Homeschoolers united!

[Ani]

Would love to hear how you feel about that education, here or PM. I've never met a grown up unschooler. My 7 year old has a workload this semester that would rival most highschoolers while my 9 year old... Umf. Just been thinking a lot lately about how much to push vs provide.

Apologies for the late reply - work has been absolutely hectic this week. But I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have, either here or by PM or email.

I'm a fairly grown-up unschooler... I started at the age of 6 back in 1988, back when very few people had even heard of homeschooling, and was unschooled until I was 18. At that point I went on to do an undergrad degree, masters and PhD at the University of Oxford, which I would argue demonstrates that it didn't hamper my academic potential! (In fact, teaching at Oxford is built around independent study and one-on-one teaching, so to some extent it fit better with my preparation than school would have done.)

I loved unschooling. I've always been someone with a love for reading and learning (I wouldn't be here on this board if I didn't...), and it gave me the freedom to pursue my own interests and enthusiasms. Being 'pushed' by my parents would, I think, have damaged my relationship both with them and with learning. (I'm a stubborn soul, let's say.) For example, barring a brief interest in the US Civil War, I basically refused to study history until I was 15 or 16. My mother has since confessed that she was a bit worried by this. But it turned out OK in the end... I have a PhD in History! So you never know about how people's enthusiasms will develop. Now that I think about it, I was completely uninterested in studying languages either. I started learning Icelandic aged 30.

I love this. And I'm totally jealous. We're the same age so while I was wanting to stab my eyes out in school, you were home enjoying a real education. It's a shame you can't come back from the future and give yourself advice. Now that to trying to decide for my kids, everything is so complicated! We made the decision to unschool our daughter who is also ridiculously stubborn, which lasted until she went on a year long math strike (her kindergarten year but still) so now we require at least a minimum and we started outsourcing half her classes. I think her workload is too high but she's MUCH happier now. My older son is only 9 and I already have regrets but he's not really motivated on his own and I lack confidence in the future of professional Percy Jackson biographers.
Maybe I'll send you a PM but I'd love to hear how your mom encouraged you, set your daily schedule or made recommendations. Obviously she didn't let you play video games in a dark basement all day It's so hard to figure out how much they should all be doing and when if you're not running around trying to meet all the standards.

[PeterMollenburg]

I thought I would share some thoughts about homeschooling, and "unschooling".

Thank you too Xenops for sharing

[Elenia]

You're all making me ridiculously jealous! I always wanted at least a tutor so that I could learn more. I was aware of the school system sucking out my desire to learn and my curiosity even as it was happening. I don't plan on having kids, and homeschooling isn't legal in Sweden anyway, but I can still dream...

[Bluepaint]

You're all making me ridiculously jealous! I always wanted at least a tutor so that I could learn more. I was aware of the school system sucking out my desire to learn and my curiosity even as it was happening. I don't plan on having kids, and homeschooling isn't legal in Sweden anyway, but I can still dream...

Me too, I used to dream of homeschooling!

[Elsa Maria]

Soffia and Xenops, thanks for sharing your experiences. I only have experience as a homeschool parent. I really hope that my homeschooled kid ends up glad that he chose homeschool for high school.

[PeterMollenburg]

...homeschooling isn't legal in Sweden anyway, but I can still dream...

I didn’t know this! I knew it was illegal in Germany. Unfortunately I feel that it’s a matter of time before governments attempt to shut down homeschooling throughout the world. Can’t have too many free thinkers out there... or any at all. Robots who comply is the desire... with no iRobots! That’s a shame with Sweden, I was beginning to think their government was a breath of fresh air... too good to be true, of course.

[rdearman]

For every outstanding parent who homeschools their children there will be many more who are average and many who are below average. I suspect that many countries (perhaps Sweden) feel the risk of sub-standard learning outweighs any potential benefit. I don't know anyone who has teenagers would think they are compliant robots. This risk of sub-standard education is the reason the UK reserves the right to issue a School Attendance Order to force you to send the child to school full or part-time.

I'm interested in why people choose this path since it incurs a number of penalties financially for the parent (in the UK) and some issues for the children later. Here I'm mainly discussing the fact that non-school educated students in the UK must pay for examinations GCSE, etc. which would normally be funded by the school and county council. In addition lack of testing to the National Curriculum standard has caused problems for the children when making applications to Universities even if the parents have paid for the relevant testing for GCSE's. However, I'm also told that now due to the fact the UK no longer funds Universities and you don't get in solely on merit this is less of a problem.

[Xenops]

I'm not aware of financial penalties in the U.S., except perhaps California (which I know little about). Since I wasn't in public high school long enough to get a high school diploma, I took the GED: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Educational_Development, and I know many people that were only homeschooled took the GED as well. The cost of it in Idaho is $120. From there it is easy to enter a two-year community college. I imagine to be competitive for an ivy-league university, you would need to score really well on standardized tests like the SAT or ACT, amongst other things.

Homeschool folks like to say that public education makes conformists, while homeschooling makes individuals. Public school is like creating a mini-society where rules are established and you have cliques of different demographics, and expectations of behavior. It does not do well to be different from the rest of the kids, so you learn how to "blend in". If you are not one of the popular kids, you think something is wrong with you. In homeschooling, unless there is a big co-op, you don't see these behaviors as much. Conversely, homeschooled kids know how to interact with adults, but they can lack social skills when dealing with people their own age outside of their environment. If you have both populations meet, you will find a clash of cultures, so to speak.

[Ani]

For every outstanding parent who homeschools their children there will be many more who are average and many who are below average. I suspect that many countries (perhaps Sweden) feel the risk of sub-standard learning outweighs any potential benefit.

Agreed. The more I interact with other homeschooling parents, the more I wonder if we should be popularizing homeschool. I'm still in favor of our full restriction free rights in Alaska but I have no trouble seeing other points of view.

I'm interested in why people choose this path since it incurs a number of penalties financially for the parent (in the UK) and some issues for the children later. Here I'm mainly discussing the fact that non-school educated students in the UK must pay for examinations GCSE, etc. which would normally be funded by the school and county council. In addition lack of testing to the National Curriculum standard has caused problems for the children when making applications to Universities even if the parents have paid for the relevant testing for GCSE's. However, I'm also told that now due to the fact the UK no longer funds Universities and you don't get in solely on merit this is less of a problem.

There are no penalties in the US. In fact, I get $2k per kid per year for books, supplies, lessons, and outsourced classes and my kids can have a "real" highschool transcript of we choose that. About 20 years ago the statistic was 1% of children were homeschooled but 11% of ivy league admissions were homeschoolers. It can often be the only way to get a really good education for your children if you couldn't afford private school (which I cannot x5) -- of course you have to meet a minimum expense of books and having one parent stay home. Additionally, some parents find that their particular child's needs can be better met at home and that is worth everything. This is the case for both of my oldest so far. The public school system can be misery for kids who don't develop in lock step -- to far ahead, to far behind, different in one reason or another.

To be honest, homeschooling is a heck of a lot of work. People who don't have the commitment to do a decent job usually give up by 3rd-4th grade (8 years old). Excluding abusive neglect, this makes the average homeschooling parent above average.

[tastyonions]

I didn’t know this! I knew it was illegal in Germany. Unfortunately I feel that it’s a matter of time before governments attempt to shut down homeschooling throughout the world. Can’t have too many free thinkers out there... or any at all. Robots who comply is the desire... with no iRobots! That’s a shame with Sweden, I was beginning to think their government was a breath of fresh air... too good to be true, of course.

Yeah, all of us who attended public school are a bunch of brainless, compliant drones.