A homeschooled graduate, now in college, talks about socialization.

I’m glad you asked. I worked in an urban church in a very large city for over 20 years. During that time I encouraged at least a dozen individuals to commit to teaching in some of our communities worst public schools. We also networked the hundreds of Christians who are part of the Public School systems (principals, teachers, counselors etc.) and trained them to use existing laws that allowed them to bring their faith into the public schools as well as the educational component of tutoring and mentoring that these children are lacking. When one lives in a neighborhood that has generational dysfunction you employ a multi-faceted approach to addressing the need.

In addition to starting a couple of charter schools, after-school programs, sports programs and parenting programs I’d say we tried to at least put a finger in the veritable dike that exists. If I list anything else, it would sound like bragging and that is not my intention.

As my previous post (61) makes clear, one size doesn’t fit all in my opinion.

At my local church we have literacy programs to teach people to read. There are plenty of ESL and adult literacy programs at the public library too, and they don’t cost anything. I’ve volunteered for a number of them.

Homeschooling is not dependent on the educational level of the parents. It’s not like parents are teaching higher math and physics experiments in the home. The field trips, online demos, neighborhood classes, and part time academy study, all supplement for that.

In California, where I live, one of our public high schools in the minority community, Crenshaw High, just lost accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). A diploma from Crenshaw High School isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

pjlr: You’d keep funneling minority children into worthless public schools like Crenshaw?, when there’s better, more individualized, and detailed instruction coming from neighborhood homeschools?

While hypothetically it can be done, practically it is a huge mountain to climb.

Now back to the grind.

Ciao

With regards to the “invaluable” social skills, I just read a months-old article in Newsweek:

“You have given us the minimum required attention and education that is needed to master any station at any McDonald’s anywhere.” Eagleville (Tenn.) High School Valedictorian Abraham Stoklasa, on his alma mater. After Stoklasa’s speech, school officials temproarily withheld his diploma.

D’ya reckon the admin demonstrated an object lesson in accepting criticism? Or was it to larn im a lesson about demeaning the self esteem of his peers?

I can’t wait to enroll my kids in that school. NOT!!

Ciao!

That may have been true 10 years ago, when you didn’t have some of the online tools that help parents. However, today, there is no excuse not to homeschool. Low income is no barrier at all. When we homeschool my niece, many times we’ve got two and three other classmates that join us for lessons.

There’s always room for one more.

Our homeschool field trips always include at least seven, or eight other children in the community. None of us are wealthy.

We are part of a community homeschooling network, with shared instruction, that takes into account working parents and busy schedules. The online resources are tremendous, and in many cases….free, and/or can be checked-out from the Library.

Many of the homeschool-compatible Christian Academies offer scholarships, and van pool transportation.

A first step for poor and minority parents who feel they have nowhere to turn—- is the local churches. Because the whole homeschooling movement started, pretty much, in the church……the local churches can connect minority parents with the appropriate resources, and community networks to support the children, and aid working parents.

I suggest all working and minority parents quickly get hooked up with a local church and inquire about shared classes, flexible group homeschooling, and part-time Christian Academy scholarships.

There’s no excuses for poor, working, or minority parents. It can be done.

Right on! As a second-generation homeschooler, I totally agree with you. I just wish more people understood that the federal government’s responsibility is not to educate children. The public education system is the biggest welfare system in the country.

Thanks for bringing this up (and how kind of you to link to me!). I just love your blog. We think a lot alike. You are such an inspiration.

1. Even if one did poorly in school, if one is of average intelligence it is still possible to homeschool. Right now, all of my resources are scripted. Anyone who can read could use them. It’s simply a matter of sitting down with the child and reading through the lesson. In the elementary years it takes 15-20 minutes to read through one lesson and do copywork. And this is a more rigorous “classical” resource. It really isn’t rocket science.

2. Which brings up the point once again that, no matter how old we are, learning never stops. It matters very little “how much you know” before you start homeschooling. “Content” is far less important than desire. Even if a person never got grammar down pat, reading through grammar lessons with the child will solidify it for him. I can reel off all the helping verbs now that I’ve taught them to my children. Could I do that as a grade-schooler? No way! But my kids can. I have an M.A., yet apparently had a lot of holes my knowledge of history. I have learned so incredibly much just reading history aloud to my children! Did they teach me this stuff in school? No. And many of my years were spent in private, Christian schools. Just today, I learned what the Augean stables were simply by reading The Corner and doing a Google search to satisfy my curiosity. (What an apt description of the U.N., by the way.) So, how much a person knows when they start out has little to do with it.

3. Ultimately, children belong to parents, not to the state. This is true no matter how parents choose to educate their children. And the outcome of a child’s education rests squarely on the parents’ shoulders. They cannot pass that buck to anyone else, not teachers or administrators or the government. The problem with placing contingencies on homeschooling is…who decides? Ultimately, it should be the parent who decides and, de facto, it really is. Look at Ben Carson, the pediatric neurosurgeon. His mother was an illiterate domestic worker, yet she managed to instill desire to succeed in her sons. They went to public schools, but she required more of them than the schools did and believed in them…believed they could do it. The bottom line is, it’s up to parents no matter what–home, state school, private school, whatever. We can’t pass that off to anyone else. I’m with the person who commented earlier that the “public” (that is, parents) need to take back their schools. For more information about intrusive government oversight over “special needs” kids, just visit HSLDA.org and read a few of their horror stories. Whose kids are these? The state’s?

That’s the entire point of a constitution. To protect the majority from coercing a minority.

La Shawn Barber’s Corner » If You Haven’t Gotten the Message Yet… homeschool rant from La Shawn Barber (tags:…

I’m a certified homeschool aid, and currently help my sister with my niece’s homeschooling. We also supplement that with a classical christian home school academy, which she attends twice a week.

For parents who are undecided and don’t want to go all the way….I would encourage investigation of the classical Christian Academies, which are in every Community and completely accredited. They have a very rigorous curriculum that includes fine arts, the humanities, and at least 3 years of classical Greek or Latin.

There is nothing like a classical Christian education, and these schools are very compatible with a modified homeschool schedule.

Today’s dose of NIF – News, Interesting & Funny … It’s Stop the ACLU Thursday