My pros and cons list of each

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Redhead
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Postby Redhead » Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:52 pm

I've been reading these boards for a while now and finally decided to post. I actually have taught in public school and private school and am now starting to homeschool my preschoolers.

Frankly, I think all 3 have their own sets of pros and cons--- and those are going to differ from family to family. For example, families in large communities will experience very different situations from those in smaller, rural communities. Also, each family has to decide for itself just what things are really important in education and what things can be sacrificed.

I think no matter what, you'll find that you must generalize if you intend to apply pros and cons to schooling; there will always, always be exceptions.

That said, from my own personal experience with all 3 types of schooling, I'd say the following pros and cons tend to stick out to me with regard to the schools in my area:

Public:
Pros - Variety of social activities provided; Opportunities to deal with a variety of different teaching styles and to learn to adapt to varying expectations; Sense of community
Cons - Exposure to negative socialization greater; High student-teacher ratio; Inability to tailor subjects to student's abilities

Private:
Pros - Generally smaller student-teacher ratios; Opportunities to deal with a variety of different teaching styles and to adapt ot varying expectations; Variety of social activities generally provided, though fewer often than public schools; Sense of community; Scripture-based curricula often applied; Spiritual guidance often available
Cons - Exposure to negative socialization still exists, though to a slightly lesser degree than public schools; Student-teacher ratios higher than homeschool; Financial hardship for many; Secondary teachers often spread too thin in terms of subjects, thus dividing their time and attention

Homeschool:
Pros - Superior student-teacher ratio; Insulation from some of the more negative socialization issues, though there is certainly not absolute protection from them all; Curriculum driven by the student and teacher rather than the curriculum doing the driving; Sense of community possible, provided parents are conscious to provide it; Socialization opportunities available and varied, provided the parents and student seek them and are able to find them in their area
Cons - Financially burdensome to many; Can create family issues (however, for many families, homeschooling brings them closer); Can result in lack of socialization if parents and student make little effort to find activities outside the home; Time consuming, even if the time is worth it in the end

Those are from my own personal experiences. I realize that these are not even applicable points to the person next door to me, let alone to all of you.

We're homeschooling because we wanted a classical education with emphasis on reading, writing, rhetoric, and math/physics. Since I'm certified to teach and we live in a large community with several co-ops in the area, we weren't too concerned about my ability to teach or our ability to ensure our kids are properly socialized. Thankfully, finances are also not a concern.

I guess I just think that people need to look at the things that will affect their child's education - time, money, physical location, emotional issues - and then take a good look at what's available to them.

Thanks to the OP for the interesting post. It allowed me the opportunity to revisit my decision to homeschool.
Redhead
"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." C.S. Lewis

Against Homeschooling
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Postby Against Homeschooling » Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:17 am

Kudos to a well written post by a caring parent. I believe that with your range of experience and obvious willingness to step back and do what is best for your children your experience will be a success. Good luck!

rafismom
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Pros and cons from a newbie on this forum

Postby rafismom » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:18 pm

I have also taught in both public and private schools. In addition I am a seasoned homeschooler, having taught my 4 oldest kids at home years ago (the eldest is now in grad school for individualized curriculum, the second an honors University grad managing a retail store, the third a soph majoring in Japanese, the fourth about to graduate from a public high school and planning to major in child development. All of them went from homeschool, to private religious school, to public high schools of different kinds. We live in the (evil-lol) city.

I will be going back to homeschooling because I am seriously dissatisfied with what both public and charter schools have imposed upon my youngest child who has special needs. In the name of FAPE, they have pretty much concentrated on limiting him even more than need be. My list of pros and cons is:

Public -
Pros- Exposure to diverse students (if you are not in a small homogeneous town)
Extracurriculars
Have to provide special services
More likelihood of advanced curriculum offerings
Free child care for young kids, and some supervision for older ones.
Some level of public accountability

Cons - MOST are far too regimanted and their attendance policies are draconian
Breeding grounds of disease (also lice etc)
Extracurriculars are falling by the wayside as are arts and other non-academics as budgets go to heck'
In most but not all, kids are only seen as numbers and cogs, as the class sizes are too big
I have found all too many totally incompetent teachers. But maybe that is just me.
Bullying is endemic
Majority culture for the school rules, if you aren't it, it is a constant battle.
Private-Pros
Usually have smaller classes
May have teachers who are more than minimally competent
Parents usually have some clout if things are not going well.

Cons
COST
I have found much negative peer pressure and bullying
Poor at providing accomodations for special needs - and do not even have to pretend they are
Majority culture for the school rules, if you aren't it, it is a constant battle.

Charter Pros
Free
Usually smaller class sizes than public
Provide most of special services that public do, and can do them better
More parent imput than in public
Often have a specialized focus so students can pursue interests

Cons
Less accountability than public schools
Most have really high level of hype - hard to tell what is real
Parent complacency since it is not a public school
Majority culture for the school rules, if you aren't it, it is a constant battle.

Home Pros
Flexible
Students can pursue interests
Workload can be tailored to physical abilities of the student
Closer to real life - students socialize with a wide range of ages etc not just a limited group of kids their age, and many options available
Costs can be controlled through used materials, library use, etc.
Parents can easily incorporate personal ethics and minority cultural norms

Cons
Challenging to fit in paid work with the schooling
costly - re: childcare and work time
Can be tiring
Need to look for some resources for special needs and extracurriculars.

Jane in MN

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Re: My pros and cons list of each

Postby carsmom » Tue May 22, 2007 11:29 am


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