Homeschool World Forum

[tasha1011]

There are different schools of thought that have impacted our public educational system today. This article asks "What makes for an ideal public school?" You can read about it at

http://www.suite101.com/content/what-makes-for-an-ideal-public-school-a323962

[Theodore]

(fixed your link)

Decent article, but again more of a theoretical overview rather than something that actually gives useful specifics. What we need is an article on what makes a good school (with examples), what makes a bad school (with examples), and how you get from one to the other. I would personally focus on class sizes (reverse correlation to test scores), start time (earlier = worse test scores), teaching methods (phonics and classic math as opposed to "Whole Reading" and "New Math"), discipline (lack of punishment for anything short of killing someone = bad), and rewards (make everyone a "winner" and nobody works hard to be one).
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The Farming Game - Software Edition for Mac and PC
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.

[suzukischool]

I just gone through the article and it really nice i just love it.

[MarcJacobs]

If all educators put a greater effort in enhancing the cognitive abilities of all students through the use of available technologies, facilitating learning through the use of multiple intelligences, and concentrating on content mastery rather than feeding students the necessary information so that they can pass standardized tests.

[cdp]

I would be interested in seeing the difference in quality of schools based on charter vs regular public school, and see if and how much better charter schools are so that the rest can start to mirror them more possibly.

[elliemaejune]

[Theodore]

Charter schools obviously do better with students that have health problems or anxiety attacks or anything that can be made better by studying mostly at home rather than at public school. And in some states they're free to make their own curriculum rather than adhering to the official standard. However, that's only in some states, and the primary difference between charter schools and public schools is that charter schools are not forced to accept every student that applies. Public schools have to deal with the severely handicapped, special needs, children with allergies so bad they can die if they touch something with peanut in it, bullies (until they do something really serious, anyway), etc. All children that in my opinion shouldn't be lumped in with everyone else.

But the important thing to remember is that homeschooling stomps charter schools as well by a huge margin.
_________________
The Farming Game - Software Edition for Mac and PC
The board game has sold over 350,000 copies worldwide, garnered many awards, is used by over 2,000 schools, and is used extensively by homeschoolers.

[1to1tutor]

Just read your article and found it really interesting and useful. If these steps are to be followed then public schools will turn out to be a very useful place of getting right education.
Thank you for posting it!