I met a 17 year old and a 14 year old who had the maturity of someone less than half their ages. The 17 year old failed the SAT and in my estimation will never pass it. But far worse is the fact that neither of these kids has any ability to communicate with anyone outside of their immediate family. An immediate family that is headed by two of the most arrogantly ignorant people you'd ever want to meet.
They have brought these kids up by spoon feeding them intellectual pablum and making them incapable of any initiative or independent thought or action.
What they've done to these kids is criminal, so I will never again give a blanket approval to home schoolers. I know there are lots of terrific examples out there, but it is the ones that aren't terrific and are actually doing damage to their kids you don't hear about.
Do the percentages however, and it becomes apparent that homeschools as a whole see a far smaller proportion of underachieving, pampered losers than the pubskewl does. The perfect can not be made the enemy of the good.
Absolutely right.
Homeschooling, in the hands of good, loving, hard-working parents can really work. I'm where I'm at because of it. But there are exceptions -- and they are rare -- where homeschooling is nothing but a cover for negligence, or even abuse.
This is why -- and this is an unpopular sentiment amongst some homeschoolers -- I firmly support the local school districts checking up on homeschooled kids.
"so I will never again give a blanket approval to home schoolers."
I'm curious, do you give blanket approval to public schoolers? You could say the same thing there which you've said about homeschoolers -- a public school education is only as good as the school in which it takes place.
You're going to find disappointing experiences in either place. Odds are, however, you'll find far fewer problems in the homeschool environment; as time goes on this is increasingly backed by hard data.
With best wishes --
And of course, this has never happened to a public school kid. >/sarcasm off
At the very least you can say they are no worse off than a public education (or lack thereof). I have to agree with your overarching point. I only know of one instance personally, but it was equally as sad. The two boys were in a broken home with a mother who kept them there for her own emotional security. The real shame (these boys not knowing how to read) was that the mother would coach them on how to "fake it" and/or dodge questions and inspection. But in the end it is also a fact that the public school system pumps out a shamefull percentage of these type of kids yearly. With homeschoolers it is a true anomaly. My wife does an outstanding job homeschooling with our kids. I'm proud of them and they are very bright. I have only optimism for their future success and thank Heavenly Father for such a wonderful wife and that he continues to bless us that the sacrifices we make to help our children in this way truly become light when tied to the yoke of Jesus Christ.
I met a 17 year old and a 14 year old who had the maturity of someone less than half their ages. The 17 year old failed the SAT and in my estimation will never pass it. But far worse is the fact that neither of these kids has any ability to communicate with anyone outside of their immediate family. An immediate family that is headed by two of the most arrogantly ignorant people you'd ever want to meet.
They have brought these kids up by spoon feeding them intellectual pablum and making them incapable of any initiative or independent thought or action.
What they've done to these kids is criminal, so I will never again give a blanket approval to home schoolers. I know there are lots of terrific examples out there, but it is the ones that aren't terrific and are actually doing damage to their kids you don't hear about."
You are right. The good news is that this family is very unusual.
We've homeschooled for ten years and I know of one family which is somewhat like this. However, I know at least fifty other homeschooling families, none of which are like this at all.
Anything can be abused.
Every teacher I know, basis their final opinion on more than just one example. This is a very poor statement coming from a teacher, and a public school teacher at that!