I will start this out by saying that I have been homeschooled since I was in fourth grade. I will turn 17 in less than a month and graduate as a senior after this year. For the last three years I have been pursuing a associates degree in engineering. I have responded to what I think are some of the more important points.
Believe it or not, there are a few other smart kids in school. And it'd really help if she met them. (Hint: you won't find them all on your own)
Smart kids can be very obnoxious (I know because I am one). A few can help but I and other smart ones don't need the grief. There are lots of avenues to meet people. For example, after school work and just wandering for certain amounts of time in a major metropolitan are.
How's she going to join a debate team, astronomy club, or mathletes group?
In Oregon City there is a program called Linkup to bring together homeschool students. It is funded by the local school district and it offers various classes for all home school ages. The local community college offers that stuff to.
Do you have a full-scale chemistry lab in your basement? Hitting the books for high school level chemistry is certainly essential, but a well-run lab experiment can prove a point far more effectively sometimes. A picture's worth a thousand words. A lab can be worth ten thousand.
I have just finished a college level chemistry sequence for engineers. It was equipped with a full scale lab. There are also many books that show you how to make a home lab.
Snip.
While the classroom doesn't do that much for social development, the auxillary functions of a school do a fantastic job. Thanks to debate team, for instance, I've had a lot of travel experience, learning to handle myself in a city away from my folks, etc, not to mention what I learned from my coaches. And some of the most dedicated coaches in the league were from public schools.
With my community college experience I have been able, like some of the others have suggested, to interact with adults on an adult level. I have also been able to interact with all my friends who have are my age and going to the community college. As far as traveling I am going to Chile next summer. I think I will be able to handle learning conversational Spanish ( I am starting to learn it now) and be prepared emotionally for that trip. I have already drove across the country with my 17 year old brother.
Believe it or not, there are some teachers out there who do give a crap, and put in the overtime even in a thankless school.
My parents have put up with a lot of crap. How much do money do they get for that? Also the community college has both good and bad instructors.
If you're still not convinced, you could always send her to private school. Private catholic schools for instance (caveat: I'm biased because I went to one) -- not archdiocesean, but actually private -- certainly contain teachers who care. They're not there for the money, they could make 3x more in public school, but they like the atmosphere. It's far cheaper than a secular private school (Think Chote, Phillips Andover, etc.), but still a high quality education. (And you don't have to be Catholic. Hell, I'm a Jew.)
My sister goes to a private high school. The community college is not for everyone, but it does offer a opportunity.
If your wife is bright enough to educate your daughter for the next twelve years, then she's certainly bright enough to get a job to pay for the cost of private schooling.
Both my parents have master's degrees in business. But they don't know everything. So they use the resources around them.
Just consider the above. I'm not saying home schooling is impossible. *But*, there are significant parts of the total package that you might shortchanging your child of.
The big thing with home school is self-motivation. You really need to be able to think for yourself. I have met allot of nutty parent who have warped there kids with homeschool, but on the other hand I have seen some real drugged out losers from the local high school. Most of my home school has not been at home. Instead I have been out interacting with the world.
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I will start this out by saying that I have been homeschooled since I was in fourth grade. I will turn 17 in less than a month and graduate as a senior after this year. For the last three years I have been pursuing a associates degree in engineering. I have responded to what I think are some of the more important points.
Believe it or not, there are a few other smart kids in school. And it'd really help if she met them. (Hint: you won't find them all on your own)
Smart kids can be very obnoxious (I know because I am one). A few can help but I and other smart ones don't need the grief. There are lots of avenues to meet people. For example, after school work and just wandering for certain amounts of time in a major metropolitan are.
How's she going to join a debate team, astronomy club, or mathletes group?
In Oregon City there is a program called Linkup to bring together homeschool students. It is funded by the local school district and it offers various classes for all home school ages. The local community college offers that stuff to.
Do you have a full-scale chemistry lab in your basement? Hitting the books for high school level chemistry is certainly essential, but a well-run lab experiment can prove a point far more effectively sometimes. A picture's worth a thousand words. A lab can be worth ten thousand.
I have just finished a college level chemistry sequence for engineers. It was equipped with a full scale lab. There are also many books that show you how to make a home lab.
Snip.
While the classroom doesn't do that much for social development, the auxillary functions of a school do a fantastic job. Thanks to debate team, for instance, I've had a lot of travel experience, learning to handle myself in a city away from my folks, etc, not to mention what I learned from my coaches. And some of the most dedicated coaches in the league were from public schools.
With my community college experience I have been able, like some of the others have suggested, to interact with adults on an adult level. I have also been able to interact with all my friends who have are my age and going to the community college. As far as traveling I am going to Chile next summer. I think I will be able to handle learning conversational Spanish ( I am starting to learn it now) and be prepared emotionally for that trip. I have already drove across the country with my 17 year old brother.
Believe it or not, there are some teachers out there who do give a crap, and put in the overtime even in a thankless school.
My parents have put up with a lot of crap. How much do money do they get for that? Also the community college has both good and bad instructors.
If you're still not convinced, you could always send her to private school. Private catholic schools for instance (caveat: I'm biased because I went to one) -- not archdiocesean, but actually private -- certainly contain teachers who care. They're not there for the money, they could make 3x more in public school, but they like the atmosphere. It's far cheaper than a secular private school (Think Chote, Phillips Andover, etc.), but still a high quality education. (And you don't have to be Catholic. Hell, I'm a Jew.)
My sister goes to a private high school. The community college is not for everyone, but it does offer a opportunity.
If your wife is bright enough to educate your daughter for the next twelve years, then she's certainly bright enough to get a job to pay for the cost of private schooling.
Both my parents have master's degrees in business. But they don't know everything. So they use the resources around them.
Just consider the above. I'm not saying home schooling is impossible. *But*, there are significant parts of the total package that you might shortchanging your child of.
The big thing with home school is self-motivation. You really need to be able to think for yourself. I have met allot of nutty parent who have warped there kids with homeschool, but on the other hand I have seen some real drugged out losers from the local high school. Most of my home school has not been at home. Instead I have been out interacting with the world.
Isaac Sunderland
Isaacsund@yahoo.com
Please feel free to email me with comments