Home Schooling V constant battles with Teachers..... ( Archived) (19)

In the UK public school is actually the name for "private school" is it the same in the US?

No, pulic schools are state run...(government) Private schools are privately owned schools.

I might add....public schools are mandated by state rules and regulations....testing and such.....the schools get paid so much for each child in attendance....and get better grants if the kids do better on achievement tests.

Thanks for the info Ice! I gotta say I don't know much about the education system in US but I know one thing... What you have described doesn't really match what goes on in UK schools (both my kids have been educated in UK). I don't care what some parents say... In my expereince the education provided in at least the school I worked at for many years (till a month and a bit ago) is dynamic, interesting, inter-active, modern, and encourages the kids to think for themselves as well as preparing them for their exams. There's also a whole programme and system to deal with bullying - with peer mentors, counsellors and youth programmes within the school to raise self-esteem in the kids being bullied as well as the kids doing the bullying... A massive amount of the kids who attend that school are on welfare and yet the school managed to support and encourage the kids in their learning so that 46% achieved 5 x A-C grades in the last exams. This is unheard of for that type of school so I get just a little angry that the teacher's hard work and by implication that of the kids gets "bad mouthed" by some people who are generalising and judging from whatever experience they have had. I know you are a teacher Ice (from previous threads) so I'm sure you must have an idea of what I am talking about.

Ok....so I have to be a tad bit different here...

Both of my kids attend public schools, My oldest attends an alternative High School where all course work is taught on computers and the classrooms are limited in size.

My youngest is in 3rd grade this year, with above average grades and a full extracuricular schedule.

The difference is me, I am at the school EVERYDAY...I volunteer in the classrooms, I volunteer at lunch, I bring in snacks, I make sure everyone has coats and mittens...whatever there is to do...Im there!

Not all day, maybe an hour in the am....maybe an hour in the pm....my kids never know when I will be there but they know I will be. So they are on their best behavior and they know better than to give anyone a hard time.

I always know whats going on in their lives, Im there! PTA...yep, Im there, Im the cheer coach oh wait...you want to join band..yep...I play the clarinet, violin, cello...I can help!

It makes a huge difference! And they have great teachers too! I think the choice between homeschool and public school is like the choice to be a stay at home mom or work.

It depends on the family situation, and the childrens achievements!

I applaud homeschoolers.....I think its great, but I also think that public schools can have benefits too!

I was part of a home school group when I was in high school. Being an overachiever, it gave me the chance to attend college classes while still earning high school credits. Bonus, it was a program the state paid for. I even had a friend that was home school (in this particular group) that graduated from high school with an AA degree from college at the same time. Anyways what I am getting at, is that it was a home school GROUP. There were several different families across the state that all home schooled their children and we would get together for different activities depending on the age and that helped with social experience. We even had a prom! We brought our own dates that may not have been home schooled but it was still our own prom! The older kids could earn 'volunteering' extra credit for helping to supervise when the younger groups got together. There was even a principal. That may be something you could look into if you are concerned about the lack of socializing your child may be exposed to. There were a couple of children in our group that had autism. It worked well because they got to go at their own place but still got to do things in groups such as going to the zoo to help teach them interaction.

My mom turned EVERYTHING into a lesson. When we went shopping we had to keep track of all the prices as we went along and have the total with and without tax ready before we got to the check out. Made shopping last longer but taught me to value my money and how better to manage it. In public school you rarely learn something like that.

Excellent. I home schooled my kids for about 10 years. They rarely if ever got sick. They are smart, and have common sense. Schools are nothing more then walking balls of infection. Depends on your State, We homescholled in Michigan and Arizona, You just need to file a letter of intent. No big deal.

They get funded by how many days your kids are in school. In Arizona, if they miss more then 5 days in a year, sick or not, they get pissed. Even when the kids Grandma came out once a year, The pricipal tried to talk us into keeping the kids in school instead seeitheir Grandma. That was the final Straw. So we yanked um out!

My sister home schools my niece Abigail. My niece is behind in her physical development due to having several surgeries after she was born. My niece is 7 and is still not completely potty trained and has to go through physical therapy. Children are cruel and my sister doesn't want to put her daughter through their taunting and teasing. My niece is brilliant and at only 7 is reading at a college level. When it comes to what's best for your child your the only one who really knows.