School's out for Summer!-AMA

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by tyecopeland

We will home school until probably high school level and then try to figure things out from there.

Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not criticizing or know-it-all-ing or anything. Just an opinion here. Each kid, school, parent, situation is different. But here’s what I see.

School is very much a social exercise as it is an academic one. There are some baseline skills that need to be picked up, as well as some capacity to learn. But just as much as the academic, kids need to learn how to deal with other kids and authority figures.

This was harder for me. I grew up on the farm so I didn’t have daycare or play dates or anything like that. So I got all my socializing from school. And I was behind other kids. It was also evident in a couple kids in my class that were home schooled. They came in late elementary school and knew way more than the rest of the class but they were weird as all get out. By the time high school came around they were average or behind academically and didn’t have much for friends.

The other thing I see is my kids getting a lot out of non-parent interaction. My daughter does far better at school than she does at home. Even with my wife being a teacher. There is something about the authority the teacher has that matters for her. Even before school, she got a long a lot better when she was with kids from her daycare than just at home. Same with my son who’s not in school yet. Non-family interaction matters for my kids anyway.

Not that it matters for me, being self employed there is no way to live without the insurance from the school (and to a lesser extent her cash wages) so my wife can’t stay at home with them. But even then I don’t think we would.

Just something to consider. Again, not criticizing, just an honest opinion of what I see.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

School is very much a social exercise as it is an academic one.

Ty is right. You're making an assumption that public school today is much like it was 30, 20, or even 10 years ago.

When I was in school, we got 50 minutes for lunch in elementary. My youngest daughter, as a 3rd grader, got TEN. They weren't allowed to talk. The entire lunch room was silent, you could hear a pin drop. If they got caught talking, they docked recess time.

And they went from 3 recesses, 15 minutes each, to two, each 7 minutes.

There's very little real social interaction going on in school anymore until the kids get much older, which is incidentally when things like study hall and open campus gets introduced and kids get to actually make decisions for themselves. Until that point, they're pretty much herded like lab rats.