian-based online curriculum. We decided to skip 2nd grade, with a concern math might be a bit difficult. I'm proud to say she is carrying a 99% average and I know she is learning the subject matter.

For someone contemplating homeschooling, I recommend the online curriculum approach as a easy way to start.

[buschbaby]

As a brand new homeschooling family, I must say we LOVE it. Our daughter hated public school and was bored beyond reason. Her teacher thought it was a fault my child didn't lie and got upset by children who did! I'd had enough and the closer the school year got the more stressed we became. I just couldn't send her back to that place.

We found a great Christian-based online curriculum. We decided to skip 2nd grade, with a concern math might be a bit difficult. I'm proud to say she is carrying a 99% average and I know she is learning the subject matter.

For someone contemplating homeschooling, I recommend the online curriculum approach as a easy way to start.

[infowarrior]

Yes, they have failed at educating, but I assert that it has been more of a changing of goals than a failure.

The goal is, indeed as you've said, to indoctrinate, but that was the goal from the very beginning. Dewey and his cohorts lifted the system directly from Prussia, expressly for the purpose. They fail at educating, because that was never their goal to start with...

the infowarrior