Discovering Another Use for Homeschooling

[GenerationCedarchip]

Personally, I think homeschooling works very well for some families (I include both Christian and secular here because I've seen good experiences happen in both camps). However, I do think that there should be some oversight at least to make sure these children aren't 100% isolated and that they seek someone outside of home. That's been brought home to me lately because I've had occasion to see a few instances where relatives have taken children, moved across country and then started homeschooling said kids. Since the kids are effectively not in any system, the parents/legal guardians get cut off from the kids sometimes for very long periods of time. Thankfully, I haven't seen any kids being physically harmed but seeing this happen has really opened my eyes to the possibility of just how easy it is for someone to take a child off the grid. In one case, a mom left her husband and moved to my state and since there hadn't been a custody hearing before she left, the poor guy had no way to find his son for over a year. Since mom was homeschooling, there was no one looking into what was going on with son. Scary stuff.

I know we talk a lot about SOTDRT kids being isolated from peers or culture, but this is even scarier.

[teachergirl]

I agree and in some state, (maybe Georgia) now they don't even have to take attendance to verify they ARE homeschooling. These people scare me. Their paranoia and isolation make a bad combination.

[skrmom]

I think there needs to be some testing of home schooled children to assure they are progressing as well as public and privately schooled children. If a child who is 10 and in the 'fourth grade' should be reading at or close to that level. A public school student will be testing to prove this. However, a home schooled student may still be reading at first grade level.

[crazyforkate]

Well, according to Miss Raquel, that's the point...a fifteen-year-old and a five-year-old can totes be on the same level, guys! The stupid, it burns.

[Sydney Fox]

I think there needs to be some testing of home schooled children to assure they are progressing as well as public and privately schooled children. If a child who is 10 and in the 'fourth grade' should be reading at or close to that level. A public school student will be testing to prove this. However, a home schooled student may still be reading at first grade level.

What do you do if the children in school are not progressing and reading at grade level? I live in a town that has the worst performing public schools in the Province. Due to major social and economic issues, 71% of the children in the public schools enter kindergarten labelled "at risk". This means that many do not know their colours, the alphabet, or even the difference between an apple and a banana. Poverty,neglect and abuse are common factors in the lives of the students, and many are in foster care. Many of these students do not perform at a proper grade level throughout their schooling. What is the solution here - send them home to be homeschooled?

Sometimes there are other issues that cause children to underperform, and in many cases sending them to school will not help. My children excel at home with me, but they would not do well in a school setting. Since they are on the autism spectrum, they would just be an additional burden on a school system that is already overtaxed with special needs children.

I agree that there should be some assessment to make sure that children are indeed progressing from year to year, but to insist that homeschooled children be learning at grade level, when the public schooled children clearly aren't, seems unfair to me.