Tuesday, 23 December 2008

  • Educational Options: What do YOU think?

    Come January, I will very likely have 2 children in public school, 1 child in Christian private school and 4 who are homeschooling.  I am in a bit of a quandry as to how I want to proceed for the 2009-2010 school year.  Our experiences with all 3 options have at times been positive and at times negative.  Please answer the following questions with insights concerning pros and cons of each option.  Try to be open minded and not just "push" YOUR way or opinion. 

    What do you see as the pros and cons of:

    Public School?

    Private School?

    Homeschool?

    I hope to get some really valuable input on this topic.

    Thanks!

Comments (55)

  • lechelle99

    As a formerly homeschooled student who went to public highschool and a secular university for undergrad and graduate work, I've had experience with a variety of educational situations. I currently teach in a private school and when my children are old enough to go to school (I'm expecting my first very soon), I plan on either homeschooling if I'm a SAHM, or sending them to the private school where I work if I'm still working there (tuition is free for employee's children). 


    Public school where I live (rural Midwest) is still pretty decent--I've actually done some part-time classes, and while I think the students are a little behind the students at my private school, the gap (at least in K-6) isn't so terrible, although kids who have switched back and forth insist that the public HS is less demanding academically (I don't think that our private school demands nearly enough of the kids, but I'm kind of a toughie about it). I've heard some horrible things about public schools on the coast though, and getting through a public university with your faith unshaken is EXTREMELY difficult (I speak from personal experience not  a study here). At the university when I was a grad student, I was forced to take down a pro-life article from my office wall, while other students proudly displayed pro-choice and pro-homosexual banners and things that were highly insulting of Christians. I protested, but could do nothing about it. 
    Private Schools: I work in one, and while kids get more individualized instruction (and I think better reading skills), we get a lot of LD (learning disabled) students and students with issues that public school doesn't want to deal with (and or parents who are in denial about their kids'  issues). I still have to dumb down a lot of my instruction compared to the instruction I recieved in a public high-school, but part of that is because I really care about the majority of kids "getting it", and I think it's more important that they REALLY know the material I'm covering well than that they cover the whole book. And as I've been here more years, the kids are getting better (the previous 'teacher' in my subject area was a computer, so having a real class with a real teacher makes a difference).  Kids who don't fit in get picked on a lot, I think worse than public school, but if they have a strong backbone and know how to take  the teasing in a positive way they will eventually be accepted by the others. 
    Homeschooling--if you have a committed, literate and dedicated parent, homeschooling is by far the best option for many kids. But if you have a parent who just sits back and doesn't push their kids to excel, it's worthless.  I know that homeschooling put me years ahead of my peers in history, language arts, social studies and communicative skills, and I quickly caught up to my peers in math and science (where I was a little slow). The independent study skills  and ability to work on my own that I learned as a home-schooler have been frequently appreciated by my professors and supervisors. I think homeschooling may be the best option for my future children, and that's part of the reason why I got a teaching certificate, so that in states that require one parent to have teacher certification that option will be open to me. But HSing is not for every family. If you have a good public school system, don't hesitate to take advantage of it--ditto for a good private school. 
    I don't think there is just one way--it depends very much on the family and the school.
    I'm curious, in PA would a GED work, or does it HAVE to be a HS diploma? 
  • brokenbindings2

    Gee, as a public school teacher, I'm not sure I want to wade into this :>)


    The views expressed here are that of a rural public school teacher with 30 years experience.


    Public schools have the inenviable task of educating every child who walks through the door, willingly or unwillingly.  No matter the background, home environment, health issue, mental issue or any other characteristic, the pubs have to educate to the best they can, everyone.  Having said this, the pubs do a decent job on most kids.  When parents are involved in their child's education, have given their child a good background of belief in God, and are monitoring what their child is learning, the pubs can educate your child.  But having said that, the legal system has made it difficult to educate freely.  Advocates for many groups have insisted on "rights" for their viewpoint and I include the disabled in this. Some parents have learned to work the system in that they have their child labeled "disabled" which leads to medical benefits and limits on how their child can be disciplined.   This has led to much abuse of the system and often children who have issues with authority and self discipline are foisted on the classroom and have an adverse effect on that classroom.  Because I teach in a rural area, I cannot speak for the problems of urban public schools, but I hear that they are many.  Here in the rural areas, Christianity is not the bad guy, in fact, most of the staff identifies as Christians and strives to uphold Christian values.  Please note that in this state (PA), teachers have limitations on what they can say about religion in their classrooms, but when a student iniates the dialogue, teachers can express their beliefs, but they are NOT permitted to use their classroom as a forum for making disciples of any religion or belief system. As for language and behavior, when you have the public at large in one place, you see both the best and worst of human behavior.


    Private schools: the students we get from private schools have usually been asked to leave because of behavior issues.  Here in rural areas of my state, options for private schools simply do not exist.  If there is a private school in the area, a parent's choices are limited to either that private school or the public school.  For many, there is no choice at all-in my area, the nearest private school is over 50 miles away and costs quite a bit.  For most parents in this area, private simply isn't an option.


    Homeschooling:  It has been my experience that homeschool is an option for two groups-first,the deeply religious who wish to be in total control of what their child learns and second, those who have blinders on to the fact that their children are struggling because their child has not put forth an effort to work and learn.  The latter group often come back to the public schools when the parents realize that teaching their child is not the picnic they thought it would be.  The former group often include transplants from urban areas who never felt at home with a public school education and these folks do just fine with their children.  At the high school level, we often have homeschooled children coming to high school to take part in sports, music and the higher science activities.  They do just fine for the most part and I've seen few, if any of them lose their religion.


    Can I make one request?  Those of us who are Christians working in the public schools could use your prayers.  You may not hear about us, but we are there, doing our best to present Christ to these kids, even when the challenges are many.  Thanks.
  • sdbenfam

    @Kristenmomof3 - 

    well, one thing is in Pa you must have a
    high school diploma to homeschool your children. (I only went to school
    through 10th grade)

    or  have a GED, only one parent has to have this, not both, so if your husband has his then you could homeschool

    The supervisor of the home education program
    must certify on the affidavit that the supervisor and all adults living
    in the home and persons having legal custody of the child have not been
    convicted of criminal offenses. So anyone ever of anything criminal may
    not homeschool. And you can not homeschool if you would have an older
    child or relative or anyone living in the house that was convicted of
    anything criminal. (this doesn't apply to us but it could apply to
    someone who was convicted of something before they because a christian
    and turned their life around. THey can not homeschool)

    well like you said this doesn't apply to you, but you could probably do this anyway with under the PA RFPA law.

    The
    supervisor of a home education student who has been identified as
    needing special education services pursuant to the Individuals with
    Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), must have a certified special
    education teacher or licensed clinical or certified school
    psychologist's approval of the home education program. (this applies to
    us too as W is considered "special")

    I think you got a little mixed up, it's not the supervisor of the home ed student but rather the evaluator of the home ed student. The Evaluator is a person  that you can pay, or often work for free. They can come to your home or some other place they go through your child's work with you and then sign a paper sayign that you are making progress. Note you only have to make progress, there is not a set number of progress.

    Also just a note...in Pennsylvania, School districts do not issue diplomas to students in home education programs.

    No the parents issue the diploma, why would the school districts when they have never even seen your kid? There are also several group in PA that will issue a homeschooling diploma if you pay their company. Some parents have also just had their child take the GED.

    Really if for some reason the law are just too much for you PA has 11 Public Cyber Charter schools. These are funded by your tax dollars. You would receive from the cyber all the books, supplies, science experiments stuff, readers, etc that you would need to school your child at home. You would then be overseeing their education just as traditional homeschoolers. The cyber school would also provide each child with a loaner computer and printer to use. They would also reimburse for internet access. So really there is no cost involved and you don't have to mess around with all the PA homeschooling laws and they would be considered in a public school. The school woudl also assign a PA certified teacher to you to help you or your child with any problems you may have. I also have a special ed son and we are enrolled in a public cyber. Now whether that means you should bring your children home or leave them in school is a totally different thing, but please don't ever feel forced to keep your children at their school because you feel you can't homeschool in PA. There are a  lot of options out there. If you ever do feel as though God would like you to bring your kids home then check out askpauline.com it is a great place to start to get to know the PA homeschool law. or you can contact me about cybers as I tend to try actively involved in them and the laws surrounding them.
  • sdbenfam

    @sdbenfam - sorry I had italicized kristens and bolded all my text, for some reason when I hit the submit button it changed it all, hoepefully you will be able to make some sense out of it.
  • ELIZerson

    Public school - that depends on the area you live in.  Some are just fine, others not so much.

    Private school - depending on the private school, this could either be very beneficial or absolutely not.  some private schools allow for better, more individualized education, thus bettering the children.  yet others are nothing more than moms without an education themselves attempting to school all of eachother's children and doing an awful job of it. i had some friends who attended the latter.

    Homeschool - Again, this depends! There is a right way and wrong way to do homeschooling.  You must be very dedicated to do this.  Check out options though - some private academies offer a "satellite school" option - you send in tests and certain works to be graded by the school, and in turn you receive legitimate report cards and diplomas.

    My parents did the satellite school homeschooling through an academy a few hours away from here. It worked out well for me, I'm now in college and doing well!  Yet it is not for everybody.  I am not of the opinion that every family can or should homeschool.  And I am going to school to be an elementary/middle school teacher, currently.  I hope this helps some and that you gain the wisdom to make your decision confidently and easily!

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