I did homeschool for 4 years and I loved it. I got to customise my kids' education to their interests and, more importantly, I had an opportunity to personally teach them all those life skills (cooking, cleaning, finance) that schools historically fail at. And it worked; at my school only about a quarter of the kids even pass the standardised test for math and about half for reading and writing while my kids both got 80%+.
There are two reasons they went back.
One, they wanted to. It's where their friends are, where they make plans, and where they create their own cultural context. It would have been great if their friends' parents were willing to homeschool as well, but I was never able to convince them.
Two, it's not just about my kids. My kids are going to grow up into a world where everyone else is retarded and they at least need to learn how to deal with retards. I do my best to make sure they understand the system they're in but I can't protect them forever; one day they're going to have to deal with this mess. School is a decent place to cut their teeth because there's zero consequences. They can do anything they want because the admins know me and don't even bother to call if they just don't show up at school for half a week. My oldest led his class in ridiculing the queer sex ed lessons they were getting and I sent a letter explaining everything stupid about what they were doing; they didn't even reply.
What I've learned is: getting the school to do things right is almost impossible for the same reason I, and my kids, can basically get away with anything. They are checked out as fuck. Nobody in the school system give a single crap about anything but their next paycheck. They've created systems that let them appear to be doing their jobs while they do sweet fuck all. I don't jump through a single hoop and they've completely given up even asking me to.
My solution is to do everything I can, including via my kids, to raise burnout rates.
Wouldn't it be easier to just... Homeschool?
If you know the teachers are subversive cunts why bother with all the hoops?
Excellent question.
I did homeschool for 4 years and I loved it. I got to customise my kids' education to their interests and, more importantly, I had an opportunity to personally teach them all those life skills (cooking, cleaning, finance) that schools historically fail at. And it worked; at my school only about a quarter of the kids even pass the standardised test for math and about half for reading and writing while my kids both got 80%+.
There are two reasons they went back.
One, they wanted to. It's where their friends are, where they make plans, and where they create their own cultural context. It would have been great if their friends' parents were willing to homeschool as well, but I was never able to convince them.
Two, it's not just about my kids. My kids are going to grow up into a world where everyone else is retarded and they at least need to learn how to deal with retards. I do my best to make sure they understand the system they're in but I can't protect them forever; one day they're going to have to deal with this mess. School is a decent place to cut their teeth because there's zero consequences. They can do anything they want because the admins know me and don't even bother to call if they just don't show up at school for half a week. My oldest led his class in ridiculing the queer sex ed lessons they were getting and I sent a letter explaining everything stupid about what they were doing; they didn't even reply.
What I've learned is: getting the school to do things right is almost impossible for the same reason I, and my kids, can basically get away with anything. They are checked out as fuck. Nobody in the school system give a single crap about anything but their next paycheck. They've created systems that let them appear to be doing their jobs while they do sweet fuck all. I don't jump through a single hoop and they've completely given up even asking me to.
My solution is to do everything I can, including via my kids, to raise burnout rates.
It depends on the size of the community. His work potentially benefits dozens of other families.