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Comment by claar | Hacker News Reader

Full disclosure: We homeschool our children.

Many here are repeating uninformed myths about homeschooling.

Specifically in regards to academic performance, "The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests."[1]

But who cares? Though I could talk at length on educational benefits, what is needed for children is not an ideal academic environment. Our children need to be loved and mentored to become adults and, on average, no one can do that job better than their own parents.

[1] http://www.nheri.org/research/research-facts-on-homeschoolin...

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This is the first year we are homeschooling my 13 yr old son. He is actually in a hybrid Charter program so goes to class 2 days and homeschools 3 days. We have already seen such a huge difference. We were able to bump him up 2 math levels, enroll him in a computer science course and had a lot of input on what curriculum he uses. None of these opportunities would have been available if we kept him in public school.

Public school was too easy for him. He was bored and not being challenged enough. Plus the last 2 years things kind of started getting a little creepy. I won't go into details here but there was definitely some indoctrination stuff going on that did not sit right with me.

I am not saying homeschooling is right for every child, but if your child excels in Math, is scoring off the charts in most subjects and appears to be bored, I highly encourage looking into it. There are a ton of homeschooling resources available now and there are a lot of good hybrid options too.

> enroll him in a computer science course

Why are you doing that to him?

Haha! He has been programming since the age of 8. Started off hacking away at Minecraft Mods then moved into a little JavaScript and more recently Python for the Raspberry Pi.

I have tried encouraging other areas too of course but this stuff really excites him. It is in his blood and he is really, really good at it.

Python 3, I hope. Right?

"Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be coders"

I thought this to myself and then googled it to see if lazyweb had written it for me:

http://music.chuvala.com/songs/mamas/mamas_lyrics.html

Ha! This is pretty funny. Aren't coders these days though kind of seen as rock stars? ;)

As a Mama here and as someone who has worked in this industry for over 15 years, I would not be bummed if he chose another path. I however won't hold him back from what is pulling him either. I will try my best to be as supportive as I can in whatever path he ends up choosing.

Also speaking as a mom - I am totally okay if he ends up being the nerdy kid ;)

In my experience as an educator I observed that homeschooling was excellent for kids at both extremes of the bell curve. US public education does a pretty good job at the bulk.

Totally agree with you.

It seems like there are two very different groups being discussed here: the "I think I can do a better job of educating my kids than the state" homeschoolers and the "I want to protect my kids from this immoral society" homeschoolers.

I don't know which is more prevalent but all the homeschoolers seem to think of themselves as being in the first group, and most of the vitriol is aimed at the second group, so there's a lot of people talking past each other.

The lines are not so clear. My parents started out as the former and evolved into the latter.

Please elaborate. Why did that happen?

My parents got into home-schooling for practical reasons; I learned to read early, the kindergarten was a long drive away, etc. They intended it as a temporary thing, a year or two before I went off to school like a normal person. By the time my younger siblings came along, they'd gotten the hang of it, liked it a lot, and just kept on teaching us all at home; I never did end up going to school.

They had always been religious, and we were raised with religious practice as a part of everyday routine, but they steadily became more and more a part of the countercultural fundamentalism that was growing up around them in the 1980s. As that happened the practice of home-schooling became both a cultural marker and a means of rejecting and protecting their children from what they saw as a corrupt and unhealthy mainstream society. By the time I graduated, my parents and most of their social circle were fully on board with the whole quiverfull homeschooling right-wing fundamentalist subculture.

Of course I promptly rejected the whole thing, as did most of my cohort. The fundamentalist homeschooling subculture appears to perpetuate itself almost entirely via recruitment and not through reproduction, so far as my observation goes.

I don't think every homeschooler falls within these 2 camps. It really isn't that black and white. The stereotypes try to make it out that way though.

These groups are not exclusive and I don't fundamentally see a problem with the later group as well. If parents do not subscribe to the morality pushed into the schools they should be free to educate kids at them.

There is a third group which is, "If I leave my kid in regular school they will probably suicide."

Example one: Friend of mine has a kid with some strange behaviours, and some problems with aggression control. The other teenagers at the school constantly tease him, bait him, and make his life miserable. The school has given up on trying to stop this.

Example two: Another friend who's thirteen year old daughter was sexually assaulted (not at school), and as a result has virtually become a shut-in. Distance education is the only option at the moment.

Example three: My own daughter has some pretty severe anxiety issues and we ended up with school refusal for two years. She just could not cope. She can do the academics, she could not deal with everything else around interacting with other people, chaotic environments, unexpected change and such. We persevered and with a lot of leaning on mental health services, and a wonderful and accommodating staff at the school, we've managed to get our daughter back into school, which ultimately is best for her in the long run.

All these in Victoria, Australia - same place as the article.

The two groups you mentioned have their motivations rooted in some sort of hubris. I wonder how small their percentage is compared to the group who are just struggling to keep their kids alive and in some semblance of happiness.

Does homeschooling necessarily means parents ? Is it possible for parents to group together hire a teacher of their choice and then educated kids ?(sort of private school without government regulation)

This sounds like a great idea, and reminds me of the days before compulsory public education when the upper classes hired a variety of tutors to teach their children. Seems like a great way to do it! Another way, especially if you have well-educated friends with kids, would be to take turns teaching your specialities.

No, it doesn't. Many "homeschoolers" get together in groups where parents and/or other individuals share the teaching load according to the subject areas in which they are most skilled.

In fact I think it's a great area where technology can be used to support homeschooling networks. There are some organized by geographic areas, churches, etc, but what if you live in a cabin on a mountain somewhere? Forming a virtual homeschooling network where one parent teaches math, another teaches writing, etc, could be a wonderful solution.

It sounds like common sense but education remains a heavily regulation sector in USA and lets not even get started with child related regulation.

I am worried that cop visits, CPS visits etc. etc. might deter parents from doing this especially given that teachers union is a powerful political force.

Problem with America's education is entirely some nonsensical level of "we know what is good for your kids" regulation that is simply taking out freedom from parents.

Sure, it may be a hassle, but that's no reason not to do it. The more people homeschool, the more powerful their political voice will be. And compared to most other developed countries, the U.S. is pretty friendly to homeschoolers (varying by state). Germany is literally ripping children away from their families for attempting it.

Let's try to keep a clear distinction between the two concepts of education and childrearing.

How would you keep them separate? I am not a homeschooling advocate, but I don't know how you could separate education on academic subjects from education on the rest of life.

We can agree that a lot of schools are terrible at both, and relied on for both (seriously talk to lower grades who are literally potty training some students).

Most people don't have the option of moving to a better school district or state even, and even so, don't have time to wait for the schools to fix the issues while their kid needs an education now.

Education is a component of childrearing, not a distinct activity or concept.

After health, education is the most important part of child rearing. Followed closely, or possibly in tandem with, not raising an asshole.

Providing access to education, but not necessarily providing the education yourself.

It isn't always feasible, due to either a lack of time or a lack of knowledge on the parents' part to provide a full education to your own children. Which, of course, is why many homeschoolers use partnerships with other families and, sometimes, schools.

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