Homeschooling: agree or disagree ?

A German family is paying a high price for home schooling their children. Juergen and Rosemarie Dudek were hauled into court and ordered to pay $1,500 in fines for home schooling their children. But the prosecutor was not satisfied and brought them back to court asking a judge to send them to jail. The judge complied, and Mike Donnelly of the Home School Legal Defense Association says the pair received three-month jail sentences - Agree or Disagree with homeschooling ?

Like anything, home schooling has its advantages and its disadvantages. I was home schooled for a few years, a while back now and I did enjoy it. I was personally going through some personal health problems, and going to a mainstream school would have been extremely difficult. Home schooling also provides something that mainstream can't. You are one on one with a teacher/tutor. You are able to get the attention from the teacher that you need without a problem. It's one on one learning. If there are 20 students in a class, and 6 of them have different questions that need to be answered, then that is time consuming. If you give a child in a mainstream school, and a child who is home schooled 2 months, you might be surprised that the one who is home schooled went farther then the other. That is not always the case, but it's definitely not unheard of.

Now for the disadvantages. The child might miss out on social experiences. And not be able to develop the social skills needed to go throughout life. It is very easy to feel isolated when home schooled. Often, home is the safe haven for a child, and home schooling might make things worse. Or, when ready to go out into the real world, they might develop anxieties. .

I can say that I agree, and disagree with home schooling. Honestly, with me it depends on the situation, child, and teacher/tutor.

I believe that children learn more from their peers than any parent can teach them, so education and socialization outside of the home is extremely important. I have heard of homeschooling communities where children have class in peoples homes with other children, and that isn't as bad. I think it is wrong to shelter your kids. I do not, however, think that people who make that choice should be punished for believing it is the right choice. Whose business is it to say what is best for your own child if the child is not being abused?

I wanted to home school, but opted not to. I thought it was in the best interest of my child to attended a private school instead. People skills and interaction skills can best be learned with peers. I have friends that home schooled their kids; and their kids are all so marvelous. But there were 4 siblings in their case. My son is an only child.
Peace,
Sting

I am home schooled not by my parent but on the computer. I stay home and go to school online. I'm in high school. I'm getting a lot more out of it then when I went to a public high school. I'm learning a lot more and am much more independant for college. I still interact with people just because you're home schooled doesn't mean you can't get out of the house and interact with people. I can get tutored if I need it, I'm taking college classes during high school. I hate when people say you cant have social skills because you can. Its not that hard to walk out of the house and go find a community sport to play or go to the gym to meet new people.

I think homeschooling *can* work. I have no idea how home schooled kids fare compared to general ed students.

Of course, home schooled kids miss out on all the wonderful statist brainwashing, er uhm, I mean 'socialization'.

An excellent postive example of homeschooling is Tim Tebow, quarterback, Florida Gators - All of the Tebow children were homeschooled by their mother, who worked to instill the family’s deep Christian beliefs along the way. In 1996, legislation was passed in Florida allowing homeschooled students to compete in local high school sporting events

College(s):

Florida (2006-present)

Career Highlights and Awards
All-American (2007)
AP Player of the Year (2007)
Davey O'Brien Award (2007)
Maxwell Award (2007)
Heisman Trophy (2007)

Bowl Games
2007 BCS Championship - Florida 41, OSU 14
2008 Capital One Bowl - Florida 35, Michigan 41

As a former state school teacher, I have another angle to consider: What happens to everyone else's kids if the brightest, best and most supported children drop out of school for home or private education? I've seen the answer, because that's what's happened in my parent's home city of Edinburgh. The state schools are horrible (despite the fact that Scottish state schools are generally excellent). To some extent, we owe it to our country to make sure that the full mix of families supports its state schools.

I would have to know more about the actual charges. While homeschooling can be a very positive environment when paired with workshops, many parents are not capable of providing the high quality of education needed and as a result their children are not capable of passing the needed testing. Please give more information.
I am sure there is more to it than, you are homeschooling, go to jail!

I disagree...because then kids cant meet friends...

-TIana
{add me}

I believe that Germany, and Spain too, have a strict 'package' of education that children outside its schools must follow (I know some foreign nationals who are doing that here in France). Therefore, perhaps the parents did not follow this detailed curriculum?

Flossheal, that is what I think also. I did not homeschool because I think children do better all around with their peers, but my sister-in-law does. He daughter has her homeschooling classes and then she attends different labs (chemistry, advanced math, etc) with a group of other homeschoolers in a classroom atmosphere. My sister-in-law was a teacher and her husband is an attorney that represents homeschoolers, so she is aware of and very strict about her daughter's education.
Not all parents are and many children are left to fend for themselves or are taught by parents that clearly are not qualified to instruct.

I found several articles that clearly state it is illegal to homeschool in Germany. The parents had been brought up on these charges before and have declared in court that they will continue to homeschool. I also found an article that stated the children were receiving a good education.
The laws should be changed, until then, it is breaking the law...

PADERBORN COUNTY, Germany, January 12, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A German school official has ordered seven families homeschooling their children in Northwest Germany to enroll their children in public schools immediately, or the children will be forcibly removed by police and taken to school. Any resistance on the part of the parents will result in the children being removed from their homes, according to a Home School Legal Defense Association report.

The families argued that, as Christians, they wanted to protect their children from the godless and humanistic values being taught in public schools. They also assured officials that they were providing an adequate education through a German correspondence school.

County education director Heinz Kohler dismissed the families' beliefs, stating, 'you and your children are not living in isolation on some island but rather in an environment posing intra- and extracurricular situations where you'll have to accept that your world view will be curtailed.'

Kohler further explained that homeschooling could not be allowed as 'children should not be encapsulated or kept apart from the outside world. In these cases, the parents' rights to personally educate their children would prevent the children from growing up to be responsible individuals within society…'

In my opinion, homeschooling is a bad thing... People can become socially handicapped because they dont have any new people to cope with and so on and in some cases homeschooling can be less efficient than the teaching given in public schools.. BUT ofcourse there are some exeptions.

In Germany, it's considered negligent to home school your children. The country historically has enormous faith in its public education system (and with good reason). For Germans, school is not just about learning. The track you get on in school determines what career you have. By the time Americans graduate high school, many are still not sure about their career plans. When most Germans graduate high school, they are already pretty much locked into a certain tier of career fields, and it's very hard to change tracks later in life. This is why the German government feels that home school children miss out if they aren't sent to public school.

I'm not defending the law, I'm just explaining it. I happen to think it's ridiculous that parents would be imprisoned for home schooling their kids. And there are quite a few German families who want to home school, and end up leaving the country to do it. So Germany is kind of shooting itself in the foot on this. But they're really not willing to budge.

It's the whole society vs. the individual thing. Americans are individualistic about everything, including educating their children. Germans believe that is the state's job, and it's a parent's duty to society to send their kids to public school. Cultural issue...

Just because kids are home schooled does not mean they can't meet new people!!! once again I'm home school and I have just as many friends as people in regular schools. I do just as much activity and have the same education and probably more than most kids. There are so many things out side of a school that home school kids can do to meet new people.

I personally disagree... being social is inportant to kids. if they are stuck at home all day they wont see REAL challenges or see how people really are. and then they wont know how to deal with people that are bad or have friends

They are both good. It is easier to get friends in school, but it is also easy to get friend while homeschooled, you just have to look for them instead. For example: at school you become friends with the people in your classes making it easy because they are right there. When homeschool you could try to get involved with sports or an activity you enjoy and surely you will meet justas many people. The friend thing really is not an issue.

I was homeschooled from 1st-12th.
My mom sat us in front of our books and left us while she cleaned house, I missed out on the social aspect of school. I later had to pay for it when I enrolled in college, I had to take 1 prep english, 3 prep maths, and a life skills course.

I won't homeschool my children when I have kids, but for some families it does work.

I was home schooled all my life. but I wasnt around people.
if your a very social person you shouldnt home school.
but if you like being alone a lot you should home school like I did.

I think the decision of home-Schooling is up to the Guardian of the child, and of course, the child.
I, myself, have been home-schooled for a year, and so far I'm loving being Home-Schooled. In Public Schools, I was teased and bullied non-stop by the arrogant misanthropes in the Middle School. I do not think there's any difference whether you are Home-schooled or not, as long as you are comfortable in your surroundings and are learning the state requirements for the particular grade level. Every year, School's all over America take the standardized tests, and my School had higher scores than the public schools in our state. (I go to online schooling as well) In regular school, I felt I was being ignored, and that the teachers all had their pets...they never gave anyone else an opportunity to state answers or be the person to choose what game we were going to play. I do not agree with Public Schools, not one bit...I hear of so many students being harassed by their TEACHERS, and what's with this anti-socialization bit? Whose bright idea was it in the first place to say Home-schoolers DO NOT get proper socialization. Not true at all. Since I've been home-schooled, I've felt safer, smarter, and more confident in myself and my abilities!