I'm not really sure what the goal in all this is. You want people to prove that it is ok to have anti-homeshooling bias. (1) A large variety of people have come forward and said why they are opposed to homeschooling and (2) many of us have stated our reasons for sending our kids to public schools. The vast majority of people, including myself, have stated that homeschool is a good choice for some kids. (3)
Regarding (1) The original purpose was for me to explore and see if my presuppositions/understanding of anti-homeschool
bias positions was correct. It appears that my original understanding is pretty accurate,
A- some disagree with the financial math (and homeschoolers generally don't want tax deductions *),
B- some feel that the education you can receive at home is inadequate (see the GuitarStv concerns about social education, or the teacher posts from Sol and EnglishTeacherAlex about 'homeschool parents think they know better', whic appears to be concern for student welfare), though I disagree with their assumptions and conclusions, and finally
C- Several have issues with the religious aspect of homeschooling (as posted above, several times) and while I can't speak for others, I personally find my faith logical and strong enough to endure scrutiny, and expect ,y kids to have the same. Beyond that, many non-christian homeschoolers have posted and cited their various reasons, so I find that point settled.
Overall, I was exploring if there were other areas of concern or genuine weaknesses in homeschooling aside from the three in my original post to which I was blind. If there was something other than the "financial", "educational" or "religious" reasons for being against homeschooling (hence the prove me wrong). Really everything that has been posted about 'anti-homeschool' has fallen pretty cleanly into those areas (though an upthread point about abuse protection / discovery expands from those, but it has been discussed). And I thank the pro-homeschool posters who discussed/debated the various merits or demerits of those posts.
Regarding (2) I don't want public schools defunded. I don't think any of the pro-homeschool posters on here do either. I fully agree with Sol that tax deductions for homeschool (and private school for that matter) is a bad idea. And the comment towards DeVos was honestly kind of left-field, considering she is much more engaged towards charter schools than homeschooling (and I think shes a loon). Considering homeschoolers still pay property taxes, I'm not sure how its relevant to the discussion- (and I really didn't want this thread going the mud-slinging everybody-gets-shit-on route... lol)
You obviously feel homeschooling is the right choice for your own kids. Good for you. For my own kids, I feel like public school is the right choice. At what point does my opinion become bias?
I agree completely with this statement. Personally, I would draw the line when liberty is infringed. I have the liberty to educate my kids in any way I see fit under our current system, and we can argue about the merits of that to no end, but what this thread was originally referencing were several 'anti-homeschooling' comments (both on this forum and elsewhere) that played on more than just the financial/tax-deduction aspect but also into the educational aspect. I wanted to see if there was a wider field of dissension than my presupposition of anti-homeschool bias. Either way, it appears almost all bias (from both sides) comes from a position of ignorance (IE not knowing the details of homeschooler % attendance or success in college (caring about the educational aspect) or not knowing the multiple reasons one may choose to homeschool (why would anyone 'isolate' their kids) to not understanding that homeschooling ≠ societal isolation (as some seem to think)) and a position of ignorance is never a good place to be...
Frankly, aren't you overly biased towards homeschooling? I could say the same things to you that you have said to me. Where is all this "public school parents hate homeschoolers" coming from? Just because people point out the deficits of homeschooling does not mean they are inherently against having homeschooling. Except when we do point out the deficits of homeschooling or even *gasp* the benefits of public school, we are accused of being biased.
I would not consider noting the potential pitfalls of homeschooling as bias, nor would I consider pointing out the potential good things about public school as bias- but what I do consider bias is the consideration that (1) homeschooling is wrong because of "heterosexual white evangelical christians" "brainwashing" their "funky dogma" into their kids. That is bias, possibly with merit and possibly without. Most everything in the middle has been fine.
It sounds an awful lot like you want to prove all us public school folks wrong and when we don't agree with you it is a problem. Even the title of this thread is problematic. Why do I have to prove anything to you? Why isn't the burden on you to prove why your choice is ok? Do you actually want anyone's opinion or do you just want to argue? What do you want from people? Is it just to be validated?
You know, you really didn't have to participate in the thread if you didn't want too... No one is making you post here.
And I don't want to "prove all us public school folks wrong"... I want to engage with the "anti-homeschool folks" to see what merits can be mutually understood. This section seems to me like you are trying to take this political and group me into the DeVos camp... I'm not in that camp.
"Why isn't the burden on you to prove why your choice is ok?" Because I have the liberty in this country to educate my children in the best manner I see fit. For me, that means stepping back from public school and into a different education model. For others, it may be different things. But what I will not tolerate is the accusatory methodology that many take on when discussing homeschooling (they'll be awkward, they won't fit in socially, their education will suffer, etc) when, in reality, many of those are demonstrably false.
Seriously, what is the goal here? Because you are not changing my mind, if anything you are reinforcing my opinion.
The goal is to see if there are valid anti-homeschool concerns, specifically anything outside of the "major three" anti-homeschooling points in the first post, that I may be missing. I'm not looking to change your mind- such a thing is extremely rare in online interactions anyways (hence the constant squabble of politics). I am, however, enjoying the discussion and many of the points being made (on both sides) and would really appreciate it if it didn't tangent into the political BS. If we want to discuss policy positions, that fine, but
name dropping Trump or his associates is going to ruin the thread.
(Edit to clarify the first line, that read really poorly...)*
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/28/why-homeschoolers-dont-want-school-vouchers/