I'm biased of course, but in my view a great textbook is quality instruction. It's not the same as having an expert in the room with you, but it's still good instruction. You can learn a ton completely on your own from a good book. I don't think you really need an expert until you hit college when you're trying to go into a particular field of expertise yourself.dsheinem wrote: I am sure that it can be a nice thing to have someone teach you who cares about you, but I am quite skeptical of educational experiences where you learn only through independent study and/or only receive high quality instruction in one or two areas of specialty.
I'm only one case, but I got strait A's my first semester at a community college. I didn't come out of a life of homeschooling deficient in a subject.
The best classrooms are hard to come by. Unless your going to a good private school, you're not going to get many good classrooms from what I've heard. Or quality teachers for that matter.dsheinem wrote:All the research guidance and personal care in the world can't substitute for actual expertise, can't provide meaningful experiences in group learning, and can't surpass what you'll find in the best classrooms.
It is rather on the impossible side to have group work.
But you can get group experiences from other activities.
That isn't always feasible financially.dsheinem wrote:Of course if your school district is really shitty I have more sympathy for parents who pull their kids out, but I also think that their time would be better spent making money to send their kid to a private school than to play teacher at home.
Don't take this the wrong way, but there was no playing teacher in my case. It was work. Work over the summer getting the lessons all planned out and thoroughly understood, and work through the school year grading, teaching, and answering questions.
Like I said, I wasn't living in isolation. I still had my share of awkward and/or painful moments.dsheinem wrote:Because we were in the middle of a move, I did 6 months of homeschooling in 5th grade, and that was more than enough for me. I missed the socializing and, in retrospect, even the awkward/hurtful stuff that I faced from time to time ended up making me a better person at adapting to a wide range of social situations (something I've witnessed in very few homeschooled people).
