That's patently ridiculous. What the public education system needs is not an overhaul, it is support from everyone. The problem with public education is not a fundamental flaw. The problem is that kids go to school and nothing of what they learn is reinforced at home. Not enough parents realize they are an essential part of the education process and take no interest in what they do. Public education works across Europe and Asia, what about it isn't working here?

I'm going to say another problem is No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the extraneous and ridiculous assessing that requires. NCLB makes teachers accountable for things they shouldn't be accountable for. Yes, they should be teac...

That's patently ridiculous. What the public education system needs is not an overhaul, it is support from everyone. The problem with public education is not a fundamental flaw. The problem is that kids go to school and nothing of what they learn is reinforced at home. Not enough parents realize they are an essential part of the education process and take no interest in what they do. Public education works across Europe and Asia, what about it isn't working here?

I'm going to say another problem is No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the extraneous and ridiculous assessing that requires. NCLB makes teachers accountable for things they shouldn't be accountable for. Yes, they should be teaching children to read. They should be doing everything in their power to do that. That is, after all, their job. But it's a doctor's job to make us well and if a patient dies or gets worse, you can't hold the doctor accountable. There are no "mal-outcome" lawsuits. What do exist are "malpractice suits." If your doctor does everything in his or her power to fix you and you wind up dead, she is safe. She has done everything she needed to. If she has goofed up and left a pair of scissors inside you or something, then malpractice is applicable.

The same should be true for teachers. We try our hardest and use a variety of methods to teach but, and this probably won't be a popular statement, some kids are just dumb. Or they aren't getting reinforcement at home.

Education does not start and stop at school doors.

Personally, I am a graduate of the public school system. I continue to love learning and I'm currently giving back by teaching Spanish full time at my old high school.

I think you're addressing a correct issue, but your solution doesn't match up.

We became homeschoolers for a variety of reasons. One was that we were spending 2-4 hrs a night on homework. It was ridiculous. The kids spend all day in school, then have to spend their family time doing more schoolwork. They are burned out. School killed her curiousity.

I was having to reteach what was covered in class. Not all kids learn the same way. After we started HSing, we covered a lesson in 15 minutes. 5-6 subjects a day, we were through by noon, then my daughter could spend the rest of the day doing what she wanted. Most of the time, it was more schoolwork. Only this time, it was fun, instead of a drudgery. Her curiousity came back. Btw, she passed her tests and w...

We became homeschoolers for a variety of reasons. One was that we were spending 2-4 hrs a night on homework. It was ridiculous. The kids spend all day in school, then have to spend their family time doing more schoolwork. They are burned out. School killed her curiousity.

I was having to reteach what was covered in class. Not all kids learn the same way. After we started HSing, we covered a lesson in 15 minutes. 5-6 subjects a day, we were through by noon, then my daughter could spend the rest of the day doing what she wanted. Most of the time, it was more schoolwork. Only this time, it was fun, instead of a drudgery. Her curiousity came back. Btw, she passed her tests and will graduate high school this summer. She learned and retained more than she would have in school.

Not everyone can homeschool. It's a lot of work on the parent's part. Very rewarding. Not to mention, I got a renewed education. I paid attention this time

One of the main problems that we were forced to deal with that forced us to decide to homeschool my 9 year old, who is now 17 and is getting ready to get his high school diploma (with excellent grades, I might add, through a course of online high school study from home over the last three years), was that although he did excellent in reading. writing, and comprehension classes, he did poorly in math classes. He always had homework and it was always math. When asked why the school always complained about his being disruptive in class (during grammer/writing tests where he was the first to finish), why didn't the teacher help him find something else to do to keep him occupied (you know, like...

One of the main problems that we were forced to deal with that forced us to decide to homeschool my 9 year old, who is now 17 and is getting ready to get his high school diploma (with excellent grades, I might add, through a course of online high school study from home over the last three years), was that although he did excellent in reading. writing, and comprehension classes, he did poorly in math classes. He always had homework and it was always math. When asked why the school always complained about his being disruptive in class (during grammer/writing tests where he was the first to finish), why didn't the teacher help him find something else to do to keep him occupied (you know, like math tutoring), we were told that there wasn't enough time for the teacher to work on that issue (funny, they could sit on my kid for talking, but they couldn't sit on him with a math book...). Hey, never one to be accused of not being an understanding person, it occurred to me that obviously the school system couldn't handle the needs of my child, so I took the responsibility upon myself. It took hardly any time at all to teach and help him retain his math skills and now he is tutoring other kids (who go to public high school, btw) on their math courses. If it is my responsibility as a parent to "reteach" my kid things a professional should have taught them hours before, then why don't I just take on the full responsibility and prove to my kid how important his education is to me? The school should be thanking me for helping keep down class size (while continuing to pay property/school taxes). Teaching my child at home gives the teachers a few more minutes to spend on the kids whose parents must use the public school system. In the meantime, my kids get to hang out in an educational environment where they can speak up whenever they like and learn whatever they wish and hang out with their friends whenever they like without benefit of bells and periods.

Not everyone who homeschools does so for religious reasons. I am an atheist. Although religion is discussed in our household, it is not part of our "curriculum". I travel and give speeches in homeschool circles and I have NEVER met any homeschoolers who taught "against" evolution, although I have met plenty of homeschoolers who wanted to teach the bible as part of their child's education.

My mother was a public school teacher for 12 years and recently whined to me about how she wished that she had been allowed to teach the bible in school! I recently read a blog post on another site where the author remembers one of his teacher's, praying in a public school classroom, on Sept. 11, 2001...

Not everyone who homeschools does so for religious reasons. I am an atheist. Although religion is discussed in our household, it is not part of our "curriculum". I travel and give speeches in homeschool circles and I have NEVER met any homeschoolers who taught "against" evolution, although I have met plenty of homeschoolers who wanted to teach the bible as part of their child's education.

My mother was a public school teacher for 12 years and recently whined to me about how she wished that she had been allowed to teach the bible in school! I recently read a blog post on another site where the author remembers one of his teacher's, praying in a public school classroom, on Sept. 11, 2001. I could also go on about all the sexual harassment and molestation and even drugs and other manipulations going on by "persons of trust" (including principals and teachers) in the public school system. As a homeschool parent I am less worried about my homeschooling neighbor teaching her children that they were designed by a divine creator than I am hearing from a public school parent that their principal was just arrested for molesting some of the girls on a school field trip (and there have been plenty of stories like that in my neck of the woods).

What I'm trying to say is that for every story of fear people can relate about homeschooling, I can also relate a story of fear about the public school system. I prefer to err on the side of caution and take my constitutional (and for some a "god-given right") to actually choose how/where my children will be educated and I am willing to take full responsibility whether they learn or not.

A lot of parents I know can't imagine homeschooling their kids. Personally, I can't imagine ever sending my two youngest children to a public school.