Poll:Home schooling,best for personal growth or socially repressing?

Question

I home schooled for 2 years because my son was ADHD,but realized I needed more support.

Answer 1

In order to answer your question adequately, I think you first have to define what you mean by 'personal growth'.

Home-education/family based education is easily the best for a person's genuine and individual growth...providing both the child and his/her parents are motivated, committed, enthusiastic and disciplined.

After all school is just another 'one size fits all' government institution; I fail to see how, for anyone, spending twelve years of their childhood in an institution can genuinely benefit their personal growth into anything but increased social conformity and ultimately institutionalism. I don't believe it is by accident that the UK govt department responsible for kids is called 'Children, Schools and Families' (!!!), instead of 'Children, Families and Schools'.

Oh and sorry but as a lifelong home-educated kid (now 15) I don't buy into this 'homeschoolers are socially inept and socially repressed' malarkey. Home-education offers kids the opportunity to be as social or anti-social as they themselves choose to be; if any homeschooled teen wants a social life, friends etc then all they have to do is get off their backside and put themselves out there and find themselves some friends and a social life; if anything home-education affords kids *MORE* opportunities to do that than any conventional school setting, they just need the gumption to get off their backsides and get out there, find and then make proper use of all the opportunities available to them in any developed country in 2008.

If, as a homeschooler, you don't want the social thing then be happy staying at home and doing your own thing but homeschoolers ought not to be staying at home whingeing and whining and crying about their lack of a social life, loss of friends etc when what they're really doing is simply whingeing and whining and crying that these things aren't handed to them on a plate as they were in school and that, now they're home-educated, they have to actually take the initiative for themselves and take responsibility for finding and organising their . Homeschoolers who do that have no-one to blame for their situation: their lack of friends, social life etc but themselves!

Fact: there was an article on one of the news sites the other day reporting on how researchers are finding that 'increasing numbers of kids do not socially integrate in the conventional school setting'. Maybe I should see if I can dig it out.

Answer 2

I would say that the answer to your question depends on the family and the child, the approach they use, how early does the homeschooling begin, what type of support you have and so on.

The personality traits of the parent who homeschool are very important, as well as his/her teaching style, her/his needs and interests. The same happens with the traits of the child, her needs and interests.

If you begin very early in life and you have a support group, resources (like books, supplies, maybe a homeschool community, organization or library that supports you) and you are able to organize your time, the benefits for both the parent and the child are huge. It is good too if you don't have financial problems or a desire to go out and work. If you feel overwhelmed and always struggling because you feel that you may be better working and your kids with somebody else, then homeschooling can be a nightmare for both of you.

I would say that with all the "good" things around, the personal growth and the feelings of bonding, belonging and values are good for the parents and the child.

Socially repressing? If the reason for homeschooling is to keep the child out of what's going on in the world, blind to all reality, brainwashed with a fundamentalist religion, then yes, it is socially repressing.

But if you are giving your child the opportunity to meet different people, go out and play, visit, take field trips, read different books and you discuss many things at home with an open mind, then it is not repressing, it is liberating and open, more open than a regular school.

Answer 3

Home schooling id horrible because how can a kid learn to deal with real problems when hes not exposed to any... at schools they have special programs for his needs + he needs social skills and if you deprive him of that he will not be so successful in the future.

Answer 4

It really depends on the child and the family, but it's often best for personal growth.  Done correctly, it allows a child to grow at their own pace, according to their interests and abilities, and work on their weaknesses in an environment where they are not mocked just because they're not "good" at something.  This is often a healthier atmosphere for a child.

It's not for everyone, but the majority of homeschooled kids are very well prepared, academically and socially, by the time they are ready for college.  They don't always progress along the "accepted" scope and sequence, but they don't have to.  The scope and sequence is there in order to keep a classroom moving - when a child is homeschooled, they can go at their own pace.

Answer 5

There are a lot of reasons for doing or avoiding home schooling.  Read the autobiography of Margaret Mead, the famous American anthropologist, who was schooled by her grandmother.  She didn't seem particularly repressed. (1) Do you like to teach? (2) Does your kid have outside non-academic activities?  (3) Are you sure that he is ADHD?  My impression is that a lot of kids are going through emotional problems or are too bright to have much patience with regular schools (or maybe haven't been trained at home to be patient with anything!)

Answer 6

I agree with the first answer....

It's horrible....

I hate it....

=)

All my best!

-Max

Answer 7

It's been best in our family. The kids not only have more time to explore their personal interests, but also more time to fulfill their own needs.

They are allowed to develop as the person that they are, without a bunch of media created peer pressure, or the attacks on self esteem (especially children with disabilities, who have their deficits reinforced over and over and over again)

They get to explore the life that they will have as adults, rather than imbed a completely false one that must be replaced once graduation occurs.

Perhaps we are different as radical unschoolers, but it seems to be true for the hundreds of homeschoolers I know personally.