Parents who kept kids at home for fear of Covid are reported for neglect | Hacker News Reader

Parents who kept kids at home for fear of Covid are reported for neglect

theguardian.com

5 pointsvanusa5 comments

I homeschooled my kid for two years in New York, never filled out any paperwork and got away with it.

(You're supposed to document that you've got some plan that conforms to Common Core, which is a good thing for homeschooling as I see it because it sets a pretty high goal but leaves it up to you how to do it.)

I got him well beyond grade level on math using Kahn Academy but didn't get very far when it came to reading, writing and other things.

How much time were you required to devote to teaching? I would have a nearly impossible task trying to split my time between work and schooling my young children.

There was no specific requirement.

My wife teaches kids to ride horses and I was hustling to start a business at the time so we had fluid schedules.

I've known quite a few homeschoolers and nearly all of them spend a lot less time on it than kids spend in school because most of the time in school is recess, lunch, waiting in line, waiting while the teacher manages other kid's misbehavior, etc. In a 1-1 or 1-few situation (homeschooling siblings) students are more engaged and more 'productive'.

Kahn Academy math is great, as one can learn by doing, jumping right into the problems and taking small-consequence risks. That’s how I did quizzes in the US military—-read the question, make my best guess, and keep track of my responses in a text file for reference The next time through. I feel I learned more for my time than by reading the books or watching the videos. I was homeschooled a few years in the 80s, maybe because my parents thought they could do better (?), and I mostly did math problems, wrote poetry, read books (combination assignments and my choice), and explored the woods. The only downside I’m aware of was a lack of peer exposure and feedback, and I’m still socially awkward (I don’t know enough to say causation). Thankfully I had several years of co-suffering through the rest of public school to form some lasting friendships.

From my perspective the only thing you need to learn a subject like math or physics is the problem sets.

My son did not engage with the the tutorial videos at all from the math curriculum. I had to supply coaching and some instruction with the goal of getting him able to do the problems. I got a PhD in a quantitative field so I didn't find it that hard.

Myself I had a lot of trouble in the public schools, somehow I became a magnet for bullying and that made everything else impossible. In my case they tried everything from special ed to having me take classes at the high school part time when I was in the 4th and 5th grades. At the beginning of the 6th grade my parents really had it and took me out of school for two years where I got some tutoring in English from the school system but mostly read 10 books a week from the library, programmed my TRS-80, etc. I skipped 1 grade and started high school halfway through the freshmen year. At that point I didn't have problems with boys but was pretty sad because I was a zero with girls...

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