Home schooling
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Australia The Australian census does not track homeschooling families, but the number of families may be a very roughly estimated 15,000.[8] In 1995, Roland Meighan of Nottingham School of Education estimated some 20,000 families homeschooling in Australia. [9] Canada Meighan estimated the total number of homeschoolers in Canada, in 1995, to be 10,000 official and 20,000 unofficial.[10] Karl M. Bunday estimated in 1995, based on journalistic reports, that in Canada as a whole about 1 percent of school-age children were homeschooled.[11] As of April 2005, the total number of registered homeschool students in British Columbia appears to be 3,068.[12] Republic of Ireland An estimated 250-350 children are officially registered as being educated in their home in the Republic of Ireland.[citations needed], however it is believed that there may be as many as 1500 more who are not registered.[citations needed] The right to a home education is enshrined in the constitution of Ireland. United Kingdom An estimated 50,000 children are considered "home-educated" in the United Kingdom.[13] Meighan's 1995 estimate for the UK was "almost 10,000"[14], and in 1996 the London Evening Standard stated that 15,000 families home-educating in Britain was a 50 percent increase from the previous year.[15] United States According to U.S. Dept of Education report NCES 2003-42, "Homeschooling in the United States: 2003"[16], there was an increase in homeschooled students overall in the U.S. from 850,000 students in 1999 (1.7 percent of the total U.S. student population) to 1.1 million students in 2003 (2.2 percent of the total U.S. student population). During this time, homeschooling rates increased among students whose parents have high school or lower education, from 2.0 to 2.7 percent among White students; 1.6 to 2.4 percent among student in grades 6-8; and 0.7 to 1.4 percent among students with only one parent. Race and ethnicity ratios remained "fairly consistent" in this time period, with 2.7 percent of White students homeschooling, 1.3 percent of Black students, and 0.7 percent of Hispanic students. As in 1999, homeschooling rates were highest in families with three or more children (3.1 percent), and higher in families with two children (1.5 percent) than only one child (1.4 percent). Not surprisingly, there were more homeschool students from families with two parents (2.5 percent) than only one parent (1.5 percent), and students from two parent families where only
One hyperlink[^] would have done, instead of such a huge post.
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
Megan Forbes wrote:
Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool?
I was homeschooled, and I definitely plan to do the same with my kids when I have them. I strongly recommend it to anyone who is serious about taking an active part in their child's learning and growth (as I know you are :) ). Parents are naturally in the best position to teach their children, and to nurture their natural desire to learn and explore their world. A good parent loves their child more than anyone else does, and is there in their lives at every step of the way, in a myriad of situations where there are valuable learning opportunities - where the child discovers something new, or something happens that provides an opportunity to teach the child about principles of how things work, etc. The best kind of schooling is where the coursework and taking advantage of natural learning opportunities and the child's inquisitiveness about what he/she encounters in daily life, blend together into an integrated learning experience that both helps the child to be able to easily make sense of how what he learns relates to the world around him, and fosters a lifetime love of learning. A parent is also in the best position to watch and find out what their child's unique learning style is, and where his interests lie, and tailor his education to match them. In a conventional school setting, this is hard to do. Typically the teacher has so many students that it's impossible to fit each child's unique learning style. The teacher only interacts with the child in the classroom setting, so he does not get a chance to gain nearly as many insights about the child's approach to taking in information and solving problems, what motivates and interests him, and what he reacts to. As a parent you have the opportunity to work one-on-one with the child, and teach him in a way that takes those things into account. It's amazing what a difference this can make. If a child loves to watch and read about people and what they do, you can teach her math by writing story problems that involve people interacting with each other. If a child loves animals and relates best to tactile representations, then you can teach math concepts by letting him move plastic toy animals between groups. This works all the way up through school: you can teach writing skills by having the child write about what he loves, teach algebra by, for example, relating it to making woodworking designs or working with cars, etc.
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Apparently Queensland is not the best state to homeschool in, but there seem to be a large number of families here in Brisbane doing it anyway. They organise excursions & playgroups, etc, so that the kids get all the benefits of socializing. I hope *if* we do decide to walk this path that things will change over the next 3-4 years.
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
Take a serious look at Waldorf schools. Here's[^] a link of schools in AU, with several in Queensland. At least go visit a Waldorf kindergarten. I think you will be impressed. Marc
People are just notoriously impossible. --DavidCrow
There's NO excuse for not commenting your code. -- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
People who say that they will refactor their code later to make it "good" don't understand refactoring, nor the art and craft of programming. -- Josh Smith -
Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
My sister and I went through the normal UK state school education system, going to the local comprehensive school between ages 11 and 18. It didn't seem to do me any harm: at GCSE I got 4 A*, 5 A and 1 D grade (business studies), and at A-Level, 3 A (Maths, Further Maths, Physics) and 1 D grade (German). However, my parents started us very early on maths, reading and writing - it helped that my mum was a part-time substitute teacher (she had been a full-time primary school teacher before my sister was born). I think I had a reading age of something like 8 or 9 when entering school at age 5 - I was reading from the top end of the books available, and finding them pretty simple. I was reading Roald Dahl's "My Uncle Oswald" - actually a (very) adult book - at age 9 (I assume that someone had seen it on the list of books by the same author and simply presumed that it was a children's book - nobody ever checked!) My maths skills were also pretty good, and I seem to have assimilated binary very early on. We were asked what half of a half was, and some kids knew, then half a quarter, and so on, and reportedly I was the only kid who got up to 1/32, although apparently I said 'a thirty-twoth' rather than 'a thirty-second', and at that point they stopped. That year there were a lot of very smart kids at the comprehensive because I think all the socialists had had children at about the same time ;) You can get good teachers at state schools, and you can get bad ones. The key, I think, is for the parents to pay enough attention to what's going on to praise the good ones and complain about the bad ones, and to help their kids where necessary (not an easy thing when they reach the teenage years and don't want you to help, from my experience - of being a teenager, not being a parent, which I'm not.)
Stability. What an interesting concept. -- Chris Maunder
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
I wasn't homeschooled (there is no such concept where I grew up) and although I can see the benefits, my wife and I decided against it. The primary reason is that we want our children to get social skills we wouldn't be able to provide them if they were homeschooled.
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Megan Forbes wrote:
Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool?
I was homeschooled, and I definitely plan to do the same with my kids when I have them. I strongly recommend it to anyone who is serious about taking an active part in their child's learning and growth (as I know you are :) ). Parents are naturally in the best position to teach their children, and to nurture their natural desire to learn and explore their world. A good parent loves their child more than anyone else does, and is there in their lives at every step of the way, in a myriad of situations where there are valuable learning opportunities - where the child discovers something new, or something happens that provides an opportunity to teach the child about principles of how things work, etc. The best kind of schooling is where the coursework and taking advantage of natural learning opportunities and the child's inquisitiveness about what he/she encounters in daily life, blend together into an integrated learning experience that both helps the child to be able to easily make sense of how what he learns relates to the world around him, and fosters a lifetime love of learning. A parent is also in the best position to watch and find out what their child's unique learning style is, and where his interests lie, and tailor his education to match them. In a conventional school setting, this is hard to do. Typically the teacher has so many students that it's impossible to fit each child's unique learning style. The teacher only interacts with the child in the classroom setting, so he does not get a chance to gain nearly as many insights about the child's approach to taking in information and solving problems, what motivates and interests him, and what he reacts to. As a parent you have the opportunity to work one-on-one with the child, and teach him in a way that takes those things into account. It's amazing what a difference this can make. If a child loves to watch and read about people and what they do, you can teach her math by writing story problems that involve people interacting with each other. If a child loves animals and relates best to tactile representations, then you can teach math concepts by letting him move plastic toy animals between groups. This works all the way up through school: you can teach writing skills by having the child write about what he loves, teach algebra by, for example, relating it to making woodworking designs or working with cars, etc.
Wow, an interesting read, thanks! There's so much to learn (me, about home schooling in this case, not Mikey at school :-D ). Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out - the fact that you feel passionately about it speaks volumes for how well it can work, and also of your parent's dedication. I hope I'll do as well should I decide to home school my kid(s - hopefully!).
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
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When he enters school I suppose - however, I've always been one for plenty of advance planning. Kindy seems to be started at 3 here, so in 20 months for my son. There are home schooling groups around here who have playgroups for kindy aged kids. Whatever I decide, I would prefer to stay on one track from the beginning rather than muck him around.
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
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One hyperlink[^] would have done, instead of such a huge post.
Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. - Cicero
Yeah, but it's so much nicer to not have to go to yet another site. ;)
BW
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
-- Steven Wright -
Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
Having read all of the posts to date, I will now take the time to add my comments... If you choose to homeschool, commit to keeping your standards at or above the level required of public education. I have seen both good and bad examples of homeschooling, and, because of the bad, I give that caution. On the good side, a friend of my wife decided to homeschool her 6 (six) children. The youngest, who has never attended public school, has just finished her high school/secondary education. Of the children I have met, their career paths are: chef pastor engineering graphic arts The career paths reflect a variety of interests, so, they were not 'directed' into a given area by their mother; she allowed them to discover their own interests and gently encouraged them to discover who they are. In addition to these areas, the two youngest (the last two listed), are also musicians: bass guitar and drums. If you decide to use public education, review your childs progress with them regularly, stay involved, encourage them! Tim
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When he enters school I suppose - however, I've always been one for plenty of advance planning. Kindy seems to be started at 3 here, so in 20 months for my son. There are home schooling groups around here who have playgroups for kindy aged kids. Whatever I decide, I would prefer to stay on one track from the beginning rather than muck him around.
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
Over the next year and a half or so, you have adequate time to research for your child's future education. So there is no rush to reach a decision. Take you time and weigh the options carefully. Marc gave some good advice regarding Waldorf, however, his experiences with Waldorf were good. A recommendation is always welcome but not everybody has good experiences like Marc. You know that there are many different types and kinds of education available and you should spend that time researching the options. Besides Waldorf and Home Schooling, have a look at a method used in New Zealand called "Te Whariki" read [^] and the related links. If you are intent on HomeSchooling here is a magazine for you to read [^] but just remember that life experiences and educational quality for home schooled children is substantially different that for those taught in a formal education system. Do you or your partner have BOTH the knowledge and skills to teach the variety of subjects - Mathematics, English, Sciences, Geography, History and so on to a satisfactory standard that would satisfy (or exceed) the standards achieved by formal education systems in terms of assessments/tests that are held at regular intervals not forgetting the examinations that demonstrate your child's academic achievements. In the UK, there is a governmental body responsible for Curriculum, Assessments and Examinations. From their website that state "QCA is committed to building a world-class education and training framework. We regulate, develop and modernise the curriculum, assessments, examinations and qualifications." they are found here [^] where you can find authoritive statements on quality of education as well as external and internal links. If you wish, I can send (via Code Project) some details of the resources available for Early Years Education.
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
A little neglect breeds great mischef - Benjamin Franklin
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A little neglect breeds great mischef - Benjamin Franklin
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
I was homeschooled. Don't let that turn you against it though. :) My parents didn't exactly sit down when i was a baby and decide on a method of schooling. I think they both expected they'd send me to the school run by the local Lutheran church (one mile away vs. at least twenty miles to the next closest school), where most of the other local children went and where my mother taught up until my second brother was born. But they both had a low opinion of kindergarten (they saw me learning more on my own around the home and farm than what was being taught at that level), and since that was optional, decided to just keep me home that year. Apparently, it went well enough that they were motivated to look further into the rules governing when and where children were required to be enrolled, and at some point made the decision to teach me at home as long as it was feasible to do so - as it worked out, this lasted until i was about 16-17 years of age, at which point i spent the next couple of years working (farm and factory jobs) and writing code (was big into game dev at that time), until i decided programming for a living sounded better than manual labor and went off to college. I am the oldest of twelve children. To date, all eleven siblings have been taught at home. The most important advice i can give you is to not get hung up too much on any particular schedule or methodology - we all learn things in our own way; your child may not be able to learn the same things at the same rate that you did, or your husband did, or other children do. Some of my siblings were reading very well at a young age, others picked up mathematics more quickly, etc. If possible, seek out other families that homeschool in your area and talk to them. It sounds like you've already done some of that. :)
I am tired and sleepy that's why i am at office. -- Adnan Siddiqi, The Soapbox's Future
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
I'll give a little caution when it comes to homeschooling. My wife was homeschooled by her parents and the results were horrible for her. Her parents had trouble relating the coursework to their children as it became more difficult so my wife had to teach herself a lot of the material. Luckily, my wife is very intuitive and could teach herself. One of her older siblings, still suffers from bad instruction. Because of the homeschooling she had she had to start take all of the preliminary classes in every subject to get her up to speed just so she could start taking normal college level classes. I am not suggesting this will be the case for you but here is a good example of homeschooling gone bad. Also, a friend of mine was homeschooled and had a lot of trouble getting scholarships and grants to go to college. Even though she graduated top honors through her homeschooling program she had to do lots of extra work just to get a little 'free' money to go to college. A similar friend of mine went to public school and made similar grades and was able to get a free ride at the same college. This happened in the US by the way. I may be different where you are located.
Brett A. Whittington Application Developer
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
The Code Project's resident neo-nazi was home schooled. Although it isn't a representative sampling, it does at least show that homeschooling does not necessarily result in something of which a parent could be proud. One disadvantage to homeschooling that I've heard is that the child does not learn to interact with others as much as at a school. Therefore their social development is behind that of their peers. (Which probably explain's Kyle's love for hate groups such as Stormfront) Like anything, I suppose it really depends on the child. Me and my sister were brought up in the same way, but our outlook on life is quite different in some areas. [EDIT] I didn't necessarily say that homeschooling was bad. I just pointed out that it doesn't work for everyone - Just like state sponsored education, or any other type of education. So for all you 1-voters: Get a frickin' grip! [/EDIT] -- modified at 9:16 Wednesday 11th October, 2006
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
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Score 1.0 (3 votes).A little neglect breeds great mischef - Benjamin Franklin
Spoken by the true poster child of mischef.
dan neely wrote:
Spoken by the true poster child of mischef.
And i am homeschooled.
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The Code Project's resident neo-nazi was home schooled. Although it isn't a representative sampling, it does at least show that homeschooling does not necessarily result in something of which a parent could be proud. One disadvantage to homeschooling that I've heard is that the child does not learn to interact with others as much as at a school. Therefore their social development is behind that of their peers. (Which probably explain's Kyle's love for hate groups such as Stormfront) Like anything, I suppose it really depends on the child. Me and my sister were brought up in the same way, but our outlook on life is quite different in some areas. [EDIT] I didn't necessarily say that homeschooling was bad. I just pointed out that it doesn't work for everyone - Just like state sponsored education, or any other type of education. So for all you 1-voters: Get a frickin' grip! [/EDIT] -- modified at 9:16 Wednesday 11th October, 2006
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
Like anything, I suppose it really depends on the child.
Yeah, that's certainly true. There are huge differences among my siblings in how much they enjoy or seek out social interaction, with no clear correlation to age or ability. My wife loves to use me as an example of how homeschooling results in awkward, asocial attitudes. I love to use her as an example of how public schooling results in loud, uneducated attitudes. I suspect there are probably other factors involved... :rolleyes:
every night, i kneel at the foot of my bed and thank the Great Overseeing Politicians for protecting my freedoms by reducing their number, as if they were deer in a state park. -- Chris Losinger, Online Poker Players?
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The Code Project's resident neo-nazi was home schooled. Although it isn't a representative sampling, it does at least show that homeschooling does not necessarily result in something of which a parent could be proud. One disadvantage to homeschooling that I've heard is that the child does not learn to interact with others as much as at a school. Therefore their social development is behind that of their peers. (Which probably explain's Kyle's love for hate groups such as Stormfront) Like anything, I suppose it really depends on the child. Me and my sister were brought up in the same way, but our outlook on life is quite different in some areas. [EDIT] I didn't necessarily say that homeschooling was bad. I just pointed out that it doesn't work for everyone - Just like state sponsored education, or any other type of education. So for all you 1-voters: Get a frickin' grip! [/EDIT] -- modified at 9:16 Wednesday 11th October, 2006
Upcoming Scottish Developers events: * UK Security Evangelists On Tour (2nd November, Edinburgh) * Developer Day Scotland: are you interested in speaking or attending? My: Website | Blog
Unless code-projects resident neo-nazi had neo-nazi parents - they might be proud of him? Anyway, regarding social development, I think it would also depend on the parents personality - if the parent is social there will probably be social opportunities for the child too. I hated school and considered it the biggest waste of time and begged my parents to home-school me, they didn't :( Because they thought I would be isolated cos I am not a social person (so instead I was simply isolated while surrounded by kids at school - I don't think it really helped...). Anyway, if I home-schooled my kids (if I had some), I myself would have to make the effort to be more social, to meet other parents with kids and to show my kids what normal socialising is about. I think that is an important point to be considered, as the parents' social lives will impact on the kids, and if you are reticent in social activities you will have to make a concerted effort for the benefit of your child. Unless you want them to be a loner of course. :) Also, after-school groups, sports groups and music classes could all be used to provide opportunities for socialising for the kids, as well as forming part of the home-schooling curriculum, particulary as they require groups of people or specialist teaching which the parents might not be able to provide. And, wrt whoever had 11 brothers and sisters and they were all home-schooled - wow to the parents. That must have taken a lot of effort. There's another person with a million kids on here too who home-schools them I think? Wow is all I can say :)
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Were any CPian's homeschooled, or does your family homeschool? We're moving in the next couple of weeks and will be looking at schools to put Mikey's name down at (he's only 16 months old, but apparently this is necessary here!). I've never really thought about it before, but after doing a bit of reading homeschooling seems like an interesting lifestyle and very good for kids - any personal experiences would be interesting to read about :). Thanks
A mum and loving it! My (very young) blog[^]
On another note, I went throught the public shool system in NSW and loved it (well as much as any kid likes school) My girlfriends sister has a 13 year old, they moved to QLD (somewhere about an hour inland of Surfers) last year and he is much happier at the public school there than he was in Sydney. I know several public school teachers that are working all over the country and I would be happy for any of them to teach my child. I think the public education here is pretty good