It's those two beautiful girls of his that make me keep going back to Simon . how can he expect his children to understand science & the process of research, experiment & evidence (which he claims to "love") if the whole of the natural world is taught is "God done it & nothing can change what he did"?
The whole concept of homeschooling in the US scares me.
Actually, the whole concept of schooling in the US scares me.
Scratch that. The whole concept of te US scares me much of the time
The whole concept of homeschooling in the US scares me.
I don't homeschool my children but the whole concept of sending my children to public school is pretty scary. There are parents out there that are so clueless, they don't even know what's going on in their kid's bedrooms--kids making death threats, buying guns, hating other children, teachers being overwhelmed and underpaid--scary.
Mrs. Aginoth: There are some great home-schooling parents out there, and some of them even know enough about most of the subjects they teach. However, it's complete lack of exposure to other perspectives and points of view that scares me.
That said, public schools here aren't that great either (and I live in one of the best public school districts in the US). So much energy gets wasted on these peripherals -- whether to teach ID, whether we can pray at school football games, whether handing out condoms is a good or bad idea (regardless of the STD rate or teen pregnancy rate) -- and the whole purpose of the schools to begin with (reading, writing, arithmetic, and later history, civics, science, whatever) gets lost.
Sadie Lou: I agree with you. Let's get teachers adequate (by which I mean generous) pay (enough to compensate them enough so that they can live comfortably in the community where they teach without moonlighting as Walmart clerks) and treat them as highly respected members of the community. Let's have teaching be a glamour job.
SL & FW, it's not the concept of home schooling that I'm against (although I think in most cases it is not the best option), it is the idea that there are absolutetly no controls over what children are taught in the US. If you want to homeschool you child & teach them a curriculum consisting of shooting, swearing & spitting, that's absolutely fine. If you want to teach them that everybody who speaks a different language, or even has a different accent to them is evil, that's fine. if you want to teach them that televisions are made by trapping devils inside the box & forcing them to magic the pictures, that's fine.
How will any of these children make a useful contribution to society? How many scientists, political leaders and role-models are you losing because they are never taught to learn properly? How many deaths are being caused through incorrect or incomplete education?
In the UK homeschooling is allowed, but parents still have to be inspected, just like schools, to ensure they are teaching the basic nationally curriculum & maintaining minimum moral & educational standards.
I agree the US really needs to revamp their public school system. There are a lot of problems there, many that can easily be solved, many that will need a long term development plan. And even if everything was put in place perfectly, you would not have perfect schools - no-one does. But perhaps it would be better to actually put some presure on the Gov't to do just that, rather than withdraw your kids from the system & homeschool them.
I am absolutely positive that if I homeschooled Mstr A (well if I could actually be bothered to do anything with him), he would be at least three years ahead of his current academic level. I will fight tooth & nail to keep in the the state school system and in his own year group. There is more to going to school than passing exams.
Speaking of Cartoons.....
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Thank you.
It's those two beautiful girls of his that make me keep going back to Simon . how can he expect his children to understand science & the process of research, experiment & evidence (which he claims to "love") if the whole of the natural world is taught is "God done it & nothing can change what he did"?
The whole concept of homeschooling in the US scares me.
Actually, the whole concept of schooling in the US scares me.
Scratch that. The whole concept of te US scares me much of the time
The whole concept of homeschooling in the US scares me.
I don't homeschool my children but the whole concept of sending my children to public school is pretty scary. There are parents out there that are so clueless, they don't even know what's going on in their kid's bedrooms--kids making death threats, buying guns, hating other children, teachers being overwhelmed and underpaid--scary.
Mrs. Aginoth: There are some great home-schooling parents out there, and some of them even know enough about most of the subjects they teach. However, it's complete lack of exposure to other perspectives and points of view that scares me.
That said, public schools here aren't that great either (and I live in one of the best public school districts in the US). So much energy gets wasted on these peripherals -- whether to teach ID, whether we can pray at school football games, whether handing out condoms is a good or bad idea (regardless of the STD rate or teen pregnancy rate) -- and the whole purpose of the schools to begin with (reading, writing, arithmetic, and later history, civics, science, whatever) gets lost.
Sadie Lou: I agree with you. Let's get teachers adequate (by which I mean generous) pay (enough to compensate them enough so that they can live comfortably in the community where they teach without moonlighting as Walmart clerks) and treat them as highly respected members of the community. Let's have teaching be a glamour job.
SL & FW, it's not the concept of home schooling that I'm against (although I think in most cases it is not the best option), it is the idea that there are absolutetly no controls over what children are taught in the US. If you want to homeschool you child & teach them a curriculum consisting of shooting, swearing & spitting, that's absolutely fine. If you want to teach them that everybody who speaks a different language, or even has a different accent to them is evil, that's fine. if you want to teach them that televisions are made by trapping devils inside the box & forcing them to magic the pictures, that's fine.
How will any of these children make a useful contribution to society? How many scientists, political leaders and role-models are you losing because they are never taught to learn properly? How many deaths are being caused through incorrect or incomplete education?
In the UK homeschooling is allowed, but parents still have to be inspected, just like schools, to ensure they are teaching the basic nationally curriculum & maintaining minimum moral & educational standards.
I agree the US really needs to revamp their public school system. There are a lot of problems there, many that can easily be solved, many that will need a long term development plan. And even if everything was put in place perfectly, you would not have perfect schools - no-one does. But perhaps it would be better to actually put some presure on the Gov't to do just that, rather than withdraw your kids from the system & homeschool them.
I am absolutely positive that if I homeschooled Mstr A (well if I could actually be bothered to do anything with him), he would be at least three years ahead of his current academic level. I will fight tooth & nail to keep in the the state school system and in his own year group. There is more to going to school than passing exams.
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