Anecdotally, most current or former homeschooled kids I meet seem pretty socially awkward. I wonder if It’s because the miss-out on the opportunity to learn how to socialize properly as children. But maybe I’m being too critical, idk.

  • Flagstaff@programming.dev
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    2 days ago

    Homeschooling means that the government can’t verify that the education the children receive is up to standards set by the department of education.

    Well… They do tests. They’re sent to outside test centers so no one can cheat for them and mask their incompetence or something. Doesn’t everyone periodically run tests to ensure they’re on track?

    EDIT: Wow, I’ve been misled… Thanks for the enlightenment, everyone. I used to work with homeschooled students. Maybe the vetting quality was better back then or something…

    • stoy@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      You mean the national tests?

      Sure, we have those, they take place in your normal school at the same time all over the country.

      Ok, say a child is homeschooled for five years, and then fails a national test, that means that they have effectively lost a lot of their best time to learn, and they need to retake the subjects to catch up.

      Proper schooling allows for students with special needs to get extra help.

      I was one of those students, I was on the spectrum of having light autism, possibly some ADHD/ADD and similar stuff, I got an assistant teacher in school for several years, and even went to a smaller class specifically tailored towards students with my kind of mental issues, as I grew up I became more independent and learned to live with my difficulties, these days I don’t consider myself to have any real problems from my earlier diagnosis, and can even use them to my advantage.

      I got the help I needed, when I needed it, while attending mostly normal classes and getting socialize with fellow students.

      The socializing part was hugely important for my development, without that I would not have been able to go as far as I have.

      When I look at homeschooling, I see it as parents denying their children a proper education, often to force their own warped worldview onto their children, this obviously comes from someone who experienced a well functioning school, even if I was bullied at times.

      TL;DR: Testing only shows the result of time spent in education, it can’t catch students as they are about to fall through the cracks as a proper teacher can during lessons, this means that a homeschooled student that fails the test has lost a lot of opportunities to get extra help during their schooling.

    • Hazor@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I was homeschooled in the US and no such testing was required, and it still is not required in my state. I think it absolutely should be required if homeschooling is going to continue to be allowed.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      You say this but I know someone homeschooled for years who learned next to nothing and is ruined for life because instead of having lessons for hours every day, he played videogames. You’re suggesting he could not have gotten away with that, but he certainly did.