Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Homeschooling and educational effects

Too many just quit. Agreed. It's a ridiculous waste.

I guess that's what I meant. The effect of homeschoolers' actions (plus the programs I mentioned) might force the system to change anyway --- as a secondary effect.

I have a friend who argues that charter schools and vouchers (if they take off) could be strong thing for changing the public schools by forcing them to adapt or die. Home schooling and the gifted programs could all aid in that force for change (?).

Val

I want vouchers!
But as I understand the school has to be "failing". Who decides what is failing and who is being failed?

We would probably never qualify for vouchers, but I would love to spend that money on my child's education myself.

There was a referendum on vouchers in CA a few years back; too bad it failed. EVERY KID would have qualified for a 7K voucher.



Val

Val,

I think our society is in such a public school mindset that it is so hard to get away from. The first question that 9.5 out of 10 people ask my kids when they meet them is "what grade are you in?" They don't ask "how old are you?". Classes in sunday school and through the recreation department in our city are grouped by "grade". It is embedded in so many things. We have been homeschooling from day one. None of our five children has ever been taught in a public school. That said, all three of the children who are doing school right now are about 2 grades above level. Because we have not dealt directly with public schools for our kids, I have distanced myself from them. I hope that homeschooling and programs like DYS will have a positive affect on public schools, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon. I was the product of a public school education. I was tested for GT as a young child and put into one of those "cheesy pullout" programs that were mentioned in another thread. My memories of it are not that positive. I was singled out from my peers because I was the only one leaving my grade/class for the hour in the library. We didn't do anything special while we were together and really I remember a bunch of goofing off. That was years ago and I don't really think it has changed for the majority of schools. I think that homeschooling can have a positive affect on society in that it can provide some kids with a better educational experience than public school - not just for gifted kids either. A lot of kids who struggle with learning excell at home too. I'm not sure if any of this is making sense - I'm a bit distracted here today - but an interesting book that I have read is called Fed Ed. It's about the new Federal Curriculum that is being introduced in public schools. I recommend it.

C~

CS, school is different these days, at least here. In elementary, there isn't much sitting in rows listening to the teacher speak. The day seems to be a collection of group work activities, in fact, there aren't rows, there are pods.
Kids are coming and going from class all day for a variety of things, so it's pretty common and accepted, which is good.

I can understand why the voucher system didn't pass in CA. The public education system for the whole state would have come crashing down.
There was no way it was going to pass, even if it passed. KWIM