Homeschoolers united!

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IronMike
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:24 am

Xenops wrote:Another contributor to homeschooling in my life was the fact that I had packed up and moved 9 times between ages 4 months to 18 years. I don't know how military families switch school systems all of the time, but that certainly would have been a hassle in my family. Moving was traumatizing enough: can you image changing school systems each time?

Another reason we homeschooled. My youngest, now 14, is currently living in her ninth different home. And the military doesn't always move you to "good" school districts. Easier when mom and dad are the teachers. ;)
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IronMike
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:29 am

tiia wrote:Well, if someone is just ahead of the curve (and teachers are hopefully competent enough to see that), there is the option to let the kid skip a whole year. I know someone, who just did that still in elementary school, because it was obvious that one year above was more suitable. The grades were still good until the end, leaving no doubts that this had been the right thing to do in this particular case.
Unfortunately this depends quite a lot on the teachers ability to make the right decision.

Easier said than done. When we moved to Russia the first time, my kids up to that point had only been homeschooled. My second oldest was due to be in 7th grade at that point. He was way ahead in math and English, even ahead of his two-years-older brother. The school here made all four of our kids "sit" for exams (even the 6-year old), and because our son's science was only at 7th grade level they didn't let him skip to 8th grade. Within 2 weeks he came home complaining he was bored in math. They were so stuck on inclusion that they weren't willing to let him sit in an 8th grade math class, even though there was one during the same time as his math class.

So after 2.5 years there his math levels suffered. My wife then homeschooled him and got his math skills back up and he was doing calculus by 10th grade. When we moved to Kyrgyzstan he wanted to attend school there, even though it would be his senior year. Spoiler (and proud dad moment): he graduated valedictorian and is now in AFROTC at Virginia Tech with a 3.8 GPA majoring in...wait for it...Russian!

So while it is nice to say that skipping a whole year is an option, you have to have a cooperative school system. Frankly, homeschooling is best for kids that are at different levels in different subjects.
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:37 am

Ogrim wrote:I've been reading this thread with a lot of interest as the homeschooling idea is rather alien to me. Homeschooling is not prohibited in Norway, as the law on Education only says that parents have an obligation to ensure that their children receive education, not an obligation to send them to school. However, in practice the number of Norwegian kids being homeschooled is negligible. There is really no tradition for it, and besides, in most couples both parents work, and very few people would give up their career to stay at home and educate their kids. The few cases I have read about have mostly been situation where children were subject to harsh bullying, or had some condition which made it difficult to integrate them into a normal school.

In Norway homeschoolers have an obligation to follow more or less closely the national curriculum, and the local authorities require parents to submit reports on what they teach. The authorities can also send a teacher or social worker around to check on the children's educational level as well as mental and social health. If they find shortcomings, they authorities can oblige parents to stop homeschooliing and send the kids to a state school. This may be considered an intrusion into the private sphere, but the thinking in Norway is that the kids' needs are more important than the parents' right to decide how to educate their children.

Like redearman I am not for or against homeschooling, and I can see that there can be good reasons for making that choice. In a way I admire people who take on such an obligation - giving a child a rounded education comparable to what schools provide seems like a daunting task to me.


Children Seized in Norway, Parents Begging for Help

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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:01 pm



Yes, thanks for sharing IronMike. Ogrim's mention of Norway made me think how Barnevernet would react to homeschooling and you have answered the question with an example. Thank you. Here is a more general overview of Barnevernet and their apparent heavy handed action against parents who have seemingly done nothing or very little wrong in the eyes of the law. (Australian website if wanting to view the video content).

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/story/norways-stolen-children
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby tastyonions » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:23 pm

The couple was suspected of beating their kids, for whatever that is worth.
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:33 pm

tastyonions wrote:The couple was suspected of beating their kids, for whatever that is worth.

Kai is home.

This "excuse" is used quite often in the U.S. by neighbors, relatives, local school officials, social workers. Many people are against homeschooling and will come up with reasons why families need to be visited by social workers and/or police. If anyone is interested, this website captures incidents in the U.S. in 2017 (and sometimes overseas).
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Ogrim » Thu Feb 22, 2018 2:53 pm

I won´t comment on those particular Norwegian cases IronMike linked to, I am not in a position to judge who is right or wrong - besides I have no need to defend nor condemn the actions of Norwegian authorities with regard to this issue. Inspired by this thread I simply read up on homeschooling in Norway and wanted to make a small comment without entering into any polemic. Besides, as I said I have absolutely nothing against homeschooling. As an introvert kid I hated school the first few years I had to go and would much rather have been at home - my sister taught me to read and write when I was four, so when I started school at seven I was really bored, and besides considered a bit "weird" by my classmates.

I think I'll refrain from commenting more on this issue and go back to talking about languages elsewhere on the forum. ;)
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:36 pm

IronMike wrote:
tastyonions wrote:The couple was suspected of beating their kids, for whatever that is worth.

Kai is home.

This "excuse" is used quite often in the U.S. by neighbors, relatives, local school officials, social workers. Many people are against homeschooling and will come up with reasons why families need to be visited by social workers and/or police. If anyone is interested, this website captures incidents in the U.S. in 2017 (and sometimes overseas).


I am glad someone else brought this up, as I feel like I’ve stirred the pot a little too much and a little too rigorously lately. I suspected this was occurring with regards to homeschooling. Media it seems plays their part at times in swaying public opinion and/or justifying further action (not just with homeschooling). There was a recent case in which a family in the U.S. was accused of neglect. Whether or not this occurred I’m not questioning, but when it was stated they were homeschooled, details were added such as the children being illiterate. However further information revealed the children had been in written communication (the children’s handwriting revealed) with extended family members. Other such reporting of details was seemingly skewed or wrong, according to alternative sources.

It’s certainly possible that it was simply a case of sensationalised reporting to grab viewers attention, or that the alternative sources were wrong or attempting to grab viewers attention equally, but given the rights and freedoms taken away from western populations in many western countries in recent times justified with a need for surveillance, I get a sense that it’s another case of problem = alleged abuse, solution = shut homeschooling down.
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby tastyonions » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:06 pm

IronMike wrote:this website

For the curious, some more info on this source that has been cited a couple times: https://homeschoolersanonymous.org/2013/04/22/hslda-and-child-abuse-an-introduction/

And more particularly: https://homeschoolersanonymous.org/2013/04/25/hslda-and-child-abuse-hsldas-defense-of-child-abuse/
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Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby rdearman » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:14 pm

OK, we seem to be deviating really really far away from languages. So although I probably kicked up a lot of this with my question it would be good to park this.
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