Is Anyone Homeschooling as a Safety Reason? Not THE reason...A reason

[Brier Rose]

The problem with homeschooling is that it lacks the peers, other teachers and the general audience to try out our skills of persuasion, oral speaking, writing and working as groups.

Please..please don't generalize like that.

There are SO many different homeschool experiences out there that you really shouldn't make such a broad statement.

For instance the way we homeschool is online. Not only does my DD have teachers for each class, her classes "meet" for online discussions of the subject matter. This weekend she is working on a speech that has to be completed as part of her English class, and Tuesday she will be getting together with a friend in her "class" to work on a project.

Don't even get me started on co-op classes and homeschool association projects done together in the apparently important group setting.

 

[CleveRocks]

Why in the world would you care what schooling option someone chooses for THEIR child? Don't like homeschooling? Don't do it. I'm just not sure how this concerns you.

We as parents have the ultimate say as to what we do with our own kids, within the limits of the law, of course. But it IS society's concern what is done with/for kids, even if it's not society's decision what is done.

Kids grow up to be adults, and adults run society. So I have a great big interest in how today's kids are developing into tomorrow's adults.

So while I don't appreciate the other poster's tone and apparent intolerance, I do think he has reason for knowing and caring about how ANY schooling is done and how it impacts kids overall.

 

[meandtheguys2]

I would say that my kids as HSed kids are much more a part of the "real world" rather than sheltered from it. We are involved with all of the typical groups, spend time in nursing homes, our women's shelter, the homeless shetler and the food kitchen. Very reality based as opposed to the contrived age dominated peer group in the school system.

I do think that allowing children to be more mature when exposed to situations is a good thing, though. 12 year olds are having sex. Not cool. Kids are drinking at the same age. Sure they will be exposed to such things when they hit college, but they will have social and emotional maturity behind the decisions made. (And to the poster who's son is autistic, I agree fully that you do need to protect him!)

Per safety, I make every attempt not to be consumed with the concept. We can't protect our children from the world. A person can turn up anywhere with a gun. There are rude, mean, crazy people all around us. We focus on the good, kind, compassionate, caring, generous, and loving. So, I don't HS my kids for safety reasons, but I do for mental, emotional, behavioral and spiritual reasons.

writer'sblock, I appreciate your point of view. I had to laugh, though. I think that group projects are horrid. There are always people who don't work! While that may be an example for the real work world, it wasn't one I needed in highschool! I agree that it is pleasant to have opinions of many, though. Most of the hsers around here participate in co-ops for that purpose. Kind of the best of all worlds!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

For us it was one of the main reasons. In the city we live in every middle and high school has metal detectors and multiple on-duty police officers on campus at all times. Even with this, last week alone one girl was arrested for bringing a semi automatic handgun to school. (BTW - her defense was "I had the amo in my other pocket, not in the gun") Also the police are not much comfort, one was arrested last week for having inappropriate sexual contact with several male and female students. The middle schools have kids as old as 17 and 18 in class with 11 and 12 year olds threatening to blow stuff up.

Whew!!! Not only would I HS if that was our situation- I would get some electric fence to surround my kids! That is very scary. I defineltly would not send my kids to PS if there were armed guards there. For me that would seal the deal. We are not going to HS but I would have to change my mind if I felt their safety would truly be compromised.

 

[CleveRocks]

Whew!!! Not only would I HS if that was our situation- I would get some electric fence to surround my kids! That is very scary. I defineltly would not send my kids to PS if there were armed guards there. For me that would seal the deal. We are not going to HS but I would have to change my mind if I felt their safety would truly be compromised.

Here's another perspective ....

Think for a moment about the tragic school shootings in recent years. Did ANY of them occur in schools with metal detectors and guards???

My alma mater (high school) has had 2 Philadelphia Police officers stationed at the school since the early 1970s (their pics are in the yearbooks every year). Never had a shooting at the school. Never even had a serious incident at the school. I went there in the early 1980s. We didn't feel scared and threatened by the cops, we felt safe because they were there.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

CleveRocks you make a good point. I guess it all depends on the situation.

 

[Tink561]

I wouldn't consider my sons sheltered. We started homeschooling in elementary school due to issues with the school. We continued because we enjoy it and it fits our lifestyle. My kids are involved in lots of outside activities and I don't hover over them. I give them time to be without me mainly because I enjoy the time too.

My oldest son is a senior in high school this year and is finishing his fourth year participating in the music program at the local public school. He is a member of the band. Actually this year he takes three music classes so he is at the h.s. every day for a few hours. He goes on their band trips and does everything the other band members do. He's been to D.C. with the school and other parts of Florida several times. Last year he went to FSU for a two week summer music program. Right now he flies to Minnesota once a month because he auditioned and made the LaCrosse Bluestarts for DCI (Drum and Bugle Corp). After his graduation in May he'll fly off and travel the country with the Bluestars competing this summer. So, you see he has a very active life. Add to that church activities, his job at Publix and his never ending social life...he's not sitting at home a lot!

My younger sons are very busy too and the youngest one will begin the music program next year. My middle son will be dual enrolling at a Comunity College since he's not interested in the band program. They also take group classes with our homeschool group, do things at church, go away to summer camp, etc.

Homeschoolers are all so vastly different, it's sad when people generalize reasons or activities for all. I know that if something happened tomorrow and my kids had to go to school they could, they would adjust and do well.

BTW, the school that my son goes for band has been all over the news this year. They're having racial problems and there was a threat of a school shooting, a bomb threat, etc. The local police were all over it and so far so good.

 

[jaycns]

We as parents have the ultimate say as to what we do with our own kids, within the limits of the law, of course. But it IS society's concern what is done with/for kids, even if it's not society's decision what is done.

Kids grow up to be adults, and adults run society. So I have a great big interest in how today's kids are developing into tomorrow's adults.

So while I don't appreciate the other poster's tone and apparent intolerance, I do think he has reason for knowing and caring about how ANY schooling is done and how it impacts kids overall.

ITA that anyone has a right to be interested in children in general. I would go further then calling it a right and even call it a responsibility to care. **Side note, I do not feel any home schooler should be subject to individual scrutiny by any governmental agency or individual....differnt standards for what should be taught when or how or what should be done or not done or how something should be taught abound...the parent(s) in every family (I feel and the law backs me up on this) have the right to decide for their own children on all these counts.**

However, I would just like to point something out...home school children make up roughly 2% of all school age children in our country according to the US Department of Education.

SO...statistically...as far as how it could negatively impact society...the numbers just don't mesh with the amount of concern over homeschooling in general. I think that the amount of concern people seem to have with the homeschooling movement comes directly from the fact that it is an unknown to most people. It is "outside" the norm, it challenges the current educational system by way of the home school movement even existing (even though many home schoolers are in fact NOT anti schools in general) and has odd (yet outdated or even totally untrue) stereotypes associated with it.

Many who are concerned simply do not know what homeschooling is really about. And the fact that most people have a very limited sample on which to draw conclusions (unless you happen to be someone who actively seeks out many home school families) leads to even more labeling of a large group of people based on a small contact group within that larger group. To presume an understanding based upon limited interaction is a dangerous thing to do with any group of people.

I am not arguing that homeschooling is the end all be all of education for every child. I am not saying that schools today are inherently bad. I am simply stating that homeschooling is a valid choice for some families. An educational path that has it's own sets of benefits and hardships as all educational paths do.

I was very happy to read your posts on this thread. I thank you for being open minded and I would very happily try to share what I know, think and feel about homeschooling with you or anyone else who has a sincere interest and has not already closed there mind to the subject before even entering the discussion.

I think that is where the rub comes in for many who homeschool...a great deal of the time those are the sorts of conversations we are expected to enter into..."Given: Homeschooling is bad and will not socialize your children and cannot possibly produce a well balanced adult...now...explain homeschooling to me". It is when those sorts of conversations pop up time after time.

I have stammered on for way longer then I meant to. I am sorry if I went way OT here. I just think that anyone entering into a discussion should not do so assuming the other side is "guilty until proved innocent". When someone is asked to start off from a "prove yourself" standpoint...well, it doesn't make for constructive conversations most of the time (IMHO).

I am NOT lumping the poster I quoted in with those people. In fact, I do thank him for doing the opposite. I just wanted to explain the frustration a lot of home schooling families feel over having the same uphill conversations time and time again.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

This is a debate similiar to communial beds, breast feeding in public.....You either agree of disagree strongly.

 

[jaycns]

This is a debate similiar to communial beds, breast feeding in public.....You either agree of disagree strongly.

The original post didn't ask for a debate but did ask if safety was part of the reason a decision was made to home school.

The OP never asked if everyone on the DIS agreed or disagreed with homeschooling. Nor was the question phrased in such a way to invite home schoolers to have to "defend" why, how, amount of socialization, success/failures, etc about their choice home school. It simply asked if safety at schools factored into why they chose to home school.

YES...this is a public board and if someone started a thread titled "Pros and Cons of homeschooling" then I would expect to find a debate going on there about all of the positives and negatives of homeschooling as a method. I would however (even there) be upset to find personal insults directed at other DISers.

 

[sha_lyn]

My biggest deterrent from homeschooling is that I see education as a cooperative learning experience. Knowledge is useless until applied. For instance, Columbus get have known all along that the world was round but could do nothing with it until he convinced somebody to loan him a ship to test his theories. The problem with homeschooling is that it lacks the peers, other teachers and the general audience to try out our skills of persuasion, oral speaking, writing and working as groups.

Funny thing is one of the reasons I homeschool because I think learning is a cooperative experience. It needs to active, instead of passive, which is what PS has become. My children do not lack peers, other teachers, speaking and working in groups etc. In fact they have more opertunities to do so as homeschoolers.

As for the OP. Safety didn't play in our decision to HS DS, but it did in our decision to HS DD. However, not in the way you described. DD's Bday is right before the cutoff for school here and she was very small for her age. She attended a private preK at age 4 (Ga has a state preK but it is 5 days a week and I knew she wasn't ready for that). Even DD's teacher felt she wasn't ready for K, and her safety was part of it. She was just too small, and lacked the fine and gross mothor skills to not only thrive in K, but to do something as simple as use the bathroom or reach the coat hook without climbing on a chair, stepstool etc.

 

[sha_lyn]

This is a debate similiar to communial beds, breast feeding in public.....You either agree of disagree strongly.

This thread wasn't meant to be a debate. You are trying to turn it into one. The OP was asking a question to those who homeschool. It wasn't an open invitation to attack homeschooling.

 

[OceanAnnie]

Ohiominnnie, what an experience!

Who would expect to deal with threats against one's life at such a young age?! Scary stuff. And the way it was handled! I *thought* there were protocols in place that outlined how to handle these type of things. The fact that the threat happened is one thing. The lack of communication/action is just as bad if not worse! Double whammy!

I would've done the same thing as you.

 

[sha_lyn]

One of the first HS'ing families I met did so because of safety.
Their son was in ele school which was next to the middle school. There was a bully that would bother their DS every day(if I remember correctly the middle schooler was on the field/playground at the same time as their DS). They reported it several times and nothing was done. The bully then decided one day to use the DS to demonstrate a move he saw on wrestling. Broke the DS's femur in half and the one end of the bone broke though the skin.

 

[barkley]

well, we chose to not go the public school route in large part because of safety-but we also chose not to home school because of safety.

i know it sounds odd-but i'll try to explain it as best i can. we have family and friends that have homeschooled. cirumstances totaly outside their control have caused them to be unable to continue with it (life happens-spouses lose jobs and have to take lower paying ones such that having a sahm is'nt a choice, spouses become disabled such that they can't be the hs parent, and the hs parent becomes the employed parent...). these were a variety of homeschool situations-some with very extensive social interaction opportunities for the kids. the issue we saw with all of them though (and i observed when i taught public school and we got previous hs kids in the class) was that while the kids interacted well with kids of similar 'nature' (values, habits, belief structures), it was realy hard for them initialy and in several cases-for the first entire school year or more interacting with or having to 'deal with' kids who did'nt share these same natures. not nesc. bad kids or bullies-just kids who were (not sure how to put this) -outside their realm of knowledge or experience. the hs kids seemed not have learned as well some of the 'social ques' that may alert a person on weather someone is perhaps best not approached in certain manner. the homeschool kids were realy nice and great-but they seemed to either overly trusting and naive (which sadly is a 'victim' indicatory for some types) or in a few cases very hesitant to interact (which unfortunatly came off with other kids as being 'conceited' or 'aloof' and precluded them from wanting to initiate social interaction ).

so for us-we wanted a safe, controlled environment-but not one that entirely eliminated the kids exposure to some of the realities of interacting with people they might not be entirely 'in sync' with. there are times when i've questioned the decision-when bullying has happened, when the kids are exposed to attitudes that def. don't mesh with what we've taught them, but it has helped them learn 'in a controlled environment' how to reccognize these issues and deal with them. they've also developed into kids that will discuss with us the differences they observe (mostly in behaviour and manner of dress/sexuality) and reaffirm what their beliefs are-seeming to gain confidence that the choices/habits we've taught them do have a basis in reason when they see the outcome of some not so great choices/habits of their peers.

we were lucky-we found a 'good fit' outside the public schools and the standard private settings. we're even luckier that now as we're preparing to move to another state that we've found a 'twin' to their current school that will allow them to continue in this type of environment.

i guess for us personaly-the safety issue of education is kind of like when they were babies and learning to walk. we took precautions to baby proof the house so they would'nt get major injuries-but they had to experience some minor falls so they could learn how to recover, get back up and move ahead (and hopefully learn what obsticals may exist).

 

[Tiggerific711]

I don't have any experience with homeschooling so this is OT. I just read a post in the restaurants boards where NEVERENOUGHWDW was saying obnoxious things to stir the pot

I just tried to look up other posts by NEVERENOUGHWDW but nothing was found. How could this be when I just read posts on another board?

I think NEVERENOUGHWDW is just playing a game to see how heated he/she can make threads get!

Have a magical day everyone!

 

[CleveRocks]

I just tried to look up other posts by NEVERENOUGHWDW but nothing was found. How could this be when I just read posts on another board?

Since the "upgrades," ALL of the search functions (including "find recent posts by") are about as useful as Buzz Lightyear's wings and laser.

 

[sha_lyn]

I don't have any experience with homeschooling so this is OT. I just read a post in the restaurants boards where NEVERENOUGHWDW was saying obnoxious things to stir the pot

I just tried to look up other posts by NEVERENOUGHWDW but nothing was found. How could this be when I just read posts on another board?

I think NEVERENOUGHWDW is just playing a game to see how heated he/she can make threads get!

Have a magical day everyone!

with search being what it is .... link please LOL

 

[momto2girls]

I don't have any experience with homeschooling so this is OT. I just read a post in the restaurants boards where NEVERENOUGHWDW was saying obnoxious things to stir the pot

I just tried to look up other posts by NEVERENOUGHWDW but nothing was found. How could this be when I just read posts on another board?

I think NEVERENOUGHWDW is just playing a game to see how heated he/she can make threads get!

Have a magical day everyone!

Yep, I saw a thread in the Resorts section which included a few snarky comments from this poster as well.

Here is the link to that one:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1353513

 

[meandtheguys2]

You all know what it is like around here, guys, change a name, stir up trouble. Some folks consider being rude to be a hobby of sorts. What is funny, is usually no one would recognize them if they didn't change their name.