I know not all of us here on Revelife are teens or twenty-somethings living in New York City. That is the great thing about this community - we're all very different. But the regular contributors to Revelife (what you see here on the frontpage) ARE twenty-somethings in New York City. So, sometimes the stuff we write may not be relevant to y'all out there. Some of you are older or don't live in a city or live outside of the U.S. entirely! And we don't want to alienate you, so here is my attempt at a topic that I've been curious about and you non-twentysomethings may have more knowledge about:
Homeschooling your children.
To start, I don't have kids. But I do live with my almost-5-year old nephew - does that count for something? I also have a few friends and acquaintances with kids who are considering homeschooling their children. Now, I bring this up here only because I see it as a popular trend amongst Christian parents. But I don't know much about it. My only interaction with a homeschooled child was quite unpleasant. She was extremely bright, there was no doubt of that. And her parents were not Christians - so I think their reasons for homeschooling didn't have to do with sheltering her from bad societal/non-Christian influences. But she was socially a bit difficult to relate to. I don't want to get into detail lest I start sounding like I'm badmouthing her. She wasn't awkward and weird, it was just... unpleasant.
Anyway, since then I've just assumed that most homeschooled kids are pretty smart, but pretty hard to be friends with. Obviously, that's a narrow, and probably incorrect, view.
So parents out there - what do you think about homeschooling? Do you do it or have you thought about doing it?
I can see the benefits, especially in terms of controlling exactly what influences your child throughout the day. But then I wonder if kids need that broad social activity, even at the risk of something negative coming in.
Or do parents homeschool for an entirely different reason? Is it just to give them the best secular and Christian education possible? Or just so they don't miss out on watching them grow up?
On a side note, I just want to give a little shout-out to all the moms, dads, and teachers out there. You guys are awesome. Seriously, I spend 10 minutes with my nephew and I am EXHAUSTED. I don't know how you all do it, but thank you. And if any of you are having a tough time, hang in there. My nephew is a handful, but he's also the most amazing person in my life. I'm sure you guys can say the same for your kids too
Homeschooling in Malaysia is just quite unheard of, though there are definitely parents and children who are doing it.
And yes, I'm nowhear near New York. :) But I'm a twenty-something too.
Don't think that it's good since they need social interactions as kids to grow appropriately for society and not a bubble. That was my first reaction and thought to homeschool.
Don't think it's good for the kids social skills, they may not be able to learn it on their own and fall into the strange person category.
I don't have children, but I know plenty of people who homeschool their kids. It has pros and cons, but from what I hear the pros outweigh the cons.
I just got an offer yesterday from someone I know to tutor her children in Spanish, they are homeschooled. I don't really have any curriculum to go off of (I've taken college Spanish, they are just kids). So, I am going to do some research to see what I can come up with. :)
Have a great day!
i've known quite a few home schooled people. unfortunately many of them can be unpleasant. in the cases i've known, it hasnt been so much awkwardness, they know HOW to interact with people, it's more of an elitist attitude. i've even seen it in publications about homeschooling that talk about public school children as though they were the "unwashed masses". i dont think that it is a matter of wether or not they will be unpleasant, but what brand of unpleasantness they will bear. those same people in a public school setting would be the clique leading bully jocks/NHS crowd. in my opinion, it has more to do with wether they are taught respect and humility. without this, it doesnt matter where they go to school, they will still be unpleasant.
on another note, i've noticed that a lot of people raised as christians have the same elitist problems. it's nicely masked, but it's still there.
I don't think I have what it takes to home school. Thank goodness my daughter is very bright at age 3. She is a quick learner and comprehends things very well.
Lilly being preemie and qualifying for a assistance program, I had someone come to the house 2 times a month and go over different things to help her adjust to her true age and such and just to make sure she was growing properly, both in mind and physically. I learned a lot of things to teach Lilly that otherwise would not have had the opportunity to do so had she been a "normal" pregnancy. I do have a couple subscriptions that are of the learning nature and I do practice those with her, but as for the full regimen........I don't think so.
I did okay in a public school.....she will too. We have been discussing whether or not we want to send her to Catholic School (my husband is Catholic and went to a Catholic school up until high school, then went to public) or whether we will keep her where she goes to Daycare, which is a Christian School.
I don't think homeschooling keeps the kids away from things that you don't want them to experience. One day, they will experience without your control. But here is my take on that..........
If you follow an "ugly" kid home, you're going to find "ugly" parents.
I hope that I'm a good parent. I'm told I am......my daughter is pretty well behaved and I hope to teach her the value of life, morals and all that "growing up" stuff that she needs to learn in becomming a young adult and a mature woman.
Well, I'm not a parent, but I WAS homeschooled for eleven years, starting in second grade. The reason my parents initially decided to try homeschooling is because my sister and I were both actually bored in school and we asked to be homeschooled. It seemed like an exotic and exciting thing to do when you're six. :] For us, it worked well because we were able to work at our own pace, instead of having to wait for an entire class to catch up with us on some subjects and then on the subjects we weren't so spiffy at, one-on-one help and attention was right there for us and we could take extra time to work things out.
What it wasn't was an umbrella from social life or friends or anything. My siblings and I have always been as social as any other kids. We frequently are told that people would never know we were homeschooled if we didn't tell them, because we're not as introverted as they would have expected. I also believe homeschooling isn't for everybody. It totally depends on the family dynamics and the way different kids learn and all kinds of other factors. I know some homeschooling families that are doing an excellent job raising educated children, and I know some homeschooling families who are basically crippling their kids for life. It all depends. People are all different. Don't judge us all by the same standard. We're not all going to turn out supersmart or superstupid. We're not all introverted and weird and antisocial. Actually, homeschool kids turn out a lot like kids who attend school. We come in all kinds.
by miss hibiscus
Comments (6)
Homeschooling in Malaysia is just quite unheard of, though there are definitely parents and children who are doing it.
And yes, I'm nowhear near New York. :) But I'm a twenty-something too.
Don't think that it's good since they need social interactions as kids to grow appropriately for society and not a bubble. That was my first reaction and thought to homeschool.
Don't think it's good for the kids social skills, they may not be able to learn it on their own and fall into the strange person category.
I don't have children, but I know plenty of people who homeschool their kids. It has pros and cons, but from what I hear the pros outweigh the cons.
I just got an offer yesterday from someone I know to tutor her children in Spanish, they are homeschooled. I don't really have any curriculum to go off of (I've taken college Spanish, they are just kids). So, I am going to do some research to see what I can come up with. :)
Have a great day!
i've known quite a few home schooled people. unfortunately many of them can be unpleasant. in the cases i've known, it hasnt been so much awkwardness, they know HOW to interact with people, it's more of an elitist attitude. i've even seen it in publications about homeschooling that talk about public school children as though they were the "unwashed masses". i dont think that it is a matter of wether or not they will be unpleasant, but what brand of unpleasantness they will bear. those same people in a public school setting would be the clique leading bully jocks/NHS crowd. in my opinion, it has more to do with wether they are taught respect and humility. without this, it doesnt matter where they go to school, they will still be unpleasant.
on another note, i've noticed that a lot of people raised as christians have the same elitist problems. it's nicely masked, but it's still there.
I don't think I have what it takes to home school. Thank goodness my daughter is very bright at age 3. She is a quick learner and comprehends things very well.
Lilly being preemie and qualifying for a assistance program, I had someone come to the house 2 times a month and go over different things to help her adjust to her true age and such and just to make sure she was growing properly, both in mind and physically. I learned a lot of things to teach Lilly that otherwise would not have had the opportunity to do so had she been a "normal" pregnancy. I do have a couple subscriptions that are of the learning nature and I do practice those with her, but as for the full regimen........I don't think so.
I did okay in a public school.....she will too. We have been discussing whether or not we want to send her to Catholic School (my husband is Catholic and went to a Catholic school up until high school, then went to public) or whether we will keep her where she goes to Daycare, which is a Christian School.
I don't think homeschooling keeps the kids away from things that you don't want them to experience. One day, they will experience without your control. But here is my take on that..........
If you follow an "ugly" kid home, you're going to find "ugly" parents.
I hope that I'm a good parent. I'm told I am......my daughter is pretty well behaved and I hope to teach her the value of life, morals and all that "growing up" stuff that she needs to learn in becomming a young adult and a mature woman.
Well, I'm not a parent, but I WAS homeschooled for eleven years, starting in second grade. The reason my parents initially decided to try homeschooling is because my sister and I were both actually bored in school and we asked to be homeschooled. It seemed like an exotic and exciting thing to do when you're six. :] For us, it worked well because we were able to work at our own pace, instead of having to wait for an entire class to catch up with us on some subjects and then on the subjects we weren't so spiffy at, one-on-one help and attention was right there for us and we could take extra time to work things out.
What it wasn't was an umbrella from social life or friends or anything. My siblings and I have always been as social as any other kids. We frequently are told that people would never know we were homeschooled if we didn't tell them, because we're not as introverted as they would have expected. I also believe homeschooling isn't for everybody. It totally depends on the family dynamics and the way different kids learn and all kinds of other factors. I know some homeschooling families that are doing an excellent job raising educated children, and I know some homeschooling families who are basically crippling their kids for life. It all depends. People are all different. Don't judge us all by the same standard. We're not all going to turn out supersmart or superstupid. We're not all introverted and weird and antisocial. Actually, homeschool kids turn out a lot like kids who attend school. We come in all kinds.