Home schooling in CA

[Gemini Cricket]

How do ya school a home?

[Mousey Girl]

My sister homeschools. My nieces are currently 10 & 13. They started off at a Christian school, run by their church. There were a lot of problems, so L pulled them out to teach them at home. The younger one is currently doing 5th & 6th grade work, the older one is doing 7th grade work. While L keeps them busy, there are a lot of activities that they are into, I don't totally approve.

They go to a school setting for certain things during the week. They do the science fairs and the speech competitions.

They have no real concept of the Real World. All of their socialization comes from their small circle of home schooled, church based kids, just like them. I worry about them when they finally do get to join the RW. They will go into culture shock. They are extremly sheltered.

[scaeagles]

At what age is it time to gain a concept of the "real world"? I don't think my six year old needs that concept yet. I don't think my eight year old needs that concept yet. My 14 year old....yeah. She's getting it pretty much every day even at a private Christian school. There isn't a whole lot of difference between the student populace at a Christian school and a public, really. There's bullying, catty-ness, drug usage....the main difference is how the faculty and staff are allowed to deal with it. I'm not saying public schools don't, but there are different methods permitted at private schools and religious schools.

There are plenty of kids who don't get "socialized" at public schools, whether it is by self imposed isolation or limiting their circle of friends. I'm thinking The Breakfast Club, which was such a profound (sounds strange, I know) movie to me when it came out my junior year in HS. Fact is even in public schools you often don't know what the "other" kids you don't socialize with are like or are going through.

I don't necessarily consider "sheltered" to be bad. I think it's part of being a parent, just as is introducing your child to the reality of life when they are ready. I want my kids to be sheltered from certain things and decide when they are ready emotionally and physically to deal with things that I find objectionable or potentially harmful.

[Strangler Lewis]

I would agree with much of this, although it's hard to figure out the right balance. Sometimes I think my parents spent too much time letting me watch the nightly news with them. Body counts from the Viet Nam war, the assassinations of '68, etc. I found it scary.

As a parent I pay more attention to other kids, and it's surprisingly easy to spot kids who appear headed for a rough road and natural to want to protect your kids from a similar fate. On the other hand, part of life is making mistakes. Still, there are some mistakes I won't mind my kids making, and some I would prefer they not make.

[wendybeth]

My daughter had mostly very negative social experiences in school. We discovered kids can be evil little ****s, even in kindergarten, and teachers are largely clueless. I'll have to scan a pic I found not too long ago- it's of Tori in kindergarten, and she's glaring, with arms folded, at the kids who cut in front of her in line. So, we decided the 'social 'benefits' were outweighed by concerns for the amount and quality of educational information she was getting. I will say, it's been fun watching these kids turn into teens- most of the ones who were mean are now getting into all sorts of trouble, and the same parents who didn't seem concerned about their little darlings being mean to a deaf kid now fawn over Tori when they see her. Some are even considering homeschooling, like that is the only reason my kid turned out nice.

[MouseWife]

wendybeth, while this isn't on topic, I know of what you speak.

And, it is upsetting that the kids who do that sort of thing {cutting, bullying, controlling the situations basically} usually aren't reprimanded. I've experienced that they would rather not deal with it as it is too much trouble. They don't deal with it and make the other kids suffer to 'keep peace'.

I did not like that my child was supposed to just take it, it teaches them to take that shiet for the rest of their lives. My son was being hit on the playground, I told the teacher and said that I have taught my son not to hit and she said that was fantastic. I said, but wait, I am taking that back. There is no way I am going to allow my son to take that. She asked me to please wait as the school needed more parents like me. I said that I could not and if my son felt the need to strike back, he most definitely would.

Ugh, I really hate remembering the issues I had with grade school.

As for the PSs, every night I see on the news reports of budget cuts, problems with money, students, and staff. It is a business anymore, the focus taken off of teaching.

And, those damn tests. Fun has been taken out of learning just so that they can focus on the tests. No funding for fieldtrips, no fun parties, nothing. I would tell the teachers that I bet that they celebrate the holidays. You know in the staff lounge they always decorate and have lunches. But, the kids can't. That isn't fair.

Sorry if I am off topic but these are real issues I had to deal with during my time with my children in public school.

[tracilicious]

I'm not sure kids learn much about the "real world" by being in school. In the real world you get to direct a lot of your time yourself, you aren't isolated to people of the same age, etc. I didn't really even have exposure to very many different kinds of people in school. In the advanced classes it was mostly middle class white christians. It wasn't until after I graduated and got a job at a used bookstore that I encountered different ways of thinking. The real world theory doesn't hold a lot of water.

[cirquelover]

As usual, I'm late to the party!

We have a different kind of home schooling experience because technically Zach is doing the public school online. We have real teachers we can contact whenever he wants and now that he's in 6th grade he has a lot more teachers to keep track of. We are under most of the same guidelines as regular brick and mortar school kids but with more options. Zach has been allowed to take many electives for the last three years that wouldn't be offered in the regular school. For now it works for us.

I'm sure Connections Academy is in CA also, wonder if their rules are different. Some states only allow them to go up to a certain grade.

Originally Posted by wendybeth

My daughter had mostly very negative social experiences in school. We discovered kids can be evil little ****s, even in kindergarten, and teachers are largely clueless. I'll have to scan a pic I found not too long ago- it's of Tori in kindergarten, and she's glaring, with arms folded, at the kids who cut in front of her in line. So, we decided the 'social 'benefits' were outweighed by concerns for the amount and quality of educational information she was getting. I will say, it's been fun watching these kids turn into teens- most of the ones who were mean are now getting into all sorts of trouble, and the same parents who didn't seem concerned about their little darlings being mean to a deaf kid now fawn over Tori when they see her. Some are even considering homeschooling, like that is the only reason my kid turned out nice.

I can relate to this experience 100%. It's sad that people can be so cruel. I love it when they turn around and think that homeschooling years later will fix all the problems they have allowed to occur in their children

I know in Oregon, even homeschooled kids must pass State required tests at certain ages to make sure they are at least learning the basics. I think that's a good idea as I know parents who pulled there kids out just to avoid fighting with the child!! Um, HELLO, are you actually teaching Junior anything or just letting him sleep and stay out of your hair?! She's now paying the price as the State is breathing down her neck!

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by MouseWife

And, it is upsetting that the kids who do that sort of thing {cutting, bullying, controlling the situations basically} usually aren't reprimanded. I've experienced that they would rather not deal with it as it is too much trouble. They don't deal with it and make the other kids suffer to 'keep peace'. . . . As for the PSs, every night I see on the news reports of budget cuts, problems with money, students, and staff. It is a business anymore, the focus taken off of teaching.

In our clean, middle class school, there was a fair amount of bullying that went unchecked. My sense was that our popular principal was not lazy or a fan of bullying; rather, he made his choice to foster a happy, happy school to maximize fundraising. Now that he has retired, the new principal is strong in her aspirations that the school and the home be safe and settled places to learn.

Originally Posted by MouseWife

And, those damn tests. Fun has been taken out of learning just so that they can focus on the tests. No funding for fieldtrips, no fun parties, nothing.

I disagree with this, at least on the subject of parties. At our school, there is no holiday too small to justify hitting the parents up for cash to pour sugar into our kids for an hour in the afternoon. Plus, we have post-Halloween pajama/candy/pervert day, other pajama/pervert days and extra parties that the kids can "earn" to bring dolls and stuffed animals to school.

As far as tests go, our school, though posting decent raw numbers, has been consistently in the bottom ten percent of our demographic in the region. This suggests to me that no one on either side is stepping up. Now, I always did well on standardized tests, so I have a "how hard can it be" attitude. We should be able to scratch all our itches: "teach to the test" to whatever extent necessary, teach beyond the test and have endless parties to foster unhealthy habits.

Originally Posted by MouseWife

I would tell the teachers that I bet that they celebrate the holidays
You know in the staff lounge they always decorate and have lunches. But, the kids can't. That isn't fair.

Here I agree. It was generally accepted that our American history teacher in high school drank in class (spiked soda can). We had to go off campus to do that.

[MouseWife]

Originally Posted by Strangler Lewis

In our clean, middle class school, there was a fair amount of bullying that went unchecked. My sense was that our popular principal was not lazy or a fan of bullying; rather, he made his choice to foster a happy, happy school to maximize fundraising. Now that he has retired, the new principal is strong in her aspirations that the school and the home be safe and settled places to learn.

I disagree with this, at least on the subject of parties. At our school, there is no holiday too small to justify hitting the parents up for cash to pour sugar into our kids for an hour in the afternoon. Plus, we have post-Halloween pajama/candy/pervert day, other pajama/pervert days and extra parties that the kids can "earn" to bring dolls and stuffed animals to school.

As far as tests go, our school, though posting decent raw numbers, has been consistently in the bottom ten percent of our demographic in the region. This suggests to me that no one on either side is stepping up. Now, I always did well on standardized tests, so I have a "how hard can it be" attitude. We should be able to scratch all our itches: "teach to the test" to whatever extent necessary, teach beyond the test and have endless parties to foster unhealthy habits.

Here I agree. It was generally accepted that our American history teacher in high school drank in class (spiked soda can). We had to go off campus to do that.

Comparing our school years to now, well, that is hard. I try to forget most of mine....

Ah, it sounds like your school is going the opposite direction. Too many parties. I don't know where our school was at. I should look that up. {I know before the Immersion Program, we ranked pretty well....} I know the middle schools in this area are very low on the charts for test scores. The lower scoring schools try to recruit the high test score kids to bring up their rating.

But yeah, with all of the time they spend in school, even with parties, why oh why can't they pass the damn tests???

And, today, my son learned what grading on a curve means.

How many high schools in your area have metal detectors?

LOL I say 'Unfair!' if the teacher could drink in class, why not you guys? At my daughters school, it was evident they did their drinking in the parking lot {empty vodka/beer bottles all over}.