Talking about the kids in the OP's first post and parents that don't do anything.
The thing I can't understand is, I look at myself now as an adult, I have so many interests that I could learn about and want to learn about- like I'd like to learn Japanese for example- but I still would take a class in order to learn it, I would find it more difficult for me to just study on my own. I would also love to take some art classes and learn more about art history. But I still find it hard to just sit down and study art history on my own, maybe it's lack of self discipline. But don't we all lack that to some degree? So I don't understand how a child is expected to just sit down and learn skills to use in order to an earn a living in life or further develop their talents all on his/her own if I can't even do it as an adult.
I admit they're at a disadvantage if the parents don't foster a learning environment, but still, they don't live in a closet. They'll learn something. It's the way humans are.
Well I'm sure they will learn something- my grandmother who only went to school until 8th grade is more intelligent than a lot of people with college degrees, because she has been reading a lot all of her life. So I understand that you can learn a lot on your own just by satisfying your curiosity. But she still worked at a factory practically as an unskilled laborer making barely enough to survive and lived a difficult life. So, while I agree that you can be intelligent you are still at a disadvantage in today's world unless you have some kind of either formal education or a skill that you learn by practicing and being taught.
Start working on it. You can fully learn katakana and hiragana in 2-5 days if you try. Kanji takes time, but you could learn several a week. Speaking is harder because you need someone to help you and practice with. That's where I was blocked - There are no classes I can take for it around here.
Originally Posted by strange_wings
Learning is very dependent on learning style, which is where schools fail in some areas, too. They don't address that some kids learn very differently. However, say those that learn from actually doing, won't be able to pick up some information at home. If you tried to order the chemicals needed for some chemistry experiments, now, you'd get flagged by Homeland Security and who knows who would show up at your door.
I don't know. One thing to consider is that a lot of non-traditionally educated people are wildly non-conformist and may choose career paths that don't require further schooling (un-jobbing! There's a book about it if you're curious). So it may be that many homeschoolers/unschoolers don't even try to get into college. I'll see if I can find something. I've never known anyone who was turned down for college, no matter what their early schooling choices were, but I'll see if I can find stats for that, too.
In the past social was an issue... Now I can only speak for where I live now , but they have more home school trips and social days than most schools. They are very organized which is something as a child I did not see with my home schooled friends...
Wow! Homeschoolers in your state get a computer and internet service? That's awesome. We never got anything. Homeschoolers in this state don't get anything (except hassles).
I have plenty (!) of opinions that differ from those of my parents. I'm pretty sure that's just something that happens to most kids at a certain age. Unless a parent prevents all contact with people and ideas from outside the family (might happen sometimes, though I think that's a deeper issue, independent of schooling choices), the kids will find their own opinions at some point.
Those using the "new" home school based on public education often do get a computer( free if at the right income or below) ... At least here that is how ... Internet maybe for those who did not have prior .
