Public School & Homeschool? - Page 4

[Buzzbuzz]

I think it is hard to miss the comparison in the prior post about "Prussian education designed to produce thoughtless worker bees" and this "For instance, schooling was voluntary on the part of the family, and the teachers were paid by the family or the church and were therefore in a very real sense accountable to their learners."

However, it ignores the very important distinction that such education was only available to children whose families could afford it or for whom it was made available by a charitable institutation and in each instance required families who valued the results of such education.  To ignore the many, many more people educated by this "Prussian" model, people who would otherwise never have gotten even basic literacy in many instances is taking a very narrow view of history.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by Buzzbuzz 

I think it is hard to miss the comparison in the prior post about "Prussian education designed to produce thoughtless worker bees" 

The phrase was compliant worker bees, not thoughtless ones. But whatever.

Originally Posted by Buzzbuzz 

However, it ignores the very important distinction that such education was only available to children whose families could afford it 

No one is saying we should go back to the old days before free public schooling. Let me say it again: I have two children who are thriving in state-funded public school. I have been a over-the-top enthusiastic supporter of public schools since long before my children were enrolled. I probably hold some sort of world record for school volunteer hours invested in a school by a homeschooling parent. And as far as I have read, no one is arguing that public school isn't an absolutely crucial component of our society.

But the more I've read, the more I've experienced of education outside that model, and the more I've watched teachers and learners buck against aspects of the system, the more I've come to realize that there are a few lingering structures and assumptions springing from the roots of compulsory public education that are at odds with humane, responsive education. Understanding where they come from is very helpful in teasing apart which parts of the structure of schooling are vital and necessary and which ones are simply the trappings of that historical legacy. We can use that understanding to build better and better schools.

Miranda

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by pigpokey 

I believe we were talking about the socialization benefits of various forms of education, branching off from the OP's desire to send her gifted child to full day age-graded school and then meet her academic needs afterschool.  Initially the OP stated it was because her daughter so strongly desired that social experience, and then the OP stated that she also strongly desired that social experience for her daughter.  We then branched off into a discussion of ideas about the history of that particular experience, its historical goals and its current implementation. 

what you call branching off, I really see as taking the thread off topic to push your agenda. Rather than supporting the OPer, you argued with her about whether or not she was making the right choice for her kid.

The thread would have gone very, very different if every poster had assumed that the OPer was making the right choice for her child. A child none of the rest of us knows in a situation that none of us knows the details of.

Edited by Linda on the move - 7/2/12 at 11:00pm

[grumpybear]

Michelle,

I also forgot to mention that while I don't follow a science curriculum, he does get some form of enrichment by just us supporting whatever he is interested in at the moment.

For example, he was so into dinosaurs last year. He wanted to know EVERYTHING about dinosaurs. We watched documentaries (Walking with Dinosaurs and the like) and read a lot of books. He learned how to gather information through the internet (with my supervision, of course) and I would also send him with some form of dinosaur trivia everyday packed with his lunch. It's probably not as structured as you would like

but my philosophy is, once he gets how fun it is to have information and acquire information, he will continue to seek it.

So now that he knows a ton about dinosaurs, he has moved on to evolution then some genetics and just yesterday on a hike, we started to talk about the limbic system of the brain. So even though we don't have a set curriculum, his interests kind of set the path for us and it does go on some sort of logical flow.

Although as far as math goes, I do follow a set curriculum (Singapore Math) even though he is now beyond a 1st grade curriculum just because I really want a solid math foundation for him and I believe that this is done through practice and reinforcement.