Many parents are now considering the option of home school. In May the number was 40% and that rose to 60% in July. Those numbers are higher than they have ever been. I am linking both the May and July articles and also including another poll as well.
From May https://www.federationforchildren.org/national-poll-40-of-families-more-likely-to-homeschool-after-lockdowns-end/
From July
https://fee.org/articles/back-to-school-no-thanks-say-millions-of-new-homeschooling-parents/
Here is the poll. After the lockdowns lift what will your choice be for your kids. If you don't have children give me your thoughts in the replies
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I have no school aged children.
But I do help raise and teach, my neighbors, 8 & 11.
They have been home schooled their whole life.
They are extremely motivated kids. In good health both emotionally and in education. But it has taken my whole neighborhood to do this.
Without the resources of a small village, I don't think this would be the case.
@corlin
Good point. Home schooling is simply not an option for low income and/or single-parent households without significant outside supports.
Trends like this concern me, because they further inequalities in our education system.
Yes.
In many discussions with the parents of children that are good friends with my neighbor kids. Home schooling is just about impossible. At best bad education, and bad socialization. There is a growing movement to form "School Pods". 5 to 8 kids of appropriate age, sharing home schooling. Thus lowering the burden on any one parent. But this is still the blind leading the blind.
And of course an opportunity for economic abuse.
@corlin
Then there's the consideration that no matter how outstanding the home school instructor may be, they can't possibly be an expert in all areas of specialization. Consider the arts, PE, etc.
@LibertySpeaks @voltronic @corlin
The thing that gets to me about all of this is way back in the 1990s I was stuck far from any relatives in a rural area with a husband on extended deployment and a child who was chronically ill but not hospitalized and had to work. We had no internet and the school would send work home with siblings it was just paper sheets and books. This situation, all of it, has been true for some kids for years just not whole classes and schools. The US sucks at this.
@LibertySpeaks @voltronic @corlin
I absolutely agree it takes a village. I had a village of people who's spouses were deployed and nurses working odd shifts that we all traded daycare and shifts auto maintenance and meal cooking. Now that I live in a middle class neighborhood i have this is foreign idea to most US people that have more income. I giggled when @Qbae posted this it's so true.
@Klaatu_Veratta_Nectarine you may find the post i just linked eye opening @voltronic @corlin @Qbae
@LibertySpeaks @voltronic @corlin @Qbae One of neighbors we relied on a lot had some grandchildren sometimes but he had his wife at home in a hospital bed and could not leave her. It ties into our whole dysfunctional healthcare system in a lot of ways. Prisons are used for mental health, schools are used for daycare. And people who care for people tbat don't "produce" a product with a dollar value in the US are paid very badly and not valued. I'm afraid teachers will get the short end now.
@LibertySpeaks @voltronic @corlin @Qbae This is why they won't pay to educate cops or pay them anything. They don't "produce" but the prison system.... Now that's privatized. You can put a monetary value on that.
@LibertySpeaks Thank goodness my kids are out of school. If they were not I would keep them home. There should be a unified option for this for all. Each district is struggling with these decisions & remediation alone.
@LibertySpeaks Morning LS! Homeschooling would be the only option I would consider if I had kids. Doesn't make sense to send kids to school until there is a safe vaccine in their arms.
@LibertySpeaks I can't answer your polls. I have no children in the Education system. But since the college that hosts my program has decided to go totally virtual, I have no choice but to present my program for high school students totally virtual.