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Another thread was hijacked to compare and contrast home schooling and public schooling. Instead of putting in my two cents, I decided the right thing to do was to start a new thread.
There is no such thing as an "American school". Schools in America are administrated from a local, not Federal level. Each municipality has its own school board, writes its own curriculum and makes its own policies. IF they want State funds, they must follow certain state guidelines. IF they want Federal funds, they must follow certain federal guidelines. The school district of Philadelphia, PA is nothing like the school district of Upper Darby, PA minutes away. When setting up an International School in Kabul, Afghanistan, we had the reputation of following "American curriculum" - but we all knew that that was a misnomer. 6th grade follows the curriculum that I wrote. "Public school in America" can mean anything - even bible based curriculum in some districts (rare)!
Literate parents are qualified to teach children to love books, to read, to do arithmetic, to view the world, to think critically. In fact, they are responsible to oversee all of this even if they send their children to public school. Parents can delegate tasks, but not bottom-line responsibility to teachers.
Home schooled children, on the average, outperform public school children academically and socially. Not in every case, just on the average. There are no proven social advantages to grouping children (or adults) according to age. You never can get a homogenous group - teachers must differentiate instruction to meet wide ability ranges or they will give mediocre instruction. Moms who have the privilege of being able to stay at home should consider the home school option. Men should strive to give their wives the privilege of staying at home - it is a worthy goal. The best guide to socialize children properly are parents, not peers. Home schooled children need peers. They do not need 25 close peers (six hours a day, five days a week).
I am a certified elementary school teacher. We are planning to home school.
There is no such thing as an "American school". Schools in America are administrated from a local, not Federal level. Each municipality has its own school board, writes its own curriculum and makes its own policies. IF they want State funds, they must follow certain state guidelines. IF they want Federal funds, they must follow certain federal guidelines. The school district of Philadelphia, PA is nothing like the school district of Upper Darby, PA minutes away. When setting up an International School in Kabul, Afghanistan, we had the reputation of following "American curriculum" - but we all knew that that was a misnomer. 6th grade follows the curriculum that I wrote. "Public school in America" can mean anything - even bible based curriculum in some districts (rare)!
Literate parents are qualified to teach children to love books, to read, to do arithmetic, to view the world, to think critically. In fact, they are responsible to oversee all of this even if they send their children to public school. Parents can delegate tasks, but not bottom-line responsibility to teachers.
Home schooled children, on the average, outperform public school children academically and socially. Not in every case, just on the average. There are no proven social advantages to grouping children (or adults) according to age. You never can get a homogenous group - teachers must differentiate instruction to meet wide ability ranges or they will give mediocre instruction. Moms who have the privilege of being able to stay at home should consider the home school option. Men should strive to give their wives the privilege of staying at home - it is a worthy goal. The best guide to socialize children properly are parents, not peers. Home schooled children need peers. They do not need 25 close peers (six hours a day, five days a week).
I am a certified elementary school teacher. We are planning to home school.
