loremaster wrote:Whooo boy, isnt this a veritable snake-pit.
Firstly, if i say anything which offends you, (likely) i ask that you remember this is only my opinion. Secondly, i ask you whether the reason you're getting prickly about the points i make is because you might, in part, concede i have a valid point of view.
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Whoaa. First off, if I have said anything to offend you or anyone else, then I ask that you except my sincere apology. It is not my intent to offend and I have not been offended.
Second, let me assure you that I do have a high respect for those who have chosen the challenging career of teaching. I realized a long time ago that I would not have the patience required to put up with the BS that some students give their teachers.
Personally I would not walk into a classroom and try to tell the teacher how to instruct their students, I have not been trained in the art of teaching multiple kids. However, I do feel that most parents know their own children better than the teacher who has 20+ kids to worry about knows that child.
As a teacher I believe that you would agree with me that not all children have the same learning pattern. Some are auditory learners, some are kinetic …. Well you know the terminology, but all kids do not learn the same. Teachers, at least the ones that I have had the pleasure (and in two cases the displeasure) of knowing, have to teach to the majority not the individual.
I don’t know how it is in the schools in which you ply your profession, but the teachers I know are overtaxed and underpaid. Several find their hands tied by senseless paperwork and regulations. And they are not referring to the grades but one teacher who is my friend said she had to attend a class on the new paperwork for taking class attendance…Whatever happened to just putting a check in the roll book beside the student’s name?
Now I do whole-heartedly agree with you to a point that home schooling is not for everybody and that it is not a magic solution and should not be entered into lightly. But I didn’t realize I was getting prickly. Once again I apologize if I did not word my earlier responses correctly so that they would seem neutral and unbiased.
The part I admit I do get ‘prickly’ over is the argument about socializing for I think that the kids today don’t get as much of that in the public schools as they use to and to claim that as a disadvantage for homeschoolers seems unfair. To me it seems like a homeschooler would be able to socialize more and with a wider range of people, not just kids their own age but with kids of other ages and adults of all ages as well.
“loremaster” wrote: Most parents who choose home schooling after a period of "failure" in state schools are, in my opinion, in a state of denial about the current requirements of their own offspring. Certainly, to think you can provide a better or more comprehensive education than a team of well educated, resourced and organised professionals is beyond me. You might have experience of hospitals, but that doesnt mean you'd perform your own child's appendectomy, does it?
You are right in that most school systems have resources that the average parents do not; however, I think there are resources out there that homeschoolers can avail themselves with. For example, I cannot teach a foreign language, but there is a community college that holds courses in our county. And even after I started home schooling my child I continued to take him to speech therapy at his formal school and then at the middle school when he entered the sixth grade. I think most parents would accept outside help when needed.
Once again, forgive me if it seemed like I was attacking the teaching profession. I have no trouble with most teachers, like any profession there are a few bad ones out there but most teachers do their job because they love the kids and want them to learn. My ‘beef’ is with politics that tie the teachers hands and allow some kids to slip through the cracks. It is those kids whom the school system have failed that might benefit from home schooling.
I begin teaching my middle child because he was a class clown and the teacher did not have the time to devote to him with 30 other kids in her class. And I felt it was unfair to her to have to put up with the disruption. We punished him for disrupting the class but he continued. It wasn’t bad behavior, he just kept telling jokes and making funny faces. Yet he would pass every test. He was bored and I was able to give him the one on one attention he needed at that time. My oldest son saw what his little brother was learning and asked to be home schooled. This surprised me because he would have been starting high school that year. I was scared and nervous but did so. I have asked my son if he regretted it and he keeps assuring me that he did not. More than likely I will try to get my youngest son enrolled into the early college program when he reaches ninth grade. I think the main point that I hold a friendly disagreement with you on it the assumption that just because a parent is not formally train automatically disqualifies them from teaching their own child.
I believe that most home schooling parents acknowledge the areas they are week in and seek additional help in those areas. I least I do. Which I also admit that I was lucky in the case of my middle son, he has a thirst for knowledge which leads him to search for more things to learn. That is why he was such a class clown in first, second, and third grade. He was simply bored and needed more challenges. But that is also why I admit that with my youngest son that by the time he gets to high school, I more than likely will not be able to continue his teaching because of the advancements in the educational field and his learning type.
Home schooling is a hot topic. I realize that not everyone will agree on it. I don’t believe it is child abuse as some people claim, but will admit that those who abuse their children could use it as a mean to continue doing so with less chance of getting caught. But all homeschoolers should not be punished because of a few idiots. Like I said at the start of this thread, I want’ to know what y’all thought and I wanted to know if the excepts were true as to the claim of what the UK was planning on doing. Why do back ground checks on Homeschoolers when other parents where not having back ground checks preformed on them?
I disagree that the state has a 100% right to tell me how to raise my kids…I was the one who gave birth to them, who feeds and clothe them, who provides a place for them to stay. Even if they were still going to public school the state would not have the right to tell me how to raise them.
I do agree that a wise parent will allow their children to learn about many different things. Yeah, teach them your belief but also allow them to know there are other beliefs out there. Explain why you believe what you believe and allow them to make up their own mind.
Wow..I’m rambling aren’t I?
Sorry. I’ll stop for now.. Just please allow me to say once again…that I respect my fellow Jacurutuns, even if I disagree with them I still respect them and their opinions.