Priestess Angel

Hello everyone! This subject is wrought with opinions, statistics, and all sorts of studies. Is home schooling the best way to go when it comes to teaching your children or is public school the more beneficial of the two in the end?

There is the point that public school has its problems with peer pressure, ineffective teachers, and just an extremely negative learning environment overall. Many home school their children for these reasons if not for their own religious reasons.

Than there is the argument that home schooling is in the end the most damaging due to the fact that children who are home schooled are not exposed socially like public students are. As a result end up in the child growing up to develop serious social and behavioral issues.

Points like these can go on forever but my question to you guys is what do you think? Is home schooling the most beneficial or do you think that public school is the best choice in the end? Why or why not?
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When it comes to the children I want to have someday, I want to put them in public school for various reasons. For one, I am not sure if I am going to become a teacher or not. If I don’t get a teaching degree I don’t believe I would be qualified to teach my children.

Not to mention how I want them to develop socially. School helps expose children to people and teaches them how to deal with social situations. I believe it greatly benefits a child’s development and helps them on the way to being a healthy adult.

Statistics show that home schooled children are usually better academically overall when compared to public school children. This is not the case for all and I know this for a fact due to experience. My mother has been a teacher’s aid for GED (Graduation Exam Diploma) classes in adult education. Everyone that is there are either high school drop-outs or individuals who were home schooled. The reasons usually being that the parents were not associated with the state program and were instead associated with a non-legitimate program. Many of them will have to take a number of basic classes to get the proper credentials to enter college and have difficulty passing the mandatory exam for entry as well due to lack of knowledge as a result of inadequate teaching.

Overall, this is my opinion. Home schooling can be effective academically depending on the parents. Saying that all home schooled children end up being studious little geniuses while the public school student ends up being the kid that plays video games never giving a glance to their homework is a stereotypical and biased statement in my eyes. If someone chooses the home schooling lifestyle needs to consider how it will affect the child socially and consider alternatives so that they can get that social exposure. Besides, what is the point in having your child getting ahead academically if they cannot affectively deal with social situations? How will it effect them when they try to apply for a job?

In the end, I’m still putting mine in public school. Anyway, that’s what I think. What about you guys?

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tsurara

I personally think that children who attend public school tend to be more independant and well-adjusted socially, but that their academic education can suffer greatly due to lack of one-on-one instruction and attention to individual needs. Children are also more succeptable to peer pressure and acting out when thrown into a public school setting.

It is harder to control the course of your own child's development when they're out from under your watchful eye. Unfortunately, it's hard to foster free-thinking and independance when your children are kept close to you at all times.

In the end, I suppose it boils down to the teachers and the child. Children may be taught poorly at home or at school, depending on what the parent or teacher chooses to teach, their qualifications and their personal agenda.

But I do think that children who are home schooled should be involved in social activities outside of the home somewhere in the public sector (dance classes, team sports, drama programs, scouting, etc.) to teach them to handle themselves socially with those who may not necesarily share their opinions or upbringing.

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Hassun

Indeed the social aspect is something to worry about with homeschooling. Establishing relationships, being confronted with those who are different from you and creating an open mind is very important for kids growing up.

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Ivy Spring

I know from personal experience that public school is usually the best way to go. I have always been very shy and quite. I was also home schooled a couple of times in my life and it did not work out as my parents would have hoped. I did not miss being around other kids and was happy just being around my parents. Now that I am in high school, I have found that public school is way better. I had to deal with people that I might have not liked being around, but it showed me just how to interact with other people my age. I now have people in my life that have helped me a lot to come out of my shell and it all happened just because I had to be around everyone. Being in public school really does not give you a chance to be shy and it lets you gain many more friends than you would have if you were home schooled.

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P.R. Princess

mm i dont i say a mixture of both would be best really.
cause in the private schools you get the structure that is needed and in the public school like everyone has said you get that social contact that is needed. but it also depends on the student. because i know some people that have been in private schools all their life untill highschool and they are doing fine. like they are very social and stuff and then their are others that are not that social. so it really depends too on the person.
cause each private school is different. so yea.

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!Akura13

Yes, well, like tsurara said, public schooling can make a child more social and such, but not good acedemicly because of individual needs. Home schooling is good for individual needs in academic, but not very bright in social stuff. I think both have good benifits and bad ones...but, I do have to say public school is the best thing. Why??? Because at least with public school you get to learn and have social aspects, yet you can't have them both with home schooling. I talk from expeirience, because from 1st grade to 3rd, I was home schooled, then I went and still am in public school.

Grimm Akumu

home schooling- you get more work done than you would in school, i know this because im homeshcooled and i finished an entire semester in a week

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lebasiara

This is very interesting...
for me the best is a public school because of what has been already said: The social interaction with people of the same age. Maybe a person can be really good academically talking but their social interaction can be on the floor because the social skills of the individual were never fully developed.
Take for instance a "bully" in the school, even though it is a bad thing to have a bully in your school who mistreats everyone, it gives everyone methods of defence agaisnt the "bully." I mean in a way or another the children in the school learn how to deal with him or her. An individual who has never been on the situation where s/he has to "survive" does not know how to comfront not only the bully but life situations as well.
Whenever a homeschooled goes to the university it becomes a big shock. I have homeschooled classmates in some of my classes; and even they are really good academically.... socially they don't handle it very well. Plus being away from home becomes harder.
In a public school one learns to handle stuff by oneself. One learns how to survive without having mom or dad beside. Even when handling different proffesors.
Public education is better... I think.

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Joe Mage

Speakin' from personal experience, for I was in public schools 'til high school; then I was home schooled, I'd haveta agree wit Tsurara on this one. If a child is ta b home schooled, though, it should b when that child is of advanced years in schoolin' (let's say around 9th or 10th grade). Then home schoolin' would b a viable option, but only; like Tsurara said; if the child is allowed ta participate in outside social activities. Otherwise the child could suffer socially and that could have ramifications not only in his or her social life, but also when tryin' ta get a job, a promotion, or other aspects related ta some form of interaction wit other ppl. It actually took my sister ta break me outta my shell when I was in collage and that's how I was able ta make so many friends and participate in many activities in collage. I not gonna say that home schoolin' caused my shyness, in truth it had existed prior ta that, but it probably contributed ta many of my problems. Home schoolin' should only b done wit conditions, so that children that r home schooled r less likely ta become socially inept.

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abby724

Why not a combination of the two? First half of one's education publicly schooled, for social development, and then perhaps the other half just home schooling, for more academic and comprehension development? That's what I went through.

To me, it depends on the family and the situation they're in. If their child is the kind of person who has mental disorders that make them over-competitive and suicidal when three people get a higher grade than they do on certain tests, then I say, go for homeschooling. But if a child evidently needs someone to relate to, a peer, fellow pal or buddy to annoy the heck out of, offer caramel-filled chocolate, and perhaps more people outside the immediate gene pool to invite for slumber parties, and substitutes such people with cardboard skeletons named Konrad that they cut out themselves, then go for public schooling. And vice versa...

With public schooling, one can still get one-one-one education. It's called tutoring. I'm not sure how many schools offer peer-to-peer tutoring, or counselor-to-pupil, etc. but it's still possible. And students who are homeschooled can have a social life. It's not like a homeschooled child is locked up in their home all day. Infact, I had more freetime when I was homeschooled. More freetime to go to parties, parks, play with my fellow neighbor kids, tutor my fellow neighbor kids, etc.

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tsurara

The problem is that one generally chooses ones friends. In reality, it's not always so easy to pick and choose the people you need to deal with in your life.

Home schooling allows for easy control of the influences, ideas and personalities in your childrens' lives... making it incredibly easy to intentionally or accidentally shelter them completely from the experience of personal conflict, ideological challenges, and social hardship.

Every bully you come across is a lesson in the nastier bits of human nature... every group you didn't really want: a lesson in conflict management. In a public school setting: kids can't always choose their peers and their influences. They need to deal with all kinds of people, ideas and problems.

And as unpleasant as kids might find the idea of those encounters now... they are all learning experiences.

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