Schooling

Evelyn - posted on 09/14/2009

I agree w/Laura regarding the need for home-schooled children to be evaluated from time to time. Although I am a home schooling parent, the lack of oversight does bother me a bit. In my home state of NY, there is almost no "check ups" necessary for children who are home schooled. You basically have to turn in a general curriculum for your child and that's that. Here in NC, it's a bit more involved which I'm thrilled about. There is approval needed as well as yearly testing to make sure that the child is on his/her schooling level. I agree that while some parents use home schooling as a front for abuse, you need to realize that the overwhelming majority do not do it for those reasons. I personally chose to home school my daughter because I felt she would benefit most from it. Like I posted earlier, she is well ahead of other children her age in most areas and is able to move at a pace she is comfortable with. Which at most times is pretty quickly. In a traditional school setting I feel she would be slowed down or perhaps "bored" because of this. Perhaps not, but I'm not willing to slow her down right now to find out. When she is transitioning to 5th grade I will consider moving her into either a public (I live in an awesome school district) or a private school. If she expresses interest before that, we will discuss it. She is extremely well socialized as well.

I don't get it when I hear everyone talking about "this one home schooled kid I knew" being so gun shy and withdrawn. I have never met a home schooled child like that ever. They are exceptionally bright and creative and interact very well with other children. I think this is because any responsible HS parent takes the time to enroll their child in extracurricular activities. My daughter is involved in both EC sporting and educational teams/clubs. She has cousins her age that live in the same area and you cannot pick out the home schooled child in the bunch just by observing their behavior. Home schooling is not what it once was ladies....it's gaining popularity and for good reason.

What I DO NOT agree with at all is this new method called "un-schooling". Which is basically just letting your child discover life with absolutely no curriculum or learning apparatuses of any sort. In my opinion, that is child neglect and should be treated as such.

Lindsay - posted on 09/13/2009

My mom actually recently bought Cooper a white polo shirt and I immediately took it back to the store! lol

Holly - posted on 09/13/2009

that's so funny because I desperately wanted to wear uniforms! I HATED having to figure out something to wear every day! I was never big into fashion... :P

Lindsay - posted on 09/13/2009

Holly- I wore uniforms from 1st-12th grade! I desperately wanted to wear whatever I pleased. I had enough white polo shirts, khaki and navy pleated skirts and pants to never wear them again in my life! =)

Holly - posted on 09/13/2009

the only thing I would have changed about my high school is uniforms! I would have loved them! :)



I also forgot to mention that I was lucky enough to go to K-12th grade in one of the best school districts in the country (in fact, many high end colleges are more willing to accept alumni from my school than many private schools) - so public school only helped me! :)

Isobel - posted on 09/13/2009

I totally wish that our public schools had uniforms!

Holly - posted on 09/13/2009

My husband and I looked into private schools when we moved to our current house. It was so expensive and the only ones we could find are religious based (my biggest problem with religious based schools is many of them refuse to teach evolution and instead only teach creationism. I am a pastor's kid, but even I have a pretty hard time just ignoring the facts and saying my belief system is right no matter what).



We also looked into homeschooling, but that was quickly our for us for a few reasons: 1: we need to both be working to afford to live, and 2: the few people I know who have been homeschooled seriously lack the social skills needed in "the real world." One recently went off to college and said she felt like she was in a completely different country (and that was just community college - not even a university!).



I do not think I would think of an all gilrs school for my daughters (I have 3) simply because I feel kids need the dynamic of the multiple sexes. I think this mainly comes from the fact that most of my friends all through school were male. I found them to be better friends than most females since they aren't so "catty" (sorry ladies, that's the only word I could come up with, but looking back at high school I am sure you can all think of the "typical" girl and at least partially agree!). I loved my male friends and I still love them to this day (and no, not in the romantic way, in fact I had one boyfriend in high school and that was only for a year before we broke up). I was always known as "that weird girl who skips through the halls with the other weird girl, is friends with the biggest nerd, and hangs out with the av geeks" but that is what worked for me and I wouldn't have traded it for anything. :)



We are very happy with what we ended up with. Our daughter goes to a public school that has a uniform policy. It also happens to be the best school in the district (and yes, we knew that when we applied to rent our house - that is one of the major reasons we chose the house we did). Our daughter (7 and in 2nd grade) has a lot of friends and loves wearing uniforms (she says it makes it easy to get dressed in the morning - no worries about matching!).



In the end that is what worked best for us, but I do understand other people's view on things. There are positives and negatives to every single school situation and it really is what the parent decides they want for their child(ren). I say "each to their own" - I won't be judging anyone else on their choice for their kids, it's their child(ren) after all!

Sapphire - posted on 09/13/2009

Quoting Laura:

I know this is going to raise some trouble, but since school is a safety net used to (hopefully) detect abuse, I do believe that home schooled kids should be required to see a psychologist once in a while just to make sure they are OK. yes I know there are plenty of loving and educated parents home schooling their kids but there are also some sick bastards out there who are just hiding their kids from the world so they don't get caught. (IMO)

This has been expressed a few times in my district when a 'questionable' parent removes their child from the school and claims they are homeschooling.  I personally don't know what the right answer is, but I don't know about seeing a psychologist.  Perhaps visit with a school guidance counselor of their home school and encourage them to return to public school in a way that highlights the extra-curriculuar activities.  Then perhaps teh guidance counselor can get a feel about the child's well-being.

Isobel - posted on 09/13/2009

I send my kids to public school...I like the idea that they are exposed to people that are different from (and the same as) themselves. That being said, I wish that math and english classes were girl/boy separated...they just learn those two subjects soooo differently.

I know this is going to raise some trouble, but since school is a safety net used to (hopefully) detect abuse, I do believe that home schooled kids should be required to see a psychologist once in a while just to make sure they are OK. yes I know there are plenty of loving and educated parents home schooling their kids but there are also some sick bastards out there who are just hiding their kids from the world so they don't get caught. (IMO)

Lindsay - posted on 09/13/2009

I went to private Catholic schools from preschool through senior year. Josh went to public. We both feel that I had the better education. My school scored well above the state average on everything. That being said, the public elementary school in our district is a very good school. My kids just started preschool there this year and I really like the school, the principal, and the teachers. We will weigh our options before they get to middle and high school level and decide what we feel is right when that time comes. I honestly think that you should select a strong school for your children but ultimately, the school can only do so much. Parents absolutely need to be involved with their children's schooling. I tend to think that private school children do so well because the parents invest so much into their education that it's very important to them to help keep their kids on top of things. I'm not saying parents with kids in public schools don't do this, but if more parents were actively involved in their children's education, kids would be doing better across the board!

Sapphire - posted on 09/13/2009

Diana, the best advice I can offer is to go and visit each of the schools you are considering for your child. There may be pros & cons for each. The one observation I can make about religious-based schools is that some can be very narrow-minded at the K-8 level. The students know and are taught almost nothing about the many religions world-wide. It is not until at least the 10th grade level that a student enrolled in a religious institution is introduced and exposed to a multitude of religions and varying cultures. One of my closest teacher friends attended a Catholic school her entire K-12 career. It was not until 11th grade history when they discussed WWII & the Holocaust did she really get some small exposure to Judiasm and read Anne Frank. Most public schools teach Anne Frank somewhere between grades 7-9. She explained that all she knew was Catholicism, and nothing else. No exposure to Islam, or Eastern religions. She shared a story of how a girl got expelled becasue she denounced the Catholic church and called herself a Wiccan. So what she learned was that Wicca was bad, which IMO, is further from the truth. However, when you're not exposed, you're kind of isolated in the grand scheme of things.

Diana - posted on 09/13/2009

My husband and I are currently battlig it out over this one. My husband went to a private, Catholic, all boys school, while I despised our city's private, Christian school and demanded to be allowed to go to public school. He feels that he received a better education than public school children do-and I feel that public school children (depending on the area) receive good education with a much more diverse experience than private school children, especially those in same sex education. Not only did I have more people to choose from as friends and a larger group of people in which to find a niche, I had a much greater amount of classes to choose from, since there were enough of us to make many classes that would not have had enough students with a small graduating class. Homeschooling I definitely don't see as a viable option. I think we'll have to leave it up to the area we're in-because that really makes all the difference in the world.

Sapphire - posted on 09/13/2009

I have been a public school teacher for 14 years, so my answer is obvious. I will say that there are some excellent public, private, charters out there-as well as some crappy ones. I also support a parent's choice to homeschool, as long as they are doing it for the right reasons. As far as education goes in general, I have to say I love that we live in a society that promotes education for ALL kids. Not just the rich and wealthy, but for ALL children. I also have to say that in my former middle school, we did an experiemental year's study of separating core classes by gender. Purely experimental and parent's had an opt-out if they prefered their child to be in a mixed gender class. The results? Kids DO learn better in single gender classes: Reading, Writing, Math. There's a ton of research on the issue. Another way kids learn better is when their teacher loops with them to the next grade level.

ME - posted on 09/13/2009

Oh...I forgot, I would absolutly send my kids to an all boys or all girls school. I think that improves outcomes for both genders.

ME - posted on 09/13/2009

I went to both private and public schools. My private schools were Catholic schools, and had a VERY poor Science Curriculum, and didn't do very well with Math or Foriegn language either. I would never send my children to a private religious school...EVER! I have spent a lot of time in public schools, and I think most do a terrible job of educating our children unless they are smart enough to be in the honors/advanced placement tract. I struggle with this question ALL the time. I want to be able to afford to live in a good school district (which in IL, means very high taxes to pay for those schools), but I can't right now. Lower income/Poor neighborhoods in IL have inadequate funding due to very racist system of funding our schools. I hope that my children, like me, will be intelligent and hard working enough to make it in AP courses...but, of course, I can't see the future...It's a scary prospect for me, because education is incredibly important to me...and while I feel competant to homeschool, I don't think that homeschooling is good choice for my family either.

Jodi - posted on 09/12/2009

I have based my decision based on the curriculum, and I am not personally a fan of the curriculum and public school system where I live, so I have sent my kids to Catholic school. Yes, it costs a bit, but we manage to fit it into our budget (just!!). But Catholic school is a lot cheaper than other private schools around here, and they have many of the same benefits (and yes, my kids are Catholic). But that is just based on the curriculum in the state I live. I personally went to public school, and I have no objections to public schools in general, it just depends where you live.



My son's school (and his year level) participated in a study last year about boys and education. It was quite interesting listening at the parent information night. Boys and girls learn differently and apparently, studies are showing that within certain class subjects, boys do perform better when NOT studying with girls in the class (apparently the same thing does not show for girls in same sex classes), and teaching with different methods. Unfortunately, our curriculum has been developed in a way that favours the learning methods of girls, and as a result, in recent years, our boys have been underperforming while the girls have more advantages. I think, as a result of the many studies taking place, our public school curriculums will change over time, but in the meantime, this is one of the reasons I have decided to send my son to the local boy's Catholic college this year for Year 6, and then continuing on for high school.



One of the other big reasons is because they have a better focus on team sports, which is something my son is really enthusiastic about. This year, he has been more motivated with his school work and homework than I have ever seen him. He has struggled with the curriculum a little, just due to the change in schools, but they have a whole special education department to deal with these things, and he is the happiest I have ever seen him at school. So I am really happy with the decision I made.



Still undecided about high school for my daughter - her personality is totally the opposite to his, so a different type of schooling may end up suiting her the best. And she is only starting primary school next year, so WAY too soon to be making these decisions. But I know what I chose for my son totally suited his personality and his interests.

Evelyn - posted on 09/12/2009

I'm not for all male/female schools either...but like Alison, I feel that separation within the school could prove beneficial. Public schools are awesome depending on your locale. Private schools are great..I attended a Christian private school through middle school and junior high and switched to public for h/s. I home school my daughter. I absolutely love it. I had to claw and fight my way through my family because like most people, they are seriously misguided about many aspects of home schooling. LOL Like the saying goes.."the proof is in the pudding". My daughter is years ahead of children her age in pretty much all subjects. Reading/Math/Language/Sci...etc..etc. She is well socialized, bright and EXTREMELY articulate. It actually surprises many people how well spoken she is. Her workload is thrice that of most public/private schools but because it is one on one, she is able to handle it. The type of curriculum we use would be impossible in a formal school setting. She has 6 core subjects as well as several electives. She is in 2nd grade now, but we are working more at a 4th grade level. I think those who are skeptical about home schooling really should do a bit of research and perhaps you'd have a better understanding of it. One of the hardest parts of home schooling is defending your choice to others lol. Believe me home school is awesome!!

Alison - posted on 09/12/2009

I don't agree with all male/female shools because this could lead to inequality, but I am for putting boys and girls in their own classes within the same school. Thats only because I found the boys a distraction when I was trying to learn and I'm sure nothing has changed since I was younger.



I think Private school is great if you can afford it and so is home schooling if you can do it. The statistics show that most home school and private school kids tend to do better in all subjects than those in public school. They also save millions in tax dollers and school places for other children who don't have the same opportunity.



I'm too terrified to send my son to some of the public schools in our city, but some are not so bad. I might consider public school if I can get him into a good one. I might consdier homeschool if I can't. Ideally I would love to send my boy to private school because I want him to have the best of everything, but it might not be possible.

Anna - posted on 09/12/2009

Private school for us. In our area the private schools have a better curriculum, if I had more confidence in the public school I would have no problem sending them there. I don't think either is better. I personally look more for student to teacher ratio, curriculum, etc.



I went to an all girls private high school and loved it. It's not what most people think, we didn't have any nuns, just regular teachers and a dean. You didn't have to worry about doing your hair, makeup or anything b/c there were no boys so the focus was on learning. I was always ahead of my peers in public school as far math, english and foreign languages, the curriculum was excellent. We saw the boys in the mornings, after school and had mixers w/ the all boy high school so there was plenty of social interaction. I would definelty consider sending my children to all girl or all boy high schools.

Sarah - posted on 09/12/2009

As much i kinda like the idea of my girls going to a private all girls school, run by nuns who tell them AT LEAST every 5 mins that boys are evil and should not even be considered until girls are 25.............
that's not very realistic! lol!
I wouldn't home school because although obviously i am highly intelligent (lol) i don't have a wide enough spectrum to teach them, and i feel they would miss out on some valuable life skills.
I would probably consider a private school if money permitted......but it soooo doesn't!
So i'm with Loureen! Public school for my little ones!!
(tho i shall still be saying to them 'no boys til you're 25!!!)
:)

Sharon - posted on 09/12/2009

I don't care for homeschooling. It seems awfully controlling.



Public vs private - that is a financial consideration. If I could afford private, I'd do it, if we had a top of the line school near us.



Gender sorted schools - might be a little worse than mixed schools.



Public school with uniforms would be the BEST. No class/financial seperation due to clothes, instead of rushing to the bathroom to fix their makeup the most they can do is perfect their hair and brush their teeth if no make up is allowed.



Focus goes from showing off in school to doing school work & more basic social skills rather than a cleavage showing. Highschools today seem more like a wet t-shirt contest than an education facility.

Charlie - posted on 09/12/2009

I don't like the thought of all male or female schools i really think its much more beneficial for a child to be around both sex's .

Private school to expensive and usually have a religious tone .

Home school ? No i like the thought of Cooper learning to interact with other people in a social and educational environment .

Public school it is !!