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Taking High School Classes, Online?

Posted by Cliff on from the taking-the-non-traditional-education-route dept.

AtariDatacenter asks: "I have a teenage family member who has left the formal education system and we're wanting to enroll him into an accredited online high school curriculum. Happily, this is his wish as well. There seems to be a few services available online, but it is hard to tell very much about them from the outside. What should we be looking for? Are there any good deals (as far as quality or cost) out there?"

1 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Re:home schooling by schon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    5 years down the road they still haven't learned to fit in. They have serious social problems, which all to often lead to other problems with drugs and alcohol (and sex, well, the girls anyway) which only exacerbate the social problems making it even more difficult for them to find/make friends.

    Hello,

    I was home schooled.

    I am 30 years old, have been happily married for 4 years, have a good job, and am well-adjusted. I have a lot of friends, who generally say that I'm an OK guy.

    I have never used drugs (I saw what it did to my friends, and decided it wasn't for me), and although I used to be a social drinker (typically wine at parties), I haven't had any since I got engaged (my wife's family has a history of alcoholism, and she asked me to say away from it.)

    Yes, these are generalizations, and yet they hold true for every single person I've met who was home schooled.

    Maybe you need to reassess your generalisms.. how do you know that all the other people you know who are well-adjusted aren't home schooled? Did you ask everyone, or do you just assume it because they don't fit your prejudiced view?

    And what about all the drunkards and drug addicts I know that weren't home schooled? I could argue that it's the school system that caused their problems too!

    About the only thing that home schooling lacks is physical education and sports - both of which are tough to do in a home environment, but neither of which cause "damage" if withheld.

    The issue is one of social education, which is very hard to get without putting the kid in a school situation.

    Bullshit. In case you hadn't noticed, kids are supposed to go to school to learn to read and write, not to socialize.

    Social education is a matter of parenting - if your parents are lousy communicators, then you'll get a lousy social education - simply putting someone in a school won't fix that. After school hours and vacation gives kids lots of time to socialize.