Oklahoma Homeschool Convention

[okiemom]

I think I'm the only homeschool parent here but just in case.

Oklahoma Homeschool Convention
5-6 May 2006
Cox Convention Center


http://www.ochec.com/index.html

[Midtowner]

Are there any standards when it comes to homeschooling kids? Do they have to pass any tests? I ask this because many of the homeschoolers I've known over the years have been functionally illiterate dullards.

On the other hand, I know a few completely brilliant people who received a first-rate education at home. It goes both ways, but it seems really hit or miss.

[bandnerd]

Yes, Midtowner, there are standards. The kids do have to take some sort of test now and then.

I will say that out of my students, the best writer out of the freshman class was home schooled. AND he has pretty normal social skills to boot. Sometimes he's a little odd, but most of the time he does about as well as any other 15 year old boy.

Now there is another boy in his class who was also homeschooled. That kid is socially hopeless.

I'm curious. What makes a parent qualified to teach their child? A parent doesn't have the education a teacher does.

[bandnerd]

They don't have any qualifications, I think. Most parents can probably teach their kids up through 8th grade, at the most. The math usually gets too difficult. They also provide you with materials for teaching similar to what we get in regular schools. They also have a very tight support group among homeschoolers so if there is something you don't know, there is probably someone nearby who does.

[okiemom]

Okahoma does not require homeschoolers to be tested unless they decide to return to public school.

The only thing parents are required to do is provide 180 days of
instruction "equivalent to that afforded by the state".


Taken from the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators' Consociation, Inc. website.

"With its constitutionally protected right to homeschool, Oklahoma is arguably the best place in America for parents to teach their children. Oklahoma's home educators have no legal requirement to hold a teaching certificate, to register with any state or local authority, or to submit records to any authority."

[Midtowner]

The numbers do bear it out -- homeschooling tends to yield (on the whole) better results. I've run into a few who of course were not.

An interesting aside is that their home education was not done for academic reasons, but for religious reasons. The parents were apparently afraid that their kids might be exposed to heathens.

Looking over the research -- that which states how much better homeschoolers do on standardized tests, I can't help but to think how lazy these researchers are (or perhaps just poorly funded). I could find no numbers on the percentage of homeschoolers out there that actually end up taking the SAT or ACT compared those who don't. I'd consider that to be my first question, and the one I've seen answered the most would be my second question.

At any rate, the results are mixed. I'd like to see a little more in the way of regulation on these homeschools. I'd like to see homsechool kids take the same performance and aptitude tests as their public school counterparts, and I'd like to see that the parents could also pass those tests.

There also ought to be at least a bachelor's degree requirement for the parent doing the homeschooling.

[okiemom]

Uptown,

Parents help their children learn to walk, talk, tie their shoes, comb their hair, and so on. Homeschool is an extension of that.

The early grades are easy. So are the upper grades with a huge selection of prepackaged curriculum, correspondence programs, online curriculum, field trips, learning co-ops, concurrent homeschool and college enrollment, Vo-techs, DVD's and videos, "swapped" teaching roles, and homeschool support groups.

For us, homeschool became homebased education when our oldest son entered high school. Biology and chemistry were taught at home with Abeka textbooks but supplemented with homeschool science labs at the Omniplex. Art was taught at home using Alpha Omega textbooks but supplemented with various field trips, scout merit badges and classes at the OKC Museum of Art. History and government where taught at home with Abeka textbooks but supplemented with scouting merit badges, Boys State and several field trips, including a wonderful car trip to DC.
Health and PE with Abeka textbooks, martial arts three times a week plus running three miles each day. English grammar and comp were taught with Abeka textbooks and concurrent college classes. With economics we used an Abeka textbook but supplemented it merit badges. The same for consumer math. With the advanced math classes we used Chalkdust textbooks and video classes. For computer literacy, we used our local vo-tech.

[okiemom]

Before anyone mentions the big S word (socialization) there are homeschool co-ops, soccer teams, basketball teams, PE classes, scout troops, debate clubs, drama clubs, a chess club, a track team, a footfall team, a baseball team, individual and group photos, yearbooks, science fairs, spelling bees, bands, honor society, proms, and graduations ceremonies in the area.

[rxis]

Thanks for the link.

I get excited when I think about teaching my children because when I was a child my parents were working so much they didn't have the time to teach us much. They always told me they were working so that I could have that opportunity.

Argh, I was quoting and everything I wrote got deleted.

Anyway I don't think I would have the qualifications to educate my children without a continuing education for myself. I wouldn't even have the patience and maybe the time to be a full time educator.

[rxis]

Can students attend school partially? I think we had a home school student enroll only in our science courses in high school.

[okiemom]

rxis, not that I'm aware of.