And now, the OTHER, other side of Home Schooling:
Couple of things. One, I was public school educated and dropped out (High School principal backed me against a wall with a chokehold. I got the hint). Did poorly in school but generally scored in top 3% on standardized tests.
Flash forward to college where I pulled a 3.5 without studying much and working full-time and going to school full-time.
Flash forward to my job at an Ice Skating rink in San Diego. There was a contingent of semi-wealthy "Home Schooled" kids there. I sometimes traded them skate passes for doing some clerical type work around the office. The teenagers were spelling at a 2nd grade level, no kidding. Math skills were non-existent. Most were still "printing" like 2nd graders.
The parents dropped them off in the morning with a $20 bill and a couple of their younger siblings to babysit. One teenager regularly came to the rink with a one year old and a 3 year old in tow. Mom dropped them off in a Caddy and took off. A couple of times the Manager tried to run out and talk to the woman about how we weren't a day care before she could take off and she literally left him in the dust, tires squealing.
You have no idea how many times I explained to parents on the phone that, no, the Ice Arena does NOT accept any responsibility for your kids. Most of the kids ended up smoking and doing drugs/alcohol behind the nearby shopping mall or boinking each other (or older men, and yes, I could tell you some stories) in cars in the parking lot. We called them Rink Rats.
I believe in Home Schooling, but frankly, I know of 30 or more kids who are probably in thier mid to late teens right now that can't perform even the most basic functions. They are functionally illiterate in every subject.
You and I will be paying in one way or another for these kids for a long, long time.
Couple of things. One, I was public school educated and dropped out (High School principal backed me against a wall with a chokehold. I got the hint). Did poorly in school but generally scored in top 3% on standardized tests.
Flash forward to college where I pulled a 3.5 without studying much and working full-time and going to school full-time.
Flash forward to my job at an Ice Skating rink in San Diego. There was a contingent of semi-wealthy "Home Schooled" kids there. I sometimes traded them skate passes for doing some clerical type work around the office. The teenagers were spelling at a 2nd grade level, no kidding. Math skills were non-existent. Most were still "printing" like 2nd graders.
The parents dropped them off in the morning with a $20 bill and a couple of their younger siblings to babysit. One teenager regularly came to the rink with a one year old and a 3 year old in tow. Mom dropped them off in a Caddy and took off. A couple of times the Manager tried to run out and talk to the woman about how we weren't a day care before she could take off and she literally left him in the dust, tires squealing.
You have no idea how many times I explained to parents on the phone that, no, the Ice Arena does NOT accept any responsibility for your kids. Most of the kids ended up smoking and doing drugs/alcohol behind the nearby shopping mall or boinking each other (or older men, and yes, I could tell you some stories) in cars in the parking lot. We called them Rink Rats.
I believe in Home Schooling, but frankly, I know of 30 or more kids who are probably in thier mid to late teens right now that can't perform even the most basic functions. They are functionally illiterate in every subject.
You and I will be paying in one way or another for these kids for a long, long time.