| sapphi_snake said: A question for Americans: Can someone please explain how homsechooling works? Who teaches the kids? Can they do this all the way through high school? Do they recieve a diploma? Is it a good ideea in general? |
I can answer this since I was homeschooled for 11 years.
Homeschooling works as follows:
A family decides that they want to homeschool, so they have to get the district public school to sign off on it (it must be approved or its illegal). Once that is done, the family can teach their kids at home, provided they take the same state-level tests once every year or two (I cannot remember which one is the case). To homeschool the family buys ciriculum from various distributors that sell the same or very similar materials that the schools use. As a homeschooler, I used the same math textbooks my wife did when she was in public school.
Generally, the parents teach the kids through homeschool. The state usually desires that someone in the household has a college-level education, but I believe this is not required (but state certified teachers must review the materials and check on the kids to ensure that they are being taught correctly).
Yes, it can be done from kindergarden through high school. In my case, I have never been in a public school setting in my life. The only time(s) I have been there were to take tests like the ACT or other state-level tests to prove I was at an equivilent level of education.
Upon completion you do recieve a diploma. I am unsure how it works in every area of homeschooling, but in my case, we have a local homeschool co-op which has a lot of former school teachers that chose to homeschool their kids. With there being 200 homeschoolers in my area, we have graduation ceremonies like actual schools do, but a much smaller graduation size, obviously (my class had maybe 8 graduates).
As for if homeschooling is a good idea in general - I am probably biased, but I would say 'yes'. Obviously, it is not great for everyone, as it requires a very dedicated set of parents to enforce the ciriculum on the kids, and to instil a school-like set of discipline for the kids. If done properly, homeschooling is usually superior to public schools, as homeschoolers on average are a grade or two ahead of public schoolers. I graduated in 11 years instead of 12, and I started school late (could of graduated in 10, honestly). However, it can be horrible if the parents are doing it for the wrong reasons like religious indoctrination. In my homeschool group, there were a lot of conservative Christians that thought homeschooling would be the best way to train (or in some cases, brainwash) their kids. In those cases, the kids got a great education, but were rather stunted when they came out of the system, and many turned to bad things like drugs, excessive sex, adultery, ect once they got out 'in the world' because they couldn't do many things at home.
So homeschool is a double edged sword. Its not for everyone, but for those seeking a great education by dedicated parents, its far superior to public school, because it provides a dynamic interaction in the student-teacher relationship. In my case, I didn't want regular sports, so my parents let us buy paintball guns and we had paintball teams in the homeschool group for many years. We were allowed to compensate some time in class for running our own businesses, and were allowed to pursue any sort of learning goals we wanted to after class, as classes were much shorter than public school. My entire homeschooling, I spent maybe 3-4hrs a day in studies versus public schools' length of 6-7 hours a day. It was a blast living right beside a school, and being able to play outside, while watching the public school kids being forced to go back into classes 
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
