our school is making me furious.

[princessmom29]

You are quoting your high school teacher? "juvenile", btw. Your spelling is atrocious. I assume you took spelling, right? Did the PS system let you down in that area?

I really hope that you aren't really working with young people. You sound more like a student than an adult. Your generalizations are sad, and biased. Students deserve teachers who know better.

How is quoting someone who I like and respect juvenile? My govenment teacher had a Ph. D and was a wonderful teacher. I think I am fully justified in quoting something he said that had an impact on my life. That is just rude. I am a college educated professional. I am dislexyic so I do not spell well, and there in not a spell check function on this message board. It is not required that my spelling be perfect to teach chemistry and you can bet that I spell check anything that goes out to parents or students. I am good at my job and my students do well. I worked in inductry for years as a senior chemist before going back to college for a masters in education. My students deserve teachers who know thier subject matter well and do not bring their personal opinions into the classroom. This is what I provide. I am simply telling you what I have observed in 1o years of teaching. Take in for what you will, but do not attack me for telling you what I think. Yes it is an OPINION I am not saying that I am the absolute athourity or that my opinion is not biased. Everyone's opinions are biased wether they want to admit it or not. That is why they are opinions and not facts. I really don't care what you think about me but attacking the way i do my job when you do not even know me and have never been in my classroom is unacceptable. You cannot possibly know what kind of teacher i am from a message board posting. If you want to talk about someone who is biased look at yourself. You are making assumptions that you have not even made an observation to back up. I fully aknowledge that my opinions on homeschooling are colored by my experiences. You have no experience of my teaching skills on which to base an opinion about them.

 

[princessmom29]

UGH, this message has certainly gone in the wrong direction hasn't it. Sorry to all who are bickering. I only wanted to vent. I am concerned about my children and what they are able to do. I have a meeting with both teachers next week and we are going from there. I offered to help with going through the books that are banned and sort them out. They will get back to me they said. So I keep trying. To Quote Dori.... Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,.... except I will just keep trying.

Good for you! I hope it works out for you. Do what is best for YOUR kids!

 

[I_Know_You2!]

UGH, this message has certainly gone in the wrong direction hasn't it. Sorry to all who are bickering. I only wanted to vent. I am concerned about my children and what they are able to do. I have a meeting with both teachers next week and we are going from there. I offered to help with going through the books that are banned and sort them out. They will get back to me they said. So I keep trying. To Quote Dori.... Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,.... except I will just keep trying.

OP. Dory is my hero! I think you've seen the hard way how people react to homeschooling! Good luck if you go that route. For the time being, good job offering your help. So many teachers are overwhelmed and too busy to stay on top of everything.

Watch out for those banned books, though...they can be dangerous!

 

[arminnie]

that is a terrible method actually.

I don't agree with you at all. I rarely went to math classes in college except to take the tests - just read the book. Going to class was just a waste of time.

Math is one of those subjects that really doesn't necessarily require discussion and class interaction. Now political science - I would agree that classroom interaction helps.

I did exceptionally well in math with virtually no help from teachers. A funny story - at the end of my senior year I needed a recommendation so went up to the professor to talk to him. This was not a big class (less than 20 people).

He said "I'd be happy to give you a recommendation but I have no idea who you are." But he did look up my grades and give me a rec.

 

[I_Know_You2!]

I don't agree with you at all. I rarely went to math classes in college except to take the tests - just read the book. Going to class was just a waste of time.

I made A's in Psychology, German, Chemistry, Anatomy, and math courses without attending. Schools don't allow that much anymore. Too bad. Teaching people to take responsibility for their own educational experience was a good thing. We weren't spoon fed and given our notes, study guides, and test practices as is the case in many college courses now.

 

[lilybrooke14]

OP....I have always tested high in reading and comprehension skills (my spelling has always, without fail, sucked). I picked up reading immediately in kindergarden, and took off. Never looked back. I had free range of the books in my library. Frankly, some of them had content that I was in no way prepared for. I read Little Women in the 5th grade easily. I liked it, but I didn't get it until I read it again later.

I went to a private Catholic Elementary school for the first part of my education, and it was pretty pathetic. My second grade teacher had no problems letting us know that she thought children were vile little creatures. I was having trouble understanding math, so she terrorized me to the point that I not only peed my pants in her class, but I also have since had trouble understanding math. I was put into a FANTASTIC public Elementary school after that, and it was incredible. Great teachers, great staff, great environmnet. Middle school? Back to suck-land.

We moved before my freshman hear of High School. The new public school that I had access to was a pretty rough school, and my mother had no desire to put me in for the few months that I would be there before we moved to a new state. I homeschooled that year. She pretty much just tossed the books and the teacher's guides my direction, and I tought myself. I needed a little help in math (who says teachers can't make a difference) so I spent extra time on it until I understood the material. That was my decision though, as I knew I would be entering school again the next year, and wanted to advance. I learned a lot that year, because I chose to. By the by, that is not a scenario that I in any way recommend, but in my particular case, it worked out okay.

I went back into public school in a new state the next year. It was a wonderful school with incredible teachers. My socialization flourished. My abilities to socialize were stunted a bit, not from homeschooling, but because of the backstabbing, dog eat dog, downright dangerous environment that I'd been in during middle school. The new school was an entirely different environment. Laid back, supportive, safe. Very intelligent teachers, lots of personal help. I still needed help in math. We had a brilliant math teacher. My DH (well, now) wound up being my tutor in trig because I had no clue what was going on in there (it's worth noting that I made it to the trig class though). That had nothing to do with my homeschooling, and everything to do with the fact that I look at a blackboard covered with numbers and promptly break out into cold sweats. I actually had a teacher in college that broke through that and tought me some cool stuff, but I digress.

I still graduated 6th in my high school class and majored in English with emphasis in creative writing in college. I didn't graduate because I couldn't afford to finish. DH was our school valedictorian, and went to college on a full ride scholarship. He majored in Computer Engineering.

I said all of that to say....I've had a look at several sides of the argument here. Knowing all of that, I think that schooling in an environment where the children spend time with their peers is important. Lots of people pull children from that environment for lots of reasons, some better than others. Lots of parents don't handle their children's subsequent educations as well as they should, but lots of parents do.

If I were in your situation, I'd start off by getting a public library card. If you can, be a room mother so that you can get more of an inside look at what's going on here. If after that, you still felt your children were getting a sub-par education, then pull them. But I'd be on the lookout for a better public schooling environment. There is a lot to be gained from a good school environment. Access to art, theater, band, choir, foreign language, plus things like Beta club, dances, sports, etc. You could spend a long time going through it. Some of it you can recreate in a homeschool environment, but I'd imagine not without some expense and a great deal of work.

Personally? I wouldn't hesitate to take my DD out of school for a year or two. DH and I are perfectly capable of handling a few years of elementary or middle school education. Ideally, we'd use the time to travel, and teach her the things that she can't learn in school, while giving her a little break from public education. After that, back to the grind. But, that's me. That's my opinion, and I get one.

I hope that I've helped in some way, and not just taken up a ton of space here.

 

[princessmom29]

I made A's in Psychology, German, Chemistry, Anatomy, and math courses without attending. Schools don't allow that much anymore. Too bad. Teaching people to take responsibility for their own educational experience was a good thing. We weren't spoon fed and given our notes, study guides, and test practices as is the case in many college courses now.

I agree with you about spoon feeding students. I don't give study guides or practice tests in high school. I expect my students to be responsible enough to do their assignments without my having to sheck behind them. I do however feel that they need guidance to really learn problem solving skills I spend a great deal of class time helping individual students rather than lecturing. I lecture mabye 1-2 days a week in AP Chemistry. The rest of the tine is spent helping students work through it in their own. It is great to see them progress to the point where they can solve new problems without help form me. They do eventually get there once they have been taught the problem sovling skills. I think that even more than the chemistry I teach them is a valuble life skill. No one is going to spoon feed you in the workplace!

 

[DawnM]

I think this was the point that many homeschoolers have tried to make and that you seemed to so adamently disagree with.


Dawn

I agree with you about spoon feeding students. I don't give study guides or practice tests in high school. I expect my students to be responsible enough to do their assignments without my having to sheck behind them. I do however feel that they need guidance to really learn problem solving skills I spend a great deal of class time helping individual students rather than lecturing. I lecture mabye 1-2 days a week in AP Chemistry. The rest of the tine is spent helping students work through it in their own. It is great to see them progress to the point where they can solve new problems without help form me. They do eventually get there once they have been taught the problem sovling skills. I think that even more than the chemistry I teach them is a valuble life skill. No one is going to spoon feed you in the workplace!

 

[Beth E. (NJ)]

I am amazed when a post can veer so far off course. And I thought this one -- while having some widely different points of view -- had stayed nice for quite a while.

Now I am closing it.