BevK October 8th, 2007
“Poorly educated parents who choose to teach their children at home produce better academic results for their children than public schools do. One study we reviewed found that students taught at home by mothers who never finished high school scored a full 55 percentage points higher than public school students from families with comparable education levels.”
This second edition of the Fraser Institute report on homeschooling is available for $5 from their website. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/
BevK October 8th, 2007
I can’t imagine the difficulties of starting out homeschooling a high school age student. But their numbers are increasing and they don’t need the same kind of support that the typical beginning homeschooler with young children needs.
“We are now seeing older students coming to home-schooling after eight, 10 years of being in the schools, out of desperation,” he said. “The families are like refugees, and they need a lot more hand-holding than the home-schooler that has been raised doing independent learning.”
Read more about a group in Maryland that has created a program specifically for those starting out with older students. Maryland requires a higher level of monitoring than most states, so this program sounds very useful for parents.
BevK October 8th, 2007
When should you put kids back in school after homeschooling? My answer — never. I’m a long term homeschooling is a lifestyle homeschooler. Still I know that folks do put their kids back in school for a variety of reasons. But this one is not a good reason.
“Homeschool is wonderful when they’re little, if you can do it,” said Barbara Vogel, an Easton mother of two sons who homeschooled them for 10 years before they returned to public school this year for the latter part of high school.
“My feeling as a homeschooler is that they were better off to be protected in the early years socially,” said Vogel, “but once they get into eighth or ninth grade, the whole social thing of being with their peers becomes so much more important.”
8th or 9th grade is just when public school is at its most vicious socially. Anyone remember junior high? Why does being with their peers more for high school suddenly become a good idea? At that age peer pressure suddenly becomes a good thing? I don’t get it.
Read more: No place like home for schooling
BevK October 8th, 2007
Using an article from the Washington County News, Lisa Dyess of Millry, in a recent Letter to the Editor to The South Alabmaian, quoted David Davis, Washington County Board of Education Truancy Officer: “The main problem we face comes with parents telling us their children are being homeschooled and yet they are not in school receiving an education. These cases have been neglected in the past and I am going to make sure that they start receiving attention.”
This editorial uses information from the 1999 Rudner analysis.
Read more…
