Posted on 02/01/2012 7:14:56 AM PST by Sopater
What did you think when you read this teaser on the cover of the February 6 issue of Newsweek magazine?
If you are like me, your blood pressure began to rise, you began marshaling all of your “liberal media” talking points, and then you remembered that Proverbs probably says you should read the darn thing before you go nuts on your Facebook page. So then—yes only then—you read the article.
Then you repented. Because the title was intentionally provocative, but the article is a positive, even pleasant story about “why urban, educated parents are turning to DIY education.”
You may read the article here >>
True, the author suggests that “We”—meaning the typical Newsweek reader—“think of homeschoolers as evangelicals or off-the-gridders who spend a lot of time at kitchen tables in the countryside. And it’s true that most homeschooling parents do so for moral or religious reasons.”
But the rest of the article goes on to explain how more and more highly educated, urban-dwelling parents are catching on to what “we” evangelical, off-the-gridders have known for decades—Homeschooling works!
After getting to know several homeschooling families, the author wistfully considers homeschooling herself. “So the more I hung out with homeschoolers, the more I found myself picking him [her preschool-aged son] up from school early, to squeeze in some of the fun these families were having. I began to think, why not homeschool?”
Yes indeed. Why not homeschool?
Didn't that used to be a magazine or something?
I don’t think anyone reads Newsweek anymore; let alone cares what Newsweek has to say about anything.
I have a libinlaw that, when asked, said she considers herself “informed” because she reads Newsweak every week.
So, yeah, some do read it and care what it says.
So.... They’re not ALL racist, evangeical nuts. Some of them are, instead, sophosticated urbanites!
Home schooled children Newsweek would NEVER attack:
1) Islamist children
2) Gay children who don’t want to be ‘bullied’
3) Black children escaping public education hell
4) ‘Confused’ Transgendered children
5) Children escaping public schools with religious phrases on the walls because they are offended
Raised 3 homeschoolers and they are doing very well, thank you! Can't say the same for a lot of their government-educated friends though...
#3 they might deride.
Leftists are like crabs in a bucket - if one is escaping, the others will reach up and pull him back down.
Spewsweek....
“Highly-educated urban” parents would likely be sending their children to private school, costing a fortune (in addition to the taxes they’re paying for the government system) and taking a lot of parental effort. A little common sense would show that homeschooling, especially with some professional classes thrown in, would save them money, time, and hassle.
Yeah, but THEY would have to deal with the little brats instead of shipping them off for someone else to take care of while they, the parents, seek their “me time” and “self-actualization”.
We’re almost done with our kids, and it was undoubtedly one of the best decisions of my life. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Exactly...
I do not homeschool. I have kids in high school now.
Over the years, I have met quite a few homeschoolers. Their reasons are many - from Christian values to special needs to distance to quality schools to parents wanting to push academic achievement. I have learned a lot from homeschooling parents.
My outsider’s view - these kids are always well-mannered, well-spoken and well adjusted. Obviously, not all public schools are not a bad environment (though many are), but all public schools DO waste a lot of time.
Course work that would take a full day in public school takes only a couple of hours in homeschools. No need to focus on stragglers, less review, no need to spend time keeping class discipline, and of course, no educrat propoganda to deal with.
Awesome... keep recommending it.
WOW and actual balanced article on home schooling.... objectively writen.... I’m .... stunned.
Yah; it was a news magazine about 40 or 50 years ago.
Now it is a propaganda tool of the far Left.
So one has to wonder what the real agenda of the article is.
I may have to bend my principles and read this article.
“think of homeschoolers as evangelicals or off-the-gridders . . .”
I and my wife are neither “Off-the-gridders” of evangelicals. We just did not like the quality of public education when we chose to homeschool. So far, two sons are now engineers (one on track to become a tech fellow at his company, the other tracked to project manager less than a year after graduation) and the third is studying engineering.
But we did organize our home school as a religious school - St. Menas Orthodox Academy. Why? Because there are greater court protections if you are homeschooling for religious reasons than for purely secular reasons. School districts are more likely to leave you alone if you opt out of their services because you want to provide your children a religious education than if you opt out because you are dissatisfied with the quality of public education.
To put it in other words, they are happier viewing you as a religious kook than viewing you as someone who realizes they are incompetent twits. The former is less of a threat to their world-view, and my objective was to be left alone, not make a statement.
Move? Well sometimes that is not an option. People have to stick around taking care of sick parents or they cannot find a job in another area or they own a small business.
What I have noticed is most people who homeschool live in more rural, low cost of living areas and if they live in a urban area one spouse has a very high paying job so the other spouse can stay home.
Sure, there are people in situations where very hard choices would have to be made in order to homeschool. I guess it’s a matter of priorities.
There are some, though, that use “circumstances” as an excuse because they are afraid to try or simply don’t want to make the sacrifices necessary to do so,
and you know that’s the truth.
They also push much of the teaching on to parents..With excessive homework.
Most of the education should occur during school hours, homework should only be for reinforcement.
The veil of deception is slowly lifting.
Or, as Julia Ward Howe wrote, "God's Truth is marching on."
Just finished reading the article. It’s surprisingly good.
I was a professor and eventual departmnet chair at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the 90’s. Even then you could pick out the home schooled students without asking. They ere universally focused, prepared and mature in their approach to learning at a time when we had to reorganize our curriculum to make remedial courses in writing and communication to fill the gaps left in the shortcomings of those publicly educated students. From this perspective alone I am a huge fan of home schooling.
Sadly, despite the objective article, most people will see and remember only the derogatory headline, and the home school myth will continue for many.
Too bad our “news” sources won’t use a headline like: “The Truth about Home Schooling”, or “Home School Benefits”. But that wouldn’t fit their agenda.
At least the few people who read Newsweek will have their eyes opened.
LMAO! The mental image of that analogy is PRICELESS! Thank you for making me smile in the morning. Always makes the day just a bit more pleasant. :-)
FYI, Homeschoolers tend to have incomes at or below the national median. The financial issue is priorities.
The author of the article tipped her hand toward the end: she and her husband considered homeschooling, but when they saw what they would have to “give up” they chose “detachment parenting”. In other words, they chose stuff over their children.
Someone has to earn a living for the family, and some parents just aren’t cut out for full time teaching.
I was not in a high paying job and I lived in a moderatly large city, yet we made the decision to have my wife quit work and teach our boys. Right now we are home schooling 3 boys, and when I work swing shift I consistently see them done by noon and we get to spend the afternoon outside playing.
I do not think everybody is disciplined enough to follow through on this type of schooling, but for my family I am exstatic.
We had a two income household before we had kids,
and frankly, before my wife and I were “new creations”.
The choice to homeschool was tough for such worldly minded people as we were,
but the idea of turning my kids over to be indoctrinated by liberals was so abhorrent to me, that I considered it.
After attending a homeschooling conference, I was amazed at the caliber of the kids and the “scent of Christ” present everywhere. Shortly thereafter we were both fully on board with homeschooling, and with Christ.
Anybody else see a connection here?
***Homeschooling works!***
Not necessarily! For some it is great! I’ve known several that have done well.
But not all. My wife’s cousin home schooled her kids. When they left home they immediately went wild and into drug addiction, crime, in trouble all the time. Now they are older adults and have not done well in life.
My family and my church congregation homeschool K-12 and the kids who want to go to college tend to have competing scholarship offers. I wish it had been an option opened to me. I came to this at 18 and the adult literacy courses have way improved my interest in reading and writing. Being on FR is part of what I do to improve my writing skills, too.
But, yeah, we homeschool and we love it.
We explained that by the time they were in High School they would be making nearly all their own decisions.
Because they had choices, and were responsible for the results, they never became rebellious.
They are all adults now and a delight to be around.
They are teaching their own kids the same and the grandchildren are a delight.
It took some work, but it was worth it.
Remember when the teachers union would say students who were home schooled were stupid?
That stopped when home school kids were shown to perform better in contests. So they changed the rules.
THEN they said the BS about socialization and dealing with real world people. When they came out as natural leaders over the sheep of the public school that was dropped.
SO NOW the government and teacher unions are reduced to ridicule and deception.
That’s true - but surely some would find that they really like their children, or would put effort into growing likeable children, if they were going to be spending time with them.
We started HS'ing in SoCal.....There were at least 75 HS'ing families that were in the HS'ing co-op. I would call most of them avg. families...that sacrificed other things, to HS their kids.
Personally speaking....we didn't take lavish vacations, didn't have a second car, didn't eat out much....IOW, we lived within our means.
I've a good occupation....but I guess it's all relative what you think is a "very high paying job".
We've been homeschooling since 1993 (wow), and homeschoolers have never fit the neat box that the media would like to stick them in.
For years, the media has tried to peg us all as evangelicals, but we've known Christians; non-Christians; Catholics; Jewish HSers; Mormons; 7th Day Adventists; atheists; skeptics; hippies; homesteaders; people who travel; every "race" you could imagine; people who homeschool because their children are ill; athletes; unschoolers; artists; business owners; people who were unemployed; married; divorced; single parents; musicians; gifted children; children with delays and learning disorders; every socioeconomic class you can imagine; parents without a high school diploma; parents with PhDs; teenagers with college degrees; elementary aged kids in college; members of the military; farmers; miners; doctors; ranchers; engineers; families with 12 children; families with one child; families where both parents stayed home; families where no parent stayed home; you name it.
Parents from all walks of life; united in their desire to do the right thing and provide their children with the best education possible.
So, this is nice, but we do not need to media's approval, and should openly question why there is interest now.
One of the best things I ever did...was HS'ing my kids.
We started in SoCal....back in '87-'88....and finished here in OK.
— We explained that by the time they were in High School they would be making nearly all their own decisions.
Because they had choices, and were responsible for the results, they never became rebellious.
—
You’re a man after my own heart. I told them, “as long as you act responsibly, I will give you more and more freedom, and vice versa.” Same results. No problems or rebellion.
And I think this is the root of teenage rebellion (in addition to a lack of religious instruction). Teenagers exist in a feedback- free environment. No matter how they behave, they end up in the same class behind the same desk doing the sake thing, day after day. No risks, rewards or consequences. It’s a recipe for madness.
My husband did sort of the same thing with my daughter with her swimming. When she would ask if she had to go to practice, my husband would say, I don’t know, you tell me. You know what you need to do before your next meet, I don’t.
She always went - it paid off, too.
Most of the homeschoolers in my neighborhood (more home schoolers than public school kids) home school because they know that they can do a better job than the public school, in a lot less time than it takes in a public school classroom and when the most of the neighborhood is homeschooled, there is no lack of socializing, either.
We need to make a big change when it comes to what we call our “local” schools.
It is a fact that all local residents pay the property taxes that go into “local” schools. Yet, parents who pay local taxes imto local schools in their area are unable, and often not allowed, to obtain any direct benefit for themselves and their children for their tax contribution to the schools.
Off the top of my head I can think of at least three areas where the “local school resources” should be open to participation by the home-schooled children of parents who pay taxes into the local schools.
Their children should, at a minimum, be allowed to parrticipate in all the “non-academic” activities of their local schools - gymn class and participation in the school’s organized sports teams, elective classes like music and drama, and use of the schools’ library facilities.
Also when local schools host college entrance examinations like the SATs, ALL local children, even the local home- schooled children should be allowed participation in them.
I am sure other “common” benefits of the local school infrastructure could be listed as resources that ought to open to any children whose parent’s taxes are funding that infrastructure, even if they are “home schooled”.
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