Teh Suckz Thread

[DollyKim]

I home schooled at the end and to take my Repressitall I might have become a statistic instead of being here. Sports and clubs you can do away from school. Not having to worry about being bullied I was able to graduate early and start and finish college early.

Having never been to anything like a prom or other event that would have required fancy clothes I couldn't afford what is the thing about it?

[Kirahfaye]

We had to unexpectedly pull my daughter out of school after the first 2 weeks of 8th grade and she hasn't missed it. The stress she was under (both internal and external) in just those 2 weeks had her on the point of a nervous break down. She was diagnosed with depression when she was 12 and also suffers from anxiety. I ask her before the start of every school year if she wants to go back to public school, but she's not interested. This year we are going to add some outside courses at a co-op or try an online school. One good thing about homeschooling is we decide when she schools.

[Evelien]

Wow. Is home schooling that common in the US?

I can't figure out if I would have been pro or against it for myself. Primary school and high school were hell for me too, but if my parents had home schooled me to protect me, I wouldn't have learned anything about society and I wouldn't have toughened up at all. School sucks but it's meant to teach us how life works, adult life isn't much different from high school life, you can't be protected from life forever.

[Yanagi-sen]

Someone has to speak up in defense of schools. As a teacher who was happily employed by a public district (granted fairly rural) and is now less happily employed by a private school... there are schools and teachers out there that are great! I do not put up with bullying and I do not allow disrespect to any race, culture, religion, or affectional orientation. My art room is a safe place, and they know it. I can't tell you how many times I just picked up the box of tissues and held it out to someone at lunch time and asked 'what's wrong'?

There are are horrible schools and teachers that are a disgrace to the profession... but there are good ones too! ^____^

[Evelien]

Seconded. I teach 4-5 year olds at the moment but it's not much different, lots of the kids at our school are war victims or traumatized otherwise, so they need a safe place and a good teacher to gain confidence in the world like no other.

[famedglory]

My sister is a teacher at an inner city school in DC and she loves it. She's able to do a lot with the kids and really help out some of the ones who need it most, but she has friends in other schools there who have been less fortunate. I went through public schools my whole life and while there were points where it sucked, overall it was the best option for me.

And in answer to Evelien, homeschooling kind of falls into last place with popularity here. Public schools has the most, then private schools, then homeschool, although in several states there's been a recent push for it. If the parents do it right, there are plenty of ways for homeschool kids to get quality socialization through other organizations and other means. But then you have some families who don't socialize their kids and those are the ones people point to and the whole homeschool thing ends up with a kind of weird(not really justified) reputation. While the quality of public schools vary greatly from district to district, if we stay in the area we're in now, when we have kids they'll go the public route, but there are areas that we wouldn't move to because we wouldn't be comfortable with the public education there and I don't think we'd be able to afford to homeschool and frankly I don't think I'd be good at it.

[Kirahfaye]

I am in no way dissing teachers - you are a special breed who have a heart both for children and learning. It's something I couldn't do as a career! It was my 8th grade teacher who determined I was dyslexic when dyslexia was still considered a nice way of calling a kid dumb. She completely turned my life around.

However, Evelien, please don't fall into the common trap of believing that non-public schooling means non-socialization. There are tons of opportunities out there for homeschoolers to socialize, from co-ops to clubs to made-for-homeschoolers events (like field trips, graduations and proms). My daughter is not lacking for socialization. Heck, half the time I have to push her out there (she's an only child and introverted, to boot).

Anyway, I really didn't mean for this to become a discussion about schooling, but rather to show our teachers here that there are other options besides public school.

[DollyKim]

Home school is growing because of many secular reasons. I had a great elementary school and wonderful teachers, the first junior high was good too if it wasn't for the a$$ kids and if my smother had socialized me right (has nothing to do with school). It was the overcrowded more time spent telling the trouble makers to sit down instead of learning anything second junior high and worse high school where my learning challenges had me in with the not giving a f**k kids that set me back.

I was such a nervous wreck I was sent to see a councilor at school because they thought I was an alcoholic or on drugs. Seriously.

[Evelien]

Okay, sorry for overreacting, I guess I am a bit prejudiced against home schooling because I have no experience at all with it.

[DollyKim]

No problem. It allows kids to learn at their own pace, if they're in the middle of a good book you can let them finish before switching subjects, if they want to go ahead or need to do something again then they can do that. I needed faster reading, slower math, and hands on one on one science to get it. Its not for all kids and it's not an excuse to not do any work.