During last year’s awards season, Emma Thompson kept bringing her teenage daughter Gaia as her date to various events. That’s why we have so many current-ish photos of Gaia. Gaia is currently 15 years old and she looks SO much like her mom. But I also see some of her dad, Greg Wise, in there too. Anyway, I always assumed that Gaia was and is as clever and cool as Emma, because how could she not be? Emma and Greg raised Gaia in England, and Gaia has been educated at private schools (or as the Brits call it, public schools). But no more. Greg announced a few days ago that they were taking Gaia out of private school and she’s going to be homeschooled from now on. Ruh roh.
Emma Thompson’s daughter has been withdrawn from her £6,000-a-term school so she can be taught in her back garden after deciding main-stream learning ‘wasn’t for her’. Fifteen-year-old Gaia is being educated at home, her father, the actor Greg Wise, revealed today. Wise said she made the decision just before she started her GCSEs, leading them to build a classroom in the garden of their West Hampstead home.
‘School isn’t for everyone,’ he told The Times Magazine. ‘She loves learning and she’s terribly focused and hardworking, but she didn’t like the sausage factory of formal education.’
Wise said he would not be teaching Gaia – but pointed out as many as 60 per cent of today’s youngsters would end up doing jobs which were yet to be invented.
‘So what are we teaching them?’ he wondered. ‘I think really we should just teach Latin and free-form dance.’
Thompson has previously revealed she hoped her daughter would do her A-levels at Camden School for Girls, the state secondary where she herself was taught.
Do I think this is going to be the same kind of “homeschooling” that Kendall and Kylie Jenner received? Absolutely not. But it does make me nervous. I’m the daughter of a public school teacher, and I had a great public school education myself (I still can’t spell worth a damn, but that’s not my school’s fault). I believe that kids should go to a real school because I believe in the process. I think Gaia’s private homeschooling will probably be thorough and Greg and Emma can obviously afford it, but it bugs me. Every teenager is disaffected and distracted, and it feels like the answer of “Eh, they’ll grow out of it” doesn’t apply to some special snowflakes.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
That really used to boggle my mind, why in England the private schools are called PUBLIC, like Eaton would be considered public but its only for the elite. To the UK readers do such schools in UK do scholarships, like would they take a child from a less privileged background if he was an exceptional scholar?
Oh yes, scholarships, bursaries etc. are very common. All my nieces and nephews go to public schools in the UK, and all are subsidized in some way. A few have full scholarships.
There is a mix even at Eton, Harrow etc.
*raises hand*
Bursary student, right here!
The more people I meet and the more I learn about education, the more it boggles my mind how much *extra* you get within private education.
Just to add to the perceived deliberate confusion of the rest of the world, not all British private schools are called ‘public schools’. Most are still just ‘private’, and are commonly referred to as ‘fee-paying’.
A ‘public school’ is one of a very few, and well-known schools: Eton and Harrow of course, but also Winchester, Marlborough, Roedean, Bedales, and a couple more.
I think Emma T and Greg W will have a very good reason for this decision, something about their daughter that’s not our business. They aren’t likely to eschew mainstream education for some free-thinking whim.
• But Greg’s right of course; Latin and freeform dance got Boris Johnson to his present dizzy career heights!
PS to my own comment: if a school in GB *is* referred to as ‘private’, it means, to me at least, that it occupies a very particular educational niche, probably at a tangent from a mainstream curriculum.
Further ‘confuse the USA’ japes include:
for past pupils:
Etonian; Harrovian (Harrow)
and …..Wykehamist. Um, that’s Winchester! Snares everywhere you look.
@WardLittel, laughing a bit off-topic because Boris Johnson is currently unable to get off the ground as he is stuck in Boston, which is buried in snow. http://www.standard.co.uk/news/mayor/boris-johnson-stuck-in-boston-as-snow-closes-in-10034132.html
Those pictures are of him walking along the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
“I think Emma T and Greg W will have a very good reason for this decision, something about their daughter that’s not our business. They aren’t likely to eschew mainstream education for some free-thinking whim….”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ditto. I suspect there is more to it also. And they are being very diplomatic about it. To prevent any gossip.
I also do not see Gaia being “home schooled” … as being anything remotely like the whole home schooling movement in the US.
I would be willing to believe she has very expensive tutors. And would be able to ace ACT or SAT tests… that our school system demand you do before entering college.
I don’t see Gaia home schooling experience being the same kind of non sense… say that the Duggar’s did with their children. At all.
yeah its a kind of kick in the face of poor people. “ok lets start a school where only rich white people can go to, that will show them…” “even better, lets call it a public school”
Yeah, but in context, many of these schools were started when it was mostly only white people in Britain, and no one who wasn’t wealthy or at least middle class, was getting an education anyway. The social expectation of universal education for all classes is pretty much new to the last century or so.
Malificent: that’s also not true, except for ‘mostly white people in these countries’
I’d suggest you read up on the history of public schools in Britain AND universities.
All of them started as charities to educate children from poor background. It’s unknown when some of them were founded, but Oxford university was known as a (free) seat of learning by 1096 whilst Cambridge was established in 1209. The earliest (free) public school is thought to be King’s school Canterbury which was established before 1066. There are perhaps 10 public schools (including my own Alma mater) that were established before that date. The well known schools such as Eton, Winchester and Harrow were all established in the 14th/15th century specifically to educate poor kids who followed that up with Cambridge and Oxford.
People like Thomas Cromwell, Henry 8’s most notorious advisor, who was the son of a blacksmith would never have advanced without these charities. Ditto Cardinal Worsley, son of a butcher. These two notorious royal advisors came from very poor back ground, but rose to remake England into much of what we see today, and they did it by going to these schools.
Infact, Henry 7 AND Henry 8 preferred advisors from poor backgrounds, men who had used this free education to rise to the top of society rather than men from the aristocracy.
And if you are going to talk about education for the masses, I think you’ll find that England was very much ahead of the curve on this one. The difference was that the poor went to public school whilst the rich hired private tutors and home schooled their kids.
@LAK that was an outstanding and very enlightening explication of the origins of UK public schools. I’d also been under the impression they were originally called public to distinguish them from the privately educated aristocrats, who were typically tutored at home, is this correct?
BoredSuburbanhousewife: that is correct.
Worsley and Cromwell, William Cecil (Elizabeth 1’s advisor), grandson of an innkeeper, were often mocked for their background.
Fantastic information LAK. Thank you!
Exceptional can get scholarships but it depends on where you are (city wise) and what school. As with the v competitive ones in London you have many that can pass AND pay. If you are a single parent you can usually get full scholarship if you can pass the test, but I tried with my son as it’s means tested if you own property they kind of expect you to re mortgage and pay that way, and 10% isn’t a lot but I do find the public schools here are far cheaper than the ones my friends pay for their kids in NY. As for homeschooling it can work for some could NEVER ever work for mine. My friend in the US has been homeschooling hers for 3 years now but she is going to school in Sept. her Sr years.
A lot of homeschool curriculums are geared for elementary-age students and some even go up to 8th grade. Because of that many parents opt to quit homeschooling at about 8th grade and have their kids attend formal schooling for 9th-12th grades. Plus, high schools now have some very advanced classes that parents just aren’t as comfortable teaching. But that’s not a knock on homeschooling.
Public schools in the US are financed primarily through local property taxes, then state and federal. Your friend in New York is/was paying for what we refer to as private schools, meaning there is a tuition.
It’s called public school because it is FOR the PUBLIC and were founded as such and not church (we have religious school too) or the state.
And yes, scholarships on a sliding scale are available for all which are both means tested as well as ability tested eg Pippa Middleton went to Marlborough on a sports scholarship.
Apart from scholarships, some organisations pay for their members kids to be educated at public schools eg the armed forces once the parent has achieved a particular level of command.
If you can afford the fees and the grades, anyone is welcome to attend. That’s a really important distinction because Church schools and state schools have requirements that might preclude a person from attending eg their religion or whether or not they live within a prescribed geographical area.
Maria: they weren’t started to educate rich people’s kids even though that’s how it’s turned out in the long term.
Eton was founded to educate the kids of the poor. Specifically by Henry 4.
Many of these public schools were started by priests of various persuasion and or Kings/rich patrons to educate the children of the poor who definitely couldn’t afford private tutoring and governesses as all rich family did. A sort of community outreach program if you will. That’s also why they have charity status because they started out as charity schools.
It’s ironic that it’s turned on it’s head and now these very same schools are educating rich people’s kids whilst poor people are choosing homeschooling and private tutors.
Thank you.
I wish more people would research stuff before jumping to conclusions as to possible meaning(s).
LAK: Henry VI
(I love that the poor chap is remembered annually for this, and isn’t consigned to historical non-existence)
Wardlittel: you are right, Henry 6. That’s who I meant. Thank you!! 🙂 See, this is why I don’t use roman numerals. I get them all mixed up!! Consequences of dropping Latin at 14 which was a bad thing given my interest in history.
On a different note, Poor Henry 6, but at least his end wasn’t as grisly as Edward 2. That gives me nightmares when I think about it.
Does sausage factory also mean something different in the UK because I think she’s using it wrong.
Lol bettyrose!
Even in the US it has two meanings. In some areas it still means a production line type assembly and isn’t quite so *ahem* suggestive. 😉
LAK you’re darn tooting right, the Latin numerals get people’s feet tangled!
(For your entertainment root out an old Round the Horne clip, where Julian and Sandy, as theatrical agents, cite the well known plays ‘Enry Vee’, and ‘Vie’.) 🙂
I thought the same thing, bettyrose! I was expecting quite a different story about why she was leaving school!
I think it should be pointed out that in England they may be called public schools but that’s not true of the whole of GB/UK. In Scotland we call them private or independent schools.
The schools accept people from all backgrounds, but it’s still segregated. I mean, if your parents are just typical workers with no trust fund then you won’t be joining your friends on their ski holiday in St. Mortiz, you know? The class system is always there.
Again, not true because class isn’t about money.
Being able to afford St Moritz simply makes you rich, it doesn’t make you upper class.
that’s a very… american point of view. In Europe riches and classes are often two very different scales.
And Europe is not England only. In many European countries aristocracy was stripped of everything they (we) had, this doesn’t change our class, it simply changed our financial situation. Name is still in The Peerage but the whole English system and the privileges, and the trust funds are non existent for hundreds, if not thousands, of European aristocratic families (and not all English aristocratic families are still in possession of what they had but at least their rank is untouched by force, in the majority of cases). But yeah, money does not equal class and the other way around.
I wouldn’t get so literal. The point is, if you send your kid to one of these schools, but you can’t keep up the lifestyle like the Middletons were able to — then you might want to think twice cause it could be a hellish experience.
Oh yes, I had a scholarship to a public school and the mixture of social classes was great. I was really lucky.
Gaia looks kinda high in that first picture…
I’m a teacher, and I respectfully disagree. School nowadays (in the US at least) is so focused on high-stakes testing that it leaves no room for real learning or creativity. It rewards those who know and work the system instead of those with true talent or intelligence. It is getting worse.
If I had the money and access, my kid would definitely be homeschooled with private tutors and all the Latin and free-form dance lessons money could buy.
That’s super interesting to hear from a teacher… I don’t have kids so who knows how I’d react – but I always figured it would be better to keep the kids in a formal school environment, for social interaction, meeting some great teachers (potential mentors), respect and sharing of thoughts and opinions, etc etc. But like I said, what do I know?
Food for thought …
Agree, Snazzy, I was also very interested in Senaber’s point of view. I know the school system has changed so much since all of the NCLB testing, and my SIL is a teacher and she says all she teaches anymore is the test. Home schooling scares me, though, just because I have a few acquaintances who teach their own children and both are dimwits. But I suppose if you can hire expert tutors and do a really good job it’s something different.
There are definitely some benefits to public school education, and 95% of the teachers I’ve worked with are dedicated, hardworking, and intelligent people who want the best for their students. Unfortunately, in the state I am in, the teachers get very little say in policies that affect students, and the days of personal responsibility are over.
The system is so broken from the top to the bottom. It’s so easy to get lost in the mix and pushed into mediocrity.
The problem with home schooling is that so many who do it are, well… Duggars. (I mean statistically- aren’t there like 3000 Duggars now?) I think that you will see another big trend towards individualized learning using a Montessori model for younger children and a private tutoring model for older children.
The U.S. schools I suffered through were very anti-intellectual. You learn to hide your intelligence if you can. It’s a cultural problem, so there can be exceptions but not in the cities where I lived. I’ve noticed that students who win national prizes in the sciences and mathematics tend to be the children of immigrants who are much more convinced the need for a broad solid education than many whose families have been in the US for generations.
School wasn’t terribly useful to me once I learned how to read, which apparently just took a few weeks (thankfully, our first grade teacher used the phonics method). Even the science and math classes tended to be poorly taught (with some exceptions, mainly in high school) because the teachers themselves usually had a limited understanding of the subject. I was a burden to them because I actually was extremely interested in science and math and so asked puzzling questions and gave puzzling answers to their standard tests because I actually studied science and math on my own outside of school. So I wasn’t just regurgitating whatever canned answers their lesson plans expected. Usually I tried to do the polite thing and tell them what they expected to hear, but sometimes I honestly didn’t know the canned answers and instead answered according to my outside study of the subject. (One memorable time in grade school, I had been out sick for two weeks, so my answer to the question of “what is color?” was a detailed essay on reflection and absorption of light at different frequencies rather than the simple short response that apparently had been taught in my absence). My answers were correct and I could prove it, but it did cause some problems and I didn’t like making waves. I wasn’t a genius, either, but just really interested in such things (much to my mother’s dismay).
@jwoolman: very interesting. I had similar experiences.
Haha, I’m remembering the time we had a class game where we had to think of animals or plants starting with each alphabet letter. My team had “A” first, and when I said “Anemone! A sea anemone!”, based on my ocean books at home, the teacher shook her head and told me there was “no such thing”! This was in the Southeastern US (where we had a coast, and tidal pools, and not one but two huge public aquariums within field-trip distance….)
@Senaber I agree with this. My mom works at an Ivy league and she always complains that while her students are technically smart they lack true intelligence. They can write papers and take tests all day long but anything outside of that and they’re lost. Most of these students have gotten ahead by picking a particular path and sticking to it.
As a grad student TA (not at an Ivy league), I saw this too. Except there were also plenty of students who didn’t seem to know how to do those things either. It was rather depressing, and even now interacting with people I’m like, “WTF? Reading comprehension and critical thinking! Where did they go???” Spitting out the canned answer won’t help you solve real problems in the real world. Part of my class involved true problem solving, and it amazed me how many students were totally lost and frustrated that they couldn’t just memorize something and be done with it.
This is my favorite article of the last few months on a similar topic. The first time I read it, I thought these people were crazy, but after I read it the second time, I really started buying into the idea. http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Unschooling-The-Case-for-Setting-Your-Kids-Into-the-Wild.html
I taught at a ‘school’ like this last summer, it was amazing. This is a model I encourage more parents to look towards. With safe & loving guidance, children thrive and become SO resilient outdoors. Boxing-in people has come to equal boxing-in our minds.
That is very cool RosettaStoned! Sounds like you enjoyed it as much as the kids. 🙂
i totally agree. its more of a chase the carott system. i know so many people who were focused to write what the teacher wanted to read and only learned what would be in the test and not what would enhance knowledge or challenge.
its way more about passing than understanding.
home schooling is probably not the answer though. we need new and inventive systems of learning that also focus on how different people learn. most school systems in the west produce a lot of so called losers that actually can outperform the high achievers if you engage them in the right way.
Homeschooling can be a fantastic way to encourage self-motivated learning.
I agree. My son is in 1st grade, and it has been so frustrating to watch the process this year. He is so smart, and loves learning but almost the whole day is spent at his desk and it is making him hate school. He has always tested high, but he is really struggling in the everyday monotony of school. If we had the money, I would absolutely have him in Montessori or something like that.
I’m a parent that has both homeschooled my children and sent them to formal schooling. Both have pros and cons which need to be evaluated and discussed.
For example, the biggest ‘con’ that most people associate with homeschooling is a ‘pro’ in the homeschooling community, it’s the so-called ‘social aspect’. In formal schools, children are often disrespectful, disruptive, and are either bullies or being bullied (not to mention peer pressure). None of these create an environment that is conducive to learning. At home, learning can be cooperative and self-motivated conducted in a positive atmosphere. Plus, most homeschoolers are actively involved in their faith community and in the wider community so they do get opportunities to interact with others. And often in a much more respectful environment. The question for ALL parents shouldn’t be if their children are being socialised, as they probably already are, it’s what’s the best type of socialisation that promotes their child’s learning and well-being that should be considered.
Yes, a lot of faith-crazed people homeschool so their children won’t get tainted by liberals and heretical teachings. But that isn’t a reflection of homeschooling — it’s a reflection of the narrow minded people that hate the idea of their children thinking differently than they do.
I wasn’t organised enough to homeschool myself but was able to find a very small school that replicated the benefits of both homeschooling and formal schooling during my children’s elementary years. For me (and that’s the key) it was an all around win.
I have similar experience-I have both homeschooled and done public schools [currently one of the top districts in the country, in fact] and there are pros and cons to each. The socialization aspect is hilarious to me-how unglued people seem to get about that point. But as you pointed out, school environments are not about civilized socialization or even interpersonal relationships.
Meh. There are upwards of 250k children homeschooling in CA alone. There are many options-from private settings where you meet with a credentialed teacher monthly to many public options and charter schools. Some of these have 2 or 3 day on site classes, with the rest at home. Others have a one day a week elective day, or just meeting a teacher once per month to hand in paperwork and revise curriculum materials if needed.
It’s no longer a fledgling movement; it’s a legit educational option. And not all homeschoolers are religious. We aren’t. It suited my child, not b/c of special snowflake syndrome. Maximizing a kids personality and academic strengths is not always possible in a classroom; if your kid will become a behavior issue due to frustration of the slow pace of classroom settings, it’s not worth it IMO.
Yes, we finished our ‘work’ within a few hours, often less each day. A classroom statistically spends a large portion of the day organizing, getting all students on board or disciplining a few-whiel the rest of the students wait around.
There’s plenty of literature out there-online and in print-showing statistics, scores, etc. And it’s fairly obvious that schools are not the end all be all. I’m surprised when reading this article-that people are still ‘skeptical’. Oh, and all the public school kids, when my child did start attending, told him how lucky he was that he got to homeschool, etc. It’s looked upon pretty favorably where I live-a major metro area in the USA.
Our current district is a large percentage of new immigrant kids (China, India, Iran and Korea mainly)-as someone else mentioned, they get 4.2 and take all AP/Honors. They are on engineering or science tracks mostly. But this doesn’t mean they can think creatively or critically, necessarily. Still, it’s a top district and the parents value education. And it is a good set up; I can see why it ranks so highly.
Also, I have heard many teachers say that they plan to homeschool their own kids, or would if they could, etc. I am surprised to hear it, b/c I would assume that teachers would be of the mindset that schools are best. So….in a nutshell, lots of educational choices today. The USA is interesting IMO [I am from here but have lived abroad, too]-we are known for being ‘behind’ in math/science and education and for having a generally ignorant public regarding international affairs, poor media etc. Yet, we still have a number of progressive and out of the box options. I think b/c we don’t have many centuries or thousands of years of history, we are not as tied to tradition. I have european friends who live in africa. When shopping for private international schools, they often have chosen the US schools. For example, one had a dyslexic child and found the american schools ‘the most flexible’, vs. the British or French, in that case. So you cannot always generalrize a culture or nation’s strengths and weaknesses.
Irm,
Exactly. School isn’t as black and white as people assume — there are valid pros and cons for all options.
My daughter is attending a fantastic urban, public* high school school that has a very rigorous college prep track, but that hasn’t weeded out all the bad social aspects. My son did the same thing (same school/same college prep track) but his classes often had very few people in it but she’s had bigger classes which has really impacted her educational experience.
From my experience alone, I think class size is a huge determining factor whether or not children experience the positive or negative aspects of formal schooling. Teachers are able to teach and not just herd and manage behaviour.
* American not English use of the word
I’d just like to thank those who have shared their homeschooling experiences here. It’s really enlightening to hear the different forms it can take.
+1
I was a public school teacher previously, and most of my family are public school educators. Based on what my family and I have experienced, we decided to homeschool. Haven’t regretted it in the least.
just early retired from teaching, after 30 yrs. in the system. And I can tell you, in the last 10 yrs minimum, the educational system here in the US has been in the toilet. I can’t tell you the level of my stress and frustration at having to “teach to the testing”, and not be able to foster the creativity and enjoyment that can be inherent in a quality education.
When my sister had her kids (now 16 and 14) I told her, even if you have to go out and scrub floors, do NOT put the kids in a Los Angeles public school! Luckily, through a lottery system, she got the kids into excellent charter schools from Kindergarten on, and my nephews, who are very gifted, have thrived. They’re both in High School now, taking honors and AP classes (college level classes), and love learning. Sadly, this is not available to all kids.
Thank you! It’s refreshing to hear a teacher admit that. I know many seem to getting burnt out with all the focus on testing and now common core.
I’m so glad we have the choice to homeschool, because I *don’t* believe in the system. I wish I could, but I don’t. I lucked out and had a great school experience, but my husband had just the opposite. He has so many awful stories. We lived in his district, and he flat out said his kids would never go to that school. We’ve moved now, but we see how our kids have thrived and stick with homeschooling. One is very kinetic and could just never sit at a desk all day and thrive. The other was dyslexic and really needed to work at her own pace. She was a late reader and writer but has the best memory, and she’s now fallen in love with books and is quickly catching up.
It’s definitely not for everyone, but those it is for usually really thrive. I wouldn’t be worried about Emma Thompson, especially if they’re building her a little classroom studio. My kids get the kitchen table when they manage to get their plates off of it.
Although I’m thinking (hoping?) that he didn’t mean the “sausage factory” comment the way I took it when I saw the headline. lol
I have a lot of friends who teach, and my partner’s mom has taught for 20+ years. They all work in low-income schools, with the exception of a few who eventually took jobs in privileged neighborhoods just to able to support themselves and not hate their jobs.
They all say the same. exact. thing that you just did. My state is particularly terrible about relying on test results to the students’ and teachers’ detriment (thanks Jeb Bush). But at the same time, if I had kids, I’d want them to socialize with their peers all day… and not just the most privileged peers. I attended religious private schools for most of my life, and minorities were nonexistent, and rich kids were horrible brats who thought they were special snowflakes and treated me like dirt for having a scholarship and not wearing designer-label dress code clothes… there’s no winning. Truly.
Senaber, well said. I homeschooled my youngest from 2nd to 12th grade, through a private, WASC accredited school, and then we were part of a huge and thriving homeschool group where he spent 4 days a week with other homeschoolers taking classes like art, fencing, Spanish, French, science, and was in 10 Shakespeare plays, a rock band, and did weekly field trips which often involved train trips with over 100 people. The homeschool also provided dances, proms, graduations, Disneyland Grad nite, and more. My kid got the standard education, a fabulous creative persons education and all the good things you get from school without any bullying or any of the negatives of school. It was an amazing experience. He is halfway through college now, an honor student, and busy writing screenplays, move scores, songs, etc. For him it was the right choice.
As a former public school teacher in the United States, I couldn’t agree with you more and it is a large part of why I am no longer a public school teacher. My children attend public school, not because I expect them to get a great education, but because we live in a small town and public school is a focal point for the community. I want my children to build relationships and put down deep roots in our town. I can help them fill in the gaps.
There are many options out there these days that are not the traditional public school model from home schooling to online school to private schools. It isn’t like homeschooling 20-30 years ago. Now there are co-ops and a LOT of curriculum available to parents. The upside of all of this is we can personalize education for our children.
I do think that the school system (at least here in Germany) does need some changes because times have changed. I can see why kids are bored in school or think it’s not giving them what they might need for their future life.
But what you learn in school is way more than textbook education. You learn to socialise with others, that it’s not always about you, that you have to respect other people, their opinions and backgrounds. Home schooling makes your world much smaller, doesn’t it?
So what needs to be changed?
It depends on where you live. Here in Germany we have Primary School which kids with “better” grades can leave after the 4th grad to go the Gymnasium (which parents prefer because that’s promising a better education). The rest of the kids stay two more years at Primary School. After the 6th grade kids are going to get differentiated again. Some finally making the Gymnasium cut, others go to other school forms.
In most cases parents are really pushy. They want their kids to make the Gymnasium cut so they can make Abitur and go to the University some day. It all suggests that live long decisions are made at such an early age.
The results are kids who are stressed, sad and dissapointed. I just think everyone should have the same education and make decisions (like going to University or not) when they are ready.
I would prefer smaller classes, technical classes or classes where kids can experiment and find their own talents.
As you can see, English isn’t my first language. But I hope I could make my point a little bit clearer.
Why would you assume being home schooled means a smaller wold?
it’s like saying the only place to buy food is a grocery store. It’s false. There are many ways to be a part of your community, if you look.
I’m with original kay on this. It is possible (and often easier) to teach children respect/different cultures in a homeschool environment. A lot of what my children dislike is that respect for diversity is not happening in their formal schooling. And it’s a problem even in AP/IB/Honours classes.
Most homeschooled kids I know are actually more socialized in the world at large than most kids. Many go to music, dance, gymnastics. They volunteer. And by design their interactions are with people of all ages, which is much more reflective of life in general. At what job have you ever had every single person working there be the same age?
Yes, there are some homeschoolers that are insulated. These tend to be the faith based ones. But so many more people now are homeschooling for other reasons. I always said I would never homeschool my kid, but after being in the school system this year and some possible learning disabilities on my kid’s end, I have to admit it’s definitely a possibility for the future.
This. Our homeschool group was strictly secular. No Duggar type influence at all, although many families in the group (there were a couple hundred families when we finished, so around 500 kids) were members of various religions. But any classes or activities we did were religion free. We had committees for everything: classes, field trips, teen committee (teens got their own classes and field trips but could participate in the general ones), events, community service, hospitality, etc. My kid did community service every month from age 12 to 18, which was organized through the group. He got an award for coordinating the local food bank volunteers during his senior year, so a lot of what we did was with the community, we weren’t just involved in our own little world. For instance, we were very involved with community theater, hence the Shakespeare, and other performances.
It’s my understanding that Germany doesn’t allow homeschooling. I think that there is a great misunderstanding about what homeschooling is. It makes our worlds so much bigger and richer, not smaller.
Nowhere in life, besides school, are you surrounded with 25-30 people the exact same age as you. My children go out and live a full life, interacting with a variety of people wherever we go. Stores, post office, the gym, libraries, friends’ houses, homeschool co-ops, camp, field trips, hikes…We’re out there seeing and learning, using the entire world as our classroom.
Reading all this it might be that I have a very different understanding of homeschooling because it isn’t allowed in Germany and I have a very different picture of the whole thing.
I’m now hugely curious of what sort of future does Greg Wise imagine, if he thinks that Latin and free-form dance might be important for the jobs of the future.
I look forward to it, regardless. 🙂
I would’ve gone for mathematics and communication as safe bets, but I do admit that communicating through interpretive dance would be very interesting!
Wooooosh!
LOL I think he was semi joking and being silly about it all. I think his daughter is old enough to somewhat direct her own interests, as well. Some kids already know, by her age, what they want to study and emphasize. Also, Latin and dance have shown to provide so many benefits that are applicable to any endeavor or field-including math and science. Creative thinking, kinetic learning, using different parts of the brain, mind-body awareness, vocabulary development, etc. The arts are hugely beneficial not just b/c they add enjoyment or something. They do help cognitive, spatial awareness, developing perspective, etc all of which assist in other academic fields.
Also, interestingly, when we were homeschooling, MANY parents would compliment me on my child and his social skills/communication ability, etc. Geesh. It’s simply not a one size fits all mold in our modern world. And NOT all kids in public schools are great socializers, communicators or group players. Neither approach or system works successfully for all kids. But some kids excel home schooling, others in school. Both choices are viable and should exist. Nobody says ‘scrap school’ b/c of all the horrendous learning environments (not to mention social cultures!) that can be found within many schools and districts globally. Same goes for homeschooling. We don’t scrap something b/c it doesn’t work 100%. Modern medicine doesn’t always work; we still use it for the times it does.
Wow, homeschool triggers people.
I wasn’t being hugely serious in my wonderment 🙂 I have, however, now imagined a future that looks like something out of a Fred Astaire movie.
I do appreciate the explanation though. Adding to that, I wish people would learn (and teach children) how to meditate, to learn how to manage their minds and thoughts. It’s weird that we put a lot of thoughts in there, but don’t learn how to manage it all. That’s something I would like to see in a future curriculum.
IRM: of course he was joking!
Partly inspired (wrong word) by the national curriculum having erased Latin, and by the many schools which concentrate on fancy dancing instead of maths, for example.
Personally I think people should go to school for the socialising aspect of their development.
It’s never good to hot house a person whatever their circumstances.
In the long term, they don’t develop the social skills they require to get on in life, unless they will never encounter people who are different from them.
I am not sure why you would assume kids who are home schooled sit in a room, alone, all day?
There so many ways to socialize. Being in an institutional setting is one of them, and has benefits. It also has many negative aspects.
You are making a very BIG assumption about my statement which shows your own inbuilt prejudice against any criticism of home schooling.
Notice, my objection is the social development aspect of it.
Social development is meeting people not like you, who don’t think like you, who have different experiences from you. No matter how diligent the parents are, they narrow their kids’ social development because they will always look for social experiences that reflect them.
School is challenging specifically because we learn to deal with people who aren’t like us. That’s what I mean by social development.
Having read your comment below mine, I am going to take the wild guess that people’s criticism of your choices falls under the bracket of ‘they are stuck indoors all day if they are home schooled.’ methinks you need to come up with a better counter argument because that’s not what I meant at all.
(Echoing Original Kay) Exactly. I live in the suburbs and we have multiple co-ops, clubs, and enrichment classes (like performing arts, engineering, robotics) to choose from at multiple places like the YMCA, churches, museums, local colleges, etc. Then there’s general sports leagues, civic and religious groups, and after-school clubs at the local public schools. In this context, a homeschooler would be better socialized than a kid who sits behind a desk most of the day with a paltry recess.
Homeschoolers do socialize but it’s not the same as if they were in a school-setting environment which would mimic a work place environment. I know homeschoolers do get together and there are some that a have building site where they do sit in a some-what classroom environment but the one thing I have never liked is who is educating the kid. Not only that but what if the student has a learning disability? Some parents might miss it where as a teacher would be able to spot it.
LAK, but you CAN get socialised outside a classroom. Right now many children hate school because of all the negative social aspects and there are so many of them! If what you proposed LAK was happening in schools — your argument might be stronger but the reality of budget cuts, overworked/underpaid teachers, misbehaving children, crowded classrooms, broken/dysfunctional families, disrespectful society, etc. etc. etc. means that the ideal you painted is not realised in a vast majority of classrooms.
M.A.F., teachers miss quite a lot too. And it’s not because they aren’t trying…
my goodness LAK.
I merely asked for more information about your post, which you have provided. thank you.
I am not responsible for what you assume I implied, however. Rest assured my post sought only for further information about yours.
The responses I have encountered about our decision to home school have been varied. I don’t tend to personalize these types of things.
I recommend the book “The Four Agreements” to you LAK. It’s extremely enlightening.
MAF- regarding the disabilities thing- the system is so screwed up though, that many kids fall through the cracks. We’re having an awful time right now with mine. I’ve known for some time that something is off with my son. He’s been in speech therapy for a few years and I thought it all stemmed from this, but now that he’s in school, we see other things cropping up. And the teachers notice too, but they have no idea what’s going on. (We’re pretty sure it’s a processing disorder and are trying to get him in for tests).
But the teachers basically just bring us in for conferences and say, he doesn’t listen. No suggestions. They won’t test him for anything because they did a very cursory “screening” (5 min with a speech/language person) at the beginning of school so they can’t test him again for anything else. He doesn’t qualify for special help because his grades are fine (he has an excellent memory so it fools everyone).
You can see where many people with slight problems just get swept away with everyone else. You don’t get attention unless you’re failing miserably (and bringing the schools grades down) or a horrific behavior problem.
Original Kay:
The question you asked started with an assertion that had nothing to do with what I wrote and everything to do with your own assumption about what you thought I meant with my comment.
I stand by both my comments to you.
North Star: It’s not all doom and gloom. Good schools do exist. Parents have to be involved, you can’t leave it all to the school. This was true in my days, in my parents and grandparents’ own time.
LAK, I am aware good schools exist. But the reality is that, even in good schools, there’s a lot of negativy to contend with.
My point in all my comments today is simply, one option is not necessarily better than another option. Here in the US, often you have to pay A LOT of money to get what you described. And you yourself admitted that you attended an English public school which means that you saw education at its best, not at its worst. I’ve seen both extremes and bad schooling (whether at home or formal) is just bad. If an educator, whether formally trained or not, strives for the ideals you suggested, at home or in a formal setting, that child is better off than most. Period. Education is meant to expand the mind…
yes I agree. I can always pick out someone who has been homeschooled because their social skills aren’t as good as others. Personally I also feel like it is very easy to say my kid will get a better education at home, but that’s not always the case. I feel the curriculum can be either good or bad, depending on who does the home schooling. I went to a Christian private school which I feel educated me well in the basics. But in the higher level stuff, I don’t think it was probably as good as a public school. But it can vary greatly, my school was a religious based. But I feel like it would have been better for me to go to a public one. But my mom wanted me to have the religious upbringing. Public school can be a mixed bag too as I dated a guy who had a 16 year old son who could barely read. In the end, it’s my personal opinion that connections are what matter most.
I went to college with kids in fraternities and sororoties who passed around copies of tests for the teachers who didnt’ change their tests. So all they did was memorize the tests, get As, and since they had parents who paid for their education/expenses, they could take unpaid internships. And their parents’ connections got them jobs out of college. For the people who weren’t so lucky, it was/is a lot harder. A college degree does not always guarantee a great job.
I’m not so sure that school teaches *everyone* social skills. Personally, going to secondary school positively killed mine, I was a very outgoing child and had that bullied out of me by 16. I hated my school, the vast majority of my fellow pupils were much wealthier and were the textbook definition of mean girls, so I spent the next 4 years of my life learning how to be as small and invisible as possible whilst also cultivating some pretty serious social anxiety and eventually substance abuse issues like pounding shots of vodka at 7am so I had the courage to get on the bus to school in the morning
I’m not saying that homeschooling is the be-all answer but its suitability is subjective depending on the child and the schools accessible to them. Not all schools are healthy/safe environments and encountering people who are “different” from you isn’t always all it is cracked up to be when you are one of only a few outsiders in a generally homogenous group that actively tries to exclude you.
Speaking only for myself, I would have loved the opportunity to be home schooled through those years. My parents were very social people and their circle of friends/acquaintances was far more diverse than the kids I encountered at school so I would much rather have expanded my social skills with them whilst also being in a less stressful learning environment.
Unfortunately, the teaching of social skills in our school seemed to come after the fact. Always chasing the tail of a situation, which, at least, is something.
Teachers have a tough job. They teach all levels, and we have a “no kid left behind” policy in our local school board. It’s fantastic, if it’s your child whom is struggling. Ours do not, socially or academically, so it was frustrating for them to be waiting, and for us as well.
Home schooling meets the needs of our children, at this time in their lives.
@Gretchen – your experience totally mirrors mine. I came from a small, Anglican girls’ school into a huge high school full of cliques of snotty rich kids, sororities and fraternities and I was crushed. I was mean-girled, teased and humiliated relentlessly, mostly because I was shy and undersized – everyone thought I was about 10 years old. This was the sixties so I eventually found a group of other “outsiders” and smoked a lot of weed to get through. Horrible place.
@Jaded – I’m sorry you had such a horrible time. Unfortunately these extremely negative experiences are not uncommon, which makes me very sceptical when people talk about the importance of “regular” school for the building of social skills.
Even to this day I have a rather severe phobia of public speaking or any sort of public “performance” including playing games in groups, which I can trace back to my experience in that school. Obviously it’s not like this for everyone, but if it comes down to my child being socialised into feeling like a worthless piece of crap at a public school, I’d rather she was home schooled. In other words, I’d go for a bit socially inept over socially broken.
Well, you did say ‘it’s never good to hot house a person’, implying that you thought a homeschooler sits alone all day long. Lots of stats available from the US homeschooling students-the work of an 8 hour day can be done in under 2 hours, most of the time. And there are plenty of co-ops, on site classes, etc that homeschool students are participating in. I think the US has more options and awareness of home schooling benefits, though.
Agree 100%. School mirrors life in general and any work place in the future. It gives an opportunity to learn to deal with *all* kinds of people and situations, including unpleasant ones. I’ve raised two boys and stand by going to school.
Not necessarily true, Ronia. While yes it is good for children to learn how to deal with unpleasant situations, plenty of kids find that the entirety of their school situation is unpleasant, which is not healthy. Personally, none of my workplace experiences or general life experiences have been anything like school. Secondary school was something I actually had to recover from because it was a fishbowl of horrible, and while I have still encountered plenty of @ssholes in life nothing yet has compared to the trauma of my experience in school.
I’m not knocking your choices of course, and when my kid is older I intend on sending her to school. The point is it is subjective, different styles and environments of learning suit different kids. There are I think just as many chances for children to have social interaction in a home school setting as a public school setting, and Duggars aside it is generally best to trust parents to know what is best for their child.
School makes sense.
We made the very difficult decision to home school. My daughter is going into grade 9, and will attend high school.
I believe in the process as well, it just did not suit what my kids needed. But still, in my society, they will need a uni education to get ahead. Public school here is a right mess though. I cannot get behind the idea that 30+ hours a week in an institutional setting really is the best choice for my children, especially my youngest.
We do different things, as well as cover the school based curriculum. My 7 year old is learning scripting (for roblox) for example, which is going to be extremely useful in today’s tech based society.
It’s what your family needs. Traditional school is not keeping up with societal changes, where I live.
I never liked school until college. Homeschooling would have been ideal for me in the computer age, since I was a self-motivated learner and learned more from the library than from the classroom. Homeschooling can be mixed with regular school for things like lab courses, it’s not uncommon for homeschooled kids to spend some time in the local school and the rest of the time learning at home. The “socialization” aspect of regular school is highly over-rated. Honestly, there are other ways. I just learned to dislike being forced to spend so much time with other humans… There were both students and teachers who were just bullies. My real friends were generally not from my own school, actually, even in grade school.
Certainly schools today are not always the 50 kids to a classroom all in rows that we endured. The closer they get to the homeschooling approach, the better it is for both the students and the teachers. Happy teachers are more likely to stay in the system if they are good at their job rather than escaping elsewhere when the opportunity arises. Paying them properly would help, too. We had some teachers who were inadequately trained to actually teach and had no natural talent for it, some who were burned out (teaching is intensive work even under the old warehouse conditions), and some who were downright abusive.
I went to a college where most of the students were in the education department )I was one of the few who weren’t) – I came away from it thinking that if I had kids, I would teach them myself because I wasn’t impressed by the quality of the teachers-in-training. But the reality is that most parents can’t do that for many reasons, especially financial (often both parents have to work outside the home, for example). So good schools are important, but homeschooling can be an excellent option especially today with computers easily linking homeschoolers with tutors anywhere. Public school systems are setting up flexible systems like this, incorporating homeschooling networks, making it within reach of the non-rich.
The thing that usually disturbs me is that a decision to homeschool is inevitably connected with an accompanying dig at public education- at least in my experience. I can certainly appreciate that if your child doesn’t “get” school- you as a parent will certainly have to be more involved. I can believe their daughter was pulled over possible bullying issues-but regardless of reason, no need to snark re “sausage factory”.
I homeschool one child because of his special needs, which weren’t being met by his middle school. But in elementary school he had a wonderful experience and my younger child still attends public school. I have lots of friends and family who are educators. I respect their work & dedication in the midst of crazy-difficult expectations. There are broken parts in the larger system and a hell of a lot of people trying to fix them. Not all public schools are the same. Not all homeschoolers are either. This was never my first choice.
School does benefit students who would otherwise receive little to no enrichment at home. For students who could find enrichment at home or in other ways, school is a daycare.
@Senaber
THIS!
I have no problems with most public schools and most of the teachers are excellent. Real life experiences are important if you want to go out as adults and live a normal life among mortals like us unless you want to shelter your kids all their lives in fairy land like those Will Smith’s weirdo kids who can travel thru’ life in their fantasy World controlling their breathing all the time. Just sayin’.
The Smith kids’ problem is Scientology, not the idea of being homeschooled. Same with the Duggars – they homeschool to isolate their children from us heathens and especially to let the older girls be able to take care of the younger ones. That’s not how homeschooling works for most others.
What I find interesting is the concept of “home school” isn’t the same for everyone which I guess is the point. In the States school districts have approved curriculums and if you wish for your child to be home schooled you must follow one and register with the district.
Here homeschoolers fall into two categories; religious and non-conformist. The former supplements their lessons with Christian teachings and probably skips over the chapter on evolution.
The latter are the current day version of the original home schoolers, the hippies. Those kids have a variety of different reason they’re not in school. Many lean towards the “unschool” movement where just teaching Latin and modern dance would be applicable.
But who teaches these kids? The idea is that it’s a parent or I guess in the case of the wealthy paid tutors? Whose teaching Kylie Jenner and the Smith kids?
I’m sure Gaia’s situation is very different based on her own self motivation and personality but she could very well be self teaching. With busy parents that travel it’s interesting to give a teenager (who inherently believes they know everything) complete control over her education.
Gigi, I hope you check out my two comments up thread. I homeschooled my youngest for 10 years and we were part of a huge, creative, vibrant homeschool group. We hired the best teachers to teach our enrichment classes, we hired a Russian fencing master to teach fencing, and real college teachers to teach art, foreign languages, science, a chess master to teach chess, a man from Toastmasters to teach public speaking to our high schoolers, real gym teachers that we hired through our local parks dept to teach P.E. at a local park, real drama coaches for acting and real musicians to teach music. There were/are several entertainment people in the group, including a rock stars family. So we don’t fit into your two catagories, although I agree those were the two for a long time. Homeschooling has evolved, thankfully. My son was bullied in school and would probably have turned out introverted had we kept him in school. Instead he was given a rich, creative environment in which to learn and grow, and he has turned out exceptionally well. Oh, and our homeschool group–100% of the kids that have graduated have gone on to college, some in Europe, one in China even, and all over the country. We produced some high achievers. We have been out of the group for two years now, and its still running happily along. We always had a waiting list of families wanting to get in.
Janie- that seems awesome. That type of experience would be great for kids. I guess you need to be in an area with enough like minded people that have resources. I think what you are describing evolved from the original hippie group and that’s great.
I worked at an Ivy League university and each class certainly has a number of home schooled students so I know if can work really well.
By the way, Emma looked so gorgeous in that first outfit.
My whole family is in the public school field (except me). Like anything, it’s what you make of it, but I can see that it’s not the right fit for everyone. It’s a shame they put down the school as a whole, rather than saying it wasn’t the right environment for their daughter, but I suspect there’s more to the story and they are angry or frustrated about it. I would imagine they will provide her with the best tutors and teachers though, unlike the Duggars or the Smith kids.
Some people are just never going to do well in a regular school environment. The smartest person I’ve ever known made a complete mess of his schooling, and was basically pushed out of high school the second he no longer legally had to be there. He did so spectacularly poorly he was singularly responsible for driving his schools test scores down, the type of person who earnestly completes an exam and get’s every single answer completely and entirely wrong. As it turns out he has an IQ somewhere in the range of 180-200, and is now one of the brightest minds in his chosen field, a field filled with the cream of the crop from all the world’s best schools.
Personally standard schooling didn’t suit me at all. The entire system seemed to start from the assumption that at least half the students were incapable of doing the work unless you drilled the most basic information into them for months on end. So you end up talking about the plot of a very simple book that took 45 minutes to read for 6 weeks, because it’s accepted that either a) only a handful will read the book or b) only are handful are capable of understand the words they’ve read. So you just go over it and over it until even the student who’s ignored 99% of it can throw together an essay on the key themes. It gets some students through the system I guess, but it makes others literally lose their minds.
By my last year of high school the crushing boredom quite honestly made me suicidal. I started out as a child who loved learning, who read everything, who was intrigued by everything from Latin to Physics. I had a better grasp on certain subjects before ever taking them at school. For example, before I started high school I was almost fluent in Mandarin. After 6 years studying it in high school my abilities had degraded considerably, because the way it was taught was so baffling it undermined almost everything I’d learnt from actually speaking the language with native speakers. By the end of my schooling the only interests I retained where those my formal schooling never touched on, and I struggled to see a future for myself as the thought of continued formal education made my blood run cold.
Eventually I did go to university, and I thrived. It was just expected that you would read the books and understand them, that you knew how to write an essay or work through a maths problem, that if you’d signed up for a difficult class you were capable of the level required. There was no hand holding, professors didn’t repeat themselves to help people who hadn’t gotten it the first time, and it was entirely up to you whether you did well, because so long as you paid your fee’s no one gave a damn whether you were swimming or sinking. It was wonderful, and empowering, and for the first time since I was about 7, I did very well in school. I understand a lot of universities have changed quite a bit over the last two decades or so, which I think is a shame. They didn’t suit everyone but they were a haven for people who had a true interest in educating themselves.
OMG- I had buried the trauma of weeks spent dissecting to death a novel or play! In high school, they even had us read them out loud (shades of first grade), which was torture. Shakespeare was especially ruined by that approach, I recovered only when I was able to actually see some of his plays performed by competent actors who actually understood the language.
Back in first grade, it was so excruciatingly boring listening to other kids drone on as we were called on to read out loud from those dreadful Dick and Jane books (I used to read them to the cat to punish him for bothering the bird). I never knew where we were when it was my turn because I was always reading ahead, hoping for some scrap of interesting stuff that was never there. There were three other kids with the same name so I would pretend I didn’t know I was being called on, giving me some time to peek at where a neighbor was and find my place. I think the teacher knew exactly what was happening!
Excellent comment Jessica
We rightly worry about slower learners getting overlooked at school, but it’s a problem at the other end of the aptitude scale too.
Many older people in GB look back at the old grammar school system with uncritical longing, since it was predicated on educating those who were academically bright.
The mention of any kind of élite teaching brings out the pitchforks, but we fail these students if we insist on teaching them at a level suited to their less keen classmates.
I think this intellectual inverted snobbery has to be eradicated, and the discussion restarted from scratch, because every step forward in (GB) education since the mid-70s has, imo, thrown out every benefit of previous systems, along with their admitted flaws.
NM
I think it’s a mistake to call one school ‘real’ over another. It’s true that most of the homeschooling we see in the media is Duggar style, but they represent such a tiny percentage of the homeschooling/unschooling community. We send our daughter to public school three days out of the week and to a homeschooling program run by one Hero of a mother the other two. At public school (in kindergarten) she does worksheets, is shuffled from inside to outside for fifteen minute intervals, and learns about mean kids. At her homeschooling program she’s made a model of the solar system, learned about volcanoes and seismic activity. She has art, music and every day skills like talking to a cashier and giving correct change for an item. However, knowing what I know about being a kid, we keep her in both options because one day she will be 15. At which point she’ll turn around and say ‘WHY DIDN’T YOU DO X FOR ME’ if we choose one over the other for her. This way, she gets the benefits and experience of both and can make the decision herself when Real Life comes calling.
Translation – Gaia’s school quietly took Emma and Greg aside and informed them that Gaia wasn’t going to be able to pass her GCSE’s. Rather than have Gaia fail and have the press find out, they went with a plan that will keep Gaia’s poor academic performance out of the spotlight and give her an education at a level she can handle. I don’t buy Greg’s statement that this was Gaia’s decision because she’s a special snowflake. I think this was a decision made by the family because Gaia is really struggling academically and they want to protect her privacy while she tries to complete her secondary education.
Her education would have been private regardless. Why would any school share a students information with the press?
I kinda figured this might be the case.
My thought exactly. Greg Wise doth protest too much. If the private school is a sausage factory why not send her to the (excellent) state school her mother had intended her to go to?
It’s so strange that they remove the child a year before she graduates. Surely one more year and she can wave goodbye to school forever.
That’s what I was wondering too, if there’s something else going on. Could be academic issues, or problems with another student(s), you never know. It does seem odd to pull her out so close to the end, but whatever the reason, I hope it’s the best decision for her.
My sister needed to be homeschooled, so I can totally relate on that side (she was diagnosed young with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and school seemed to really agitate her symptoms, so my parents eventually opted for keeping her at home, where a schedule could be used that work for her). It worked for us, so I can relate there.
But Emma is rubbing me the wrong way here. This comes across as “special snowflake” type stuff. Gaia is 15 years old – she shouldn’t be expected to know what works for her or what she needs. She might be unique, but so is every kid. The formal school system cannot cater to the desires and whims of every student in it. Formal schooling tries to come up with a set group of subjects that are useful to everyone. So I’m not sure why Emma is lambasting the system as a “sausage factory.” It’s SUPPOSED to be standardized. That way, people are supposed to be able to presume a common knowledge base. And Wise’s comments are just plain kooky – so because we cannot predict what jobs children will do, we shouldn’t educate them in what we can now?
I agree with people who say formal schooling today is too focused on testing and rote memorization. They are right. However, we do need accurate ways of assessing what kids are learning and how they apply it. Testing is a necessary evil. However, I also like the idea of a standard base of knowledge that all kids get exposed to. These comments just make them sound like they think their daughter is simply “above it all” and that formal education is for us plebes.
In my.country homeschooling is illegal, and private schools and universities are looked down upon, which, in my opinion is a good thing. However, our public school system is very good.
It is the same in my country. And private schools are really rare here. I’m very happy with our system and I think the education I was given was great.
Who is the young man in the last picture?
Fairly sure that’s her son. He wasn’t formally adopted but is a member of their family. I think he was a child soldier in an army in Africa or something like that…. Handsome guy!
I was in a position for 3 months where I had to home school my daughter until her anti-anxiety meds kicked in (she had had a series of very difficult medical interventions that led to 900 needles in one year alone, made her go a bit whacky.) It was amazing! If there was a concept she couldn’t get, I was able to creatively try a different approach because there was the time and focus to do so. She learned a lot. AND, it helped her to really know that she is able to grasp information, if it’s delivered in a manner that suits her learning, so that if you don’t get what the teacher is saying, ask, ask and ask again. So I think it has some great benefits.
This reminds me of a friend’s sister who was removed from her expensive school by her parents. They told everybody she was especially creative and gifted, and that the teachers and students never appreciated her. Personally I thought she was a scheming, violent, entitled little troll, hated even by her own siblings. I guess that means I was one of the ” sources of negativity influencing her results”.
We home schooled and our kids did great. We belonged to co-op, so 3 days a week our girls studied at home and 2 day a week they met with a group of other home schooled kids to work on projects, do science labs and discuss the past week’s reading in mixed age groups, all under the direction of tutors hired by the parents. My kids had the freedom to make their own schedules, follow their particular interests, work at their own pace, play the violin all day if they wanted to master a certain piece, play outside for hours, even bing watch a show on netflix if they chose to AND they had the opportunity to socialize with other kids. We even had a home school orchestra and a local christian school allowed the kids to join their sports teams. Plus we got to travel so much when they were grade school age, no classroom can compete with travel. When done well, home schooling can provide a far superior education to any public school because it is tailored to each student. We met a wide variety of people from fundamentalist christians to vegan unschoolers, my kids learned how to get along with all sorts of people. At 10 my daughter had a job as a mother’s helper that required she take the bus across the city on her own and play with a couple of vegan kids who were unschooled and whose parents are artists. She made enough money to buy herself her first Mac. She learned way more doing that than she could have going to school. She is now 16 years old and a matriculated pre-med student at a 4 year university with 40 credit hours already completed. She started taking classes at a local college when she was 13. And she is not a genius, just a bright kid who was allowed to follow her own interests. And she has many friends of all ages. My 14 year old asked to try “regular school” and she is now excelling at our local public school. High honor roll and lots a friends. I don’t think my kids are more talented or smarter than any others, just luckier. I say all this not to promote my kids but to advocate for home schooling. I encourage anyone with the time and rescources to home school through the elementary years when kids are eager to learn and the world can be their classroom. If enough people opt out maybe it will shock the system into making some much needed changes.
Everything you describe is exactly what is found in a good boarding school with exception of having a set time table and little TV allowed.
The top schools in Britain emphasise this type of education and whilst people are aghast that the kids are away for most of the year, they graduate highly educated, rounded individuals.
Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but this system has been in place for a 100yrs.
Top schools should have this but the vast majority of schools nowadays often don’t because of the criteria I listed above. And those ideals can be pursued both at home or in a formal setting.
When I was in high school I absolutely hated it and wanted nothing more than to go to college instead because high school was dreadfully boring. I think I may have been one to drop out and get a GED then start college early if my parents had been more supportive. They had their own drama going on at that time and really weren’t paying attention. I’m not bitter about it, that’s just the way it was for me. At least Gaia has parents that are paying attention and supporting her. I went to a private school for primary and then to a public school for the remainder of my young education. I had so many friends that ended up in continuation school or dropping out to get their GED’s. Some went on to college and some didn’t. So, I can’t really say if public education is the best for everyone. I ended up going to college later on and doing it all on my own quite successfully. A friend that I’ve known since kindergarten home schooled all three of her kids. The eldest two are now in college and doing quite well. The youngest is still in junior high but she seems to be on the same path. All of this leads me to believe that education is obviously important but can be individualized.
@Ginger: You make a great point. Education and Schooling are two different things. I think most people get them confused, hence the uproar about the idea of learning happening outside of a schooled environment.
I think homeschooling could be very beneficial at her age. At 15 she’s old enough to already know what about school and the particular subjects she likes or dislikes the most and she already has had plenty of social interactions with other kids, made friends, got to know herself better, but she’s also young enough to have time to focus on the areas she wants to improve and to get creative with her learning.
latin and free-form dance? ahahha I wish that was my education!
We also had our boys in public school and homeschooled for a numbed of years. We pulled out oldest son out at the end of grade 1 when the school recommended it because they said he was too intellectually advanced and they couldn’t meet his needs. Seriously. So we tried it and found we loved it! It drew us closer as a family and took away a lot of the stress because the boys could learn as much as they wanted as deeply as they wanted. I made sure we covered everything in the provincial curriculum (we did math and english every morning) and took field trips and talked to experts in various fields. It was wonderful. The main negative was, at the time (this was twenty years ago), there was very little support and few other families homeschooling other than a few for religious reasons. That has changed a LOT since we homeschooled and many people I know are in homeschooling groups that offer sports and all kinds of group stuff if the kids want it.
Out boys were very social and very sports oriented, so there were in a lot of additional stuff like sports teams and Scouting and art and karate and swimming and so on. Once they got a bit older they decided to try public school again (we had moved to a different city and they were getting interested in girls and wanted to play more sports) so we had a meeting with the school board and they were evaluated and both were skipped two grades and went back to school. Both participated in various team sports, drama, all kinds of school stuff. Both went to their Proms and both graduated with honours and went on to university. Now as grown adults (24 and 26) they tell me that they still love learning and that our biggest mistake was putting them back in school (although that was what they wanted at the time). ha! Still, it a good family memory for everyone and I’m so glad we decided to try it! For us, the Pros far outweighed the Cons.