Christians that choose NOT to homeschool

[Kristi26]

Originally Posted by jjordan I will very respectfully suggest, OP, that if you truly "trust stats and love stats," then you should take some time to actually learn statistics. From reading your posts on this thread, it is clear to me (as someone who has taught statistics) that you don't really understand stats. (You're in good company. I'd estimate that 90% of adult Americans do not have a working knowledge of stats, probably at least 30% of adults who have taken a stats course do not have a working knowledge of stats, and further that 95% of American adults truly believe that they do understand stats although most of them are wrong.) The two main problems I have with the "stats" in this thread are *no distinction between correlation and causation, and *questionable validity of the statistics themselves About correlation vs causation - even if there is a correlation between homeschooled Christian youths and those who remain in the faith, it takes a leap of logic to assume that the primary reason behind the homeschoolers remaining in the faith is because they were homeschooled. For example, shark attacks peak in the summer months, along with ice cream sales. This is true, based on the statistics from the shark people and the ice cream people. However this does not mean that the increased ice cream consumption cause more sharks to attack. (Neither does it mean that increased shark attacks cause more people to eat ice cream.) About the validity of the statistics - this has already been addressed up-thread. But the basic idea here is that there are many ways of generating statistics. Some are good, and will yield valid results, and some are not good. If the statistics are not generated properly then they cannot be trusted. Any time a group with an agenda is generating the statistics, you have to carefully examine their methods for bias (which may not be apparent to someone who is not trained in statistics). It's not that the group is necessarily even TRYING to be sneaky, but bias itself is a sneaky thing and can insert itself into methods quite easily. So to speak.

Well said!

[bunnacula]

While I only have a 4 month old and cannot speak from personal experience since I attended public school. My sister in-law is very socially awkward due to being home schooled, and sheltered as a child, as an adult this has given her low self confidence, causing her to develop and eating disorder. I plan on sending my son to a private school.

I for one don't have the skills to teach my child all of the things he will need to know.
I also think that the social environment, that goes along with attending school is detrimental to good social development.

[lisathib123]

Originally Posted by bunnacula While I only have a 4 month old and cannot speak from personal experience since I attended public school. My sister in-law is very socially awkward due to being home schooled, and sheltered as a child, as an adult this has given her low self confidence, causing her to develop and eating disorder. I plan on sending my son to a private school. I for one don't have the skills to teach my child all of the things he will need to know. I also think that the social environment, that goes along with attending school is detrimental to good social development.

WOW and how does this pertain to religion?

[Kristi26]

Originally Posted by bunnacula While I only have a 4 month old and cannot speak from personal experience since I attended public school. My sister in-law is very socially awkward due to being home schooled, and sheltered as a child, as an adult this has given her low self confidence, causing her to develop and eating disorder. I plan on sending my son to a private school. I for one don't have the skills to teach my child all of the things he will need to know. I also think that the social environment, that goes along with attending school is detrimental to good social development.

I just have to say that I highly doubt your SIL's being homeschooled has anything to do with her being "socially awkward" as you put it. She is likely just a socially awkward person by nature IF she even is.

Also, I'm confused by that last sentence that I've bolded. The way you've written it there, you're saying the social environment that is provided at school is devastating and yet, you seem to be saying you're against homeschooling...

[jen_batten]

Originally Posted by Kristi26 I just have to say that I highly doubt your SIL's being homeschooled has anything to do with her being "socially awkward" as you put it. She is likely just a socially awkward person by nature IF she even is. Also, I'm confused by that last sentence that I've bolded. The way you've written it there, you're saying the social environment that is provided at school is devastating and yet, you seem to be saying you're against homeschooling...

That's what I wondered too...that last sentence doesn't make any sense at all.

And I have also seen a lot of socially awkward people that attended PS.

[ktmelody]

Originally Posted by Kristi26 I just have to say that I highly doubt your SIL's being homeschooled has anything to do with her being "socially awkward" as you put it. She is likely just a socially awkward person by nature IF she even is. Also, I'm confused by that last sentence that I've bolded. The way you've written it there, you're saying the social environment that is provided at school is devastating and yet, you seem to be saying you're against homeschooling...

Betting it was a typo, either way this is a homeschooling forum...

[Kristi26]

Originally Posted by ktmelody Betting it was a typo, either way this is a homeschooling forum...

Yes, it is...the whole thing is just a little weird.

[EmilytheStrange]

stats are stats - they're numbers and unless you have the whole study in front of you, you don't even know how they arrived at those numbers. I was raised Christian and I continued to be Christian even after my public schooling. Same for my sister and many many other people I know.

Homeschooling isn't going to keep anyone Christian. I'm sorry, but it's just not. What keeps you Christian is having an actual relationship with God and understanding the process of redemption. My relationship with my God became real later in life - not when I was a kid. When I made the choices 100% for myself. When I understood what it meant to be like Ruth and have a redeemer.

I was also the kid who hated hated hated youth group. So, I think statistically, I should have left the church a long time ago, but I'm still here.

I don't know if I will homeschool. It's certainly a possibility. We're military, we move a lot - sometimes in the middle of school years and sometimes to places with horrible schools and sometimes with great schools. Plus, the arts are extremely important to my husband and me and you cannot get things like marching bands from the homeschool environment unless you live in an area where homeschoolers are allowed to attend those programs at the nearby school. So, we'll see.

I think the little causation that you can find simply has to do with the effort put into the relationships with children by homeschooling parents. Certainly the increased time spent with the child bonds the child to the parent more, helps them to develop similar interests, etc. but a parent that sends their child to school can do the same thing by being actively involved in the child's life outside school and weekends. If a reading program is weak in a school, the parents can choose books and have family reading clubs, etc - just an example. If the science program is weak, the family can spend weekends on hikes discovering nature, etc. This is the same thing you do with 'Christian' things. You nurture it in their lives. Regardless of whether you do it all day. Or you do it on nights and weekends.

It's the parents who teach their children to pray and read their bible and discuss things that interest them that are going to have the best reward when it comes to that arena. The ones that take their children to do volunteering, etc. Certainly there's more TIME to do that when you homeschool, but it doesn't make it impossible for parents who want to prioritize it but are not called to homeschool.

sorta jumbled thoughts there, but I think the jist speaks up. Parents have a lot of influence. But that influence does not have to be during school hours.

[Leah52]

I don't really worry about stats. I came from a homeschooling family and out of four kids I am the only one that still follows our faith. Oh, I just remembered my youngest brother is starting to study the Bible again after years of being agnostic. Anyway, my point is that I don't homeschool so my kids will stay Christian, I homeschool because I think it is my responsibility to teach my kids.


As for the last few weird posts on socialization, out of four kids I am the most socially awkward, the other three are all much more extroverted. It is not because I was homeschooled, it is my personality. I was an introvert when I went to school K-3rd grade as well. My kids have never been to school or even Sunday school for that matter and they are some the most friendly and outgoing kids I know.

[Leah52]

dp