Public Schooler worried?Homeschoolers better?

Question

I'm 14.And beening hearing a lot of how kids that are homeschooled have higher than public schoolers scores on SATs.And how maturer they are than other kids.Since I'm in public school does that make a stupid immature dependent girl?

Answer 1

No, it doesn't make you SPECIFICALLY any of those things, but the statistics are true. At the same time though, there are public schoolers who turn out to be mature and intelligent. We have options, and those who will do best in a homeschool setting... well, they do just that. Those who do best in public school stay in public school. It's all in what works for you.

Answer 2

No! It is a generalized observation between the two groups. When you compare the education a student using a HS program and getting the one on one that they get compared to the mediocre program given to 30 kids and no one on one. HS kids simply can get a better education because we don't move on until they "get it." We have the time to stay on the same lesson as long as it takes. In public school they move very quickly and don't have the time to make sure each student understands the new stuff before moving on.

That is why HS kids can do better on SATs. I will say that you have an advantage over HS kids!  Most HS kids don't do standardized tests and very little regular tests. After all the point of a test is to see where the students are and what they've learned. Parents of home schooled kids know what they learned we spent a week teaching that particular concept. We know they understand and can move on.

As for maturity look around at the kids in your school. Would you say they are mature? What are their main interests? The opposite s*x maybe? How they look? Who's party are you going too this weekend? Their mom and dad are gone! OH yes we can drink! and other things that go on at high school parties. There is more to life than those things. Home schooled kids know that. They may be involved in volunteer work, they are around different age groups all the time. They are not as interested in how they look and who's going with who? Why the peer pressure simply isn't there. They are allowed to mature faster and are usually more so than most kids their age. It doesn't make you stupid and immature. The fact that you can ask this question without any snide comments about how horrible you think home schooling may be points to a maturity level that some adults on here don't have! Don't worry about what is said about maturity after all not all kids are the same. Believe it or not there are still a lot of immature HS kids out there.

Answer 3

It doesn't make you any of those things - unless you choose to be.  

Statistically, yes, homeschoolers tend to score better academically and socially; this isn't just because they're homeschooled, though.  It's because of the environment that they are generally raised in.  

True homeschoolers are allowed to learn at their own pace, in the way that makes the most sense to them, and in a "safer" environment.  By "safe", I don't just mean free from bullying and school violence, though these are two major benefits.  I mean that they are able to grow up in an environment in which it is perfectly acceptable to be yourself.  That is something that is sorely lacking in many school environments these days.

(I'm not bashing schools, by the way.  Many kids get along well in school.  However, sticking that many kids together, for that many hours per day/week/year, supervised by not enough adults often equals kids without mature social skills socializing each other.  And to a child, even an older child, the safest social structure is one in which they blend in and fit in.  This is not how society works.)

They are also allowed to learn according to their interests and abilities.  Because their education is tailored to them, they don't have to follow the district lesson plan.  If they're ready to move on, they can, and if they need more help (or need something explained in a different way), they can camp out in that skill until they get it.  As a homeschool mom, I can teach my son concepts in ways that are interesting and meaningful to him without worrying about the 25-30 other kids in his class; I can teach directly to him.

What this tends to equal is kids that are responsible for their own choices and education, who are respectful to people of varying ages and backgrounds (because that's who they've been socialized by), who are able and willing to learn on their own, and who don't want anyone to spoon-feed them information.  They want to go after it themselves and really learn it.

Now...is this possible in a public school?  Of course!  It takes the same thing in you that it would take in a homeschool student - motivation and drive.  They don't magically get those things because they're homeschooled; they get those things because that's how they've been raised.  Their moms and dads have expected motivation, drive, and responsibility (at an age appropriate level) from the start.  Can your parents expect that of you?  Yes.  Can you expect that of yourself?  Yes!  That's what it takes.

If you want to be stupid, immature, and dependent, you can make those choices.  If you want to be intelligent, knowledgeable, mature, and independent, you can make choices to do so.  (If you go to a school that doesn't expect those things of you, you'll need to put those expectations on yourself and ask your parents to hold you accountable, but that is completely up to you.)

Hope that helps!

Answer 4

I'm sensing a wee touch of sarcasm.

There is no need to feel threatened. On average, yes,  homeschool students do excel more academically and show greater maturity in communication skills. But another person's success hardly means that you are a failure. I'm sorry that the statistics offend you. You are a person, not a statistic. Numbers do not degrade you. Stop believing that success is about being "better” than others. It is about personal excellence. Focus on being the best "you" you can be and you'll never need to ask a question like this again.

    On the off chance that your question was asked in all sincerity, the answer is "no". Being public schooled does not necessarily make you stupid, immature or dependent. I do think if you manage to get through school without becoming any of those things, it is despite and not because of public schooling.

    I also have to point out at the risk of being rude, that your spelling and grammar need work. I'm not judging you. I can't. I was an honors student in public school and managed to graduate without learning the basics of spelling and grammar myself. However, judgment aside, it does affect how the world sees you. If you want to be taken seriously, keep working on it.

EDIT: Lo, isn't it also true that public and private schooled kids, in fact all kids, perhaps even all people MAY have "social skill problems"? Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don't expect to get away with that kind of throw away critique with homeschoolers.

Answer 5

Depends on the student.

It is a fact that 10-20% of homschoolers fail miserably, but the percentage for brick school is far higher, especially urban schools.

Homeschoolers have the option to work 7 days a week, 365 a year, they have the option to do two chapters instead of one chapter.  They have the option (and materials) to re-study last years courses if they find they don't understand this years courses.

Homeschoolers have the option to visit the library more often and longer.

Homeschoolers have the option to take more frequent field trips, stay longer, explore on their own without some teacher hussling you along.

To be an effective homeschooler you need to be a self-starter who works on your own with minimal help.

In the secondary forum here we see many kids who have NO IDEA what to write about.

This is because they look for a teacher to tell them what they must write about, but in graduate college that will not happen, you must decide on your own what to do for a final study project with minimal input from an advisor.  Mostly your advisor will says it's not enough, do more.

And that's the extend of their input.

A student who needs to perform to an expectation will not be able to deal with this.

The student with this problem will not do well in homeschool, because there is not enough input.  There is no teacher telling you what, specifically, to write about.

That kind of a student needs a brick school.

Students who are self-starter and capable of indepdent studies often do well in brick school, but sometimes get into problems.

The independent person, for example, might do a paper that is pro communist and the teacher may not approve of this approach and give you a lower grade because the concept of the class is how Great the American system is.

This is the same thing facing the religious people who are at odds with the Evolutionary concept.

It's ILLEGAL to be at ODDS, which is arbitary and argumentative.

When you can't hold a differeing opinion (even though you put the correct answers on the test because you know that's waht they want to see) you're in the wrong.

That never happens in college.  They love differing opinions, they just want you to support it with all the facts, flare and logic you can muster.

As for you, that's hard to say.

A good student in the upper ranks of a brick school can outperform most homeschoolers.  They also out perform most brick schoolers and some teachers.

To be frank the average 14-17 year old I talk to (and I run into quite a few) are snotty, snotty, opinionated little things who think they have it all figured out because they already have 30 college credits.

It's when i ask them to show me South Dakota on a blank map and tell me the capital, they get miffed.

(I can get 70% of the US states on a blank map and 50% of Europe on a blank map and I been out of school for 40 years and half those Europen countries didn't exist when I went to school, so I do have problems finding Boznia).

I have 17 years experinece programming computers and I can read punch cards just by holding them up to the light.  My mother homeschooled me in that when I was 6 years old.

I have 45 years experience in observational astronomy and was published in Sky and Telescope at age 16.

Most kids can't tell you where Iraq is.  Most kids don't know what Vietnam was about.  Most kids don't know what a phonograph record is.

In writing my book on Film and Video I decided to do a whole historical chapter documenting how the processes came about starting with the Chinese and Ancient Greeks.

Amber and silk.

Do you know what a capacitor is or how it works?  Know what a Leyden jar is?  Ever heard about the theory of the Persistance of Vision?

I plowed through one hundred reference sources just on that one chapter.

When I used to research articles at four libraries and one archive I'd heard first year college girls saying

My professors wants 7 references on this paper, can you belive that!

Mean while I'm working on my 70th reference for a 2,500 word article.

Most brick schoolers aren't used to doing work on their own.

Homeschoolers HAVE to.

That's basically what it all amounts to.

(Like that dangling participle, do you know what a participle is?  I'm not being paid to write this so I don't care much...)

Answer 6

Not at all. Not all homeschoolers are mature or academically strong. There's a tendency since the way they are brought up is more likely to give them the academic attention they need as well as the drive to do well and just a more mature outlook. That by no means means that there aren't smart, mature public schooled kids.

You can have the same drive as top homeschooling students if you want. You can be mature if you choose to really think about things, look at things the way an adult would. It can be harder, though, depending on the people who surround you.

Answer 7

I home school and I believe that for my family it is best. But, I know a lot of Public schoolers that turn out wonderful as well.  It is completely up to you. Make good choices and don't just "follow the crowd."

In response to the first answerer:

I know a lot MORE public school students with social issues. You should do some research before you make such assumptions. How does being stuck in a classroom full of same age kids make you better socialized? especially considering when I was in school, we got in trouble for talking? Here is a good article which I love to post.

http://learninfreedom.org/socialization....

Answer 8

Don't worry!

You are the captain of your own ship!

I don't think anyone will claim that *homeschoolers* are inherently better than anyone else.

But many believe that *homeschooling* works better for their own circumstances and for a very wide variety of reasons.

As I have commented before: A flower will grow where planted.

*** UPDATE:

Glee: I didn't catch the "wee bit of sarcasm" but I think you are right.  For some reason, when I read that phrase of yours I always hear it in my mind with a wee touch of Scottish accent applied.

Answer 9

Yep that's like the people who think the capital of Australia is Sydney (!!!!) and then, when you tell them it isn't, they ask if it's Melbourne (!!!), you tell them "No" again and then they're left floundering without any clue!!! "Err...Port Augusta?" LOL!

Oh and it's Bosnia...or Bosnia-Herzegovina, to give it its full name...it's part of what used to be Yugoslavia, along with such places as Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Croatia.