Home Schooling / Home Instruction

[Jimbillroo Digital]

May I ask why?

There are a lot of factors that go into how education is measured in homeschooling.

 

The bit about the complaining or the bit about people who go to home-school or public school receive the same level of education?

 

What I mean is I do not think that how a kid is taught effects how intelligent they are.

[Trik'Stari]

I couldn't agree with you more, at least based on todays public school atmosphere.

The educational aspect varies; parent and student. The parent has to be involved, they learn just as much initially. The student has to become motivated at first, afterward its easy. Based on personal experience the educational benefit was 10fold, but the same isn't for everybody, once I regained my desire to learn again I couldn't be stopped but for others; some just do not have the desire to go beyond a minimum no matter if they are at home or public school.

Agreed completely.

 

If I were to have children, which I don't want to, I would probably home school them, simply because I don't agree with a lot of the crap that gets forced down students throats via public schools these days. Specifically in regards to history etc. Not to mention all the touchy feely "tolerance and diversity" crap they do as well. That's not educational, it's social engineering and doesn't belong in a place of learning.

[Volbet]

No problem. Thank you. 

I didn't mean to get hostile (If I was).

You weren't coming off as hostile at all. I was actually worried, that I would come off as hostlie.

And I'm sorry if that was the case. I was just trying to get a normal flow in the discourse.

 

I have read through some of the source that you posted, and I don't really see any reason to dismiss them.

However, I do have a small problem with one of them

http://www.nheri.org/research/research-facts-on-homeschooling.html (the section on academic performance)

The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests. (The public school average is the 50th percentile; scores range from 1 to 99.)

While I have no reason to doubt that it's true, I'm unsure if homeschooling is the cause of the raised scores.

While the author doesn't mention homeschooling as the cause of the raised score, he also doesn't mention any other factors. Since the article is written in the context of homeschooling, that does lead me to the initial conclusion, that homechooling is the cause. 

 

I would argue that it has more to do with the involvment of the parents. Public schooling is often times seen as the easy way out, and therefor it's probably the prefered metode of scholing for the uninvolved parent. 

It would be intersting to see a if there is a study, that compares the involment of the parents to the child's grade and test average. Then they could compare those numbers to the averages from homechooled childre.

[minibois]

Wasn't home schooled, would consider it possibly, but probably don't have time for it later

Is it better than regular school? Maybe.. Because in school you have to go as fast (or mostly as slow) as all the other 30 students in class. if you understand it quicker than others, well bad luck just get bored in class.. If you find the education harder than other? Well bad luck, you have to do the same test in a couple of weeks as other who do understand it.

 

That's just a flaw of education, there is a standard, but nothing around the standard. You cannot be slower or faster than the standard, which I think home schooling can change.

 

But I do agree, it may hinder social skills.. But really.. This:

 

Based on personal experience, I feel that the "social experience" you get from public school, specifically high school, is more harmful than beneficial.

[SansVarnic]

The biggest benefit of homeschooling is not about Measuring Education or Social skills it measuring the students value and removing the garbage infesting todays public school system. 

[You_are_a_cunt]

I've been through public school and I've dreaded most, if not all of it.

 

 

Unfortunately home schooling is not an option here (which is unfortunate).

 

IF (and that's pretty much a big if) I ever have a kid and the possibility to homeschool him/her, I'd send them for the first 4 years to public school and all further education (up to 12th form) would be done at home with private tutors (provided I can afford it, ofc).

 

The education system in Romania is beyond fucked up, filling minds with nonsense, outdated info and things that are thoroughly irrelevant to one's education. The fact that religion is still a mandatory discipline baffles me (mind you, the only religion that is mandatory is christian-orthodox and students that aren't part of it are still required to pass the class, which is discriminatory at best). There are many other disciplines that are utterly pointless (we had a music and a paining class, yet our specialization was math/computer science/english). I'm well aware that school is supposed to give general knowledge, but the system here is full of shit and corruption; it's beyond recovery at this point, and that's coming from someone who's parents are both teachers and they both agree with me.

Private schooling is far too expensive most of the time, but it's definitely worth it

[SansVarnic]

The bit about the complaining or the bit about people who go to home-school or public school receive the same level of education?

 

What I mean is I do not think that how a kid is taught effects how intelligent they are.

Awesome. I agree. Intelligence is based on the individual not their education.

 

"Genius without education is like silver in the mine.” ~  Benjamin Franklin

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid" ~ Benjamin Franklin

I have another but I cant remember exactly how it goes; "A strong education and experience will develop proper communal skills" I think it was Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson that said it but I cant find it.

[Trik'Stari]

 the garbage infesting todays public school system. 

Not sure if you are referring to the teachers, or the students, or both.

 

Either way, I agree. I was in 9th grade. And in English class, I was reading stuff like LoTR, The Space Odyssey series, etc. And reading them quickly, while the rest of the glass struggled to get through Lord of The Flies (which is one of the worst books ever written in my opinion). It was funny because the other students were kind of mad because I didn't have to read along with them, they asked why, and the teacher just said "look at the size of the book he is reading, he will be done with that by the end of the week" and I usually was.

 

Why I wasn't in advanced English classes, I don't know.

[SansVarnic]

Wasn't home schooled, would consider it possibly, but probably don't have time for it later

Is it better than regular school? Maybe.. Because in school you have to go as fast (or mostly as slow) as all the other 30 students in class. if you understand it quicker than others, well bad luck just get bored in class.. If you find the education harder than other? Well bad luck, you have to do the same test in a couple of weeks as other who do understand it.

 

That's just a flaw of education, there is a standard, but nothing around the standard. You cannot be slower or faster than the standard, which I think home schooling can change.

 

But I do agree, it may hinder social skills.. But really.. This:

I agree. - first part

The quote depends on the region your from (US) like Chicago vs Las Angeles vs New York. The High School atmosphere can be pretty damaging to some, more for others, less for others. Some find it beneficial, it depends on your ethical stand point.

[minibois]

I agree.

But the quote depends on the region your from (US) like Chicago vs Las Angeles vs New York. The High School atmosphere can be pretty damaging to some, more for others, less for others. Some find it beneficial, it depends on your ethical stand point.

Well I am not from the US, but I just agreed with the point @Trik'Stari made, because it happened to me too..

School has been pretty damaging to my creativity I feel, because it's just about "get these things done, in this specific way, at this specific time". That just takes away creativity..

[Trik'Stari]

Well I am not from the US, but I just agreed with the point @Trik'Stari made, because it happened to me too..

School has been pretty damaging to my creativity I feel, because it's just about "get these things done, in this specific way, at this specific time". That just takes away creativity..

Not to mention, being surrounded by people who have no educational spark. They do what they are told because they have no choice. When I was in school, I saw almost no one who actually wanted to improve their own knowledge on certain subjects. Which eventually rubbed off on me.

[SansVarnic]

I've been through public school and I've dreaded most, if not all of it.

 

 

Unfortunately home schooling is not an option here (which is unfortunate).

 

IF (and that's pretty much a big if) I ever have a kid and the possibility to homeschool him/her, I'd send them for the first 4 years to public school and all further education (up to 12th form) would be done at home with private tutors (provided I can afford it, ofc).

 

The education system in Romania is beyond fucked up, filling minds with nonsense, outdated info and things that are thoroughly irrelevant to one's education. The fact that religion is still a mandatory discipline baffles me (mind you, the only religion that is mandatory is christian-orthodox and students that aren't part of it are still required to pass the class, which is discriminatory at best). There are many other disciplines that are utterly pointless (we had a music and a paining class, yet our specialization was math/computer science/english). I'm well aware that school is supposed to give general knowledge, but the system here is full of shit and corruption; it's beyond recovery at this point, and that's coming from someone who's parents are both teachers and they both agree with me.

Private schooling is far too expensive most of the time, but it's definitely worth it

I see what you mean. We in the US have Liberal Arts colleges/universities that teach as a standard garbage classes that have no association at all to the degree your studying in. It used to be a Tech or Vocal school was the degree you went for over a Liberal Arts degree as they were specific field courses, hands on. Now a 4 year degree in anything is the pre-requisite for any job. A lot of companies are starting to go back to requiring Tech school degrees as they are finding out that Liberal Art degrees are not teaching anything and New hires have to be taught what they should have learned in school.

[minibois]

Not to mention, being surrounded by people who have no educational spark. They do what they are told because they have no choice. When I was in school, I saw almost no one who actually wanted to improve their own knowledge on certain subjects. Which eventually rubbed off on me.

true, everyone I know just chose or dropped subjects because "this subject is easy" or "this subject is hard".

Never because they actually wanted to learn that or needed that later in life..

 

Last 4 years of school for me were just like "well, if I memorize enough to get a 6/10 at the test, it's good." instead of me wanting to learn more.

[SansVarnic]

Well I am not from the US, but I just agreed with the point @Trik'Stari made, because it happened to me too..

School has been pretty damaging to my creativity I feel, because it's just about "get these things done, in this specific way, at this specific time". That just takes away creativity..

 

 

Not to mention, being surrounded by people who have no educational spark. They do what they are told because they have no choice. When I was in school, I saw almost no one who actually wanted to improve their own knowledge on certain subjects. Which eventually rubbed off on me.

 

Happened to me as well. 4th grade math and others were to easy. I wasn't failing due to lack of ability I was failing due to lack of not doing the homework as I was losing my drive to learn. I was moving faster than the class but wasn't allowed to move at my pace so I said screw it and stopped all together. It took 2 yrs for my parents figure out what was wrong and they started me in homeschool. After that they figured out I wasn't being challenged, I did 2 years of work in 5months, got caught up flew threw rest at my pace. I ended up enjoying school.

I will admit I hated it at first, no friends to see at school but I was done by noon (eventually after getting caught up) and I still saw friends and interacted but that was after school. I understood later that school was for learning not hanging out and getting all social with other, I had plenty of time after school for that.

[minibois]

Happened to me as well. 4th grade math and others were to easy. I wasn't failing due to lack of ability I was failing due to lack of not doing the homework as I was losing my drive to learn. I was moving faster than the class but wasn't allowed to move at my pace so I said screw it and stopped all together. It took 2 yrs for my parents figure out what was wrong and they started me in homeschool. After that they figured out I wasn't being challenged, I did 2 years of work in 5months, got caught up flew threw rest at my pace. I ended up enjoying school.

I will admit I hated it at first, no friends to see at school but I was done by noon (eventually after getting caught up) and I still saw friends and interacted but that was after school. I understood later that school was for learning not hanging out and getting all social with other, I had plenty of time after school for that.

My parents always wondered why they never saw me learn or make homework from when I was 13 to 15.. I just always said I didn't have homework or that I had already done it.

Truth was, there was no homework because I was always done with the math homework or whatever in school. it was just 5 minutes of work usually, because the rest of the class was just (literally, not kidding) screaming to each other and just throwing around paper and shit.

 

After I turned 16 (and went to a different school, because I was done with the Dutch equivalent of high school) I admitted to them that I didn't have to learn, make or practice anything in school. Most of it was just way too easy.

I finished with 2 8/10's, 3 7/10's and a 6/10 in school (which is way above the average at schools here).

The 6/10 was for French, because I was not good at grammar, but I was really good at pronouncing the words and stuff. So the only reason I was able to make French, because everybody else in class was just horrendous and pronouncing and talking French.

[Trik'Stari]

Happened to me as well. 4th grade math and others were to easy. I wasn't failing due to lack of ability I was failing due to lack of not doing the homework as I was losing my drive to learn. I was moving faster than the class but wasn't allowed to move at my pace so I said screw it and stopped all together. It took 2 yrs for my parents figure out what was wrong and they started me in homeschool. After that they figured out I wasn't being challenged, I did 2 years of work in 5months, got caught up flew threw rest at my pace. I ended up enjoying school.

I will admit I hated it at first, no friends to see at school but I was done by noon (eventually after getting caught up) and I still saw friends and interacted but that was after school. I understood later that school was for learning not hanging out and getting all social with other, I had plenty of time after school for that.

My parents always wondered why they never saw me learn or make homework from when I was 13 to 15.. I just always said I didn't have homework or that I had already done it.

Truth was, there was no homework because I was always done with the math homework or whatever in school. it was just 5 minutes of work usually, because the rest of the class was just (literally, not kidding) screaming to each other and just throwing around paper and shit.

 

After I turned 16 (and went to a different school, because I was done with the Dutch equivalent of high school) I admitted to them that I didn't have to learn, make or practice anything in school. Most of it was just way too easy.

I finished with 2 8/10's, 3 7/10's and a 6/10 in school (which is way above the average at schools here).

The 6/10 was for French, because I was not good at grammar, but I was really good at pronouncing the words and stuff. So the only reason I was able to make French, because everybody else in class was just horrendous and pronouncing and talking French.

I always despised homework. I always felt like "couldn't we just cut out gym class and make the other classes longer, and do this crap during class?". I failed 9th grade because I didn't do my homework, I just had no drive to do it, partially because I was caught up in the social BS that came with 9th grade (and for once, actually making some friends).

 

I find online school to be a better way to learn, although the schools themselves haven't quite figured it out how it should be done. We are required to participate in discussion boards to "simulate the in classroom experience"......which is exactly the thing I want to avoid, which is why I am taking online classes to begin with. The one time I've seen an online class assign a group project, in which you are supposed to work with others to complete the project, we all messaged each other saying "I'm just gonna do the entire project myself" and that was it.

 

It made me laugh because everyone ended up doing that. I guess the people in charge of classes just don't understand why people take online classes to begin with. It's not because I live so far away from a campus (although that is an issue), it's because I don't want the distraction of other people.

[SansVarnic]

There was a study done (I do not know a link for this) that I was told about and it can be pretty obvious to those who pay attention as well that shows in the US and Europe the steady decline of education after the inception of public schools. The most successful school system either the US or Europe had was the Oneroom school house model. I believe Australia follows this model as well but I think they adopted public school sometime later so the impact isn't as great yet (correct me if I am wrong). As part of the emphasis on this study is Reading and Writing as after schools stopped using the New England Primer and Webster's Blue Back Speller (both hailed as the most successful books ever on these subjects) has dropped drastically. To prove my point try reading the Federalist Papers ,they are a set of newspaper articles and essays written to the public to explain the US constitution and why it should be ratified, this example shows that at the time these articles were purposely written so the most uneducated farmer of the era could read them. Most people today cannot read and fully comprehend without a college reading level which at the time was a lower reading level, I think it was a 2nd or 3rd grade (don't quote me I am not certain). The problem today is such a model cannot be adopted as the public system is so well adopted world wide that to change now would take an enormous amount of money and time. The public school model can be improved and very easily but those that control these systems have a very narrow view and think that making learning easier is not easier, the more challenging a subject is the more the student becomes interested. Proper learning techniques have not been employed in many schools for many years. Math is a good example of this as well compare this math book with this math book and you will see what I mean (they are both Pre-Algebra Math) they vastly different books with different methods one being superior.

 

I am using Wikipedia for most of the links but there are other sources I could have used.

[SansVarnic]

You weren't coming off as hostile at all. I was actually worried, that I would come off as hostlie.

And I'm sorry if that was the case. I was just trying to get a normal flow in the discourse.

 

I have read through some of the source that you posted, and I don't really see any reason to dismiss them.

However, I do have a small problem with one of them

http://www.nheri.org/research/research-facts-on-homeschooling.html (the section on academic performance)

While I have no reason to doubt that it's true, I'm unsure if homeschooling is the cause of the raised scores.

While the author doesn't mention homeschooling as the cause of the raised score, he also doesn't mention any other factors. Since the article is written in the context of homeschooling, that does lead me to the initial conclusion, that homechooling is the cause. 

 

I would argue that it has more to do with the involvment of the parents. Public schooling is often times seen as the easy way out, and therefor it's probably the prefered metode of scholing for the uninvolved parent. 

It would be intersting to see a if there is a study, that compares the involment of the parents to the child's grade and test average. Then they could compare those numbers to the averages from homechooled childre.

 

You are correct in your reasoning. Most testing that occurs (at least in the state of Iowa) Homeschooler testing is compared to other Home school students not Public school student. The testing isn't compared until it gets to the national level. This is very unfortunate as it has a tendency to exaggerate or balloon the results.

Personally I always scored in the 93-98 percentile in most of my tests but at the time I wondered why I scored so high, after I found out how the test scores were compiled I figured I was actually scoring closer to 90-94 percentile group. 

The homeschool aspect (to me) is mostly to get back to basic of education and away from the social engineering that Trik'Stari mentioned as it is very evident in the school district I grew up in.

[lutewan]

Ok to start there is a very common response here that is very much a strong myth and one that I kind of knew I would get but I was hoping it would not happen since I was asking about the educational aspect; Homeschoolers miss-out on socializing with others or they become socially awkward because of having been homeschooled etc. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about homeschoolers or jokes that go around. Though awkwardness does happen, I was one of those, but this is due to my own personality trait. I do not like to be around people by choice, I like my space and I am bit of an introvert. Before you say HA! You just proved my point that HSr's are socially retarded my brother was the complete opposite of myself being a very outward person, very social and we were both homeschooled during the same period of time. Social skills have absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you are public schooled or homeschooled. Homeschoolers do interact with others all the time, matter of fact I had a lot of friends that I hung out with, just had to wait till they were out of school though as I was done by noon everyday. My friends envied me for this but what can I say, if the public school would let me do my work at the same pace I would still be out at noon or earlier. (I didn't start school till 8 or 9am) On average Homeschoolers do and /or participate in afterschool activities, clubs and other things just public schooled student do. So the Socially retarded argument is a mute argument.

 

The second misconception is the Homeschoolers are undereducated. This can and does happen in about the 1% range on average. Parents that don't care or abuse the system will maintain the absolute minimum for the student. It is sad and unfortunately the news media focuses on this way to much. Homeschooling in the US is the fastest growing secondary education system (private school is second to homeschooling) due to the vastly improved educational benefits students receive. Ivy league universities and colleges will accept a student if they respond they are home schooled over public schooled even if a SAT or ACT score is lower than the public schooled. I know this as a fact as I have access to 10 letters from 10 ivy league schools admitting so (the letters are not mine they my dads he received after writing 12 schools asking certain questions in regards to their acceptance of homeschoolers). The reasons for this are; strong self study skills, higher testing,  better skills of diplomacy, peer to peer associations/interactions and better personality, behavior, self esteem traits.

 

I was public educated from k-6 grade, because of certain conditions (a long story) I ended up finishing school at home my 7-12 grade. I and my father became very involved in what Homeschooling was and has become. Any of the replies I give below are not intentionally condescending but based in information I learn from my time as a homeschooler and today as a homeschool parent. I do not regret having been homeschooled as the public school I attend was severely holding up my education (not to mention sucked) as I was not challenged enough or I was bored, school was to slow for me. But that was me.

 

 

This is about as false a statement it could be (sorry). A study was conduct several years ago (with in the last 5-8 in the USA) that showed that on average Homeschoolers' developed stronger social skills and received a higher acceptance rate from Ivy league colleges over public educated students due to higher self study abilities, higher testing,  better skills of diplomacy and peer to peer associations/interaction, better personality, behavior and self esteem traits

Your experience with those classmates are a 1 in 1000 situation. The awkwardness is either personality or coincidental to their environment and their lower educational development could be due to the parents lack of ability to teach (this does happen parents want to teach but find out they unable to do so). It is not uncommon for parents to be unable to homeschool, home schooling is not for everyone and a good homeschool program will try to convey this point and help as much as possible. It is the hardest for most parents for children in grades k-3 to teach as some do not understand how teach the most basic ideas, generally it is easier to start at the 4th grade as parents are able speak on a level the student can understand, frustration teaching a 5 year old on how to write, read, or add is hard as it is a perspective thing. Children require repetition at this age, 4th graders do not need it nearly as much.

 

Social development is not controlled by the amount of people you interact in a school environment but doe contribute some, it is actually determined by the time you are 5-6 years old. A physiatrist can tell you this. Education plays the most in the influence of how social skills are developed the more knowledgeable you are the more social you are able to be, personality also plays a strong part in this as well.

 

This is both correct and a little incorrect. The competence of the parent teaching has a lot to do with initial educational development but once you reach a certain age you ability to learn is influenced more on your desire to learn and retain what is taught. On average once a child has reached 10-12 and self study become normal a student can comprehend most of the content with little to some interaction from the parent in about 50%, 25% require some more interaction, last 25% require constant interaction.

 

I cant argue with you on the UK schooling I have little knowledge there but social skills develop on their own. A stronger education will help define stronger social skills.

 

This happens sometimes, especially in farm communities. Parent team up and use their strengths to teach.

In the US, in most states, all homeschooled student have to be visited by a licensed teacher every so often so students do not fall behind a standard.

 

Sounds like you had the same experience I had. I hated school until I was homeschooled, than I learned at my pace, quickly, I learned more and I didn't have to wait for anyone else to catch up before moving on to the next lesson. I had more free time to do the things I wanted to do.

 

Yes. But they wont have any social issues unless you didn't raise them well.

 

Again the social argument. This is so common a thought and so untrue.

 

I agree with you. In the us it is about pushing kids thru more than focusing on the educational aspect. The current US system focuses on the wrong things and misses the one that really need help and drag down those that can excel well independently.

 

You are so very wrong. If given the right motivation and material a child will learn past their parent limitations and excel, this has happened many times. I personally know several kids that parents did not graduate high school, they homeschooled and motivated their kids to learn better than they did. In the end the parents became the students while their children became the teachers because with some help the parent were able to set a good foundation for the children and in high school the children were giving the lessons to their parents at the same time they were learning it.

You have the freedom to not believe me but this is a true story.

 

Very true. Home Schooling by law (in the US) has to be overseen by licensed teachers to ensure students are keeping up with standards.

 

Untrue.

 

Very true.

Homeschoolers can still participate in public school sport, most states support dual enrollment for this purpose. Though some districts are still fighting for this. I am sorry to see you missed out.

 

This can happen sometimes, especially if the kid is a single child. But this is not uncommon for single children that were public schooled the whole time as well.

You are correct a parent cannot provide the same environment but that part of the reason as well. Homeschool children have more time to spend with their parents, this is part of the reason.

 

 

I apologize if this lengthy but I wanted to reply to all everybody. If I miss you it is because you replied while I typed this up.

 

*Edit

Apologies for lack of reference links as I am working on getting those, they are not in my possession. I have to request permission to scan and post the letters my dad has. As for the studies I will have to find online version to get to them. My dad has those studies but due to the source and the position he held at the time he had access to them I cannot scan them post them with the authors permission and that is impossible for me at this time, they are public but just not the versions my dad has, they are official documents.

 

*2nd edit

see my post further in I have added links on studies and articles. I will add more links later.

much better said then i

[Volbet]

The homeschool aspect (to me) is mostly to get back to basic of education and away from the social engineering that Trik'Stari mentioned as it is very evident in the school district I grew up in.

I can of course see that as a reasoning for homeschooling your children, and it's probably the reason de jour for most homeschooling parents.

What I fail to see is how homeschooling gets you away from social engineering. You are just changing one social instance (the school experience) with another one (the homeschooling experience).

Social engineering will occour in all instances whether it is done by a school, by the parents or by both.

Why wouldn't you want your child to get exposed to points of view that differs from your own? There is no natural law that says that the parent of a child is always empirically correct.

Personally, I would like my daughter to be exposed to as many different world views as possible. That way she can make up her own mind, and not be ´forced´ to follow the view of me and my wife.

If she is thought something, by either her teacher or her peers, that either of us disagree with, then we can hopefully have an open discussion about the topic.  

[linuxfan66]

I can of course see that as a reasoning for homeschooling your children, and it's probably the reason de jour for most homeschooling parents.

What I fail to see is how homeschooling gets you away from social engineering. You are just changing one social instance (the school experience) with another one (the homeschooling experience).

Social engineering will occour in all instances whether it is done by a school, by the parents or by both.

Why wouldn't you want your child to get exposed to points of view that differs from your own? There is no law that says that the parent of a child is always empirically correct.

Personally, I would like my daughter to be exposed to as many different world views as possible. That way she can make up her own mind, and not be ´forced´ to follow the view of me and my wife.

There is a thing as not ready yet sometimes too...

[Volbet]

There is a thing as not ready yet sometimes too...

My English might be a bit rusty, bui I have no idea what you mean. 

[Jdogbf]

I have been homeschooled for 5 now going on 6 years now. I have learned at my pace and love it. Get to go into the local community college for classes and get the credits for both. My brother and sister are both public schooled though and that is their choice, my parents never forced us to pick one or the other.

[SansVarnic]

I can of course see that as a reasoning for homeschooling your children, and it's probably the reason de jour for most homeschooling parents.

What I fail to see is how homeschooling gets you away from social engineering. You are just changing one social instance (the school experience) with another one (the homeschooling experience).

Social engineering will occour in all instances whether it is done by a school, by the parents or by both.

Why wouldn't you want your child to get exposed to points of view that differs from your own? There is no natural law that says that the parent of a child is always empirically correct.

Personally, I would like my daughter to be exposed to as many different world views as possible. That way she can make up her own mind, and not be ´forced´ to follow the view of me and my wife.

If she is thought something, by either her teacher or her peers, that either of us disagree with, then we can hopefully have an open discussion about the topic.  

Having my children at home is not exactly social engineering its being a parent and raising them properly, as unfortunately a lot of parents do not do with continually increasing divorce rates having single parents children are being raised by day-cares instead of the parent, I just want to responsible for my children as I was taught to be by mine.

I do prefer to have my children learn without having to worry about adult level world issues until they are old enough to understand and make a decision on their own using the understanding they receive form their education. I also would like to instill a set of moral and ethic standards they can use in life like how to be proper and polite. For example I do not agree with my school districts point of view on teaching my children that it is ok to be sexually active outside of marriage especially as a young teenager under 12 years of age. They may not say it is Ok outright but handing out condoms to elementary age children (5-10) is not right. Now I do agree that teaching multiple area of thought is good but understand that I will expose them  when they are ready which will be about the middle school age (11-14), first I will worry about getting their basics taught first; reading, writing, and math. My children will be allowed to study any area they become interested in and I wont deny them or limit them. Age is no longer a factor in public schools, I mean they no longer draw a line on what is appropriate or not and want to control how they exposed. Please don't misunderstand me though as they become of age they will be appropriately exposed to the world of things.

[FuzzyYellow]

People really shouldn't be home-schooled because they get less education and lack in social skills later on (know this from experience of classmates that used to be home schooled)

people think that, and while there are exceptions, Homeschooled students tend to 1: have better test scores and 2: have better social skills than public schooled kids.