My children are smart. Unfortunately, this means the schools do not know what to do with them.
Why?
Because schools cannot afford to educate the child. Instead, they must meet minimum test scores. My children meet those test scores without instruction, so they receive no instruction.
It's quite simple really.
As a result, school is very similar to the military, or a factory. Come in, learn your role, do your role, go home.
There is no room for thinking. There is no room for learning beyond the curriculum.
How can America innovate if we never learn anything new?
We cannot. We can only be workers. Slaves to corporate interests.
My 12 year-old created this one afternoon out of two broken laptops and plans to load it with Linux =P
He is a genius by IQ tests. He also nearly failed 6th grade, despite 'meeting competencies'
Congratulations, your son learned nothing this year!
I can continue sending him to school, where he will learn how to properly do homework and take computerized tests, or I can home school him where he could think of a way to build eco-friendly technology.
As a parent, the decision is clear, but what about the other children that are falling through the cracks? What about the millions of bright minds whose parents don't have the time to notice?
If we continue on this track of public education, we will have a generation of sheeple, who retweet what their told and are afraid to dream. How is that even remotely okay?
You Are So Right Homeschooling Is Better ! Public Education Is There To Propagandize Your Children To Be Communists ! To Box Their Minds In A Wall Of Group Think ! Public Education Is There To Take Away All Free Thought From Children To Make Them Slaves To The State !
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The hard part is that homeschooling can be expensive... If you're teaching, you're not working... I was hoping it would be better for my son because he loves learning -- but honestly, it has been 9months of babysitting, stress from repetitive homework and free lunch =( It wasn't great 30 years ago either, but now it has sincerely gotten out of hand. ...
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Do you do the classical style of homeschooling or are you more towards unschooling? Or perhaps a mix of both? The beauty is that there are no rules here- If you pulled him out of school, a period of deschooling would be ideal. Let him do nothing for a month. Then think about what he's interested in and go with that. Have you read John Taylor Gatto's work? If not, I highly recommend his book- they changed my life before I even had kids, when kids weren't even on the radar. After reading Dumbing Us Down I thought, "If I had kids one day ... No way am I sending them to school."
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So, interestingly enough... yes and yes. =) And no deschooling necessary.. this was actually his first year in "school," and he didn't really catch on..LOL. My son was unschooled until the age of compulsory education (8 where I live) then we home-schooled him via a public virtual school program for a few months, until they accused him of cheating (because he couldn't possibly be that smart). He was eight, never attended school and could multiply and read and write. He looked so sad when he asked me why the teacher never let him answer questions.. So from there a private school for gifted children... until it got too expensive.. then unschooled again for two years. This was our first attempt at a traditional public school due to my health combined with my needing to work =( He's now old enough to not require adult supervision, so perhaps we can reconsider it, but we are definitely not doing high school. Nope.
I've read John Taylor Gatto's work and was moved by it as well. I think it makes complete sense. My bigger problem was the need to work, and my son's growing loneliness. He likes school for the social aspect but says his brain hurts from having to sit through it. He loves being around other highly intelligent children, but I am finding that these children are slowly dropping off of the radar. I also virtual schooled and unschooled his older sister between 8 and 14, but she opted to attend a (sorta)traditional high school and is currently applying to college to study music.
My youngest are now 4 and 5, and I am sending them to a traditional school (perhaps until age 8), but I do my best to unschool as much as possible and I will likely homeschool them after they learn the fundamentals, because, honestly, it doesn't seem to be getting better.
Who knew educating your children would be such a challenge, huh?
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Communists? Are you serious or is this a typo? Or maybe you live in a communist state? Really don't get this, i would have said capitalists there... With love...
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