March 3, 2006
Homeschooling is Looking Really Good
Did you see the insane article about how NYC parents are going nuts over getting their kids into good nursery schools? Okay, parents who can afford $10,000 a year on nursery school, and this makes Gothamist realize we should have gotten a masters in early childhood education so we could start our own money-printing nursery school business, as we do enjoy graham cracker, apple juice, and fingerpaint. And the NY Times explains who's at fault with the epidemic of babies who need some learning:
Part of the problem is that the number of twins and triplets born to women in New York City has increased, according to city Health Department statistics.There are even early decision programs for nursery school - nursery school! Just wait till people start offering services as toddler tutors, so make sure kids know their colors, that hairpulling is only acceptable when you like someone, and how to choose a stuffed animal for show and tell. Hey, maybe there's something to that.In 1995, there were 3,707 twin births in all the boroughs; in 2003, there were 4,153; and in 2004, there were 4,655. Triplet births have also risen, from 60 in 1995, to 299 in 2004. Because preschools strive for gender and age balance in generally small classes — and also, some parents suspect, as many potential parental donors as possible — it is harder to get multiple slots in one class.
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Agreed. I've never met a home-schooled kid who wasn't a complete mental patient.
Well, homeschooling for nursery school?
I didn't go to school until kindergarten - those days are over, I guess.
Homeschooling and some new contacts, maybe.
$10K a year for nursery school? Interviews and testing to get in to elite private nursery schools? No, thanks. My kids went to a neighborhood nursery school and were in a NYC Public School from k through 5. They are fine, educated, somwhat sophisticated city kids who are not murderers, thiefs or retards. They are college bound and have a clear sense of themselves. They are fine citizens. Yuppie parents have got to realize the merry-go-round they get on when they start their kids off with this insanity. For god's sake, it's about blocks, crayons and socialization. It ain't Harvard Med or Wharton!
"Everyone I've met who's home-schooled is insane or virtually retarded.
[1] Posted by: dude | March 3, 2006 12:07 PM "
So is everyone from most NYC schools-your point?
Looks like NY is becoming more like Japan. Japanese parents have dealt with the stressful process of getting their children into the "good" [nursery, elementary, middle, high, cram] school for a couple of decades.
Somehow I got the impression that NYC public [i]primary[/i] schools are actually pretty good.
"Everyone I've met who's home-schooled is insane or virtually retarded."
That's a really great point 'cause i just passed a Jew in the hallway and I think they stole some of my money... Way to make a ridiculous generalization, I'm sure your parents are very proud and hope they didn't waste any money on your education.
I pay a little over $7K a year for a crappy daycare in which a kid wandered out of the center a few weeks ago-- and this center is the best option in my neigborhood... Just wish reporting could be done on the hopeless reality of working class daycare and the lack of options... a friend of mine is waitlisted at three different daycares right now...
homeschooling daycare is not an option because the whole reason you need daycare is so that you can work...
America is a lot less profamily than it seems.
Imagine what a spoiled nightmare a kid whose parents spend hours agonizing over an admissions essay and spend 10K on nursery school must be. Poor teachers.
I am shocked to read such ignorant comments.
The people you may be familiar with may homeschool for the wrong reasons. Socialization and a lot of interaction is crucial to a homeschooled child. There are fundamentalists who HS to isolate their child, and this I agree is screwed and will have a negative impact on children.
Homeschooled kids are on the rise. Hasn't everyone heard about homeschooled kids going to Harvard?
http://parenting.ivillage.com/teen/teducation/0,,5q39,00.html
I know I am as smart or smarter than most teachers, and I am capable. I teach my son myself. I can customize his education to his needs, wants, values and lifestyle (we like to sleep in so school starts in the afternoon here). I avoid the nightmare of the public education system and dealing with bad teachers and schools with lack of funding.
And get this. He has friends, close friends. He is socially well adjusted. He spends a lot of time at various cultural instituations. He is by all accounts a likeable, intelligent, kind child. He is not "insane," "virtually retarded" or a "mental patient." (but I doubt the people you met were any of these things unless you were in a homeschoolers mental institute or dealing with an actual mentally retarded or insane homeschooler.)
One reason I homeschool is because the school system is failing us. See John Gatto, John Holt, "Raising Cain," and many more books on how bad education is in this country.
www.nychea.org is a great local information source.
Notable homeschooled people
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/notable.htm
Educate yourself before you judge. You may be very surprised.
In Park Slope a *cheap* option for Preschool is something like $800/mo, there is your $10k/year right there. It is cheaper than a nanny and about as expensive as daycare.
And it is hard to get your kid into these things, but it has less to do with your kid at this level than the schools filling up or filling quotas for economic diversity. I think that there is a lot of noise about it because frequently parents don't look into preschool at the right time of the year and are surprised that there are no openings anywhere for their child for 6+ months because all the programs are full.
Homeschooling your preschooler isn't called anything, I don't think... it is just having your kid at home. The point of preschool is to give kids time to learn how to socialize: make friends, share, learn not to push, etc. We are very interested in preschool because our kid is an only child and needs to spend enough time with other kids to get some perspective on how that all works. I'm not of the thinking that without preschool my kid would be disadvantaged for life, but it seems like a totally positive thing and we need to both get back to work so that we can catch up on the debt that we accrued during three years as a single income household.
One reason why better programs (that run $1500/mo and up... still not as expensive as a full time nanny) cost more is that there are more people there and they are better at what they do. Most really smart people with endless patience do not go into preschool education, so the ones that are great at it are expensive.