>

There is so much opportunity for public education to be exceptional in this country. God I wish capitalism didn’t touch education and we could all be smart together.
So I have to say there are a LOT of parents who SHOULD NOT homeschool their children…
Let’s not forget there are college and highschool dropouts, and people who barely passed.
I say this without judgment and not to diss those who aren’t as educated. That’s not what a person’s worth should be in. It’s just not a good idea in many cases in the sense that having me play in the NBA would be total disaster. It’s nowhere near my skill set and I have no talent for it.
I do however, having been homeschooled myself, think that it can be done correctly. There are good and bad public, private, and home schools.
Edit:fixed typo >

To be fair, though, OP did mention hiring a private homeschool teacher….although I’m sure that would carry its own expenses depending on what job the parents have. Will say though, a lot of finances has to do with budgeting rather than college degrees. And a lot of trade jobs considered to be blue collar can actually cover quite a lot if managed correctly. Hiring a private teacher wouldn’t be out of the question >

A private teacher would probably be prohibitively expensive unless you're in a rural area where the teacher is desperate.  It costs me $900 per week just for two toddlers in daycare, with 5 kids per non-teacher.  I can't imagine what an actual private teacher would be. >

All you need to do is get a bunch of children together so one person can teach them. >

And then, if you're able to rent out a couple rooms, have a couple teachers there and separate the students by age group. >

Hell, maybe if you save up enough money you can buy an entire building that could hold multiple age groups and teach different subjects with varying difficulty with plenty of different teachers teaching big groups of them.. and at some point the community may decide it's of great public benefit and they would start advocating for us to use our taxes to pay for all of it so every kid could go and we would have an at least somewhat educated public... I should get a patent for this.. forget I said anything! >

This guy gets it! >

We come to this topic based on our experiences. We were in an excellent school district with great teachers. Our high school was one of the best in the nation. My children took courses in auto cad, and entrepreneurship. One had so many AP credits, she started college as a second semester sophomore. 
So the schools taught them better than I could have. But we were a two-career family, so home schooling was never an option. Plus, the thought of me teaching calculus…
I don’t know if OP is a teenager, but wages have stayed relatively flat for decades. Most families need two incomes these days. We searched carefully for a good school district, so that’s a better option for most families than home schooling. >

I'm also from Chicago. I was a member of Chicago Public Schools. They were hot garbage. I'd rather homeschool my kids than have them experience the BS I went through. >

Yeah I don’t live in Chicago anymore. We moved to the burbs for better schools. >

What suburb did your children go to school in, if you don’t mind my asking? >

Not my kids but cousins that lived in Buffalo Grove. My cousins were always telling me how well funded the schools were. >


Not everyone has the money for a few private tutor. 2. Parents can’t just stay home to teach their kids. 3. Even if they could, there would still be huge barriers to them being able to teach their kid in a way that actually helps the kid learn. >

Shouldn’t have had kids in the first place >

Um, no. You really think a middle-class family can afford a few private tutors? >

Just be rich! What's the problem? Ask your mommy and daddy got money its what I do! /s >

As someone who's been a mandated reporter on behalf of children who show signs of abuse, homeschooling would be a far worse hell for some kids.
Public schools offer resources (food, basic health maintenance, school materials like books) that some parents either won't or can't provide. If anything, mandating public education can help bring kids out of abusive households that they would otherwise be unable to escape from.
While no institution is perfect, I think that public schools get a bad rep because they are just that, public. We'd be singing a different tune if we got phone recordings of the abuse that takes place in some homes. >

I'm from a homeschooling background and I can confirm stuff about abuse. I know several kids who committed suicide in the homeschooling community because of it >

Were you able to socialize much? If not, did it have any affects on you? >

My problem being homeschooled wasn’t the lack of socialization but the lack of variety I was forced to have either one terrible friend or none. That one terrible friend ended up turning literally everyone in my life against me and making every social event I went to a living hell. I’d walk up to my group of used-to-be friends and she would look at me and ask “Why are you here? They’re not even friends with you” (actual interaction) and I had to either stay in a group where I wasn’t wanted or do the walk of shame. 
So naturally, I became a loner with severe anxiety and depression. About a year after I did make one good friend that I’m still friends with, but when I look back at my life… I realize how truly sad it was. I don’t know if I regret being homeschooled, but I do regret staying friends with toxic people out of necessity. >

It’s sad that society is pushing more towards finding a bubble and staying it in. Can’t trust strangers or teachers or police or anyone anymore. >

The post reads like someone from a small town being scared to go into cities because some news source told them that they would be raped, murdered, etc.
I'm just adding to the above comment about people sticking to bubbles and not leaving. >

I mean, cities are significantly more dangerous than small towns. I’m not afraid of cities but I don’t go unless I absolutely have too. >

Significantly more dangerous is a bit misleading. When real chance of injury is very small in city or small towns. Also, I am not sure the risk per capita is that different, specially if you account for gang related injury (meaning things that only happen to people in a gang). >

I’m not talking about injury, that can happen anywhere. I’m taking about crime. And you can’t just write of gang violence, I grew up in San Diego and there are absolutely innocent bystanders in gang violence. Bottom line is people are dangerous and more people equals more danger. >

Yeah, but per capita? Also, my issue is with the word "significant" it is ultimately misleading,  I have a "significant" higher chance of being attacked an eaten by a bear if I move out of the city.... it is not a lie, but it is misleading.... >

It’s not misleading at all. I would be surprised if someone got killed by a Buffalo in Hawaii. I would not be surprised if it happened in Yellowstone. You are significantly more likely to get killed by Buffalo in Yellowstone. I’d be just as surprised if there’s was any kind of gang violence here or even a murder. We haven’t had a murder in 20 years. >

How many people in the town? >

I don’t know man I’m not a census taker. I know where your going with this though. I don’t know when the last murder was but there hasn’t been one since I’ve been here (20 years) like I said above, bottom line, when it comes to violent crime people are your concern. If you are where there are more people your odds go up. I don’t care about “statistically” statistically my odds of getting shot in a random act of violence is little to none here, in Detroit that goes up, significantly. >

How hard is it to look up the population of the imaginary town you've lived in for 20 fucking years. And obviously you have little to no idea about how statistics work, because that significant increase in chance of being a victim of a random act of violence is a rounding error at best >

As a child, homeschooling was used to hide neglect and abuse in our “co-op”. They got to restrict what subjects we learned about, teach their version of history, and make sure we learned home making skills, all while keeping pesky government employees from finding out about the marriages of minors, avoiding questions about “punishments”, and the lack of a legitimate diploma made leaving very difficult. >

1) You’d have to be smarter than your kids
2) you’d have to be able to stand being around kids 24/7
3) I’ve got neither of those >

It's not even about smarts. It's about having the ability to teach children and teach them well. >

Homeschooling can be good but also used for pure evil. 
How many times have abusers yanked kids out of public school and claim “homeschooling” 
More over site and requirements for parents. >

better off hiring a home school teacher ok - and we’ll just eat air? Who’s got that $$$? 
Maybe we should use our taxes for schools instead of war or tax cuts for rich people but idk, I was publicly educated…. :/ >

What if we all pool our money together and hire some teachers to teach a bunch of kids. We can even get s building for them to go to >

OMG!!!! THIS IS SUCH AN AWESOME IDEA!!!  WE NEED TO IMPLEMENT THIS NOW!!!! >


Yeah, your child might develop some socialization issues if you don't take them out to interact, but that's better than bullying, getting assulted, and/or being shot.

It just delays all that until adulthood. Time and time again here on Reddit, we've all seen videos of grown-up toddlers. >

Heres the problem with home schooling generally the parents have to take some level in teaching and let me be honest. The average American myself included is to stupid to teach their child a good enough education. I for example could give them a great chance in science, history, or creative writing but outside of that id be no help at all. Also most people don’t take their kids out of school in the USA for good reasons more often than not its for control reasons. I cant tell you how many homeschool horror stories I’ve heard from people i met in college. >


You're better off hiring a private homeschool teacher, imo. 

Are you rich?  That is insane.  Who can afford that?

Yeah, your child might develop some socialization 

Might?

but that's better than bullying, getting assulted, and/or being shot.

Getting shot is still pretty rare compared to other causes of death. >

Seems dishonest to include suicide deaths in that number though. Suicides are not gun violence. >

And car accidents aren’t car violence, but they’re still caused by cars. >

what? no one said anything about car violence. it was just a comparison between car accidents and gun violence and the person above you said that most are caused by suicide, which is a pretty fair reasoning. if you want to do it that way then subtract the number of suicides from the total amount of gun deaths and also subtract the number of car violence from the car deaths. much different. >

Just go to r/HomeschoolRecovery >

Fr, it's so sad. So many people who have had their futures ruined and are unable to find jobs with the lack of credentials, are isolated with no friends, possibly abused or trafficked, and are adults who have the knowledge and experience of a kid in primary school. >

The problem is a lot of parents aren't fit to teach their children. >

I find homeschooled children to be socially awkward and the levels of education vary wildly. My niece was homeschooled and I feel incredibly sorry for her. >

It’s a trope. You can just buy the curriculum. I homeschooled myself for middle school (including math) and graduated top 5% of my high school and was accepted to an Ivy League college. Teachers are often not very good at their jobs and waste a lot of time. >

Ok dude you are not average or normal. Mr. Ivy League. If you went to an Ivy you would know that. >

I didn’t end up attending there, it was too far and too expensive. But I went to one of the top 3 public universities in the country. Also I am a woman just for context. >

Just saying you obviously smarter than the average bear. Just because you did it does not mean others can. You were better than 95% of the students in your high school. >

Huge market out there for affordable private schools with transparent staff that proudly display their curriculum and are not afraid to intervene in interpersonal issues between students. >

I'm not American, but I studied at home for 2 years. They were the most boring, uninteresting, horrible years of my life. I was talking very little to other people . When I returned to school, it was very difficult for me to integrate into the collective . I wouldn't say the learning was better, nothing significant
Personally, I was never bullied (nothing serious) in school 
If I had a child, I would send 100% to school >

It's funny how people who never homeschooled or researched it deeply, have such a negative attitude toward the idea! >

It's funny how people who never public schooled or researched it deeply, have such a negative attitude toward the idea!
Just a quick google search makes every homeschooling site feel culty, pseudoscientific, and a scam. >

I couldn’t have said it better myself. These are the exact reasons I give people as to why I intent on homeschooling my kids. >

As a homeschooled kid, I'm not that unsocialized though I'm not great with guys my age since I get nervous, but I think that's a me thing and not a homeschooled thing. >

I’m 40. I remember thinking my friends and family that were going to home school their kids decade and a half ago were out of their minds…they now have teenagers taking mostly college courses and are leagues ahead of my friends and family in public schools. >

There's a right way to homeschool and a wrong way to homeschool.

You can order homeschool curriculums that contain all the materials kids need to be up to national education standards. You can put them through the standard testing normal kids take and try to coach them for kid scores. And you can purchase them higher level books about particular subjects they're interested in.

Or you can do the "I'll teach them myself" quack style learning. The kind you see in Facebook mom groups where the 9 year old doesn't know how to read yet. 

There's not much wrong with the first if you can find ways to supplement their social life. But the latter is child abuse. >

Speaking as a fellow homeschooler who absolutely loved being homeschooled - There is major privilege that comes with being able to do this. 
Most homes are dual income, the world doesn't enable people to stay home very easily. Even hiring a private teacher could be expensive! If you are capable though, then I think it's a cool idea :) 
The social issue can be resolved if the parents care about it. This means driving your kids to their friends' homes, not being a helicopter, meeting people of all religions (or lack of), teaching them to meet people on their own and is an opportunity to even go beyond what school offers. Take them to the food bank, the homeless shelter, they should see reality and learn from it. >

This this this this this and this >

My third cousin, who I am very good friends with was homeschooled his entire life, and I’m honestly jealous. Public K through 12 sucked. >

Considering that 54% of American adults read at a 6th grade reading level, l don't think most people are qualified to homeschool their children even if they wanted to.
Also, homeschooling lacks a lot of oversight. There are no mandated reporters, so in the event of abuse in the home, what resources would children have access to to get help? How could we ensure that everyone is following the same curriculum and ensure the curriculum is being taught to a specific standard? >


How could we ensure that everyone is following the same curriculum and ensure the curriculum is being taught to a specific standard?

That is the worst possible approach to homeschooling. Public school curricula are garbage. Public school graduates are incompetent, ignorant, and 17% are functionally illiterate. That is what homeschoolers are getting away from and why they have massively superior results. >

You're assuming that I believe that there are no improvements to be made in public school curriculums or education infrastructure overall.
Just because there are problems with public schooling does not mean that homeschooling is a defacto better option. >

My kid is homeschooled and I’m a public school teacher. >

These are the only people I trust to actually educate their children at home >

The American school system has been slowly decaying for decades now and the negative stigma of questioning them  is so stupid.
Schools will let the children be harmed or even killed rather then admit fault and this isn't a case of "a few bad apples" this is standard for most public and private schools. >

The negative stigma of funding them is even worse. Don't forget the GOP puts forth candidates that literally want to abolish the department of education. >

As an educator I can tell you with absolute certainty, online schooling doesn't provide an equivalent level of education as in person. 
A top performer can do well. Others skate by. I'm seeing the aftermath from Covid schooling. It's not looking good. >

Covid home schoolers and true home schoolers are two different people. Covid home schoolers say their kids in front of a computer for 8 hours, argued with them to stay on task because not so shockingly, they were bored of their minds.
Online homeschooling only works if you work with your kid, and if it's only part of your curriculum. >

Guess my teaching degree was a waste of time then >

We always hear the argument homeschooled kids lack social skills. 
Yet we have a fk load of young people today, who claim to be introverted, suffer from anxiety, or some other social ailment, and most of these kids when to public schools... >

Thank you! This is me and everyone I no and I went to school all it did was break me down… I no others have better experiences but not me. >


no >

As someone homeschooled until high school--find a community of people who are also homeschooling their kids.  The socialization issues can be for real and if you're isolating your kid they're gonna feel isolated.  
Where I grew up there was sort of a community of homeschoolers, where there was weekly classes, weekly sports, etc.  But some of the kids I met there were really troubled, probably mostly from autism or something, but also from their parents being totally crazy and sheltering them to an insane degree.  
Public school isn't the best place for kids, but they've gotta get out of the house sometime early on, its really important.  I saw a lot of parents who projected their insecurities onto their kids and ultimately made them suffer for it. >

To be fair, you wanting to homeschool your child will probably provide better education than what your politicians want your child to have. >

The US is at it again >

I'd love to meet the planet these people live on where the country is filled with single income households. >

Propaganda. >

Homeschooling does also come with serious issues. at least one parent has to be available often, it costs money to get factual quality education material, and the parent homeschooling needs to have at least a basic knowledge of what they're teaching. >

The best part of online school is that in 4 years of having one of our kids enrolled we have not had one single fundraiser! :) >

Homeschooling seems like a great idea, until you remember something like 60% of American's function academically at the level of a sixth grader...
Blind leading the blind never ends well >


60% of American's function academically at the level of a sixth grader...

All educated at home then?
Wait a minute... >

Wanting homeschooling isn’t really unpopular these days. I know they used to try painting homeschooled children as weird but public education is mostly subpar in America. >

Public schools are essentially really cheap/nearly-free daycares. Not every parent has the ability to jump from paying (nearly) nothing in a year to paying for private tutors and other shit. And having a parent stay home with the child. 
​
That said, ideally we'd have public schools that aren't unsafe breeding grounds of ideological indoctrination and all, but it seems like nobody wants to actually stand up to fight towards that end. So this is what we got now. >

I taught a group of kids during the pandemic. It was challenging but fun. We have fond memories. Unfortunately people aren’t in need of that as they preferred to go back to public school. Luckily for us my sons school is pretty good. So I don’t homeschool but I would if it were terrible.