Homeschooling/Unschooling

[Amy Z]

Penny wrote:
 
> I agree strongly with everything Ebony wrote, but then, while I'm 
not
> a public school teacher myself, my sister is.  She's complained 
loudly
> too many times about homeschooled/unschooled/Montessori kids who 
find
> themselves in her 3rd grade classroom, many times without even the
> most basic of skills (such as *reading*!).

I would like to see non-anecdotal evidence about this, with a 
comparison of homeschooled and public-schooled children--remember 
Clinton's initiative to have every child able to read by the end of 
third grade?  That suggests that many do not, so I am sure 3rd grade 
teachers see a lot of kids who have been in school for three years and 
still don't know how to read.  The homeschooled children I have met 
are much better educated, on average, than their schooled peers, but 
that too is purely anecdotal.  I've seen some studies, which are all 
very favorable to homeschooling, but most of them have been pointed 
out to me by hs-ing supporters so I could well be missing the negative 
ones.
 
> I also agree completely that removing the kids who, because of
> involved, committed parents, will succeed regardless, is no solution
> to our public school problems.  
>If these same super committed parents
> were to get involved in the public schools, this, IMO, would go a 
long
> way toward correcting many of the problems.

I'm not going to unschool in order to help the public schools; I'm 
going to do it to provide my child[ren] with a good education.  But I 
certainly hope that involvement is not an either/or.  I am a strong 
supporter of public schools and would love to volunteer there and 
maybe serve on the school board, regardless of how my children are 
educated.  The health of the schools affects all citizens, whether 
their children attend them or not--whether they *have* children or 
not.  

Amy