Re:Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stoppi...
by threeseed on Friday July 01, 2022 @07:50PM
(#31954532)
> was treated pretty terribly at times.
Most people were. But unfortunately you will get treated pretty terribly throughout your life.
And so you need to develop those social skills at some point.
Re:Ask HN: If you’ve considered homeschooling, what’s stoppi...
by steve_adams_86 on Friday July 01, 2022 @08:05PM
(#31954638)
Absolutely. I grew up with a mild disability so it might have been a little worse than average, which is why I mention it. I went through most of grade 3 with a list in in the top right of the chalk board titled “Stupid List”, and for the remainder of the year after it was written, I was the only one on there. These kinds of experiences weren’t uncommon for me.
My sister is a year older and more evidently disabled, and we were obvious targets for the kids we grew up with.
You’re right though. I lived through it fine, I’ve done okay, and the experience informed me about life and people in truly useful ways that I’ve come to value.
Ideally I’d like my kids to avoid the worst of what I experienced, but I don’t want to shelter them by any means. I think there are some forms of prolonged cruelty from peers that risks being very destructive, in particular.
I don’t think we should strive to socialize kids in school. The ones who do okay could probably still do better.
Here in North America it seems like our communities are too fragmented and fractured to facilitate socializing without something like schools, though. No idea how to address and resolve this issue, but I’m not convinced our teachers and the socializing model are anything like ideal for kids.
Not bashing teachers here either. I think they’re often doing their best but are working in the confines of a non-ideal system with limited resources.
I was very keen to get my kids into a private school which had an education model and teachers I was impressed by, but it’s incredibly hard to get in. My kids are eligible to enter, but there’s no space for years. No idea what to do. I’m happy to spend a lot to address this, but even private tutors don’t seem like a viable option here.
I’m just venting at this point. This is a hard problem. My kids are getting a bad education here in Canada and it’s upsetting. I try to do what I can to get them ahead, but I’m a nerd, not a teacher.