I notice some of you homeschool your kids, and we see TV programs depicting people who homeschool their kids (US version of Wifeswap for example).

I don't understand. Why would you wanna do that? And how do you do it? My parents couldn't help me with my homework, let alone teach me a full curriculum.

Here's what I'd be concerned about:

1) You can't teach what you don't know or understand, so if you weren't good in school then how can you teach someone else stuff that you don't know/understand yourself? Isn't that limiting your child's education to the extent of your own intelligence/teaching ability/knowledge?

2) What about all the other stuff kids learn in school - social skills, bonding, groups etc.? What about exposure to people of different races, outlooks or social classes as part of the natural process of growing up? How do they meet other kids or make friends if they're stuck in the house all the time?

3) What about education that requires facilities, such as sports, science, art, music, languages, cooking etc?

I know of many families where the kids got higher qualifications than their parents (I come from one myself, plus my cousins etc. nearly all have degrees whilst their parents don't). How can you get higher qualifications than your parents if they're teaching you?

Maybe I misunderstand the system, but I don't understand this at all. The only benefit I can think of is if you're child is being bullied and you want to protect them from that. However, that over-protection will not stand them in good stead in the future.

Can someone explain this to me?

Jane

I don't think you'd have any problem teaching any of the subjects in the lower grades, which is mostly what this is about -- you make it sound like you'd be required to homeschool your kids through graduate school. Certainly it requires some extra parental effort, as well as parents that work at home or otherwise have free time, but the actual subject matter for small children isn't rocket science.

At least in the US, my impression is that there are two main groups that gravitate to homeschooling:

1) Conservative religious types (mostly Christian) who are afraid that their kids will be brainwashed with secular values at a public school and start questioning their parents' authority, and

2) Liberal secular types who are afraid that their kids will be brainwashed into becoming mindless consumer robots who won't question authority or think for themselves.

Is homeschooling that uncommon in the UK?

I agree with your concern about the lack of social interaction with homeschooling.

Ken Strong

If you're not a homeschooler, you wouldn't get it.

or

It's a homeschooler thing...you wouldn't understand.

Here's the weird thing. You'll find homeschooled children to be the hardest core freethinkers around.

You'll also find them to be exceptionally more intelligent that those coming from the public school system. Or even most of the private schools.

And I find that the people who knock the idea are generally the ones who can't think outside the box (or the system).

I almost laughed when I re-read that. Is sports a part of education? Now we need to teach kids how to have fun.

I usually find kids will do this on their own. It only remains with us to teach them how not to have fun.

I don't think I've ever heard of or seen anyone that homeschools in the UK. And that's including everyone I've ever met and all the documentary TV programs I watch. It's not part of our culture, and I hope it never is. Don't quote me on this, but I think you'd be in serious bother with your Local Education Authority if you tried to "home school". Even kids that get expelled from school after school don't get "home schooled".

I have very strong views on schooling. I don't believe in sending children to boarding school because I think they should be being socialised by their family and neighbourhood peers not suffering identity crises being in school 50+ miles from home and effectively being brought up by older boys/girls who often sexually or physically abuse them. Likewise, I'm not keen on private day schools UNLESS you can promise them a life of privilege when they leave school. If you can't, then you're setting them up for a fall when they finally have to face the real world.

I vehemently resist the view that people who are not home schooled can't think "outside the box". This is a ridiculous and spurious assertion.

If you can show me the studies that prove that home schooled people are more creative thinkers, then I will reconsider my perspective. If you don't have such data, then you may wish to reconsider your assertion.

If anything, I should have thought that the cloistering of being at home all the time and being not only brought up by your parents, but also educated by them, would be more likely to dampen creative expression, if only because the children's horizons are so limited.

But neither of you have answered the question of how parents can teach stuff that they themselves don't understand. Can you explain calculus to me, and can you demonstrate Young's modulus? Could you teach the covalence of carbon atoms, or demonstrate the instability of magnesium when faced with oxidisation? Can you explain a transitive verb, or the subjunctive tense in French? Are you capable of dissecting Macbeth and explaining the alliterations, metaphors, similes etc., or teaching Homer's Iliad. Can you teach advanced drawing to your kids or explain a diminished 7th? Can you teach them modern dance, how to play tennis, the techniques of soccer, or the paleolithic period?

My guess is "no". And that's not because you're bad or inadequate, it's because schools are filled with subject specialists for a reason - no one knows it all, and therefore kids need a range of teachers to get a rounded education.

So, anyway, I'll come out and take my position. Unless I've misunderstood homeschooling (and I don't think I have), I thoroughly disapprove.

I also thoroughly disapprove of sending kids to boarding school, because angsty teenagers need their parents, even if they act like they don't. I don't believe that kids should be brought up by other kids and housemasters.

And I don't approve of sending kids to private schools at an early age unless you can guarantee them the same toffee-nosed lifestyle throughout their lives.

There will be exceptions to these rules - such as where the child is in such a chaotic home life that boarding school is a better environment, or where school is so anxiety-inducing as to bring them home is better. But for most kids, this simply isn't the case.

I believe it's important to get a good education, but also to be very closely connected with your local community and to have friends nearby, and just basically grow up "normal". Perhaps this is a hard feat in the US with overly religious education.

Jane

There are definitely differences in schooling in the US and UK -- for instance, sending your kid away to a distant boarding school is very rare in the US. Also, while private schools can be quite expensive, they're not exclusively patronized by upper-class bluebloods in the US.

The point I was trying to make in my previous post is that very little of the subjects you listed above will be taught until a student is at least 16 years old or later -- No one is expecting parents to teach university-level courses at home to their kids. There's no reason an average intelligent set of parents can't educate small children for at least the first seven or eight years of schooling -- basic arithmetic, learning to read and write, basic history and science, etc. It's not as complicated as you're making it.

Sure, if you want the kids to learn a musical instrument or play a team sport, you'll need some outside help.

Jane,

You raise some very interesting -- and common -- questions about homeschooling. We went through many of those exact questions when we were making the decision of whether or not to send our daughter (now 7) to public school, private or homeschool.

You also articulated the questions in very provacative ways. My wife is working on an ebook right now on the topic, those questions fit nicely into the interviews she'll conduct over the next couple of weeks with a number of experienced HS'ers.

I'm slammed with projects right now. But, I'll try to post a bit now... and then more later.

Let me say a couple of very brief things about it... based on experience:

* We originally investigated homeschooling because of my travel schedule -- as you know I speak at many conferences, corp meetings, etc. Up through pre-K my wife and daughter traveled with me 99% of the time. We get to visit and stay in some of the most wonderful places -- didn't want to give that up. (those are now used as "educational opportunities with our daughter) The time together -- that's why we married -- and then had a daughter in the first place -- was a primary concern. So that started us down the path.

* Socialization was our #1 "concern." Yet, the more we investigated, we realized that would not be an issue. Example: My daughter...

> Goes to a HS "co-op" on Mondays where approx 30 families rent a church sunday school building and have 4 class periods of varying subjects.

> Tennis lessons on Mondays and Wednesday

> Dance: Technique on Tuesday... Ballet, Tap & Jazz on Thurs

> Girl Scouts every other Tues night

> Wednesday afternoons she takes gymnastics -- in advanced level

> Fall and Spring she plays soccer with HS group (I take off Friday afternoons and coach in this group btw)

> One Monday each month is "Homeschool Skate" at a local skating rink

> One Monday each month is "Homeschool Bowling" at a local bowling alley

> She's in a HS girls club

> She's in a HS History co-op that meets monthly for "History Activities" -- each year, they cover a time period

> Our local HS Association has over 300 families and 1000 children... a massive resource with more activities than I can mention here (for all age groups)

NOTE: My daughter, in December, just hosted her "Karlista's 3rd Annual Girls Holiday Tea Party and Gift Exchange. Like 20 something girls attended. She consistently has 25 to 30 girls at her March birthday parties.

The child has NO social problems... she has a better social life than her parents Has her own computer, email addres, IM account and cell phone.

* Education: The "If you don't know it, how can you teach it" argument is valid. However, there are SO MANY ways to overcome that. There are internet-based HS programs, co-op, tutors, university-monitored programs, etc. etc. It's absolutely overwhelming how many options exist. My daughter -- at 7 -- is one of the best educated, most well-behaved, socially developed children you will ever meet. And she gets to spend A LOT of time with us... her parents. That -- to me -- is priceless. We get to raise her, not the school system.

* Many people don't realize that they can teach their children MORE than the public school is teaching them (academically) in virtually the same time that they spend "Helping them with their homework."

* When HS'ers reach highschool, they can take courses at the local junior college, or community college, and get simultaneous credit. Take college-level math, etc -- while still in highschool. That's a huge benefit.

* HS'ers consistently place high in entrance / placement examinations for colleges. I'm telling you... these are really bright children.

Again, your concerns are VERY VALID. They should be thought out by anyone considering HS (not that you are).

It requires a paradigm shift...

It starts with motivation -- "Why might you want to do this?"

Then comes belief -- "Can you do it?" and "How?"

I can't wait until my wife completes her ebook -- I'll bring it to the board for reviews and feedback.

Hi JP,

Thanks for informing me in an instructive and useful way.

I'm sure there are many benefits, and that's why I asked. Because people obviously wouldn't do it if there weren't benefits.

I remain intransigent however. It's all very well your daughter meeting with a coop every monday afternoon, but what about the rest of the week? And what about when she's 14 and needs to be taught the 3 german genders and all the pronouns etc.? Or what will you do if she's interested in science and you know nothing about it and are not capable of teaching her (and why should you be - you're not a science teacher after all?)

When I started high school, some of the kids in my class knew f'all about f'all - they'd spent their whole primary school time feeding rabbits and mucking about. However, this did not prevent them going on to do degrees, and it did mean that they had high levels of socialisation. The background I came from was way too academic and I'd lost some of that socialisation stuff.

If I had kids, I would want balance. I don't believe that being at home brings that balance. Whilst we might hypothesise that most parents can teach primary school kids (and most of them can't), I'd venture to guess that most are not capable of teaching high school kids.

There may be advantages in terms of watching over kids and controlling them, but I'd rather see them do their own thing. As I said before, being in school teaches a lot more than the academic curriculum, including socialisation, becoming robust, sports, arts, science etc. that can't be taught at home.

Anyway, as you know, I don't argue with results and if your little girl is growing up happy and healthy, then I won't argue with that.

So, put it down to experience. As a European, I find the concept of home schooling very weird.

Jane

a) You're very welcome. For us... it works!

b) A "short" answer in the "balance" issue: There are way more resources than I could ever take time to share here. The issues you raise regarding science, etc. are valid -- but not factually grounded -- and simply because you have not been exposed to this whole "community." Brief example: The are in our area former public school teachers, doctors, artists, etc. who teach special classes, labs, and EVERYTHING with open invitation (paid of course).

c) You know... it would be interesting to find out what percentage of European families homeschool. How fast it's growing, etc. I have no idea what the results would be... but could be very interesting. It's becoming quite a trend here in the US.

Cheers...

I imagine that the percentage of European families that home school would approximate to roughly, hmmm, let's see, how about 0%.

Well, maybe not - maybe they do it in outlying Scottish islands. I'll ask my Shetland client next time I talk to him.

I'm not being funny - I really do think it's an odd concept and not one that most Europeans would embrace readily. It's probably connected to that whole american ethos of each man is an island and must fend for himself.

However, to bring some balance to my view, I can totally see the benefits and advantages when locally available state schools are really ****e.

Jane