> order to home school.  I think that dedication is a
 > must.  If one chooses home school then it becomes a full time job.
 > There is no room for slacking off.
 > As an educator in a public school while I don't oppose
 > home school, I don't favor it either.  Usually the students that are
 > home schooled are the more well-behaved.  the parents are the ones I can
 > count on to help out in the classroom as volunteers.  they are
Dan, I'm a (former) public school educator who is seriously considering home 
schooling my children for the next school year. I used to have the "don't 
oppose it, don't favor it" attitude, either, until meeting some really 
dedicated home schoolers. You are exactly right when you say it takes 
dedication - doesn't it take dedication to teach in the public school these 
days, too, tho?
Why am I considering home school? I am considering it for several reasons. 
Though our public schools are probably among the better ones in San Diego 
County, they still don't do a very good job. My youngest daughter hates 
school, and (worse yet), hates to learn. That's scarey, since one of the 
objectives of school is to teach someone how to learn. My oldest child, going 
into 5th grade, does not know a noun from a verb (she's never been taught), 
could not tell me what religion that the missions of California were built in 
support of (tho she could tell me various other trivial details-the textbook 
that she brought home didn't mention the word "Christianity" or "Catholicism" 
anywhere), and lastly, I am fed up with the school system trying to play 
parent when it really needs to go back to being teacher. I am also very 
disgusted with the amount of commercialism in the school - tho I solved that 
problem this past year by sending a note to each of the children's teachers 
(with a CC: to the PTA President and the school principal) that I didn't want 
any notes coming home that did not deal directly with classroom, school, or 
school district. (No notes about commercial soccer clubs, no "free" coupons 
for things which are not really free. I got a very supportive phone call from 
the PTA president in return.)
 > They mainly left public education because of the
 > series of violent acts
 > they witnessed (hitting, swearing, attitudes).  But I
Another good reason. In many cases on the elementary school playground, these 
things happen because the law allows so many children that are virtually 
unsupervised. (One aide per 60-90 kids outside on the playground is NOT a 
great ratio.)
 > don't think one can fully insulate children from the world around
 > them.  Children are amazing at adapting to their surroundings.  Public
Actually, they aren't insulated/isolated. Homeschooled children are often 
more a part of the world since they are often schooled within the world 
itself. Dedicated homeschool parents make the time to take their kids to 
public places where they have to learn about the real world. Most homeschool 
parents attempt to get involved in a homeschool support group of some sort. 
These support groups get together for various functions, often as complete 
families. In our area, there are "park days", where you take an afternoon to 
go to the park together. Often these groups take field trips together, as 
there are some places you can only visit as a larger group (a radio or TV 
station, for instance) or get a better rate when you visit. Then, too, 
because homeschooled children aren't automatically "dumped" into a classroom 
with 30 other children their own age, they have to learn to make friends in 
their own neighborhoods and in HS support groups, and ofttimes these friends 
are not necessarily the same age. In the real world, we have to get along 
with folks a lot older and a lot younger than ourselves. Homeschooling 
prepares a child for that in a different way.
I went to a conference this past spring for homeschoolers. On the first day, 
parents were encouraged to bring their children. The children sat in on adult 
workshops. The only interruptions were from babies younger than 2 years old. 
I can't imagine that being the case in the public school.
                                 -donna
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