Home School vs Public School

[SeaniBu]

Should Ice skaters be home schooled or attend public school?

Someone said they thought it was better to have one, so I thought let's see what the general consensus is.

For some I don't see how it is possible not to go the Home school rout. ie. travel and such. Or a limited attendance. Also I think some might decide on this for safety reasons anymore. Well that and spending time with their child.

Anyway what are your thoughts on what is best for skaters or even in general?

 

[nubka]

I voted for home school, because I homeschool my 15 year old daughter!

 

[Kasey]

For regular kids, I would say public school. But for someone who is at a world-class level in sport, I think homeschooling or something similar is probably the easier way to go, with all the travel and training.

 

[gio]

I'm against home-schooling. Kids have to be together, study, learn and play together!

 

[luvsasha]

umm...i'm homeschooled and have been for a very long time...and i am with kids my own age alot.. so i'm going to have to disagree. I go to a private school one day a week and learn about chemistry, history. We do debates, plays, christmas programs...
I know not every homeschooling does what my family does, but there are a lot of homeschoolers that are not secluded.

 

[julietvalcouer]

Home school. They can meet other kids at the rink (at least that's how it works around here.)

And I would have said "day school" or something like that rather than "public school." If I ever have children, if I decide not to homeschool, I would send them to private and/or parochial school. I went to public school and I'm not subjecting any kid to that.

 

[Mathman]

I'm moving this thread to the Voting Booth folder. When you put polls in the Edge, Cafe, etc., that causes a slight problem because every time someone votes, that sends the thread up to the top. If there are many threads with polls, that pushes all the other topics down and eventually off the first page altogether.

MM

 

[SeaniBu]

Sorry, I thought the Voting Booth was only for Skating related voting.:agree: Don't know why I thought that.

 

[Piel]

Public schools all the way for everyone. IMO people who think public schools are not good enough for their little princes/princesses should their time and energy into helping make public schools better for everyone. Children grow up and have to function in a public world mommy and daddy can't protect them from real life forever.

 

[CzarinaAnya]

Homeschool. If they want to be at the top, they have a fighting chance to do that and still have good grades.

I would have loved to have been homeschooled. Especially with an anxiety disorder! I would've been more concentrated on my work, that's for sure.

 

[Piel]

Homeschool. If they want to be at the top, they have a fighting chance to do that and still have good grades.

I would have loved to have been homeschooled. Especially with an anxiety disorder! I would've been more concentrated on my work, that's for sure.

And why would someone not have a chance to be at the top and have good grades in public schools? You have to live, work, and compete in the real world, not a sheltered home environment.

 

[Tonichelle]

Public schools all the way for everyone. IMO people who think public schools are not good enough for their little princes/princesses should their time and energy into helping make public schools better for everyone. Children grow up and have to function in a public world mommy and daddy can't protect them from real life forever.

Mommy and daddy didn't protect me from anything by home schooling me, but having a science teacher that didn't teach squat (oh wait, I did learn that according to researchers 'black' labs were the most intelligent creatures on the earth, and that snow machiening proves you're an Alaskan... oh and that my dad is a jerk.... yeah learned a great deal from Hobart's 9th Grade Science) , and a principal who thought 'sex education' meant teaching all the wonderful sexual positions one's body can get into proved that sometimes public school isn't the best option...

for me, it didn't work as well as it probably could have, but pulling me out after 10 years of public school was a difficult adjustment...

I don't knock the system, but I don't think it's for everyone... homeschooling has this phobia surrounding it that it's just for the super strict super structure super weird... but it's not... it's just a choice. Some kids do better at home than they do at school and still become successful people away from mommy and daddy...

on the opposite side some of the biggest babies in the world were in public school...

 

[JonnyCoop]

I think it depends on the parents. Since we're talking "skater education" here, basically, can you imagine LaVonna Harding, Pat Lipinski, or Jana Bobek HOMESCHOOLING???????

 

[Kwanford Wife]

You know, I think I'd vote for a combo of the two... Most elite skaters are extremely driven and Type A... the work ethic it takes to compete at that level is crazy insane... It would seem to me that maybe a half day set up would work as a balance...

As for home-schooling in general, I think it just depends on the child, the parents and the community support network. I loved school, even middle school and while it wasn't always sunshine & roses, I enjoyed interacting with my peers, working on extra curricular activities, participating in sports and of course giggling with my friends over cute boys. I also learned to ignore stupid teachers and hold my own with mean girls and stupid boys. I'm not sure if I would've been this equipped to deal with life if I'd been totally focused on a sport or spending that much time with my mom.... whether it was educational or not. (shrugs...)

Watching my social-director, soccer playing son, I know that home schooling would never work for him... He can't stand to be apart from the action. As he grows up, if school became an issue with his soccer playing, I think I err on the side of overscheduling and overstimulation... My goal is to raise a well adjusted, intellegent and confident young man ready for real life... not necessarily the next Thierry Henry. But if by chance the young menace does grow up to become an elite athlete, I'd be nervous to communicate the message that school can wait and winning is everything... But that's just me and what works for my family wouldn't work for everybody else's....

 

[Mathman]

What exactly is the reason for home schooling for hopeful elite athletes? Is it that regular school takes too much valuable time away from what's really important? Is it because you can't train your sport 10 hours a day and have any time left over for school?

If home schooling is schooling at all, doesn't it take just as much time away from your busy schedule as school schooling? Is home schooling just another name for no schooling?

Is your son or daughter that one person in a million who really is going to play in the NBA one day, and so doesn't have to know anything? Or is he one of the 999,999 who turn out to be just pretty good?

If you are the student/athlete, does your mom really know as much about chemistry as your chemistry teacher? As much about algebra as your algebra teacher? As much about French literature as your French literature teacher? Do you know enough about these subjects to teach yourself?

You only have one shot at getting an education. I think it's a slippery slope to leave it in the hands of well-meaning amateurs like your big sister.

JMO.

 

[Mathman]

Apropos of nothing, do you guys know that the word "school" comes from the Greek word for "leisure time?" That is, if you are so rich and noble that you don't have to work for a living, you can go to "school" and devote your time to improving your mind.

"Liberal" as in "liberal arts" means the same thing. Liberal means free, and the liberal arts are those studies undertaken by people who are free of the economic burden of earning a living.

Vocational training was called, classically, the artes illiberalis.

See, if you go to school you can learn cool stuff like that!

 

[gio]

See, if you go to school you can learn cool stuff like that!

:agree:

I'm proud that I have the possibility to go to school. When my old aunt told me that instead of going to school she had to go with the cows to feed them and she was so sad because of this, I'm really happy that I had (and have with university) the possibility to go to school.

 

[passion]

What exactly is the reason for home schooling for hopeful elite athletes? Is it that regular school takes too much valuable time away from what's really important? Is it because you can't train your sport 10 hours a day and have any time left over for school?

If home schooling is schooling at all, doesn't it take just as much time away from your busy schedule as school schooling? Is home schooling just another name for no schooling?

Is your son or daughter that one person in a million who really is going to play in the NBA one day, and so doesn't have to know anything? Or is he one of the 999,999 who turn out to be just pretty good?

If you are the student/athlete, does your mom really know as much about chemistry as your chemistry teacher? As much about algebra as your algebra teacher? As much about French literature as your French literature teacher? Do you know enough about these subjects to teach yourself?

You only have one shot at getting an education. I think it's a slippery slope to leave it in the hands of well-meaning amateurs like your big sister.

JMO.

I know of a skater who does schooling part day and skating 25 hours per week. IMHO, I have not seen any improvements in her skating at all. OTOH, another skater I know of does normal school all day and her skating has improved by leaps and bounds.

 

[passion]

I don't think you can learn everything from home nor everything from school. However, I also think that going to school has opportunities that simply cannot be simulated by not going to school. And I also think that going to school is a privilege that should not be wasted because once you start working, you wish that you could be in school again. (Boy, I miss the days of university!).

One issue that I would be worried about is that if my skating daughter were to just meet friends in skating and everything is skating, her life becomes too narrow. I want my daughter to be well rounded and have a host of life experiences.

 

[SeaniBu]

See, if you go to school you can learn cool stuff like that!

OMG you are so funny. Interesting info in that post.

In some cases I think Parents are control freaks that want to have rein over there children's lives. Some cases I think the parents don't trust the school system to do a good job. Some cases I think parents don't want their children to learn the sometimes opinionated and occasionally irrelevant aspects - such as Toni was pointing out. In some cases I think they don't feel their child is safe in public schools. In some cases religion is the biggest issue. Etc....

In both stances I can see the point of either. It really is the freedom we fight to defend a choice for our children and what influences they have.

If I never went to a public school chances are really good that in never would have met that 10 grader who got me into the "bad crowd." But on the same notion I never would have grown with that experience either. But on the same notion, I am very lucky to have survived / lived through it. Yet my body and mind are likely not in as "good as shape" as they could be either.

That got me put into a school for juvenile delinquents - small classes of 5 or so, where I accelerated above all in the system (4.0 in the Juvie school) and wound up graduating with honors from a public school - go figure. But from that I learned how to work the system so once I went back in - just before 11th - I knew how to get the most of it. And likely finished with a gpa of 3.81 from a 2.1 in 7th because I now knew how to work with the system. - even thought I couldn't spell my way out of a paper bag , could talk the talk.

Basically there are going to be "repercussion / benefits" to either one. The matter of how it will turn out is subject to the individual.

As far as subject matter or quality of educational material, there are new sources and grading systems that are coming into play that are available to the home school just as the public have.

I have met total spoiled brats and wonderfully mannered kids from both "schools."

In the case of skaters in particular, I think they answer to the "higher education gods" of the public school system in most cases just as I have heard of some of the home schooled children.

Brings to mind - not just what happened to - the community in Pennsylvania and what their "school sys" would be considered. I guess they feel this is the right thing to do for their children that the parents feel will best prepare them for the life the parents want them to pursue, and the influence they do not want to have. I see that as control and wishful thinking with a borderline "brain wash" but still JUST MY OPINION.

IMO Public schools are an experience every child should have for a while, but there are factors that after the experience may create a necessity for change. Really, most of all, I believe families should have the right to choose, and in some cases either way it will be a mistake just as likely as it will work out just fine. It is the right of the family to be stupid or smart - both of which are subject to opinion.

Life is governed by relativity.