HOME SCHOOL STATISTICS

HomeLife Academy ^ | 29 Sep 2003

[Marie]

If I had $7,000 per child a year to homeschool... *shivers* Oh, what I could do... 2 more computers, microscopes, disection kits, a globe that's still in ONE piece, a HUGE personal library, video classes, shelves NOT made from bricks and plywood... *shivers again*

[Marie]

I personally know LOTS of poor homeschoolers. WHY DO YOU THINK WE'RE POOR? We live and educate kids on one income instead of two.

[Marie]

Home shooling families have a high percentage of kids with behavioral and developmental problems.

Ooooh! You got that one right! As of right now, my son is reading at grade level and working math a year ahead. If he's been in public school, he'd be drugged and struggling to read at the most basic level. My daughter is four years ahead of her peers in math and reading and I've had to work with her half as hard as The Boy.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Carry_Okie]

My just turned eleven-year-old, Freeper NattieShea, is finishing her advanced high-school algebra. She'll start college calculus this year.

[Marie]

Is she, by chance, a Saxon kid? ;-)

[SpookBrat]

You are probably right. There are lots of kids in our co-op who have diagnosed ADD or ADHD and they are functioning just fine. I have 7 students in my small American History class for Junior High. Two of them are dyslexic, one of them is severely dyslexic. I was dreading it all summer how I was going to handle them in my class. I'm am SHOCKED at how well they are doing. I’m really surprised at how wonderfully they are doing. I don't ask them to read anything in class. They have strengths and I try to work with those. I’m just so proud of these two boys, I could explode.

[only1percent]

I would only say that critical thinking and an open mind are not the same thing.

I want my children to grow up with my religious and political beliefs.

An open mind is a pre-requisite to critical thinking. One cannot think critically if one cannot willingly receive and evaluate new evidence, and apply such evidence to challenge old assumptions and conclusions.

An open mind is obviously not synonymous with a gullible or weak mind. In fact, it is the best defense against being deceived or taken advantage of. Circumstances frequently collide in life to wipe away our preconceived notions or accepted wisdom regarding certain issues. Only those who can think critically can confront such crises and come out the other end with a rational and reasonable outcome.

Desiring to pass on one's religious faith and political views to one's children is a key example of the necessity of the open mind and critical thinking. Many people, regardless of their upbrinding, lose their faith or beliefs due to one or more crisis, or find that they simply lack the gift of faith as adults. A period of healthy skepticism of one's parents political beliefs is automatic for any young adult who is not a moron in the first place.

Someone with the ability to think critically can retain their values and keep their conduct upright, because they can reason their way through to the merit of values and right conduct even in the face of the destruction of the premise upon which those values were inculcated in them. Those without the ability to think critically end up as violently degenerate atheists or leftists (or overcompensate and end up silly white Buddhists...)

[Carry_Okie]

Is she, by chance, a Saxon kid? ;-)

Absolutely not. Saxon is a fine source of drill exercises, but IMO it is an archaic system. I constructed my own math curriculum.

[bd476]

Homeschooling Ping. Interesting article takes a look at statistics, achievement, profile of parents, etc.

[CyberCowboy777]

I think you have bought into a load of PC garbage. Is your mind open to that? ;~)

You do not have to give any validity or even consideration to non sense in order to have a factual, logical stance on an issue.

Thinking is not the practice of accepting so you can reject. It is rejecting quickly that which has no value.

Think of a great mind with access via a Firewall. Simple garbage get knocked down without thought, more complex garbage hits the next level and is discarded after failing to measure up to a logic test and quality information comes in un garbled and ready for consumption.

Faith is outside logic - outside the mind.

Maybe you and I have defined an open mind differently.

[xzins]

I don't think that's poor.

But the point has to do with Averages, not with particular cases.

My sense is that all the homeschoolers I've ever known were working people. Most of them were sincerely religious folks who couldn't NOT work because our Christian religion demands that we earn our living by the sweat of our brow....that he who doesn't provide for his own is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith.

Public schools tend to include the kids of non-working folks....those that don't like it and don't want to. (Not those who want to but can't find a job....that's different.)

[Marie]

I constructed my own math curriculum.

Have you packaged it? (Always interested in alternatives!)

[BSunday]

Didn't I say I wasn't doubting? I was curious.

[GummyIII]

I posted a link to this site the other day on another thread. I'm a professional educator who is a strong home-school advocate. I try to teach my students the way I'd teach my daughters. No one is a better teacher and supporter of children than their own parents.

[Carry_Okie]

Nope. I've had a lot of people aske me. Perhaps if I started a list I might come up with enough customers that would go for it that I could justify the project.

We used sophisticated algebra techniques to teach arithmetic. Both kids could factor quadratics in their heads by the age of eight. It's not that hard. There is no handwaving or cute notation, but it does require a very rigorous understanding of how to directly translate word problems into mathematics.

[Carry_Okie]

No one is a better teacher and supporter of children than their own parents.

Aside from the motivational factors, home education has logical advantages as well, in part because no one but a parent is more likely to present information in such a manner that their will easily assimilate it. They share common modes of perception and many both linguistic and non-verbal modes of communication.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

I agree with you entirely, Spookie.

I led a homeschool support group for 6.5 years and most of the families were middle to lower income range. Now I'm a private school administrator (homeschool umbrella ISP) and of the 17 families I currently have, only 2 are what one would consider 'well off'.

Those who homeschool do so on one income (usually) and freely 'sacrifice'....although sacrifice isn't the right term, imo. I'll stick with the modest home and used vehicle(s), maintaining a budget and otherwise being extremely frugal in order to give my child what I consider to be the best.

[mrs tiggywinkle]

**More money for education will not solve problems.**

Those big bucks just find their way into the pockets of school officials...funny how that happens, huh?

[SpookBrat]

Open mindedness is over rated.

I'm open minded about what color to paint my living room, but I'm not open minded about abortion, for example.

I never really questioned my parents "close minded raising" either. It all made sense to me so I accepted it.