Most of you know we're a little homeschool nuts in our family. My mom grilled Michael on it the first time he ever met my family, and he held up well. Since then he's gotten on the bandwagon and we can't wait until Jed has enough cognitive ability that we can start turning him into a nerd.
We've been following this week's events in California with interest. Along those lines, I found this interesting statistic, which I think encapsulates our family's experience more than any other:
'In a survey of adults who had been homeschooled for at least seven years, 59 percent said they were "very happy" with life, while only 27.6 percent of the general population said that they were "very happy" with life.'
Sounds like socialization worked out, after all.
Patience
9 years ago
5 comments:
I did not know this. I was only homeschooled for a year and a half, but did you go all the way through high school? Did you miss out on extracurricular stuff?
Brad has all of a sudden been very very interested in it. Before I couldn't even get him to consider it. He thought it made people socially retarded. (Thanks, honey.) But he must be feeling some desperation. You should see the schools here in Carlsbad.
Interesting stat! I saw a tv special on a study that says that Denmark is the happiest country on earth. so maybe if you were homeschooled in Denmark you would be among the happiest people in the whole wide world!!! ;)
If you will forgive me for being painfully honest, I do have to say that only about 1 out of 10 of the homeshooled folk I've met were well-socially adjusted. (The 1 was you V!). But since I was private schooled and turned out a socially strange nerd myself, my opinion may not count for anything! ;) I have no fears at all for Jed! :D
In another survey of adults that I read about, it said that 100% of Denmarkians who had no schooling whatsoever were happy. So skip school and go live in Denmark.
Your comment made me laugh, Shiloh. All the kids I grew up with think I'm a freaky weirdo. :c) I wear weird clothes, read weird books, eat weird foods and have my babies in big blow up pools in my living room. That's weird.
But I bet you know a lot more homeschoolers than you think you do, they just don't usually advertise. One day, we were sitting around our living room with the home teachers we'd had for a while when the topic of schooling came up... and it turned out that everyone there, except Michael, had been homeschooled. And we'd known each other for months and months and months! Some current estimates figure that as many as one out of every 10 kids in the USA is homeschooled. They just tend to travel in different circles than traditionally educated kids, and later in life they integrate with the rest of society.
But, I suppose, my point here was to say that even if other people think they are weird, homeschoolers are really happy with who they are, and I personally think that counts for a lot. If you can just be happy with who you are, life opens up into a million joyful possibilities. That's exactly what most homeschooled parents want for their children.
And don't worry, I'm already turning Jed into a freak. His favorite food is falafel. ha ha ha ha ha ha! V
Hey Vanessa (and I guess everyone else) I have been reading John Holt non stop for 2 weeks now, with some additional anti-status-quo authors mixed it and I would just like to say that institutionalized school is crap. (do you allow that word on this blog?- I must be serious to use such a word) Anyway, anyone who was not homeschooled has been cheated!! I want my money back!! Jed and Thomas can hang out in happy-weirdness (as if no public school kid came out weird) in the beautiful homeschool utopia of the future. I need to call you next week.
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