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by gnicholas 1381 days ago
> tl;dr: don't homeschool. take it from a former homeschooled kid. send the kid to a good public school, please.

This is a bit of a false dichotomy. Wealthy people can send their kids to good public/private schools because they can afford to live places with access. But less-wealthy people may not have the option.

The social interaction piece is interesting, and may be addressed by the fact that there is massive growth in homeschooling right now. It's also easier to connect/coordinate with other families (remote or local, based on interests/age). Not a bad idea for a startup, actually!
2 comments
pnathan 1379 days ago
I'm keenly aware that some public school districts do really badly. E.g., Albequerque PS has 75% of kids under grade level in math - one reason why we didn't move there!

On the policy level, removing the option to legally homeschool without some sort of court order would be my choice to start improving that; to force alignment between wealthy and poor (the wealthy don't get the option to shrug and send their kid to a good charter/private school - they have to work to improve the district). There are other angles around funding that are well known to be problematic.

I don't believe that a million homeschoolers all doing things differently is the right thing for society or for learning interaction. The point I am trying to make is that "dealing with the Public is an important skill that you don't get when its just your little clan"

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sfink 1380 days ago
Yeah, but it also requires some degree of wealth to homeschool. Two parents working full time, or a single parent working full time, are going to be hard-pressed to set up a decent homeschooling environment. You can rely on the "non-location based charter school"'s curriculum and staff quite a bit, but then (1) you won't be that different from traditional schooling, and (2) they can't provide all-day supervision or anything close (for younger ages when it's necessary).
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gnicholas 1380 days ago
Parents of rambunctious kids definitely have additional challenges. But I’d point out that even if the curriculum from a non-location based charter is the same, you can move your kid ahead (or behind) in whatever subjects. We’ve tried getting that flexibility in our public school (which is supposedly very good and in the heart of SV) and it has been incredibly challenging.

It made me wonder: how much more would my kid know if I’d spent all this time (that I spent talking to the school) just teaching her directly?

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