A Question About Homeschooling.

[Bronco69]

I was in the grocery store today and I overheard one of the clerks ask a kid why he wasn't in school today. His mother piped right up and said, "I homeschool." Well, that got me thinking about something; most of the people I've ever heard of that homeschool (I don't know any personally) are the freeper types who would no doubt have target practice and gay bashing as extra curricular activities. Anyhow, do normal people homeschool or is it just the freeper types? And if it is just the freeper types, are they just creating a whole new class of idiot?

[Iris]

1. I think there are more and more people who homeschool for reasons other

than wanting to shield their kids from the ungodly.

I know quite a few families who decided to homeschool sons after they were diagnosed with ADDD. They preferred homeschooling to drugs.

Sounds like your fellow customer was a freeper though - couldn't let the kid speak for himself.

[rockymountaindem]

2. No, I was homeschooled in late elementary school.

I learned a lot more than I would have in public school, believe me. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I love to read and spent most of my time outside of school reading anyway. It's a lot easier to homeschool someone when they're young. My parents realized that they couldn't really afford me a middle-school education by themselves, so I went to middle school and high school.

I didn't turn out to be a freeper!

[kcwayne]

3. I know a libertarian family that homeschools

and it has nothing to do with being a freeper which they are not.
They are socially repressed, and so are their kids. The kids will have a hard time coming out of the cocoon, as far as I can tell.

[murielm99]

4. Homeschooling started out as a progressive idea.

There were alternative schools, free schools, and other ideas from people who grew up in the sixties on "Summerhill."

But now many religious types do it, to shield their kids from the ungodly.

I think the religious types outnumber those who home school for other reasons. I do know a couple of families who home schooled for good reasons. One had a son who was falling behind because he would never ask questions. His mom got him caught up, and sent him back to school his senior year.

The other had a kid with an LD diagnosis. He had much more confidence after being home schooled and avoiding a negative label.

I guess it depends. I just hope we are not raising a generation of idiots, because their parents do not know what they are doing.

[Nay]

5. I homeschooled my son in first grade, 14 yrs. ago and I'm a

raving socialistic atheist. They were just doing a poor job of teaching the kids. We later opted for private school for most of the rest of his school years. The people I knew back then who also homeschooled were, however, all fundies. In fact, in TN, you HAD to register as a homeschooler by associating yourself with any of a number of fundie churches/schools. It stank. I'm sure that has changed by now.

[Nite Owl]

6. Homeschooled both my sons

right up to college. The movement was originally progressive and was hijacked by the right. We started because of health reasons, my husband and I were both teachers. When they could go to school they had advanced too far and it was working out well.