Friday, March 11, 2011

Home Schooling aka dealing with crazy cakes

  So I'm making my first official post that's not about exercise. I got into an argument with a woman on Facebook about whether or not to home school. I personally am against it (with the exception of a few rare cases). I stated why I don't agree with it and one woman who is for it freaked out on me.
  In Wisconsin any parent can home school their kids if they choose to do so. You don't have to have any type of a degree to do it and you don't even have to have graduated high school.
  I went to school with a girl who would have graduated with me except she dropped out at 15 (if I remember correctly) and started homeschooling herself. Last I knew she still hadn't gotten a diploma and was married (to a guy who also didn't graduate) with a couple of kids. Since then she is divorced and as far as I know still doesn't have a diploma. She home schools her kids and I don't understand how she can do it. Without any kind of an education what makes her qualified? How can she help her kids to learn when she has never been taught this information?
  I don't feel that I have the education or the brains to give my kids the well rounded education that I feel that they need. I was an English major in college but what do I know about Chemistry? Or Math for that matter? I can barely count my fingers and toes. I also wouldn't be able to teach my kids a musical instrument because I can't read music. All in all I would suck as a teacher for my kids if I was covering every subject. While I realize that some parents may hire private tutors for their kids I don't make that kind of money.
  I will share what this woman and I posted back and forth so far but I won't share her name since that's not fair to her.... Nor will I change her grammar or spelling.

HER: last I checked...in WI....you don't have to have a "degree" to homeschool and you don't have to do it yourself. You can have anyone you want teach your children, but they do have to be taught certain things and be "learning" for a certain amount of time. So you can have a tutor come in or have a relative or friend help you...there are many ways to accomplish teaching your children. And the field trips you can take and learn with!!! It's amazing! ♥

(So far she is right on the current laws of the state. No argument yet.)

ME: My issues with the home schooled kids that I have known are that they tend to be anti-social and have trouble making friends. I have only met one girl who was well adjusted but that didn't happen until she got her first job and finally met ...kids her own age. Up until that point the only kids that she knew were other kids that were also home schooled and went to her church. Those other kids had the same life experiences and couldn't really open each others eyes to different people outside of the group.
My parents are intelligent people but they felt that they couldn't do something like this to us because they wouldn't be able to teach us enough of any given subject to give us a well rounded education.
Also quite a few of the kids when they hit their teen years started teaching themselves. Many of them didn't graduate and still haven't at 30 years old.


( I was referring  to a few kids from the area that I grew up in and what I saw.)


HER: see, my homeschooled kids were in 4-h and scouts and they are more normal than the public school kids they went to school with for the previous 3 years. and I don't have to worry about those "social" public school kids coming to my house with guns to shoot my children.....

(WTF? I  checked her Facebook page and she lives in a safe area where the chances of someone bringing a gun to school are slim to none.)


HER: I learned more in the one year I was homeschooled than all the other years of public and Christian schools I attended. So you saying I'm not adjusting to human life as well as you are? My children have more friends than I can count and enjoy lots of activities with "schooled" kids. My children find reading encyclopedias and playing basketball in the park with other kids equally fun....when's the last time your kid read an encyclopedia?
our oldest son was homeschooled through 6th grade. Then he went to the public school. first year there he got the bronze presidential award (Pres. Bush signed it), second year he got the silver pres. award (Pres. Obama signed it), third year he got the gold pres. award (pres. Obama signed). How many did your kid get?
If you don't attend the homeschool group meetings and field trips and meet these homeschooled children, then you don't have any right to ASSUME anything about them!!!!!
 
(Ummmm Congrats?)
ME:
My oldest is one of the youngest in his grade and was also reading before kindergarten. He will graduate at 17 and scores in the top 80% on testing in WI. To assume that my son is an idiot for going to public school is asinine. Also Obama and Bush did not hand sign his award. It's a stamp. My brother has received these same awards along with more. He was salutatorian of his graduating class. I'm not discrediting the awards that your son got and you should be proud of them.
I did say that I know a girl who is well adjusted after having been home schooled but I know more that aren't
Statistically most kids don't bring guns to schools. Does it happen? Yes. Is it rare? Yes. If you live in such a rough neighborhood then move.


HER: sure....but it's OKAY for YOU to ASSUME my children are ANTI-SOCIAL because they are/were homeschooled.....you don't know anything about them...... things only go one way with you???

HER: in YOUR words: "To assume that my son[children] is[are] an idiot[anti-social] for going to public school[being homeschooled] is asinine."

(I didn't know that anti-social meant the same thing as idiot but I know now! :) )
 
HER: remember, I wasn't assuming anything....that was you....

ME: I never referred to your child/kids and their socialization. I referred to the kids that I grew up with and why I would never even consider home schooling. You assumed that I meant yours in particular. Are you worried that your kids are anti- social?

She hasn't responded back yet but I'm excited for her response!

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