Nathanael Blake has a pithy answer to those (somewhat irritating) people who express concern that homeschoolers won't be properly socialized:
The standard (though rarely articulated) definition of successful socialization is to "fit in" with a lot of immature little savages raised by television, video games, and the internet. Spending at least 35 hours a week, nine months of the year, with 20-30 kids of one's own age (with a harried adult supervising) is the antithesis of what is needed in order to learn how to function in society.
Read the rest of "Homeschooling, Sweet Homeschooling" by clicking on the title.
Yes, I know that his definition of traditionally schooled kids does not fit everyone, but does anybody really equate proper socialization with being stuck in a classroom with a bunch of people your own age?
---Katie
8 comments:
Katie, Katie, Katie!
You know very well that homeschoolers are indeed poorly socialized. I have some in my congregation and let me tell you I can tell the difference. How?
They are polite, respectful, and seem to be more mature than those who go to public school, though there are obviously those public school kids who are quite good indeed.
Also, they don't seem to give a whit about what society says is morally acceptible. They seem to be very traditional in their thought. FOR SHAME!
No Katie, they don't fit in to our society very well at all. They seem to be leaders and thinkers and morally on the right page. They stand for traditional Christianity and its teachings for the most part.
So Praise the Lord for that!
Peace in the Lord!
Rob Buechler
Wow!
You have to love the diversity of opinion here. One day Katie writes a post and Rob posts a comment reinforcing how wise and knowing Katie is, then, just a few days later Katie writes another post and this time Rob posts a comment letting us know that while Katie is wise and knowing sometimes she's knowing and wise.
Let's hear it for the homeschoolers- they sound just like the kids in Lake Wobegon.
Seriously now.....
Most kids, home-schooled, parochial-schooled, private-schooled, or public schooled are decent, respectful people. Not matter thrie schooling, they tend to be a bit more mischievous in groups than by themselves.
Some are homeschooled because parents don't want their childrn exposed to the culture at large: many of these kids are perfectly well "socialized" as long as they are operating with their limited subculture.
Sadly, in far too many cases that I've seen, kids are homeschooled because they have some learning disability or condition that the parents are not willing to accept or acknowledge: the problem in the parent's mind is with the school not their child. For these kids, I think, homeschooling is a disservice.
Homeschooling should be looked at for what is: an option. It produces neither greater thinkers nor worse on the average. To believe that "they seem to be the leaders and the thinkers" is wishful thinking. In many respects the charge that they are not "socialized" is especially true when homeschooled try to become leaders outside their limited world: their inexperience at dealing with many diverse people hinders the growth of that esoteric quality we refer to as leadership.
Finally, we as Christians ought to follow in the steps of Jesus. Jesus could have become a Pharisee, a high priest, perhaps have gone down as the greatest of teachers in the rabbinic tradition. Or, he could have withdrawn to the aesthetic community of the Essenes: lived a life devoted to prayer. But rather than try to climd the latter os status or withdraw to the community which lived on the outskirts of culture Jesus engaged the culture of his time. He associated with tax collectors who were little better than today;s mafia. He drank and ate and celebrated with people of all walks of life. He rejected the law based "traditional teaching" preaching instead a gospel of repentance, forgiveness, grace. A gospel that holds us responsible to and for our brethren.
Praise the Lord for THAT!
Peace,
Dr. John
I will grant you something here Dr. John. There is something to be said for engaging the culture found at the public school. I came out of public schools, and it helped me stand on the faith because I met so many who were not Christian. I was able to engage them and proclaim the faith at some level.
However, I tend to think that while Home Schooling is not a panacea, it is interesting that so many I run into are more willing to question the a priori assumptions of our society as opposed to those who are in public school who seem to accept whatever drivel might be given them about the wonders and grace of secular humanism (a religious world view disquised as scientific hypothesis or theory).
Peace in the Lord!
Rob Buechler
Well, John, amazingly enough, I don't agree with you. One of the things that drew me to homeschooling was the difference I perceived in the kids I knew who were being homeschooled. After going to my first homeschool convention, I was convinced that was what I wanted for my kids.
I have had the opportunity to teach kids in groups who are homeschooled and who are traditionally schooled. I'll take groups of homeschoolers any day. As a group, they tend to be much more interested in learning and much more willing to accept my authority as a teacher.
That said, I think the key in education and raising great kids is significant parental involvement in the kids' lives. I've seen all kinds of families do a great job because Mom and/or Dad is there for the kids.
Dr. John, you really must not know much about homeschooling to claim that homeschoolers exist in a limited world and that they are inexperienced at dealing with many diverse people. I would say that is much more true of kids educated in a traditional setting. Most of their time is eaten up in class with people of their own age, then after school in sports with people their own age - then they go home to complete hours of homework so they can be ready to start all over again the next day.
Homeschoolers have the opportunity to be out in the community learning and volunteering with people of all types and ages. My kids spent a lot of time over the last several years helping me with my parents in the last years of their lives. They got to know and care about elderly people other than their grandparents. My son does quite a bit of hard labor to raise funds for various church activities. He has gotten to know a lot of members of our church, wealthy and not so wealthy, by helping them get things done. He has learned that not everyone lives like we do. He has also learned that the white haired people he passes in the halls at church have rich and varied life experiences and he finds them fascinating.
Dr. John, you must think it is clever to insult people like you do on this blog, but frankly, it makes you seem insecure. Why don't you just have a conversation without trying to point out how stupid you think we all are?
Katie,
Nothing in my post could be construed as calling you (or even homeschoolers in general stupid). I have tried to present an opposing viewpoint to you in a rational way to have you think about your own post more critically (and hence, improve them). I sincereley doubt you would have created your original post were you not a bit concerned about the socialization issue already. If you can't engage without calling me a troll, accusing me of name-calling, or calling me insecure, there seems to be little reason to continue. Keep reading Free Republic and watching Fox News to convince yourself that you are right and the rest of the world is wrong! Good luck.
Peace
Again, Dr. John, you didn't get my point. Perhaps you don't even realize that your cutting, incisive comments could be perceived as ridicule. I don't feel a need to make fun of the people with whom I disagree when I am having a conversation with them, why do you? Then again, perhaps I struck a nerve somewhere?
Well, I think this has gotten a bit out of hand. Dr. John, Katie didn't call you a troll, monster, leftist, or elitist pig. None of those works or phrases have been used.
As far as the Fox News stuff, I would refer you to the article several articles on her blog that are from....gasp....the New York Times. (Major liberal bias here)
It seems she has no problem going to liberal sources for her news. She just doesn't buy into it. (Gee, I mean this is a conservative blog right?! That would make sense then that she doesn't by into a great deal of the liberal social experiment or the educational system that is currently run by the ultra-revisionist NEA)
As for your posts, I think they have some merit. Obviously you feel quite strongly about some of these issues.
The question I have for you and for others of like mind with you is this: "What would I have to do or say that would change your mind?"
The reason I ask this is because I am more interested in Truth than in simple political rambling. There are some things about which we cannot negotiate (home schooling isn't one of them but abortion is...that was another post in which we disagreed). What would you need to convince you that you are wrong and need to repent?
For me it is a matter of Scripture. Unless it can be proven through Scripture that many of the serious moral problems faced by our country are not sin, and not in need of repentance, I cannot stand anywhere else but against the kind of moral relativism that we find in our schools and in our country.
So Dr. John, what are your non-negotiables, and what do you need in order to change your mind? Depending on these, the discussion on any issue may continue or may end.
Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ!
Rob Buechler
P.S. Yes, I know Katie doesn't need a referee, but I'm an old fashioned guy that doesn't like to see women pushed around by men.
How politically incorrect! ;-)
(You sorta sound like my husband! We used to have a choir director who thought it was appropriate to scream at singers on the telephone when he was displeased with them. He had issues with me as well as my oldest daughter. My husband told him politely but firmly that he was to speak with great respect to members of our family.)
Thank you, Pastor Rob, I appreciate your friendship.
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