Paul's Position on Homeschooling

Yes, of course, this is a fallacy. I do think that public school children are conditioned to think homeschooled children don't have social skills. Anytime you see a show on television with someone who was homeschooled, how are they always portrayed? Weird, strange, antisocial. People believe what they see on television.

I think the young woman who filmed the Oklahoma convention for us is homeschooled.

I don't want my kids to be socialized; I want them to be civilized.

And after 16 years of homeschooling they are quite civil youngsters.

One of the most important skills they have is their ability to identify logical fallacies, particularly of the "some x are y, therefore all x are y" variety.

I'm not so impressed with the social skills attained at foul mouthed public schools. Personally I believe the children in public schools are being educated to do stupid things like vote for Barack Obama and believe the mainstream media is telling the truth and other dumb things like that and are not being taught to be critical thinkers. But this was a great topic and I appreciate reading the input.

My 2 cents is to say Home Schooling results in children that cannot communicate and have no social skills is a logical fallacy.
There is a common misconception that Home Schooling automatically means there is no social aspect to the children's education. Well I am here to testify that this is a complete load of BS.
Where I am at, the Home Schooled children have more than enough opportunity to develop their social skills on all of the social events they attend. Some of these children are socialized to point of excess in my opinion.
By the way, as a general rule, these non social children as you call them all tend to be more polite, work harder, perform better and are not as apt to bully as their Public School indoctrinated social misfit counterparts tend to be. At least in part of the woods...
My own son in 2nd grade was ganged up on, held and beat by a group of these social misfits. Since I pulled him out and the wife Home Schooled him the bullying has not been an issue at his SOCIAL functions.
I recommend everyone Home School, if for no other reason than to avoid the Social misfits and avoid their children being influenced by said social misfits...

Just listen to yourself! That's the only sentence that did make sense.

Moreover:
You don't really have a clue about the free market. In a free market, ALL SORTS of private schools will arise, ALL SORTS of great educational experiences will be offered.

Let us abolish forever even the idea that it is somehow alright to steal money from some people (thru "taxation") in order to pay for the education of other people's children.

The public schools will ultimately always fail, in part because they are founded on THEFT.

There is no perfect form of education. Books are books, and people are people.

The best type of primary and/or secondary education in either public, private, or homeschooling is when the parents/guardians are involved with their children in wanting the best education for their children.

Lack of parent/guardian involvement is generally the cause of poor education.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I'll take the "homeschool lightbulb" hovering a child's head any day to the "foul-mouthed, slumping-posture, rude, angry, won't-look-you-in-the-eyes, mono-syllabic-verbal-responding, hopeless-eyed, assembly-line-menatlity-trained, historical-perspective-lacking, non-self-motivated, borg-style-mindless-assimilation lightbulb" that is hovering over most of the "traditionally educated" public high schoolers I encounter. My heart breaks for them.

These poor kids finally see someone to look up to (Hello! Ron Paul!) who wants them to be individuals, to take responsibility for their own lives, to stop relying on the government(schools are a BIG part of this)to provide everything for them to exist, to form their thoughts and beliefs for them.

Why do you think all the YOUNG PEOPLE are gravitating to Ron Paul? Highschoolers and collegiates are tired of being workers in the hive. If public schools had gone to the wayside decades ago, we would be heralding Ron Paul as one of the greatest presidents we've ever had, not screaming for recognition of his existence and fighting against the machine that has trained our brains to not like him.

Homeschooling works. My dad was a public schoolteacher for 40 years and he agrees.

This post rather tickles me! My eldest son is 27, married to my beautiful daughter-in-law, with my 3 lovely grandchildren. He is employed, and supports his family! My second son is 20. He is a blackbelt in Karate, and until recently was an instructor for Chickasaw Nation Karate Program here in OK. He also teaches gymnastics, and is now currently running a Ministry Resale shop for The Gospel Station ministries, which is connected to our church.
My third son(you can find him on youtube as Killa Stepz), is a hip hop dancer, and travels the state as a ministry performing in venues all over Oklahoma! He has won multiple contests! He also is currently working with his big brother part time. Over the course of my boys lives they have often worked multiple jobs, and have never been fired! In addition, the three boys together with another partner have a video ministry on youtube called 3:3 Reality. My lovely daughter is still finding her niche, but is traveling with her youth group on several mission trips this year, as well as ministering herself in various opportunities through our church, More importantly, she is her brother's biggest cheerleader!
I fully believe you when you say that you are concerned that homeschoolers are not socially similar to their public schooled counterparts. The question all comes down to what are they socialized to? I have no desire for my children to be socialized to drunkenness, drugs, lack of critical thinking and independent thought, disrespect for adults who have more experience than they.
In addition, I also do not want them to be educated to a socialist system that basically rips them out of normal society(made up of families, and multiple age groups of people), and replaces that system (that worked for thousands of years before public schooling) with a system that basically makes their peers the absolute top priority in social behavior! The habit of public schooling dividing children by age, means that those children then never learn to socialize with all age groups of people, which creates sullenness before their elders, insensitivity to elderly people, and also does not prepare them to have successful marriages or become decent employees! It also is a false reality for a child. For when they get out into the real world, no longer will they be trundled along with their class. Suddenly, they will be required to function in a society where the social requirements are much different!
Also, I have no desire for my children to be taught an altered history, which is designed to lead them from the democratic republican ideals that founded our nation, to a tyrannical regime which has the goal of making them into serfs of the government! I do not want them taught some liberal professor's opinion and overview of history. For it is partly this altered history which has led us to where we are right now in our country with regard to liberty!
I want my children taught from primary sources, which have the truth of history. Having the truth of history will help them to live lives of liberty and freedom, and will give them the values to insist on their nation reclaiming it's liberty for all! In fact, it may be these socially inept homeschoolers that may save our posterity!

11. College degree (Liberal Arts) from BYU at age 15
Master's (History) from California State at age 16.
Originally wanted to become a minister and has already been an assistant pastor and youth minister at a Presbyterian Church in Portland.

What an idiot.

We have a friend of the family who works for the government and believes (and has stated) that the government's job is to take care of people. She believes we are making a mistake homeschooling. One of the big reasons is the "social" aspects.

Then one day during a visit (our kids play together on the weekends) she says she just read about a study that said homeschool kids are more advanced socially because they can more easily relate to people who are either younger or older than them, including adults. She said she never would have believed it (but it was a state or gov't sponsored study).

AND BTW, Dr. Paul wants to get the FEDS out of education, not eliminate public schools.

(p.s. No, I don't have a link to the study)

I'm one of three children who were home-schooled primarily by my mother, a college drop-out. My older sister was awarded a full college scholarship, received her Bachelors in Education and then her Masters in Special Education, and now teaches in a public school. She has many friends that she made in high school (despite being a "weird" home schooler) and is engaged to a Chemist who graduated from MIT with a PhD. I scored an 800 on the math portion of my SAT's and turned downed numerous full scholarships to enlist in the Marine Corps where I later received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. I am currently working on a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. I lettered in football, baseball, track, and wrestling. I am probably the more socially outgoing of the three and I am still very close friends with most of my high school friends. My younger brother is very musically gifted and is much more of a hands on learner than my sister or I. He struggled more in high school due to the one-size-fits-all nature of the curriculum and after graduation at the behest of my father, an electrical engineer himself, went to school for an Electronics Technology degree. He was a much more accomplished athlete than myself and was the Captain of the football team as well as lettering in baseball. He was always the fastest and strongest kid growing up and he loved to run, climb trees, and jump off high things. In a public school he probably would have been given Ritalin and hid in a dark classroom. He is more shy than myself or my sister but has a large and diverse group of friends. He also much more into political and economic history and theory than myself or my sister.

The three of us were very different in our talents, interests, and capabilities, however my mother was able to tailor the curriculum to maximize out individual potentials. My sister tutored younger children in other homeschooling families and is where she fell in love with teaching. I had a natural knack for math and science so I spent time at night with my father, a substitute high school physics and calculus teacher while in college, doing lessons from high school level algebra, geometry, calculus, and physics text books. My brother took guitar lessons after we were finished with our regular course work and later taught himself to play the piano and can now listen to just about any song once and replay it on a piano or keyboard. None of us would have been able to cultivate our natural talents in most other learning environments and we would not be as successful as we are were it not for homeschooling.

All of us went to homecoming and winter dances and we all had attractive dates for prom and went to parties and on class trips and did all the stupid, but fun, things high schoolers do like cut class and go to the beach on nice days senior year or go someplace down the shore after prom and have your parents called by the hotel manager because there's no longer a door on your room and the bed is in the pool. I had a great time in high school, and it was made even better because of the fact that I could do calculus and understood classical Newtonian mechanics and could give a dissertation on Kant's moral philosophy as a high school freshman. I try not to judge people, but in this case, you, sir, are the weird one.

Who thinks Christians are stupid. Here is my response on home schooling. Others below have covered the subject quite well and made it clear that Ron Paul is not for abolishing public schools but the Dept. of Education. Ever since the Dept of Education schools have been dumbed down and children are stupider (and less Christian by the way).

People home school for various reasons. I taught a Health class to high school home schoolers through a Charter program. I had a variety of students from different walks of life in that class. Two of them were competitive athletes. One was a gymnast and one was a skiier, both male. They home schooled to give them the free time to pursue their sport. Others were challenged learners because they were tactile learners and were completely ignored and made to feel stupid in the public school system. They were set up to fail.

When I was home schooling my younger son a close friend of mine approached me to see if I would home school her son. He was to go into 9th grade but they refused to graduate him from the 8th grade. They had already held this kid back in 2nd grade and they wanted to do it again. THEY FAILED HIM! He would have dropped out of school if that happened.

I agreed to home school him in 9th grade. He had very poor grammar and reading skills. I worked on that with Wilson's grammar which is for tactile learners. We did hands on A&P, math, typing, etc. The young man was an incredible musician. Just amazing. He would play the piano every chance he got from memory without music. He later was homeschooled by another family and finished high school. He went onto the Musicians Institute in Hollywood and did very well there. He would NEVER have accomplished that if he had not been home schooled.

Being socialized among your peers in high school does not mean anything. People can be socialized among their peers but have not a clue how to communicate with any other age group, especially adults. Home schoolers have a clear advantage on this and are more confident and self motivated in the workplace because of it. The socialization in high school can very very cruel, as has been described.

Part of being a true Ron Paul supporter is having an open mind to learning and understanding all individuals and being supportive of their choices, whether it would be something you would do or not. I support your right to choose marijuana but I have no interest in it except for medicinal purposes. Do yourself a favor and stop collectivizing individuals.

on children's right

http://www.dailypaul.com/235455/childrens-rights-and-democra...

in fact your previous comment: "Most Old Christians are Stupid" only illustrates your inherent bias.
http://www.dailypaul.com/219157/why-we-lost-alaska-and-proba...
Here's some help for you.
http://www.dailypaul.com/235372/have-you-read-ben-swanns-bio
and:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/taylor-gatto-john/6422
finally:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
Check it out, this should straighten you out, unless your real intention is to smear Ron Paul's Platform.

Ca passed a law a few years ago that you are only "Allowed" to homeschool your children if you have a minimum of 2 years college. The uneducated no longer have this as an option and are forced into the "Programing" of their soon to be slave children.

And, by the way, I don't want to get rid of public education. Why can't we do what belgium and Denmark do; a privatized system with public money...the more students you get, the more money you get from the state. Any citizen can go to any school he wants.

Plenty of kids are homeschooled and are well-adjusted socially. It is up to the parents to make sure the kids can adjust. There are also plenty of students who go to public or private school and are messed up insde.

IMO, the biggest factor isn't homeschool vs. public vs. private, it is child and adult. How good the child is as a student and how good the parent is as a teacher. Also if the parent can afford the time to school properly, if he can afford qualified tutors, etc.

I've generally found that when it comes to "creative" subjects, homeschooling dominates. Organized schooling naturally stifles creativity. In some subjects, like history or economics, homeschooling dominates because schools usually don't hire "specialists" for those subjects; the teacher's just don't have the passion or knowledge of the subject.

On the other side, I've found that public (private as well but especially public school students) are better at "factual" subjects like math or science. Schools generally target specialists for these fields, and the method of teaching is fairly straightforward.

I was homeschooled until college, and I had none of the ill affects that you mention. I enjoyed a wide array of friends while I was in college, had no trouble getting along with anyone there, and I even married one (who was a public schooler).

The only difference was my naivete about many things my family considered unsavory. I probably wouldn't recognize a drug dealer if he offered me some. Things like that are amusing, but ultimately didn't affect me.

The mistake you are making is lumping all homeschoolers into one group. Every homeschooler has a different experience. Besides the obvious fact that every parent is different, some homeschools band together and have each parent teach a different subject. The possibilities are endless. Best of all, you can tailor your teaching style to accommodate the needs of each individual student.

Also, we got rid of public schools, the change would not be as dramatic as you are perhaps imagining. The buildings would be purchased by private investors, mostly local business, and the good teachers (and other staff) would be hired on. Then, the investors would steer the school towards profitability by attracting students. To attract students, they would get rid of bad staff, improve the curriculum, and design incentives. In a few short years, the school would be transformed.

Ben Swann was homeschooled.

His so-called lack of people skills landed him a sweet spot on television.

That is a bunch of bull. All of the home schoolers that I have come in contact with are way ahead of the public schools in social skills. You must of been raised in an isolated area. IMO

What, precisely, is meant by "social skills?" If you mean convincing myself to act irresponsibly in order to be "cool," I suppose that I, a homeschooler, do lack that skill. However, I communicate just fine, I hold conversations with adults on an equal level, I talk about subjects as diverse as economics, guns, politics (obviously), some science, literature, etc., and overall have no issue socializing. I have quite a few friends, I'm a member of a mock trial team (which, by the way, took third in state, out of 75 teams, all of which - besides us - were public or private school teams), and I can easily start and hold conversations with people I've never met before - and I'm not even a "people" person. The "no social skills" crap is played up WAY too much.

FYI - my dad teaches at a religious private school, and it's hardly "strict," and the students are far from "weird." In fact, they're way too normal.

Here's the thing: I am weird. How many teens prefer politics to video games/partying/etc.? Yet, all the teens in our homeschool group (we meet weekly) can and do discuss deep subjects on a regular basis.

Oh, and we're all very religious, too. Even weirder. ;)

Ben Swann was homeschooled, and he has no social skills, does he? Every homeschool family is different. Let's not paint with a broad brush. I know plenty of anti-social kids in public school. I know plenty of well-mannered children who are homeschooled. It depends on the parents.

My first comments are to those of you who have responded by attacking the poster. It is obvious that he/she has limited knowledge and exposure to home school education. As my mother used to say, "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar." Those of you that are part of the home school movement, I am sure, would like to see more supporters of homeschooling. Well, you are not going to get them by beating them over the head and calling them names. I understand you are under a lot of pressure from family and friends for your choice to home school, and you hear these arguments every day as people try to convince you that you are "shortchanging" your children. I get it, OK? But ease up on the rhetoric! This poster was not trying to take your children away from you. This was an excellent teaching moment, unfortunately wasted. Do you really think this person will have a better understanding/attitude about home schooling because of your attacks?? Use the logic that you teach to your children, instead of ad hominem fallacies.

OK, ronpaulfan420, needless to say, many have commented on your opinion of homeschoolers. Let me address your argument about the socialization two ways. First, logically, which do you think would give a child better socialization skills? Spending a majority of their time communicating and socializing with only their peers, or communicating and socializing with a broader spectrum of ages? Most homeschoolers are interacting daily with a much broader spectrum of ages than just their peers. Older siblings often help the younger with classwork, giving them the opportunity to develop much needed teaching and nurturing skills. Home school families often interact with each other, providing opportunities to develop social skills even with adults in a safe environment. Many homeschooling parents encourage their older children to participate in the discussions of the adults, first by listening, then asking questions, and then sharing their opinions. Sometimes this "light bulb" you see over a previously homeschooled student may be a level of maturity that puts them on a higher social plane than their peers.
Second, let me give you real life examples. There have been many links from the dailypaul to Reality Check with Ben Swann. Ben was homeschooled. He graduated high school when he was 11 (many homeschoolers finish high school at a younger age), he graduated from BYU at 15 and received a Masters Degree at 16. He has won two Emmy awards and an Edward R Murrow award for his TV journalism. I doubt you could accuse him of lacking social skills. The list of famous people who were home schooled is vast, including George Washington, Ben Franklin, "Stonewall" Jackson, Robert E. Lee, George Patton, Sandra Day O'Connor, George Washington Carver, Grandma Moses, Orville and Wilbur Wright, W.A. Mozart, Charles Dickens, Louis Armstrong, Whoopi Goldberg, Colonel Sanders, Davy Crockett and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Overall, I think you will find that home schooling is an advantage, not a detriment in child education and development.