What benefits and/or struggles might a student who has been home schooled bring to a classroom?

Question

What are your thoughts and experiences with home schooling?

Answer 1

My hubby teaches year 11 and 12. They get the occasional homeschooler come through, just to make the paperwork easier for getting into uni. For the most part, he and his collegues find them a joy to teach. They are more interested, dedicated, have better work ethic, see the teacher as a person rather than "the enemy" and have a lot more confidence, both academically and socially. The only bad experience he's had with a homeschooler was when he was doing teaching rounds. A kid who had been "homeschooled" had been sent by the state into year 7. I say "homeschooled" with inverted commas because it was clear the kid hadn't been taught anything at all.

Answer 2

This question is just BEGGING for generalizations or judgementalism. What benefits and/or struggles might a student who has grown up in Chicago bring to a Topeka classroom? What benefits and/or struggles might a student who has grown up in Canada bring to an American classroom? What benefits and/or struggles might a student who only has one parent bring to a classroom? See what I'm getting at?

Homeschoolers are so varied in personality as well as style of homeschooling that I feel it would be improper of me to even attempt to answer that question. Just as all Canadian students won't be the same, not all homeschooling students will be the same.

Answer 3

I've heard from many teachers that formerly homeschooled kids bring a lot of interst to class.   They aren't bored with the idea of school, and if it was their choice to be in school they are generally much more intested in learning than the kids who have been in school all along.

A struggle is just that they haven't learned the routines of school yet -- but it doesn't take long to figure them out.

Answer 4

I can't speak for all homeschoolers but I can speak for myself.

Also, the answer to your question largely depends on why the kid was homeschooled, and why he or she was sent back. If the kid is being put back for flunking the standardized tests enough times you're going to be unimpressed, though I've never actually known someone who had that happen to them. If the kid is homeschooled because he or she is a genius and is going to school out of curiosity, that is going to be quite different as well. Beyond that it's just a question of personality.

I've taken classes where I'm the only homeschooler and I've found that I generally spark up a good discussion, but I'm not as used to the "Sit down, shut up, and let the teacher guide the discussion," way of doing things so I guess the short way of summing my problem up would be that I'm too active. There are ~20 other kids in the class and I'm the only person who cares, meaning they're even less interested in hearing me trying to fit the new information in to what I already know. I'm not an annoying know-it-all who doesn't shut up- far from it. However, I'm usually the only person who cares, or has the energy to care. It hasn't been that great for first impressions but it lets me know where the teacher stands and what kind of person he or she is.

So to sum it up, if I'm going to speak in disgusting generalizations based off of a minority of my friends, I think many homeschoolers would bring an extra degree of engagement in the work and any benefits and struggles would be related to that.

Anything else such as arrogance or shyness is attributable to human nature.

Answer 5

My son's girlfriend went to public school this year, after having homeschooled through 8th grade. She found the academics easy, the speed of most curriculum too slow, and the treatment of some students toward the teachers appalling. She loves cheering, which she didn't get to do before. She's learning to raise her hand, as she never had to before. The co-op and tutorial classes she'd been in before were run in a more conversational style, and the teachers didn't want the raising of hands.

Answer 6

Well homeschoolers tend to be ahead of their age mates when it comes to academics, problem solving skills, independence, and maturity. But most especially the first two. When I tried to go back to a public school for 10th grade I was so frustrated with the speed the teacher taught at. I hated having to re-do things I had already learned, and do so much repetition on these things until the other students were grasping the concept. It also surprised me how little a lot of the students cared about the assignments or about college or any of that. They came to school to play and socialize, but they didn't even do that well. At lunch time I had more fun hanging out with the teachers, because at least they talked about things that were actually interesting and didn't call you a show-off for using "big words" around them.

I think a homeschooler returning to a public school classroom will be frustrated. But I'm sure there are some that wouldn't. Just like there are some public schoolers who are not like the ones I described.

What is this for anyway?