Would it be practical...

skeptech

New member
...for every child in the U.S.A. to be homeschooled? I don't think so, without some radical restructuring of our society.

My best understand of the concept (mass homeschooling) so far is that parents would form cooperatives for teaching. But that sounds to me like just another variation of what we have now -- sending your kids away to be taught by someone else according to some agreed-upon standard curriculum (which would necessarily be a compromise of what all the co-op members thought should be taught).

But I'm game -- How else might it work? Is there a pure form of homeschooling that we could reasonably expect to result in every kid getting a "good" education? If society does need to be re-tooled to support it, how, and is it a sustainable society?

(P.S. - I notice that there aren't very many threads in this forum. I hope it wasn't inappropriate for me to post this here.)
 

QueenAtHome

New member
I'll bite.

There would have to be some changes for the entire nation to homeschool. Many women would have to return to their proper place of the home for one thing. People would have to come to the exception that yes they really can take care of a family of 4 on just 80k a year.

Naturally, people would come together to form co-ops and meetings. That is the what we home schoolers call socialization. (but of course homeschoolers are all hermits and don't know anything about the real world)

As much as the public schools try to convince you that the PTA (or whatever they are called now) votes on the curriculum that is taught, I seriously doubt the majority of parents know what curriculum the school is using or is considering using.
With a homeschool co-op the parents actually decide on what curriculum will be taught. If they don't agree with it, then they can opt out of that particular program.

Co-ops are often formed so that students can get a more enriched education in a particular area. Such as aerodynamics, or chemistry, or foreign language, or gym, or chess. Basically, the parents all combine their resources and skills for the betterment of their children.

How is this different than just sending your child off to ps you ask?
For one, they parents KNOW the person that is teaching their child. They have a choice of they want their child to participate or not without threat of truancy.

As mentioned, most co-ops are geared to a specific topic. I have never heard of a co-op that requires the student to be there for 30 hrs a week.

The beauty of homeschool is that it is individualized for the student. So every family will do it differently and it will still be "good" education.

Not everyone is getting a good education now. In fact, many schools can't even met the state standards.

I think society would become more accountable for the children's education. We would have students excelling beyond expectations because they no longer have to deal with Josh being a disruption in class.

And Josh, well, he might just get the undivided atttention that he needs and become a great physicists rather than a high school drop if left in the system.
 

skeptech

New member
I'll bite.
Thanks!

I guess my biggest concern with its viability is that some mothers are not going to be qualified to teach anything. When you're talking about a whole population, I don't think there's any question that some people will just be bad at it.

I guess one position could be that those people will just have to deal with the consequences of poorly-taught kids, but it seems to me that at some level society will benefit from trying to make sure that there are some basic standards. Or maybe not?

I can understand the sense of co-ops being specialized. But if you have someone who needs to send their kids elsewhere for schooling, then will they have to go to a different co-op for each subject? It's a lot of responsibility and work to organize a curriculum, let alone find a co-op to teach it, fit it in the schedule, and make transportation arrangements. Surely there will be some parents who can't do it effectively. Maybe co-ops could be organized into schools of a sort, or at least housed together....

It seems to me that society would still need to come up with a way to give parents a "standard" option. How is the balance of the needs of society versus the rights/responsibilities of the parents made? Would there be minimum standards that must be passed, and what would happen if the kids failed to meet them? Could kids be forced to attend a certain co-op or school?

I certainly agree that today's public school system isn't perfect. And I also think that for responsible and competent parents, homeschooling can be a great alternative. But I struggle to see how it can be implemented nation-wide, without having a public school system in place for parents who can't or won't teach, that doesn't end up being essentially what we have today.
 

QueenAtHome

New member
Thanks!

I guess my biggest concern with its viability is that some mothers are not going to be qualified to teach anything. When you're talking about a whole population, I don't think there's any question that some people will just be bad at it.
a certification doesn't mean one is "qualified". There are countless teachers out there that are not qualified. i.e Personphone66
There are teachers that are bullies, perverts, those that don't know the subject they are teaching, etc.

I guess one position could be that those people will just have to deal with the consequences of poorly-taught kids,
We already deal with the consequences of poorly taught kids! Ever give $4.50 for a total of $3.35? The clerk can't figure it out half the time.
but it seems to me that at some level society will benefit from trying to make sure that there are some basic standards. Or maybe not?
do you really think so? last year, 28 local schools failed to met their own standards. Indianapolis ran a similar story regarding their district.

I can understand the sense of co-ops being specialized. But if you have someone who needs to send their kids elsewhere for schooling, then will they have to go to a different co-op for each subject? It's a lot of responsibility and work to organize a curriculum, let alone find a co-op to teach it, fit it in the schedule, and make transportation arrangements. Surely there will be some parents who can't do it effectively. Maybe co-ops could be organized into schools of a sort, or at least housed together....
It's called prioritizing. Just as you can't do everything that you want to do, there are some things that our kids are not able to do. I will still bet that co-ops are able to offer a student far more than public school can. In a co-op a student can focus solely on that topic, and really thrive.

It seems to me that society would still need to come up with a way to give parents a "standard" option. How is the balance of the needs of society versus the rights/responsibilities of the parents made? Would there be minimum standards that must be passed, and what would happen if the kids failed to meet them? Could kids be forced to attend a certain co-op or school?
Every state does has standards. Some are more strict than others, but all states require that a student learn.

I certainly agree that today's public school system isn't perfect. And I also think that for responsible and competent parents, homeschooling can be a great alternative. But I struggle to see how it can be implemented nation-wide, without having a public school system in place for parents who can't or won't teach, that doesn't end up being essentially what we have today.
There will be those that don't care to teach and those that don't care to learn. The main difference is that currently they hinder others from learning. But many students are poor students because they are bored and aren't being challenged. Given the option to learn and explore whatever their hearts desire, I believe we would have many students excel in learning.

As mentioned before, I think that society would become more accountable. I think we would take notice that a 10th grader can't read a Dr.Suess book and do something about it rather than pushing them into the next grade because of the "No child left behind" act.
 

Granite

New member
Hall of Fame
I don't think so, if only because a lot of parents aren't qualified to teach their kids.
 
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