Homeschooling: Dangerous or Just Weird?

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As an educator i agree with a lot these point. However, we also are struggling nation wide with a teacher shortage. This creates over crowded classrooms with teachers that some states are just picking up off the street, having little to no teaching experience. I think before we worry about the effects of homeschooling we need to figure out how to fix the schooling crisis we currently have. Then those seeking homeschool options may think twice before doing so.

This makes me so much more appreciative of having had the privilege of going to a well funded public school. One of my best friends’s cousins was homeschooled and worked in the service industry after leaving home for a few years, she wanted to go to college so she signed up for a GED course; apparently, she was floored by how completely unprepared she was and had a huge argument with her parents afterwords.

Homeschooled, due to the fact the school in my spot was such a dangerous unfunded mess, I was better off at home. I wish it would have been better, but it wasn’t, so in glad. Gave freedom of education and a chance to thrive, while lonely, in a very awful school district. Currently working on my PhD. It worked for me, but it’s really a whole big category not a simple one-solution sort of thing. More nuanced than people believe.

I went to private Catholic School for the first 16 years of my life. Then I got fed up and went to public school. It was genuinely the best decision I've ever made. I met so many people who were different from me and it opened me up to new ideas and ways of thinking! I seriously don't know what I'd be like if I hadn't decided to change schools. Sometimes I see my old private school friends and it doesn't seem like they've really grown in the same way I have.. as if they still think the exact same way they did back in high school (because they never left their bubble). It's kinda sad :/

When I was around 8 years old my parents coworker had a son who was homeschooled. They lived in a very rural part of town and there was no other kids around. The homeschooled kid's parents asked my parents if they could have their birthday at my house and asked me to invite my friends over so there would be people there. Keep in mind I didn't know this kid at all. It was pretty weird having to explain to my friends they had to come to my house for someone else's birthday party. The whole thing ended up being kinda awkward but I tried my best to make the kid feel welcome in my friend group.

If the early pandemic taught me anything, public school isn’t perfect, but I definitely couldn’t do the job with two kids let alone 20

The problem with homeschooling is that most people are too stupid to actually teach most of the content

Counterpoint: Ageism is correct, you can be too young to drive and too old to be president. All sane people agree to this.

As a retired public school teacher, I encountered a few individuals who were home schooled. I found them to be (on the whole) under prepared for grade level expectations and socially awkward. Dare I say that the majority of homeschooling was detrimental to their children.
The worst example was a child who was clearly abused and was made a ward of the state. They were in constant fear of being kidnapped and transported back to their original home. While I did not teach them, I did teach their sibling who would routinely need to be pulled from my class to coax the traumatized back into their designated classroom.
Meanwhile we teachers were constantly being updated to look for a specific abusive parent. An individual who somehow was never apprehended while the children were bouncing around the community in an attempt to hide from their abusers.

Both weird and dangerous. As a highly-conflicted public school teacher, I find that students who have been (non-religiously) home-schooled are much more curious and competent than public school lifers who have learned to see education as mere transaction. Not to worry, however; after our visionary governor rams through his voucher program next year (over the protests of rural conservatives!), the education debate will finally end--decided by the magic of the free market.

23:35 education free of ideology? Reminds me of one of my favorite sayings. “It’s not propaganda if you agree with it.”

With the present state of public education - primarily due to heavy defunding and underfunding - I get the general appeal of homeschooling. That being said, nearly every parent pushing for homeschooling right now, happens to be the kind of person that should not be trusted to care for a child.
I have a cousin that was homeschooled and didn't officially finish high school until she was 20.

I was homeschooled against my own will and enrolled myself into school in the 8th grade. I remember the principal telling me how unusual it was for a kid to turn up on their own to enroll.
My parents wanted to raise me and my sister to their world view. They knew I was immensely behind, I didn't. Once I got into school it was abundantly clear to my teachers how far behind I was. I worked my ass off for C's and in math, I was immediately sent to a remedial class because it turns out my Mom had taught me the fundamentals of math wrong and had been calling incorrect work, as correct for many years. I'd never once had a single science class or lesson.
When I graduated the 8th grade I was shocked to find out I had earned one of the school's highest honors, hardest working student. (Reminder: I was a C student)
To many graduating from highschool doesn't mean much. But me, I had to fight to get into school. I carry my highschool ID card proudly at almost 33 years old.
Homeschooling is dangerous.

As much as I hated school, it's essential for learning how to be around other people, you won't learn that from home.

I homeschooled my child for middle school. His racist first grade teacher had labeled him a trouble maker along with the rest of the not-white children in her class and the label followed him through all his elementary school years. The meetings were so weird. He wasn’t disruptive in class and did his school work but they thought what he needed was medication for ADD because he read books secretly during class. When I did that (as white girl) they thought I should be in the GATE program. Anyway, I sent him back to public school in High School and his teachers loved him. I took his education seriously and participated actively so he remained well above proficiency for his grade and took honors and AP classes when he went to high school. We did not homeschool for religious reasons.
My sister, on the other hand, was also homeschooled. And her curriculum was religious based. She ended up with holes that she to this day does not recognize.

I was homeschooled (K-12th). In theory, I would say the concept is fine and can be done right, but in its current state it NEEDS more government oversight. A small percentage turn out normal which is cool, but the majority either turn out either committed to some cult, woefully underprepared for the real world, lacking basic social understanding, or all of the above. Theoretically it’s fine, but the way it’s done now I am NOT cool with

I was homeschooled for 3 years (2nd, 3rd & 4th grade) because of my parents' conservative religious ideology, and I swear just those three years set me back in my social skills so badly that I'm still feeling the effects to this day (I'm in my 30s now). I don't know how kids who were homeschooled their whole lives even function at all in social situations. To me the concept of homeschooling isn't inherently bad, but there do need to be strict standards to make sure kids are not being abused, that they're learning what they need and are getting a certain level of healthy human interaction with their peers, particularly during their young formative years. Unfortunately for a lot of homeschooling parents, those requirements would be dealbreakers. Luckily at least my mom was a good teacher, so I never fell behind academically. Not every homeschool kid is that fortunate.

I’m proud to get none of them right haha

The old proverb of to forget history is to repeat it, just keeps on giving.

I loved this video! It would be great if you added a reference list to your description. Thank you.

I homeschooled my kid for 2 years when the pandemic hit, for his 1st and 2nd grade.
Now, being an ex-academic philosopher and an anarchist, I definitely utilized aspects of unschooling and deschooling in order to create an educational atmosphere that didn't feel like any education was happening. I tried to make use of homeschooling resources, but found myself really frustrated by that because so much of it was Christian fundamentalist or equally troubling secular materials. So, while I used a little as a resource for teaching a level of education that wasn't... college level... I found myself struggling to create much of it from scratch.
My kid has been in public school for the past couple of years now, where he is in the 99% percentile, so I don't have any anxiety over my success in fostering a love of learning. What I ended up concerned about was the extreme threat of indoctrination and isolation for children within the homeschool industry. Honestly, while I feel like there is revolutionary potential in homeschooling, also contains the equal threat of fostering the false revolution of fascism. There is also the potential for being socially isolated and struggling in that area of development. That's hard for me to judge, of course, as this was during the pandemic and we were all isolated.
I would like to be an advocate for homeschooling, in a sense, but honestly I'm more of an advocate for education reform. Homeschooling is really just filling in the holes left behind by our crumbling and always ineffective education system. If we could bring some of the ideas from Illich and Holt into a community based publicly funded system for everyone, that would be the most ideal. I was lucky due to my background and education. It would be unreasonable to expect that from every parent.

The beauty of homeschooling is the free money combined with a complete lack of oversight. Absolutely no way that could go wrong.

I was homeschooled from 5th grade to high school graduation. We used an ultra conservative Catholic correspondence curriculum, meaning we got our books and lesson plans and mailed our tests and reports to be graded by a nun in Virginia. My mom participated as little as possible, expecting me and my siblings to self motivate. I just today purchased a book titled "emotionally immature parents: a recovery workbook for adult children." So in my case, I'd say homeschooling was a disservice.
Regardless, I think there is a place for it. My niece was being severely bullied and I think my sister made the right call to homeschool her for a year or two.
As for parents who think they can control their children's thoughts... They're idiots. I'm not an ultra conservative Catholic. My mom had six kids, and only one of them is an ultra conservative Catholic... The oldest one that wasn't homeschooled! And, funny story, my parents were products of the education system, and they weren't indoctrinated into the liberal, homosexual, non-racist agenda they're so afraid of. That's not how people work.

Last year at a music festival I was chatting with someone and asked them for tips on how to make conversation with strangers, and without skipping a beat they asked me if I was homeschooled. (I was).
Apparently the social isolation often associated with homeschooling is common enough that it can often and easily be noticed by someone familiar with it like this person was.
I agree that whether homeschooling is good or bad wholly depends on the unique circumstances of how it happens and that there are a lot of variables, but I think there are some really tough obstacles to overcome (like proper socialization) that most homeschoolers aren't able to overcome. It seems to commonly lead to a lot of challenges in my anecdotal experience.

So I was public, private, but mostly homeschooled... my boring talking point is there's always pros/cons depending on the fam or school you have. Now slightly spicier point is I was of the evangelical conservative variety, and well, it's a lot to unpack, because the whole evangelical movement is a lot to unpack.
First - I have grown increasingly critical of the isolationist tendencies of Evangelicalism writ large... and for it's own health too, as I believe a healthy Christianity is not fear based and not afraid to be with and learn to communicate and value those you claim you want to save (maybe that's why as an Evangelical I watch a lot of wisecrack now ;P ).
Second - it's important to understand there's a lot of variety within the Evangelical conservative homeschool movement. Not everyone is a Christian nationalist fundimentalist type influenced by the authors mentioned (though I do see their influence in the movement and the rotton fruit more in retrospect since MAGA). Not everyone was as socially awkward as me (my best friends were homeschooled and hyper social extroverts who got invited to the local school dances). There is a lot of collective action you can do through homeschool groups and conferences/networks (which could be good or bad depending on your views, but just to counter the point about what good can you and your bro do, etc...). My mom did ok (she also had a special ed license) until highschool when the subjects became a little too much to teach well (and I switched to college credit in highschool program in MN with no hicups), but she also taught me a lot of critical thinking and pro-empathy values, and now has become an MSNBC watching anti-Trump democratic voting conservative Evangelical. I don't know if space time will hold together after that sentence.
So like you said, there's just a lot of variety to judge, even with us homeschooled Evangelicals.
And I'm torn, because a part of me still really wants people to see the good warm fuzzies of a different side of homeschooling and/or Evangelicalism, of some of the awesome people that I grew up with that encouraged intellectualism and that put in action the love and kindness they preached. But if Jesus taught me anything, it's that critiquing one's own religious tribe is actually something we should be doing.
I think with homeschooling, there should be some compromise to make it a little more regulated without squashing it outright. I live in Poland now and a friend runs a homeschool group and they seem to have more required in person testing at their facility with authorized test givers, something I never had.
As with Evangelicalism, it's something I'm still trying to process what's gone wrong with (could be a whole other video), both on a macro and micro scale (as a pastor's kid who's dad literally and figuratively became a Florida man). But the way I see it there are really three very very very different factions within Evangelicalism now and historically... and the Veggie Tales guy does an amazing job breaking it down: ruclips.net/video/NiiRnO7UTTk/видео.htmlsi=b2HtX9JbGGCnbeDR

You were supposed to show raw dome while saying raw dome

What's wrong with homeschooling is the lack of standards and enforcement

I don’t want my child to be in a potential school shooting

More quotes by Marvin Gaye please
EDIT: and THANK YOU for bringing up the harm of books by James Dobson such as "Dare to Discipline", there could be a full series done on Dobson and his influence over the Christian Right since the '80s

In Germany homeschooling is pretty much illegal aside from very special circumstances (less than 500 children in the entire country and they have strict standards to adhere to)... so it is definitely weird from this side of the pond. Like there is nothing to stop parents from teaching their core values and what not over here... the kids just also have to go to school, get to spend time in a space with others and ultimately make their own minds up. As teacher it has been challenging helping homeschooled kids integrate socially with their peers when/if they do eventually attend school; also depending on the quality of the home, they can be both ahead and/or behind (at the same time) on core learning skills and knowledge. I know some adults who were fully home schooled and they turned out fine even if they did get a bit a shock/ or wild adjustment period when they go to university or enter the workforce. i guess it is only dangerous if the parents do a bad job of preparing their child for the world out there.

I was home schooled, I was never part of any youth group and to this day remain socially maladjusted. Neither of my parents were academically equipped to teach me, which left me with huge holes in my education which I had to fill myself later in life. Certainly from my experience of home schooling I would consider it a form of child abuse. I wonder how common my experience is…

Shoutout to Michael's raw dome

The problem with homeschooling is that the exponential failure of public schools inspires homeschooling. Annually lowering the bar to prevent failure in schools has created a system that's failing all. High-school diplomas do not guarantee literacy or basic math skills. I teach college classes, and many of these hs graduates are not ready for secondary education at all. Worst, they don't know how uneducated they are, though they know they can't read or do basic math. Primary educators are underpaid and have little authority in classes full of increasingly feral kids. Idiocracy is manifesting, and homeschooling is an affordable antidote for a growing demographic.

Awesome Video! I like the part where you point out schools inherently teach us to respect our systems of power, and how maybe that’s what needs to change! In my experience as a student some teachers want to challenge systems of power, but stop themselves cause they’ll get in trouble for pushing their personal beliefs

As a teacher, I tell my family to never send their children to public school. Public schools are underfunded, understaffed, and students just can't get the proper education and care they need. We have to teach to the lowest common denominator, and the school system just wants us to lower and lower standards.
Kids I know who were homeschooled are leaps and bounds ahead of their public school peers both in terms of education and maturity.

I was homeschooled my entire childhood and I will say I didn't really fit in to any mainstream stereotypes around homeschooling. I actually enjoyed myself, had a lot of freedom, had friends, and did a lot of extra curricular activities which helped with socialization. It's unfortunate so many crappy parents use it to indoctrinate their kids into extremist ideology. Me and my other homeschooled friends maybe got lucky because our parents were more like hippies and well, we all grew up in Canada 😅 that might effect some stuff

knew them all, but I went to public school in the late 60s so kinda had an unfair advantage...

the supreme court bit was *chef's kiss*

As a homeschooler, I had to rely on my church as my primary means of socialization. I had a few other homeschooled friends and I knew my neighbors before I moved out in the middle of nowhere. Dating relied on my dating a neighbor’s friend from their school, and due to my not having a car I didn’t have many chances to actually spend time with my girlfriend or anything like that. I had to walk a lot of places, even when I lived five miles out of town. I’m currently working on a series of essays regarding homeschool recovery because I think that I’m one of the better equipped homeschoolers to help others adjust to real life after having a portion of one’s life stolen in this way.

The question at the heart of this discussion is, "Are we going to give up on the res publica (the public thing), the very idea of having a shared society? Are we going to break into little tribes, or even smaller family units, and completely give up on the idea of together constituting a nation state?" On the whole, in education and many other areas as well, over the past decade or so, we seem to have given up on the idea of together constituting a whole society (be it ever so varied and diverse) and nation state. To me, this is a troubling trend.

I was homeschooled and I am now ardently against it. It is far too easily abused and many times leaves children to be used as indentured servants to their parents.

Some parents are great teachers, many couldn't teach a fish to swim or a rock to stay put. I know some who shouldn't be left to teach a dog to fetch...and these are the people that often think they are brilliant teachers for their kids. I feel for those kids.

I will homeschool my child so they are uncorrupted by the Capitalist model.

Depends on the specifics. My family lives in a small, rural, VERY conservative town.
My spouse and I homeschool because we don’t want our kids brainwashed by conservatives.

I grew up in a small, very Christian community, so when I went to high school, I was all of a sudden around a lot of people who didn't think the same way as me. I remember being around queer or atheist students and feeling uncomfortable, but I ended up realizing I could coexist with people who were different from me. I've spoken to many Christian parents who homeschool their kids, and it seems like they don't want to let their kids have that experience. I wonder how homeschooled kids feel when they grow up and have to interact with a diversity of opinions for the first time in their lives.

I was homeschooled for most of my life due to being in a military family, moreso than because of my parents' religious beliefs, though those did factor in somewhat. Academically it was definitely pretty good for me, since we could take as much time as we needed to ensure I understood concepts I struggled with, and gear methods of learning towards things that interested me or at least kept me more engaged. Also helped that the flexibility of the loose structure meant even regular life events like vacations and normal outings could be geared towards education in practical and stealthy ways.
Socially it wasn't the best, but that wasn't for lack of my mom trying. I've always been pretty introverted, and when I did eventually go to High School (jumping right in at Junior Year due to life situations), I struggled in ways that were more due to social anxiety than being a weirdo shut-in or the like. Being forced to adapt to a situation I hated was something that made me better at adapting to adult life in the end, but I don't think it was the only way I could have reached that same point. It was just a crash course...

Schools are not only places of learning, they prepare you for the world, do you want to constantly be competing against and antagonizing your fellow students whom you have no choice but to see every day of the week for up to 8 hours? or find a way to have a peaceful coexistance to find a path forward? Because whether we like it or not, we live in a society, we live in a world with finite resources, so we must learn to coexist, thats how school prepares you for life, not only the knowledge that you need to find a job, but the social skills necessary to live in harmony in a society.

As a former homeschooler myself, there should either be heavy regulations not only on academic ability but socialization for kids, as well as IMPROVEMENTS TO OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM. PLEASE. As it is homeschool is 90% enabling of abuse, neglectful, and terribly isolating. Help your kids through school, you cannot replace an entire school faculty.

Seeing John Holt interviewed on the Phil Donahue show in the late 70s, when I was a public school kid with undiagnosed ADHD & social anxiety, changed my life. I was deeply miserable in general - my home life was pretty bad - and was often unable to make myself go to school. That's why I was home alone watching Donahue that day. Holt awakened something in me, so I started reading his books, then searched out other educational radicals - Herb Kohl, Jonathan Kozol, Neil Postman, A.S. Neill, Paul Goodman, and others. They opened the world of anarchism to me, and radicalism in general. So imagine my shock when I discovered only a few years later that homeschooling had become a signature issue for the fundy authoritarians ... and Holt was weirdly ok with them. It kind of makes me wish I had discovered Paulo Freire first, and learned to be a teen communist.

"If they pass the test" is gonna not be heard by a whole lot of people in the comments lol

Religion. Religion is what went wrong with homeschooling. I was homeschooled, those kids were nuts.

I was super validated when I described my home school experience to my therapist and she immediately called it a cult without me needing to ask if she agreed. Which I think says just about everything I need to say about why I did not enjoy home school and wish it were illegal.

This was a great one, thanks for the historical context

Glad you mentioned To Train Up a Child. That book and the family that wrote it is an insane rabbit hole.

I went to college with home school kids. They were always weird and you can pick them out of a lineup

funny thing about homeschooling (at least for me) U.S. cities/capitals were not heavily emphasized. Dispite living next to Georgia, I'm 0-4.

We all need to watch this 5+ times to show support for no more better help!

I was homeschooled 4th - 12th. Taught myself completely after my parents gave up after 5th grade. Took a few years after I left the house to learn how to socialize with other people my age

As a kid who grew up in a family of teachers and has been a substitute teacher myself, I choose to homeschool my kids. No child left behind, combined with the factory model of education just didn't sit well with me. But homeschool isn't the goal. I'm starting a pay- what- you- can school, and because that is hard and life is busy, my kids are the only ones benefiting from my future school right now. And because I am in the homeschooling circles I hear about when these legal advocacy things are going on. So I can share my voice about how to improve public education, and what might be a good way to monitor homeschooling without turning it into public school at home.
I like being able to have my kids learn at their own pace. I think that's important. So that means that monitoring education is more complicated than tests. But public schools should be able to do that too.

If I had kids, they would definitely be homeschooled-not for religious reasons, but because I had some teachers who were the worst bullies and did more to discourage learning than to encourage it. I would ensure that my kids were socialized with peers their own age and enroll them in extracurricular activities like music, dance, sports, and art.

16:50 I would love an entire video (or series) dedicated to the Grateful Dead. Politically speaking, their "worldview" was more of a lack of a worldview that emphasized American style individualism and a "don't tell me what to do and I won't tell you what to do" attitude. It was interesting since they essentially created a big tent that included hippies, outlaw motorcycle gangs, middle class suburban kids, and basically anyone who was willing to hang with their laissez-fiare attitude. Jerry Garcia in particular was big on making sure no one was telling others what to do and who to be.
When I was young I thought that this attitude was cool. You don't bother me, I won't bother you and we'll both be happy, etc. As I get older I tend to think that this laissez faire attitude is less of a good thing. It's difficult for me to put into words why I feel this way and I'm trying to figure it out. Something about being intentional around building communities and social groups.

as someone who has been forced to be homeschooled since 4th grade the only way you can be a successful homeschooler in regards to academics is if your parents have a lot of money so they can buy you curriculums and tutoring for 500 $ or if you do online school which most homeschooling or unschooling parents don't like because it has structure and accountability and "they're on a screen all day" most homeschooling and unschooling families I know spend 1 hour doing schoolwork for like 3 days a week and its ridiculous. most of them don't have tests or reflections or discussions about what they learned. most of them are missing certain subjects and are very behind. most parents don't know how to teach their kids math after a certain level and some dotn even teach their kid how to read because they don't know how!! most homeschoolers I know will watch educational youtube videos for english history and science and usually khan academy for math, but there's no structure and the kids usually don't even do any of these most days of the week. my parents were like this til I got to highschool and thank god for me we started using an actual curriculum so that I could finally be on track but I was behind in math I had to work for a few months to get back on track and because I had to get on track so fast sometimes I forget basic things and struggle more than others. but most highschoolers in homeschool I know weren't lucky enough to get a curriculum. i use time4learning which is 35 bucks a month and grades you instead of your parents grading you again thank god so I have a 3.91 gpa. but when I tell you 90 percent of the homeschool kids I know are homeschooled to be sheltered from the real world and differing religious and political views and are so behind and unstructured so their parents can control them for longer. im telling you its so sad to see.

I was somewhere in between during high school. I was put onto independent study for about 2 1/2 years due to my ASD/Asperger’s and spinal surgery after my freshman year of high school. Once a week I would go to a teacher to take tests, turn in and grade my assignments and get next week’s assigned work. Went back to school full time my senior year and graduated with high honors.

glad to hear the pros and cons of both sending kids to school or doing it yourself at home

Hi, 👋 homeschooled human here. I grew up in a homeschool community, and I was homeschooled from kindergarten on. I went on to get an MBA, and now work in communications at a large company and love it. Most of my friends became engineers, and one is a doctor. There were a few people who had failure to launch, but that happens in public schools too. I would say most of us came out well adjusted, socially normal, and happy adults. Hope this helps!

if you shouldn't be able to drive, but can pass the test, then the test isn't right.

While good homeschooling can exist (so don't go "but I was homeschooled and am a genius and awesome") for the most part it is done by parents who are woefully unprepared, extremely religious so don't teach actual curriculum, or both. And it isn't just Christians either - islamic and Jewish fundamentalists homeschooling is a problem in some parts of the US and in Europe.
Another massive issue is that homeschooled kids are often woefully unprepared for social life once they get integrated into the workforce or come to Highschool. All of the homeschooled kids at my Highschool were very socially awkward and you could tell they were very, very sheltered. They also had to take remedial classes.
Homeschooling CAN work (especially for kids with learning disabilities and understanding parents) but it requires at least one parent to be devoted to it full time, which is not possible for many families nowadays, and also requires you to have your kids enrolled in a lot of social programs like team sports, youth groups, etc. Which in my experience, isn't done.
It sounds good on paper, but in practice it is veru difficult to pull off, especially after 6th -8th grade.

My parents didn't homeschool me, but my younger siblings weren't so lucky. Still, they sent me to alternative schools even before charter schools emerged. It wasn't until my situation threatened my participation in sports that they let me go to public high school. Indoctrinated at home, church and school as a Mormon, I regurgitated mostly regressive and right-wing talking points.
It wasn't until I served my mission that the cocoon's lining frayed, leading to a personal crisis of faith.
It's been decades since my time as a missionary, but I still uncover unsubstantiated beliefs.
I don't know what will happen to these indoctrinated children, but I do know some will not cope with the pain of cognitive dissonance. They'll discover more and more of the truth, resenting their authoritarian parents more and more.

Please tell me if I have a handle on your channel's ISA. [It is inescapable after all, eh?] First, you introduce the critical perspective: e.g. schooling is bad b/c it reinforces the status quo the elites favor. Then you assert how hard it is to challenge the status quo and how doing so tends to make things worse in some respect: e.g. the right appropriated the hippies' education ideas to make little n@zis. Next is to pile on marginally relevant issues to increase complexity and thus cognitive and emotional load. Finally, you assert that the value we "find" in the status quo is under threat and maybe it is better to protect the status quo instead: e.g., we need to keep funding public schools while ignoring the initial criticism of its role in propaganda. So the audience, having been nearly overwhelmed by the complexity of the issue as presented feels relieved to be able to ignore the initial criticism of the status quo to instead feel protective of the status quo, i.e., the funding of public schools, all while eschewing any criticism of the same. Is this strategy not straight out of the Frankfurt School's "playbook" for sublimating revolutionary desire into "socially productive" energy? Much love!
PS I would be happy to be wrong and that this pattern is just a result of a blind-spot bias, but the fact that every video I have watched on this channel takes this same format, together with how smart and insightful you are, leads evidence to the more unfortunate conclusion, no? Take care.

Despite the fact that my content (and other creators' content) was used in this video without asking for our permission, especially from such an established creator like yourself, I actually think this video is well made and shows a lot of common misconceptions when it comes to homeschooling. Maybe I can clear some of those up.
As a prior public school teacher, I feel like I am one of the more level-headed homeschool content creators out there and I make it very clear on all of my channels that as a teacher, I saw some things from returning homeschoolers that made me absolutely despise homeschooling. However, I also saw the horrors of public school that eventually led me to pulling my own children to homeschool them.
I think it really comes down to how it's done. Homeschooling and Unschooling are NOT the same. Homeschooling is also not what it was even 10 years ago.
For us in our homeschool, my children are receiving one on one instruction for all subjects and are scoring off the charts compared to their same aged peers on state tests. We follow an academic schedule and are involved with a local homeschool co-op where my children experience all the same "social" benefits of a public school -- holiday parties, recess, "school" dances, electives, etc. Their social calendars are jam packed between playdates, gymnastics, dance, culinary, basketball practices, etc. We can travel at any point in the year and stay on vacation for as long as we want, taking our studies on the road. Two weeks ago my kids finished their math work on clipboards next to a waterfall before volunteering at a local market in the middle of the Appalachian mountains while traveling. You can't tell me they aren't gaining more life experience than a kid who gets to go to Disney once a year during summer break.
I never knew homeschool could be like this. I wasn't aware of the resources available and I didn't even know what a homeschool co-op was!
😆We only planned to homeschool temporarily when everything went online with Covid, but after seeing the huge improvements in my kids' academics, behavior, self esteem, moods, etc. I put in my teaching resignation and we have been going strong for 4 years now!
All homeschools cannot be treated the same and shouldn't be lumped into a one-size-fits-all category. Just like when I was a teacher, not all 5th grade teachers or classrooms were equal -- you had teachers who went above and beyond and you had teachers who couldn't care less. I personally believe there is a right way to homeschool (which is a huge point of controversy among veteran homeschooling families on my channels) -- Just like teaching in the public schools, things need to be done with fidelity and intention. Just my two-cents.
PS - My video was the first one used in this video where I am discussing parents homeschooling students with special needs - Specifically how the parent can be the child's IEP. I fully stand by this as I was a special education teacher, myself. Thanks for the free exposure, and I would have totally given permission to monetize from my content had you asked. ♥
-Jess

I was homeschooled as a kid, i turned out fine but dating was hard at the time. My parents were fundamentalist conservative Catholics and it was absolutely religiously motivated. My mom didn't even believe in evolution as most Catholics do. My education was fine since we followed a curriculum and sent in tests for accreditation. I had friends who's parents were much less responsible and they really struggled finding a career and left stay at home mom as the main option for women. I wanted to go to public school for years and was finally allowed to as a sophomore in high school. I'm against homeschooling. Let's focus on fixing and funding our current system (looking at you property taxes keeping poor areas poor) rather than opting out.

I was homeschooled from grade 6 on, pretty much as a last resort. I'd basically given up on school at that point, first refusing to do homework, then later in-class work and eventually, submitting tests via tape recording. My dad once sat with me for 3 hours trying to get me to do my homework...and that stand-off only ended when I went to bed. I refused to bring the pain of school home with me.
Fast forward to adulthood, I eventually got a GED (got a perfect score on my science test too), spent some time at university studying philosophy before untreated ADHD ruined that, and...I dunno, I'm on a disability pension and trying to figure out how best to live in my own place (and doing it during a housing crisis too: bonus fun). My life kinda went nowhere.
Still, I know enough philosophy of law to tell you that the current majority of the Supreme Court aren't originalists like they claim, but functionally legal realists (and rather cynical ones at that), in my personal opinion. Probably not a take that most people here would disagree with.
Also, the sentence "Natural Law Theory of Natural Law" will live rent-free in my head forever.

I'm a Brit who was home schooled using American Christian Education materials due to living in multiple European countries until I was 11 (my parents were Christian missionaries)
I then went to secondary school in the UK. Anyway I'm intelligent (even if I do say so myself) and very socially progressive. I've always considered my acceptance of others and charitable nature to be morals I've learnt due to my religious upbringing. For me the evangelical Americans who use religion to excuse their bigotry and ignorance is due to the environment and culture they live in

These parent's aren't just worried about their children's minds being controlled by another entity. They're worried that THEY will not have control over the mind of their child.
It's certainly difficult to argue what makes a great parent, but I hope that most will agree it's a selfish urge to want to "control" your child.
I've never been religious, but I was put in a class as a teen to get baptized. I liked reading and I grandmother had loved the Christian God so I went along with it.
They told me to ask questions, so I asked them why would I ever want to be in heaven if all the people I loved were in hell. According to the rules they gave me, that's where they were.
With the reaction they gave me, the cold abandonment, I don't think I'd ever been so disillusioned in my life with an institution that claimed to want to teach me.
Our school system sucks, but a good system isn't about controlling a child. It's about nurturing them to feel comfortable enough that they can grow in to what they might want.
By a quote attributed to Ghibli founder Miyazaki, it was stated that he wanted to create works that help children be happy to be alive in this world.
If a school system isn't doing that, if a parent isn't doing that, then they are failing.

Our public schools are trash I would love if they were funded well and definitely the standard should be universal. If I lived in Florida for instance with their political need to flavor significant events like the Civil War, our Founding, and nature of slavery in Right Wing political agendas I would homeschool. I wouldn't send my children to a school with the tenants of Scientology on classroom walls nor would in two thousand years regardless of how often Hubbard is mentioned from now until them. I wouldhomeschooling.
My own experience in a poorly funded, economically insolvent town, shared with a reservation in a Red State does not support any desire to leave any child in their hands. Graduating class of seniors was 150 from a freshman class of 800+ of which I was one of 6 native students. Understand I waa crestfallen in 5th grade to find a reading assignment was Where the Wild Things Are which was a book I requested nightly as a toddler. It led me to think I was "smart" 🧠 of all 🧠 because I was a their 🤓 only to understand as an adult the education I was provided was mediocre.
I'm glad my college drop out parents actually invested in my education. Made time when they could to help me study. As broke as we were, are today, they still gifted me a chemistry set, telescope, art supplies, and every creative building set they could manage to afford. Love the fact the library was always available though I doubt remember seeing too many of my classmates. The worry is standards but given those standards can always be met without the social problems that come with school homeschooling is a viable option. No being a stay at home parent does not make you qualified to tutor let alone teach.

My Indian parents who migrated to Australia pulled me and my brother out of primary school because they thought the material was substandard at best. Then when we went back to highschool (cause Australia teaches a lot more in those years) we were pretty ahead of the curb. So i guess it depends on what level of education your parents have. My stay at home mom had a masters degree in engineering, and taught us quite a bit of handy work as well. Never thought I'd get any of that hands on mechanical expertise at school.
But I've had other indian parents pull out their kids and not do as good a job.

Homeschooler here, I got out of the near cult the religion I was raised in was. I would still identify as a Christian, but not the Homophobic kind. The do unto others, take care of widows and orphans, and love your neighbor type.
I do not think Homeschooling is the answer 80% of the time. There are reasons that it is the correct options.
I think this video did a great job of approaching this issue.

Because if a 10 year old gets into an accident, even if they passed the test, everyone would wonder who tf thought it was a good idea to let a 10 year old drive on the highway.

I was gonna say they can't see over the steering wheel but neither can my wife so

You guys are my fav

Missed you Michael.

Having gone to public school, been homeschooled, and a charter school I would say no one schooling/teaching model works best as there are pros and cons to all of them.

The problem isn't the age of drivers it is our driving test .Diving license are trivially easy to get . People don't know how to do basic things , and it's clear . We're supposed to zipper merge when lanes end , but instead people line up for miles. If you try to zipper merge they get mad and try to block you , because they don't know they were never taught correctly . Or drive in any round about in America and watch drivers have a mental break down . If you don't fix that then add a bunch of young kids , it's going to be carnage . Also cars are designed around an average adult height , so it couldn't be any age .

I could not homeschool my kids. Stage one of my plan to radicalize them would be expose them to society... No, wait, stage 2; stage 1 would be teaching them the truth about Santa. Hey, it worked with me :D

As someone with adhd, I liked the idea of unschooling but I think structured lessons and community are important.
Overall, there needs to have government oversight. Those kids aren't protected at all.

I have a close friend that was home schooled. While I love her dearly, she is a mess. She is socially inept, not understanding basic social practices. She can't keep a job, because she doesn't understand what is okay and what's not. "I'll go to lunch when I want, go to the bathroom without notice, etc". She doesn't understand finances, or basic adult requirements. She falls into horrible relationships, because her life has been one big case of Stockholm Syndrome. Both of her parents are now deceased, both for treatable diseases that they decided to "pray away". She was denied a real life.

2:30 🤔 if they are not 'legally or ethically' fit to; drive, stand trial as an adult OR get drunk
(be fully responsible for their own 'adult' actions in every way)
then they should not be allowed to drive.
(since one false move and they'll be standing trial for homicide.)
This works both for minimum and maximum age.

Homeschooling seems like a worthwhile choice if supplemented with extra curriculars. Not interacting with other students is simply a challenge to overcome. I think enrolling in multiple extra curricular programs like tutoring, scouts, organized sports, and religious youth programs could make for a well-rounded homeschool curriculum. After all, it takes a village

I got zero out of four of those state capitals. Could I still get the praise and reassurance just for being honest? 😊

I only know facts that there are Animaniacs songs about. Capitals? Thank you Wakko. Countries? Yakko has got me covered. Why I'm so cute? Meet professor Dot

Everyone I know who homeschooled, did it because their parents were afraid of the gangs at the school. Those kids did all their classes online and teamed up with other home schoolers and did field trips (and this was 20 years ago). They were able to start university at 16 because they completed everything faster.

Ah, homeschooling.
I am a 40 yr old autistic man who was homeschooled from 3rd until 10th grade.
I went to a public school from pre-2, then the school said, "hey, this little bastard is nothing but trouble. Do NOT enroll in the fall."
So, my parents (who were super conservative baptists) got together with several families and decided to start a homeschooling group at the church.
Honestly, I fucking loved it. Being autistic (which we didn't know at the time), it was a fucking lifesaver.
I went from failing everything to straight as.
And when I finally went back to a "real" school in 10th grade, I tested college level in every subject in my placement test.
I actually ended up graduating and starting college at 15, because I would do several days of school work every day, since all the other kids were at school anyway, so I had time while not being distracted to learn.
HOWEVER, pretty much every other kid in the homeschool group turned out to be a socially inept moron.
Also, I never bought into the whole religion thing, so I dunno if that made a difference.
So while I think generally, it's a bad idea, there are definitely some cases where it seems almost necessary.
I don't know what would've happened if my parents would have just shuffled me to a different school, but I can't imagine I would have ended up as successful and high functioning as I am today.
Also, when we hit the grades where my parents didn't understand the material, they enrolled me in a service where I could call a teacher and get questions answered.
That probably made a big difference as well.

I was partially homeschooled for 3 years, in tandem with the public middle school. The issue was educational quality, in what I now hear is called the Colorado Paradox - that the state attracts so many highly educated workers but has a low funding rate for educating their children. I ultimately ended up going into public high school full-time in 9th grade (having skipped 7th along the way). Yes, I took the standardized tests to make sure I was learning. But man those homeschooling textbooks were not subtle in their religious agenda - the anti-evolution biology text with sidebar screeds against abortion and homosexuality; the health textbook that included etiquette for boys pulling out chairs for girls (who were always depicted in modest skirts or dresses, never jeans or shorts); the world history text book with an unmistakable emphasis on the ancient Middle East. The math textbook wasn't ideologically slanted, but it was no-nonsene in a way the public school math books weren't.

As a Neurospicy human who had a really bad time in public education I can see the appeal of homeschooling. The lack of standards (at least in America idk what the policy is in other countries) is just a disaster waiting to happen. I feel like there are skills towards becoming a functional adult that are ignored regardless of if you’re homeschooled or in public education such as how to do Taxes, applying for/keeping a job, financial literacy, cooking/Home ec,reconciliation of history, Queer history, internet safety,Sex-Ed. Things that I’m pretty sure if we don’t have a good grasp on as skills we’d starve and be on the streets for. Little Timmy isn’t going to create his own life stability just because he knows that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
This isn’t to demote the academics, they are just as important in providing context and rounding out a persons knowledge base. I’m more referring to surviving in the current society.

I was homeschooled for most of my education, the curriculum was adequate and the brainwashing was fairly easy to reverse. I certainly wish I could have done the traditional public school route though. FWIW I was the evangelical homeschooler 15:46

Ah yes, To Train Up a Child AKA the user's guide to child abuse. So good to know that book is being heralded as a "valuable text" in the homeschooling community. Also, I always got to look someone who wants to homeschool their kids with a side eye because too many of them are not so lowkey racist bigots.

so i’m in a unique situation as i was homeschooled 1st through 12th. i was fortunate that my parents were both highly educated (both had masters when they started and my dad got his doctorate) and motivated to ensure we went to college. while they did not start homeschooling for religious reasons, they are religious and worked that into the curriculum. this was not done at the detriment of the educational aspect though. by the time i got to college, i was well-prepared academically. socially, i was severely underdeveloped. i had a hard time balancing social and scholastic life because i never needed to before, so i ended up slacking on my school to hang out with my friends.
i’m in my thirties now, married with a master’s and a house, so i’m not doing too badly overall. if you’re going to homeschool, actually educate your children. it’s hard to do, and if you’re not equipped for it, have the humility to admit that. your children’s education and future is more important than your ego will ever be.

I’ve known multiple people who chose to believe dinosaurs didn’t exist for religious reasons. Many also were homeschooled.

Public schools can vary as well. We just moved, and the prior school, my kid (2nd grade) was getting straight As, and the classroom size was only 15 kids. She was doing very well. When we moved, her grades went down, and the classroom size was double! I noticed a difference in the teacher's as well. I for sure like the teacher in the 1st school much more than the second. She seemed to have more enthusiasm and an understanding of child psychology. The second teacher, I was not impressed with her. The second school didn't even offer spelling! Where before, my kid got As in math, she was now getting Cs. Now I have to homeschool her over summer break to make sure she is prepared for 3rd grade, as the 2nd school fell short. It could be a mix. This school is overall just a worse school. It could also be because she changed schools, she had to adjust to a new routine, and she may not have been starting out at the same place the other kids were.
Even though the second school doesn't seem to be as good with the curriculum, I believe it offers other benefits. For one, it is far more diverse. Far more blacks and Latinos at this school. Only 10% white. My kid is white, but I think its important for her to be exposed to more than white kids. The 1st school was around 80% white. Most of her friends are Latino and she's picking up on Spanish hanging out with them and their families. Every time she hangs out with them she acquires new Spanish words and phrases.