Home-Schooling and "Open Source" Materials?

Deagol asks: "After we registered our daughter for second grade yesterday at public school, I began to ponder (yet again) the question of homeschooling. There's certainly not a lack of sites out there about the topic, but I was surprised at the lack of public domain materials out there. I would think there'd more collections of public domain 'courses' since the K-12 core knowledge base is so stable and well understood. Sure, there are tons of places that will sell you kits of course materials, and quite a few home-schoolers who made their own courses (but only offer them for a fee). I assume there's more than a few homeschoolers out there on Slashdot. Are there any good sources of free home-schooling materials (including software) out there?"

Comments

We homeschool our 5 year old....

[BFedRec]

My wife has her degree in early childhood education and is a state certified teacher, but she stays at home with my son and homeschools him. I hadn't really thought about the fact that we are really laying out a fair amount of money for the materials. The state regulations in GA as I understand it are that you don't have to use a certain accredited course.. you have do certain placement testing after every 3rd grade or so (my boy is only 5 and doing 2nd grade work right now so it hasn't come up yet)... not sure on the final diploma requirements though... I'll ask the Mrs and post again....

Think hard about it...

[Anonymous Coward]

This coming from an individual who was formerly home schooled, I strongly recommend you think, seriously, about going that route with your children.

The education *can* be better, depending on how motivated the parent(s) doing the educating are. And there are experiences a homeschooled child can have that are different/better than one in the public education system, simply because of the "flexible scheduling" possible. You can *go* places that relate to what you're learning, any time.

However, don't forget the social aspect of homeschooling. Homeschooling is, primarely, a religiously-based organization. In some states, they even have that chartered into the organization. Florida's primary homeschooling organization *requires* you to be a Christian to be a member. (I'm not sure of the legality of that, but that's how it is.) So, most homeschooling is done for religious reasons. And, while this has some merrit, for the most part, it defeats the whole purpose.

I was homeschooled, for said religious reasons (but no longer follow christianity, because it didn't and doesn't make any sense to me -- but that's OT.) and I was 100% unprepared when I went back to public school, for high school, after having been homeschooled grades 2-8. The point of Christianity is to exist as a "becon of light" or something of that nature, in a "world of darkness" However, when you remove the world, what's the point? You're learning only one side of the issue, and aren't prepared to defend it from attacks, if you really do believe it.

In addition, even though there exist *many* socialization groups and group classes that homeschoolers may take, 2-3 hours a day, 1-2 days a week of social contact simply cannot replace the 8 hours a day, 7 days a week contact that children in standard schooling arrangements experience. Homeschoolers, as a result (unless they have family who are not homeschooled, i.e. older siblings) lag behind in terms of social skills...Interacting with other *children* in addition to the styles of dressing and such. And by "styles" I don't mean wearing the right brands, I mean wearing clothes of the proper length and cut.

Finally, there is the social aspect. Because of the lack of social contact, over 3/4 of the homeschoolers I've met have a chronic problem with the ability to be around children their own age. Partially because of a "superiority complex" bred by their parents (You're too smart for public school...) and an inability to speak the language (slang, etc.) homeschoolers are ostracized in mixed groups.

I went through this. Everything I talked about. Now, obviously, I'm over that (and have my best friend to thank for that, for seeing through to my potential 'coolness') but unfortunately, too many parents still subject their children to it.

Another IMPORTANT issue to bring up is -- while I'm sure you, the submitter of the article, are qualified to teach your children, there are too many parents who aren't. Being knowledgable in your religion does not equate to knowledge of any other subjects -- and the best "bible teacher" of the world won't help you pass your SATs.

Re:The curriculum is NOT that set...

[joshki]

Sorry -- the whole socialization issue is really just a smoke-screen that people like to throw up when they can't come up with a better reason to keep kids away from all the bad influences in public schools. I don't want my children socialized in a state-run breeding ground for liberalism, and I don't think I'm the only one. That doesn't mean that my kids (when I have them) will ever be "locked in a closet," or kept from having friends, participating in activities outside the home, etc. There are many activities availble to a parent who home schools -- in fact, most areas now have groups where people organize soccer teams, track teams, chess clubs, etc, of home schooled children.

There may be people who isolate their children, but that's the exception, not the norm. I was home-schooled, and I learned to interact with people just fine. I started college when I was 13, and I fit in with the freshman without any problems. In fact, they would frequently come to me for help with the math and computer programming stuff that they couldn't do. They didn't have the critical thinking skills to handle complicated problems, I did. As a result, I got along with just about everyone. Had I gone to a public school, or to a high-school, I would have probably been ostracized for being a geek, but I managed to completely avoid having to deal with it by bypassing the immature high-school crowd. And if you want proof that I can "socialize" and deal with people, I've been a supervisor in the Navy for the last 5 years, and I've always received outstanding marks for leadership and teamwork -- even from some of the most difficult people I've ever had to work for.

On the minus side, home-schooling isn't perfect. I am currently trying to get admitted to a College in the Hampton Roads area, and found out that they will not accept me. Even though I have 117 credit hours (transferable -- I've got more than that), most of it on the dean's list -- they will not accept me into their undergraduate program because I do not have a high-school diploma from a "state accredited" school. It's a slap in the face to the whole home-school movement, and an insult to me and my education, but I have no choice but to go out and take the GED so I can get my Bachelor's degree.

Education Libre

[dheltzel]

Most Home Schoolers are not really tech savvy, but a few of us are (the demographics of home schoolers track pretty closely to the general population). The thing to remember is that homeschooling offers a great deal of freedom for parents to customize their child's education. There is not even a dominant vendor of materials, mostly because the parents really value their freedom to choose. We have never used an entire curriculum from a single vendor, we might get math from one place and English from another and decide to "roll our own" on sign language. The real point is that the curriculum is "free as in speech, not free as in beer".

Homeschooling should not be considered a low-cost education (that would be public school), but rather a high-quality education. We would certainly be a lot of $$ ahead if my wife worked full time and we sent our kids to a private school. We make the choice to home school because we feel it is best for our kids. I don't believe it is the best choice universally, but it clearly is the best for some, it's largely a personality and value issue. I can tell you that when done well, the kids really shine. I am always amazed by the people who say there is no way the kids can be socialized properly. The people making those claims most vociferously are generally trying to assuage their own guilt for not home schooling (or even better to justify their membership in the NEA, a labor union, not a child advocacy group!). These people would not want to meet my kids, they are data points they'd rather ignore (pardon the obvious parental pride and chest beating - homeschool dad's are prone to that).

So, in conclusion, OSS fits perfectly with home schooling. They are, at a philosophical level, cut from the same mold. I'm proud to be a staunch advocate of both!

Homeschooling (with a QX3+ USB microscope)

[kenneth_j_gartner]

Homeschooling has lots of advantages, especially
if the children can be networked with others
who are pursuing the same path. Take, with a
grain of salt, the comments which lump all
homeschoolers together. As mentioned elsewhere,
there are many reasons to homeschool, but expect
to pay much more than you would for a "public"
education ... this is an investment in the
children. I have three children who have never
attended "real" school (eldest is 14).

One of the neat things about homeschooling, if
you have a technical bent, is that you can
really work together *with* your child to solve
a tricky problem. You are much more engaged in
the whole process. And they get to share a
dynamic and passionate side of your personality.
There are plenty of engineering, space, biology,
programming, and math puzzles/contest/investigations available
for free.

My only meaningful contribution to this thread
is the following: the "good stuff" is more
plentiful as your children become more advanced.

o Online biology text book. Neat. http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/ BioBookTOC.html

o Look at the recently discontinued QX3+ USB
microscope on EBay. This is billed as a toy,
but actually is a really sophisticated
microscope camera that directly attaches
to your computer. Lots of neat material
about it are to be found at http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/intelplay/livev iew/index.html

Good luck with things.

Ken