Home Schooling..
In the previous post i mentioned "virtual groups" and virtual businesses ... this post is an extension to that..
Home Schooling
An article that grasped my attention for two reasons.. the first was because few years back i remember a discussion with my elder brother and how much he wanted to get tutors for his kids at home instead of sending them to school..
The second reason was an imagination of how would our educational system end up to be in the next two years or three or even 8 years from now..
In the states more than 1.1 million child are known to study through "home schooling" !!
There are more than 10,000,000 source in google about home schooling.
the idea of unschooling has flourished in recent years, with families forming online communities, neighborhood-based support groups and social networks for their children. Only 25 states have testing or evaluation requirements for home-schoolers, so it is difficult for researchers to get a representative sample of students to even begin to answer their most basic questions about unschooling. And among home-schoolers, unschoolers bristle the most at the thought of standardized testing.
They still need to do some researches upon selected samples to identify if "home schooling" is of better "learning value" to the children..
Of course there are the pros and cons... there will be supporters and those who disagree..
On which side of the table would you rather sit.. ?
Do you think we'll end up with home schooling?
A Last Dot:
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.
Anatole France
Home Schooling
An article that grasped my attention for two reasons.. the first was because few years back i remember a discussion with my elder brother and how much he wanted to get tutors for his kids at home instead of sending them to school..
The second reason was an imagination of how would our educational system end up to be in the next two years or three or even 8 years from now..
In the states more than 1.1 million child are known to study through "home schooling" !!
There are more than 10,000,000 source in google about home schooling.
the idea of unschooling has flourished in recent years, with families forming online communities, neighborhood-based support groups and social networks for their children. Only 25 states have testing or evaluation requirements for home-schoolers, so it is difficult for researchers to get a representative sample of students to even begin to answer their most basic questions about unschooling. And among home-schoolers, unschoolers bristle the most at the thought of standardized testing.
They still need to do some researches upon selected samples to identify if "home schooling" is of better "learning value" to the children..
Of course there are the pros and cons... there will be supporters and those who disagree..
On which side of the table would you rather sit.. ?
Do you think we'll end up with home schooling?
A Last Dot:
An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.
Anatole France
12 comments:
I've always yearned for a B.A. in
Common Sense
But in my search for the proper
JC or College course
I've discovered that it's difficult
to find the subject listed in the
Curriculum, Anywhere!
So, here I sit patiently at my Windows 98, tapping my SearchEngine
and doing what I can with Weblog,
waiting...
How am I to Save-The-World Without
That Degree? reb
www.lazyonebenn.blogspot.com
You'll find that the number one problem with home schooling would be lack of social interaction. It's also the number one point used against home schooling in debates. You'll also find that I back that point :p
Don't you think that a graduate of home schooling would be so naive? Gives his/her trust to people easily? Imagine this graduate of home schooling to further take higher degrees through online courses. What extracurricular activities would they be able to mention in their CV's? How would they be able to cope with the outside world?
I, for one, am very much against the idea. I don't see benefits out of it other than a parent's satisfaction that they can see their children at all times and don't have to send them off to school (with all due respect to your brother's wishes). As narrow-minded as the following statement may seem, I don't think that home schooling has any benefits for the students.
I would have to agree that home schooling has its social disadvantages, but it is a reality that we need a new system.. the current schooling system based on 'consumerism' isnt working and as ken robinson said: we are in a situation of hyper inflation in degrees.. will get back to this later
What makes you think he will be NAIVE
If he was taught not to trust everyone don't you think it would make a difference?
If he was in other activities.. community work or even worked as a partimer.. would it make a difference?
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DG: your turn :p
He will still have teachers to teach him/her.. he just won't have to sit in a class.. yet in a study in the house maybe..!
What you mentioned about teaching to become more human is an interesting point.. actually very interesting too! But how close is it to reality.. there isn't a curriculm that teaches you such.. is there?
lol at the last paragraph.. if you were called abnormal or whatever.. ya5i take it as a compliment.. :p if u are abnormal that means you are normal! a rule of thumb :p (my rule at least)
----------------
I HAVE A DREAM:
Social Disadvantage: okay i see that all of you come from the same point.. but what if i don't deprive my child from the social interaction he needs.. would it be a good idea?
"Consumerism" is a good word.. although i was hoping for something .. more expressive :p
will wait for your comment..
DG i totally understood your point i was just being sarcastic about the "curriculum" the present one !
well maybe if we had home schooling we parents can teach our kids these things along with the academics.
Oh, I lurk in here sometimes, and felt compelled to say something...will try to be brief, inshaAllah.
As one who is the product of the earliest wave of home schooling in the US, I would say the biggest challenge is not social interaction. Social interaction is usually achieved by obtaining it from other sources: the mosque, other families that are home-schooling, and tutoring classes that will be needed to supplement the subjects that parents are not comfortable with, and so on.
The biggest challenge is for the parents to understand what a huge responsibility it all is: you must do the lesson plans, you must stay on top of your child's progress, you must be able to ascertain when you need to bring in outside help, and you must be willing to put in 8 hours a day teaching--just like teachers in the traditional system. Don't think you can cook a 5 course lunch, and then a fiver course dinner, and still get your kids to learn--its not realistic, or appropriate. There are parents that are this dedicated--but there are also those who have no clue what they are taking on. In such cases, the child truly ends up in an academic disadvantage. That is even worse than any imagined level of social disadvantage.
If you are an active member of your community, your child's social skills will never suffer. And if you are capable of being an active teacher, their academics won't suffer either.
Umm, sorry for such a long comment. Will zip it now :)
well said digital nomad
Nice post.
I have had many discussions with parents about this issue. Mostly parents of children who are bullied constantly, changing schools havn't stopped it, neither has the "behavioural" modification. So Home schooling becomes a tempting option for those who can afford to do it (time & commitment wise). In those circumstances, I thought home schooling was safest, much better than having the little ones go through another traumatic experience.
Prior to having to deal with such circumstances, I wasn't a big fan of the concept, as mentioned before it doesn't allow social interaction which is essential. Yes you can get a sort of social interaction if you go to Masjids and if your are socially active, but those are supervised ones and it only exposes them to a sector of people in life. Besides, the work schedule of parents these days is not going to make that easy.
Nice post.
I have had many discussions with parents about this issue. Mostly parents of children who are bullied constantly, changing schools havn't stopped it, neither has the "behavioural" modification. So Home schooling becomes a tempting option for those who can afford to do it (time & commitment wise). In those circumstances, I thought home schooling was safest, much better than having the little ones go through another traumatic experience.
Prior to having to deal with such circumstances, I wasn't a big fan of the concept, as mentioned before it doesn't allow social interaction which is essential. Yes you can get a sort of social interaction if you go to Masjids and if your are socially active, but those are supervised ones and it only exposes them to a sector of people in life. Besides, the work schedule of parents these days is not going to make that easy.
Digital Nomad: thank you very much for your post it clarified a lot of issues.. the picture is a bit more clearer.. less blurry now..
"There are parents that are this dedicated--but there are also those who have no clue what they are taking on." <<<<<< this is an important issue i believe.. parents should be first educated about home schooling .. organizing and planning skills will be very essential and of course commitment..
in terms of the level of education though.. do you think that home schoolers would be on the same level of school students?
thank you for your informative post.. and don't worry about how "long" your comment is.. its always a pleasure to read such posts.. ;)
HL&H:
Now that is another perspective of the issue.. home schooling from a medical point of view.. yes i guess if i had a child who suffers at school home schooling could be a solution..but wouldn't teaching him how to overcome such problems and build a stronger personality would be another way of solving it? is home schooling for such kids an "escape" from what endangers them? their fears?
"in terms of the level of education though.. do you think that home schoolers would be on the same level of school students?"
It largely depends on the system from which the parents are obtaining their curriculum. When I was in high school, I did not have the option of obtaining a strictly college prep course--mine was more of the nature that pushes people thru to merely obtain a diploma...with no college as a real future option. I had to supplement the college prep stuff myself. And I did, because I and my parents were extremely motivated. My parents absolutely did not want a co-ed high school environment, and I absolutely wanted a chance at a university ed--hence the motivation from both sides.
Now, however, there are more intensive college-prep home-school options. The parents must investigate the system to see if it puts a great emphasis on the standing of their school, and how many students go on to university, and on the test scores of their students hover in the exceptional category. If it does, then the student will really surpass the traditional form of schooling, as the quality of education in the California public school system (where I am) is tragically deteriorating. I can tell you from experience with my younger siblings who had this option, and my older sibling who went the purely traditional high school route, when it was decent, that both really came out with the same level of education. Alhamdulillah, all of us have progressed and adjusted to university with no difficulties, either academically or socially. There are definitely exceptions...but I suppose that is so with all education systems...
And yes, so true: "parents should be first educated about home schooling." One really cannot emphasize that enough.
Thanks for not being annoyed by the length of the comments, and for giving me the chance to talk about something near and dear to me :)
You can go on forever.. please.. don't set limits on how much you wanna talk here.. ;)
To sum up:
1. to have a good home schooling we need to consider the following:
a. Support from the Ministry of Education by offering home schooling curriculum.
b. Educated parents in terms of setting the schedule and sticking to it.
c. having good tutors to teach the students if it wasn't going to be done by the parents.
d. Try to add more social interaction with the "outer" world.
2. Homeschooling could be a good substitute for children with special needs, or psychological issues.
3. The education system and the society should be willing enought to accept a change in both whether a change towards homeschooling or changing the present curriculum to one that would provide better benefits to the students.
Did i miss anything?
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