SkyHigh

I too was skeptical about exposure to the real world however now I understand that home school kids are still exposed to the world by adults. In fact it is more real than the situation at school where they primarily only associate with people their own age. The real world is comprised of people from 1 to 91. Who better to learn from than adults?

Skyhigh

Old Timer, Crabby opinionated Hobby Pilot.

crewdawg

You still haven't answered the question. I too am very interested in this...I only know what I have seen in college. I knew quite about 5-6 hime schooled kids in college (my freshman roommate was one), and aside from academics, they didn't do well at all. They were the kids that never wanted to hang out, always went home on the weekend, and were socially awkward. It seems as if most of their parents were trying to shelter them from "the real world"....like bullies, dating, jerk, etc. So when they go to college it was a HUGE culture shock. All they knew was interacting with their parents and their church groups.

SkyHigh

crewdawg,

I too have seen overly sheltered home school kids become overwhelmed at college, but that happens to plenty of public school kids as well. In addition I have also seen homeschool kids excel and enter college at 16 through the running start program that we have here. By the time they are 18 and graduated they could have two years of college paid for by the state .

Homeschooling is not the best for every situation. However I would like to mention that in the history of the human race children traditionally were educated and socialized by the parents. It has only been in the last 200 years that sit down instruction in mass came into existence.

To me the school yard situation is unnatural and does not accurately prepare one with the real world either.

Skyhigh

crewdawg

Do local schools usually allow home schooled kids to participate in sports or other extra-caricular activities? Are you in a city or smaller town?

Learflyer

I didn't read all of the posts, but has anyone ever tried "testing out" of their pre-req's by taking CLEP/DANTES exams? Almost EVERY college/university in the country accepts them. Some more than others because school IS a business and I get that. Get some books, study yourself, and pay 90 or so bucks and get some college credit. I can't believe people think they HAVE TO spend ten's of thousand's on a degree. I find it more challenging than the brick and mortar traditional college route.

SkyHigh

Our kids can participate in High School sports and other activities if they want to. We are in a small town.

It took the bus 1:45 minutes to drive the kids home after school. They spent their day on the bus. Some parents it is a blessing to have the kids occupied and gone all day.

Now that our kids are home schooled they are done with their chores and school before lunch and can spend the rest of the day shooting their guns, working with the cows and riding motorcycles.

Skyhigh

ASpilot2be

I will chime in here.

I was home schooled for a few years, but that is because we were traveling for extended periods of time. Like driving to the Baja and back from Alaska. This did not make me an introverted person. I still got to go to public school for a couple classes like P.E., so I was never really removed from the social scene.

But this was also in small town Alaska. My high school graduating class was 16. 4 girls, and 12 guys. So to me college was a huge culture shock, one that I still havent adjusted to after three years.

It is sad to see parents shelter their children from everything. I would say that I was unsheltered growing up, in fact I got to see a lot of place most kids my age hadn't. But to me it was all a huge shock still.

So I wouldn't say homeschooling will make you anti-social. It is how the parents raise the kids.

End random late night thoughts.

Elvis90

Review the research:

Homeschooling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HSLDA | Home School Research

We homeschool our kids, and it's worked out great.

Want to see how a school rates in its state-wide standardized testing? Look here:

GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

If you want to see complete failure, look at these public school districts: Memphis, Detroit, or Washington DC public school systems.

chongololo

Most of the problems come from the high cost of tertiary education in this country.
Not long ago the Brits were hitting the streets protesting the rise in tuition to 16,000 pounds per year.
Most Americans would be happy to pay the dollar equivalent of that.
Some of these degrees are way over priced and completely worthless.
People need job skills.

jungle

"Phædrus’ “Church of Reason” Lecture
In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig relates a lecture delivered by his alter-ego, Phædrus. At the time the lecture was written, Phædrus was struggling with a problem he had with his students’ perception of university. The University was at that time in danger of losing its accreditation and students seemed concerned that if it did, the university would cease to exist. The “Church of Reason” lecture was delivered by Phædrus to explain to them the true nature of university. One student remarked that the State Police would move onto campus to prevent the University from losing its accreditation. This made it clear to Phædrus that there was a fundamental misunderstanding of what comprises a University and the lecture was an attempt to explain the proper meaning of ‘University.’ The following is an excerpt from chapter 13 of the book1."


The real University, he said, has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. It’s a state of mind which is regenerated throughout the centuries by a body of people who traditionally carry the title of professor, but even that title is not part of the real University. The real University is nothing less than the continuing body of reason itself.
In addition to this state of mind, “reason,” there’s a legal entity which is unfortunately called by the same name but which is quite another thing. This is a nonprofit corporation, a branch of the state with a specific address. It owns property, is capable of paying salaries, of receiving money and of responding to legislative pressures in the process.
But this second university, the legal corporation, cannot teach, does not generate new knowledge or evaluate ideas. It is not the real University at all. It is just a church building, the setting, the location at which conditions have been made favorable for the real church to exist.
Confusion continually occurs in people who fail to see this difference, he said, and think that control of the church buildings implies control of the church. They see professors as employees of the second university who should abandon reason when told to and take orders with no backtalk, the same way employees do in other corporations.
They see the second university, but fail to see the first. (Pirsig, 1999, p. 150).