Unsure About Homeschooling

[meboriqua at aol.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Ebony" <ebonyink at h...> wrote:
 
> Don't get me wrong.  Homeschooling is a great idea for certain 
> families and in certain circumstances.  As ed policy, I have 
numerous issues with it.>

I may have missed the beginning of this thread, so sorry if I repeat 
anything that has been said before.  I've had to let OT slide a bit 
the last few weeks, and am now trying to catch up.  

I, too am very unsure about homeschooling.  I may be biased because I 
am a public high school teacher, but I know personally I could never 
ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever 
stay home all day with either or both of my parents.  I love my 
parents but even now as a 31 year old I can only take small doses; if 
I was a teenager I'd go mad being home with them every day.  I think I 
might have also been a bit biased because the only homeschooling 
situations I have heard of are parents who are fanatically religious 
and overprotective and want to teach their children a very narrow 
curriculum of subjects.

I can see the benefits of homeschooling; I love what both Amy and Rose 
said.  What about socialization?  Isn't it important for children to 
learn how to get along with their peers?  I always wondered how 
homeschooled children dealt with social situations as they got older.  
How do they date?  What is it like for them during their first year of 
college?  Is it hard to have jobs where supervisors expect certain 
hours after having such freedom and flexibility for so long?

I also have to defend schools a bit.  There are many different kinds 
of schools out there, and I am talking about public schools.  I teach 
in one.  We don't give grades or regular exams, our classes our often 
capped at smaller numbers (although we are having serious space issues 
right now which makes things very difficult), and we have a 
non-academic class called Advisory which is like a family group.  My 
Advisory and I talk about school and school issues and we also talk 
about very serious social issues; everything from rape to 
homosexuality to racism to people who are annoying on the subway.  The 
kids love the extra attention they get because they were never focused 
on like this before.  It is easy to get to know nearly every student 
in the school, even students who have never been in any of my classes 
because we have no more than 130 students at our site.  We teachers 
often have a good deal of freedom with designing our curriculums 
(sp?).

My point is that there are some alternative programs around that are 
much more flexible and attentive than your average public school, 
which is, IMO, like a combination jail/factory.  I'd like to hear more 
about homeschooling, though.  It sounds fun and rewarding the way it 
is described by Rose.

--jenny from ravenclaw *************