It’s Time to Start Rethinking Who Educates Our Kids

[Sensei]

Twenty years ago, I didn’t have a favorable opinion of homeschooling. Part of the problem was that my uncle homeschooled all five of his kids and only 2 turned out OK because he barely had a high school education himself. Plus, his motives were purely religious and kept his family in a Southern Baptist cult.

Fast forward twenty years and boy have my opinions changed on who should educate our kids. My son was born with some developmental delays along the social-communication and ADHD spectrum that didn’t manifest until about age two. We tried traditional pre-school at a local private school (a “Country Day” type of place) but had to hire an outside resource because his inattention disrupted the class. Kindergarten at a public school that was focused on kids with special needs was a nightmare with daily emails from the teacher that always began with, “Regarding_______” (insert our son’s name). Next came another private school that cost a fortune but was the local ADHD center of excellence - that lasted all of 7 days before the headmaster refunded our tuition because our son was too inattentive.

So, for the past 4 years we’ve homeschooled. We hire outside teachers who come to our house or conduct classes online. He also participates in co-ops and sports through various organizations. It’s been wonderful. He gets the attention that he needs from experienced teachers. Most importantly, it allows me near complete control over his environment so that I do not have to beat to death people like this flaming asshole: https://hotair.com/david-strom/2022/...ooming-n516467

This is just one of many examples of the education system, both public and private, being used to reprogram our kids in a very twisted way. It’s not going to get better soon. So, if you plan on having kids, just go ahead and budget about $10-15K/yr. to educate them. Otherwise, you run the very real risk of them coming across someone like Headmaster Butt Plug and the school administration that is willing to protect his dumb ass. Hell, you may even get to meet the local cops who recently seem more than willing to arrest “disruptive” parents who voice their opinions when their children are raped in bathrooms by male students wearing skirts.

So, my suggestion is that you do what I did, weigh the cost of home schooling vs. massive legal fees and incarceration, and choose wisely.

[willie]

Does your son have a dog and/or cat? If not, I bet he would benefit from their companionship. In your back yard, he would enjoy throwing horse shoes--competing with family and friends. Have you taught him how to shoot marbles in a friendly game? Planting tomato seeds to grow plants and then raising a crop in 5 gallon buckets? Certainly you have a microscope. Make a hay infusion with pond water and grow your own protozoa to observe. You can order an ant farm for him to observe. Bearded Dragons make good pets. They're calm and are real hams for attention. He can conduct experiments with batteries, wire, and bulbs. Let him figure out what does and does not work to make the light shine.

[Tensaw]

Yup. Our first daughter started out in a Montessori school, which was pretty good. First grade was at a fancy pants private school. Private school lasted about halfway through second grade and ultimately we decided to home school her. We just were not happy with how the school was run and other things unrelated to the curriculum. It was a huge undertaking and probably cost more than the private school tuition. My wife did all the heavy lifting and was soon selecting curriculum a la carte. The a la carte approach was even more expensive, but allowed her to tailor the curriculum to my daughter's needs. That daughter graduated college a couple years ahead of her peers, earned a master's, and went to work earning pretty good money for someone her age. Having worked now for a few years, she about to start on her doctorate.

Daughter number two was homeschooled right out of the gate. We thought we could recycle daughter number one's curriculum, but we were wrong. She got her own stuff. She is knocking on a 3.9 GPA as she enters her senior year of college. She also works a real job while going to school. She too, is ADD/ADHDish (a gift from dear old dad).

People tried to scare us with the socialization thing. Yeah, you have to pay attention to that, but it is largely bullshit, in my opinion. Best line I heard on that years ago was, "My kids will be socialized, just not by your kids." I believe both are better off socially for having been homeschooled.

Props to my wife for the job she did on this. She is a very hard worker and did great with both girls.

For those thinking about getting into homeschooling, I would say examine your kids and your motives. It is a heavy lift, but worth it. There are tons of resources out there, some which did not exist 20-somethinfgyears ago when we started on this journey. Have faith in yourself. It is totally doable.

[4RNR]

No direct experience but I have a friend who homeschools all his kids. I used to privately think it was harmless but kooky. Seeing his kids as they get older and thinking back to stuff he would say that I can now see, i have now completely changed my mind.

His kids are probably more well rounded then just about any kid in the typical school system. Everyone has school and school work along with chores. Tablets are only for school related activities and no one has a cell phone. TV is for weekends and occasional bad weather days. Kids are always running around outside doing stuff.

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[JAD]

I am very supportive of my friends who homeschool. It generally works very well for them. We have pulled the boy (who has attention issues, well short of a diagnosis but a pain in the butt) and homeschooled for a couple of semesters when our schools were not getting it right; my wife is a trained and experienced grade school teacher so it's worked well, but it is REALLY hard work and we're too antisocial for the socialization-supplanting co-ops and stuff. We're currently in sixth grade in a pretty devout Catholic school and getting great results, which I'd say are 30% school, 50% faith, and 20% scouts (Scouts has been crazy good for our boy; that is very troop dependent). His math is... not engineering track, but his writing is excellent, critical thinking way past his peers, and maturation and discipline slowly getting there.

If we had >2 kids or were better at the co-op approach I'd say homeschooling would be better -- the curricula at our school still sucks in a lot of ways -- but I think we've got the best approach possible under the circumstances.

[Tensaw]

I am very supportive of my friends who homeschool. It generally works very well for them. We have pulled the boy (who has attention issues, well short of a diagnosis but a pain in the butt) and homeschooled for a couple of semesters when our schools were not getting it right; my wife is a trained and experienced grade school teacher so it's worked well, but it is REALLY hard work and we're too antisocial for the socialization-supplanting co-ops and stuff. We're currently in sixth grade in a pretty devout Catholic school and getting great results, which I'd say are 30% school, 50% faith, and 20% scouts (Scouts has been crazy good for our boy; that is very troop dependent). His math is... not engineering track, but his writing is excellent, critical thinking way past his peers, and maturation and discipline slowly getting there.

If we had >2 kids or were better at the co-op approach I'd say homeschooling would be better -- the curricula at our school still sucks in a lot of ways -- but I think we've got the best approach possible under the circumstances.

Dude, I love me some Scouting! Looking back at my own experience (I am 55 yoa), BSA has clearly changed, and not for the better but; I had two *fantastic* Scoutmasters (Mr. Holland and Mr. Smith) who consistently took us to the woods. Super impactful and tons of lessons learned that stay with me to this day. Our troop was all about learning/doing stuff; chasing merit badges or rank was not really a thing. Our guys could perform! I recall a Jamboree where myself and other "junior" guys ended up sidelining some of the ranked guys they had teaching certain skills and showing them how things were done (all in perfect humility of course). Scouting, for me, really built the critical thinking, maturity, and discipline - much moreso than school. My one regret is realizing too late in the game how valuable it would be to attain the rank of Eagle. By the time this clicked, I was too old to work through the remaining ranks to get there before turning 18 (or whatever the age cut-off was).

RE: being anti-social, same here, but our girls and my wife made some pretty good friends through the co-op stuff. Give it a fair shake. Clearly the folks involved in that have at least some things in common with ya'll.

[Darth_Uno]

Wife and I were both homeschooled. Yes, it was partly (mostly) for "religious" reasons, and the stereotypes about homeschoolers have some basis in reality. But, it all worked out. Plus it's a good excuse. Whenever someone says, "You're a weird dude, you know that?" I can say, "Well, I was homeschooled."

The scene has changed though. Especially during Covid. I know several parents who are not religious at all, who just feel it's a better overall experience for the kids and the best fit for their family.

[Doc_Glock]

Kid 1: Homeschool til 7th. Then private Classical school. He’s pretty ADD and did fine in HS. Does great in major classes at college, not so well in the Gen Eds due to interest. Will graduate next year in four. Kind of a 3.0 student. But really hard worker, he has absolutely great friends from home school years and scouting.

Kid 2: Homeschooled til 9th. Tried a year and half of high school. Didn’t like that. Finished at home school now straight A private college student graduating in three years.

Kid 3: Homeschool til 7th. Tried a couple years at private school also hated it. Came home and finished at community college. Also straight A at college finishing in three. In the art world surrounded by warped victimhood culture but seems to be remarkably steady.

Kid 4: Junior in High school. Home school and dual enrollment at community college. May just stay there a while. We didn’t bother trying regular school with him. He’s happy.

Kid 5: 8th grade. Would love to go to school as he is so social but remarkably dyslexic. Home schooling him. Letting him do advanced for age math and remedial reading with tutoring. He gets his social needs met at scouts, church youth, and home school co op that we host at our house.

I love home schooling. But I will say the kids tend to come out a little soft on the other end. No tough experiences with bullies, no strict or scary teachers to deal with. It hasn’t seemed to hurt my oldest that much but I dunno, my kids just aren’t as tough as I was at the same age. They are also a heck of a lot nicer people than I will ever be.

[David S.]

Check out the "Libs of TikTok" and "Gays Against Groomers" Twitter accounts. damn. There's some goofy shit going on in these schools. And it's not just in liberal cities and states.

Make yourself aware of local charter school options. Texas seems pretty good about it. We put our kids in a "classical education" charter school that has some association with Hillsdale College. There are some additional expenses, like uniforms, but don't pay additional tuition.

For online home school, I've heard positive things from people I trust about Acellus Academy. No personal experience.

[BWT]

I think a blessing in disguise has been COVID.

Parents realize crap being taught to their kids that’s alarming. Parents also realize teaching kids is not that difficult.

Thus - homeschooling is flourishing.