<story><title>Techies Who Are Homeschooling Their Kids</title><url>http://www.wired.com/2015/02/silicon-valley-home-schooling/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>delluminatus</author><text>Homeschooling is interesting, because it has the potential to be a lot better for children than public school, but it can also be a lot worse. It is a topic close to my heart because I was partly homeschooled, and I have seen firsthand some of the sad deficiencies that can dog homeschooled kids:&lt;p&gt;1. Lazy teaching – parents being unwilling to devote 4-6 hours each day to education. Homeschooling is a commitment that should be treated with the same gravitas as a full-time working position, but many parents have trouble maintaining this mentality over many years of education. This leads to kids that, although they might be bright, just haven&amp;#x27;t been taught much, which makes them seem dull.&lt;p&gt;2. Inherited ignorance – if the parents don’t know or care much about history, unbiased politics, mathematics, literature, etc. then the kids won’t either. Obviously, the parent can make a commitment to learn the field at least to a high school level so they can educate their kids, but often this commitment falls through. Because of that, homeschooled kids can lack a multidimensional perspective of the world.&lt;p&gt;3. Neuroticism – some parents have a tendency to like to make decisions for their children. This can be very dangerous for homeschooled kids, because they don’t learn how to think for themselves or make mistakes.&lt;p&gt;4. Social gracelessness – a lot of homeschooled kids have very little interaction with their peers. School can provide social acclimatization that parents often don’t know how to give their kids. Especially if the kid is naturally shy, since parents rarely want to put their kids in a social situation where they are uncomfortable. Unfortunately, this can just exacerbate the issue, to the extent that the kids have nervous breakdowns when they finally do have to engage their peers (yes, I&amp;#x27;ve seen this happen).&lt;p&gt;This is just the tip of the iceberg. I don&amp;#x27;t want to say that it&amp;#x27;s impossible for one person (usually, it&amp;#x27;s just one parent that is home during the day) to provide a well-rounded education to their kids, just that it&amp;#x27;s hard -- very, very hard. You need to help your kids make friends, and you need to let them be independent. You need to be a committed and capable educator, and you need to give them a dynamic education with diverse experience, not just doing workbooks in the house. Some people are good at this -- they are natural teachers. Other people find it much, much harder.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zaphar</author><text>I was homeschooled from 2nd grade up all the way through high school.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve seen kids destroyed by home schooling and I&amp;#x27;ve seen kids saved by home schooling. You are absolutely correct that the potential is there but not always realized.&lt;p&gt;Homeschooling shines when the parents play to it&amp;#x27;s strengths.&lt;p&gt;* Individually tailored education at the elementary level provides a &lt;i&gt;huge&lt;/i&gt; boost to many kids.&lt;p&gt;* An environment that stresses and promotes self directed learning at the high school level also does wonders for a teenagers future. Done right home schooling encourages, rather than discourages, thinking for themselves through debate and conversation with adults.&lt;p&gt;* Lack of social grace while it exists for some kids is far from the norm. So far from the norm that I consider it a myth. It gets trotted out in almost every discussion I encounter around home schooling. And yet for the overwhelming majority of Home Schooled kids it couldn&amp;#x27;t be farther from the truth. In fact I think that in many ways Social Skills can be one of the biggest advantages a Home Schooled child can have.&lt;p&gt;Most kids learn to socialize from their friends. Those friends have no more idea than they do though. When they get their first job and&amp;#x2F;or attend college they have to learn all over again how to interact with adults.&lt;p&gt;A home schooled child tends to learn to socialize from other adults. The number 1 thing most people noticed about me and other Home Schooled people I&amp;#x27;ve known was how well we could hold a conversation with an adult.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve seen kids end up far too sheltered and harmed as a result but this is much less of a danger than most people think in my experience.&lt;p&gt;The #1 thing to keep consider though if you are thinking about homeschooling is the time commitment. You &lt;i&gt;will&lt;/i&gt; probably need one parent to commit to it full time because it&amp;#x27;s a &lt;i&gt;lot&lt;/i&gt; of work.</text></comment>
<story><title>Techies Who Are Homeschooling Their Kids</title><url>http://www.wired.com/2015/02/silicon-valley-home-schooling/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>delluminatus</author><text>Homeschooling is interesting, because it has the potential to be a lot better for children than public school, but it can also be a lot worse. It is a topic close to my heart because I was partly homeschooled, and I have seen firsthand some of the sad deficiencies that can dog homeschooled kids:&lt;p&gt;1. Lazy teaching – parents being unwilling to devote 4-6 hours each day to education. Homeschooling is a commitment that should be treated with the same gravitas as a full-time working position, but many parents have trouble maintaining this mentality over many years of education. This leads to kids that, although they might be bright, just haven&amp;#x27;t been taught much, which makes them seem dull.&lt;p&gt;2. Inherited ignorance – if the parents don’t know or care much about history, unbiased politics, mathematics, literature, etc. then the kids won’t either. Obviously, the parent can make a commitment to learn the field at least to a high school level so they can educate their kids, but often this commitment falls through. Because of that, homeschooled kids can lack a multidimensional perspective of the world.&lt;p&gt;3. Neuroticism – some parents have a tendency to like to make decisions for their children. This can be very dangerous for homeschooled kids, because they don’t learn how to think for themselves or make mistakes.&lt;p&gt;4. Social gracelessness – a lot of homeschooled kids have very little interaction with their peers. School can provide social acclimatization that parents often don’t know how to give their kids. Especially if the kid is naturally shy, since parents rarely want to put their kids in a social situation where they are uncomfortable. Unfortunately, this can just exacerbate the issue, to the extent that the kids have nervous breakdowns when they finally do have to engage their peers (yes, I&amp;#x27;ve seen this happen).&lt;p&gt;This is just the tip of the iceberg. I don&amp;#x27;t want to say that it&amp;#x27;s impossible for one person (usually, it&amp;#x27;s just one parent that is home during the day) to provide a well-rounded education to their kids, just that it&amp;#x27;s hard -- very, very hard. You need to help your kids make friends, and you need to let them be independent. You need to be a committed and capable educator, and you need to give them a dynamic education with diverse experience, not just doing workbooks in the house. Some people are good at this -- they are natural teachers. Other people find it much, much harder.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>iak8god</author><text>&amp;gt; 2. Inherited ignorance – if the parents don’t know or care much about history, unbiased politics, mathematics, literature, etc. then the kids won’t either&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s even worse when parents care very much about giving their children wrong information about topics. Many people I know were homeschooled by conservative Christians who specifically wanted their children to believe things that are not actually true: that the Earth is 6,000 years old, that condoms are not effective at preventing pregnancy and tranmissions of STIs, that America&amp;#x27;s founding fathers intended the place to be a Christian theocracy, that the Bible gives a complete and accurate account of ancient history, and so on.</text></comment>