You think kids are ignorant now? WOW...

[HardDrive]

I thought for sure this was some kind of joke....nope.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/27/gutierrez.unschooing/index.html

[HardDrive]

""I actually don't know what I'm learning," Nailah said. "I think I'm just having a good time.""

WHAT THE F*CK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I can understand rejection of conventional education and wanting to substitute something else in its stead, but NO education?!?! That's just wack.

[dd74]

It's too bad that just about anyone can have a kid...

[livi]

dd74,

Thats evolution when its natural way of working has succumb under modern society. I see it everyday at work. How many times have I not said to myself - these folks should have got a dog instead. Totally incapable of caring and raising a child. Further more, I get the feeling their is an inverse relationship between nurturing capabilities and number of children.

I know, its an awful way of thinking but I tell it as I see it.

[TerryBPP]

I think its great! In 15 years she will be my new house cleaning lady.

[lendaddy]

If anyone wants a long term bet, I'll go $1k that this girl beats her states average on her college entrance exam.

As bad as this sounds, I'll bet she is exposed to much more material and is learning more than her peers in public schools.

What do kids get in public schools now? Something like 10-12 minutes of actual instruction per hour? Not hard to beat that.

[onewhippedpuppy]

If it's at the kid's discretion though, how do they get the equal helpings of everything? Kid hates math, so she plays the piano instead. And her day starts at 11AM!!! Way to prepare your child for the real world.

[VaSteve]

The world needs ditch diggers and fry cooks. This kind of attitude will ensure we still have a ready supply.

Lendaddy has an interesting long term bet however.

This is just an extension of homeschooling. My wife an I are both pretty smart (don't read my posts in the tech forums) and have advanced degrees, yadda yadda. Niether of us feel qualified to homeschool. I hardly think the "unschooling" proponents are qualified to ensure their kids get what they need.

[lendaddy]

I'm not an "Unschooling" proponent, I am anti-public schools. I think that given these two inferior methods of education, the Unschooled will be better.

Regarding you not feeling qualified to home-school, I call BS. You are probably 200% more qualified than your average teacher. Be against it for other reasons, but you ARE qualified.

We are deciding now what we will do with my two year old, it's not fun given how poor the P/S system is.

[onewhippedpuppy]

As I expressed in another thread, my biggest knock on home schooling is the lack of social interaction kids get. There is no substitute for spending 7 hours a day, 5 days a week interacting with other kids and adults. What has a bigger effect on your future than how you are able to interact and relate to others? I have several friends that were homeschooled, and will admit that they were "socially retarded" when they went on to public high school. They were intelligent, but were not significant achievers in school. Home schooling didn't give them an edge, it gave them a handicap.

Len, have you looked into private or religious schools? We happen to have excellent Catholic schools here in Wichita, that's where our 22 mo old will go when the time comes. Quality education, but much cheaper than the true private schools.

[lendaddy]

Matt, I agree with you on the social aspect. It's hard to get around that, and it is VERY important. I am not a religious person, so a religious school would be a stretch. I am not a wealthy person so academies are also out of the question. We are discussing "small group" home schooling with a couple other families, it would be about 10 kids. ALL options are on the table, including P/S's

[cool_chick]

Children need structure. Adulthood is full of structure. We can't do our jobs at work "whenever we want to."

Bad teaching model.

[Nader]

She, like other home-schooled (now grown-up) girls I've met will likely turn out as either:
1. Aimless hippy, contracting social diseases early
2. Social retard, virgin at age 29

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by cool_chick
Children need structure. Adulthood is full of structure. We can't do our jobs at work "whenever we want to."

Bad teaching model.

My company would make your head spin.

There is not set start and stop time here. You can come in when you want and leave when you have gotten your days worth of work done.

I leave it totally to my employees. One guy comes in at 5:30 in the morning and leaves anywhere between 2:30 and 6:00 in the afternoon, depending on his work load. He is also my second in command here and gets a lot dumped on him.

One of my crews likes to start at 6:30 in the morning the other likes to start at 7:00.

My receptionist comes in between 8-9 and will leave between 4:30 and 6:00.

My Cadd tech comes in between 8-9 and leaves anywhere between 2-6 again depending on their work load.

Maybe I am lucky, they all are very responsible and get their job done quickly.

I used to work for a company in NY where if you were not at your desk at 7:50 ready to start work at 8:00 sharp you would be in trouble. My first rule when starting my company was to not have so many rules. I have had to weed out loosers who would take advantage of this but for the most part everyone does what is needed to get the job done.

[rcecale]

What-the-heck???? CC and I agree on something????

That's it, I'm going back to bed...surely this is all a bad dream!

Teaching and actually ingraining a structured environment is very important to child raising. I've only raised one, so please don't think of me as any kind of expert on the subject, it's just my own feelings on the subject.

Also, while the idea of "closer interaction" between the teacher and the student in a home school environment is ideal, I have to agree with VaSteve. I've seen too many people in my lifetime who weren't even "qualified" to be parents (other than having the proper child bearing equipment) attempting to home school their kids.

If mom or dad do not understnd how to do something, how the heck are they supposed to teach their children. Sure, you can read it from the text book, but you really need to "know" it.

Randy

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by onewhippedpuppy
As I expressed in another thread, my biggest knock on home schooling is the lack of social interaction kids get. There is no substitute for spending 7 hours a day, 5 days a week interacting with other kids and adults. What has a bigger effect on your future than how you are able to interact and relate to others? I have several friends that were homeschooled, and will admit that they were "socially retarded" when they went on to public high school. They were intelligent, but were not significant achievers in school. Home schooling didn't give them an edge, it gave them a handicap.
.

Yup.

We all have to live in this world. Even if your kids are homeschooled and came out smarter than 95% of the world, they need the proper skills of dealing with the rest of that 95% that they will encounter every day, every where.

[livi]

My parents got fed up with the public school´s lack of educational qualities and hardened climate. From the age of 12 to 16 I was home schooled. Later on me and my brothers went to a old fashion, upper class boarding school. Both tactics kept me out of trouble (fighting, drugs etc) and provided me with a pedagogic climate that raised my grades from all but zero to top marks.

And look how it turned out for me. I am doctor and patent holder with my own company inventing and designing medical devices. Further more I am a published writer and a proud father of four fabulous kids. Oh, and I can comfortably change oil in an old 911.

And all I really wanted was to be a rock star. Damn home schooling !

[RallyJon]

You guys miss the point. The kids and parents who are following this model are not the sort who have trouble passing standardized tests. Allowing a gifted, creative kid to chart their own curriculum has gone on inside of schools for years. That's what schools do with smart kids: unscheduled time, self-managed projects, independent study.

Agreed that a dumb kid with dumb parents will end up watching cartoons all day, but reading the article it's pretty clear that's not the case with these families.

[Rikao4]

Markus, as a pet owner I object to them raising dogs/cats instead of kids. It takes reponsible behavior to have a pet. It only takes sex to create another retard.Home school versus reg. school, you need true parental involment in their education / social skills for them to succeed in either.
Rika