6 ms·

Show HN: Great Books Homeschool beta program

45 points by jkurnia 3y ago

I built this customizable literature-based K-12 homeschool curriculum, based on my experience as a homeschool parent. It's designed especially for intellectually curious kids who love to read. One of the main benefits of homeschooling is the ability to design customized programs of study that let kids learn at their level of challenge in each subject. But since designing custom curricula from scratch requires a huge time commitment and familiarity with children's literature and academic materials, most homeschooling parents don't take advantage of this potential and instead opt for prepackaged curricula. Great Books Homeschool eliminates a lot of the work involved in designing a complete and rigorous curriculum for homeschooled students. The website generates a default program of study for each student, then helps parents customize it. Transcripts and other records are generated automatically. Pricing is normally subscription based, but we're offering complimentary access for twelve months to the first 50 users who sign up for our beta testing program. In return, beta testers are requested to complete a monthly questionnaire about their experience with the curriculum. If you would like to participate in the beta testing program, please first create a free trial account at https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com. Once signed in, go to https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/parent/beta-application?via=hn https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/parent/beta-application... and complete the application form. Questions and comments are welcome!

jschveibinz 3y ago
Hello. I am truly not throwing rocks, because I think that a well-curated curriculum for this area of learning is very important. Nevertheless, AI is upon us, so here is a link to a “Poe:Sage” answer to the question: “what is a good homeschooling curriculum for k-12 based on ‘the great books’ of western culture.” I hope you find this useful… https://poe.com/s/Um9NGaFBlpJNJpNwPFSk https://poe.com/s/Um9NGaFBlpJNJpNwPFSk
- jkurnia 3y ago
  Thanks! I am familiar with some of these and a big fan of The Well-Trained Mind. Our curriculum uses "Great Books" in a broader sense of quality fiction and nonfiction literature, which includes classical Western literature but also lots of modern and non-Western books.
sparrish 3y ago
$40/month for a list of books to check out at the library seems a bit much. Transcripts aren't difficult so what additional value do you offer for that price?
- jkurnia 3y ago
  Thanks, this is helpful to hear. It's interesting that one of the main pieces of feedback we get is about pricing. Some people say that it is overpriced, others that we should be charging more. To answer your question, we have quite a bit of original content and functionality beyond the book lists and transcripts. And based on my experience assembling customized homeschooling curricula for my kids, the book curation in itself is a major value add. If it saves the parent just a few hours of research time, or connects the student with just a few resources beyond what parents could find on their own, it would be worth the cost for many families. The main differentiator in a homeschooling curriculum is what the student will spend his/her time doing and reading, and optimizing this seems like it would be worth paying for a service rather than relying on free book lists from the internet. That's our hypothesis, anyway.
  - 8589934591 3y ago
    Your product is great. I do have a pain with the price point. I live outside the US and it's simply expensive. Maybe consider regional pricing? If you include this and region specific books as well, your service will be golden. Btw, what stops someone from paying for just a month or two and collating all your plans and then use it for the rest of their lives without paying you anymore? I mean this genuinely and not with ill intent. Regarding pricing, I'd be happy to pay an amount as one time purchase for the entire curriculum vs a subscription model. Or pay one time for each bundle/grade. Just some ideas.
- yamtaddle 3y ago
  I looked for a sample unit and couldn't find one. Does indeed seem expensive, even if it's pretty good by the standards of such things.
  - 3y ago
benatkin 3y ago
> It's designed especially for intellectually curious kids who love to read. What does "intellectually curious" mean here exactly? The reasons people homeschool mostly seem to be about being (over)protective, which goes against it: "Parents were asked which of the reasons they homeschooled was the most important reason. Figure 2 and table 4 show the most important reasons students were being homeschooled in 2003, as reported by parents of homeschooled students. Concern about the environment of other schools and to provide religious or moral instruction were the top two most important reasons cited. About a third of students had parents who cited concern about the environment of other schools as their most important reason for homeschooling (31 percent). Approximately another third of homeschooled students had parents who were homeschooling primarily to provide religious or moral instruction (30 percent). Sixteen percent of homeschooled students had parents whose primary reason for homeschooling was dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools, making this the third most common primary reason for homeschooling." https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/parentsreasons.asp https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/parentsreasons.asp It would be great if you could help some to get some what they're missing from being shielded from other schools, but to make it sound like homeschooling is more efficient and that all the time saved enables more learning does not reflect the typical homeschool experience. Also some do online charter school where a company gets thousands of dollars a year per student to give people lousy content (when there's great free content on Khan Academy) and no social connection. It seems pretty bleak. https://www.reddit.com/r/education/comments/3r4w96/study_on_online_charter_schools_it_is_literally/ https://www.reddit.com/r/education/comments/3r4w96/study_on_...
- myself248 3y ago
  "Mostly" is not everyone, and frankly I tend to forget the religious weirdos even exist. All the homeschooling families I knew were doing it because the local schools sucked; even those with "gifted and talented" programs couldn't keep up. If this scratches an itch for some homeschoolers, it's valid and useful. There will always be others for whom it is not interesting, but so what?
  - benatkin 3y ago
    That's why I included the link. I didn't say that most of them were being protective for religious reasons. Just that they made a decision out of a desire to be protective. That's both of the first two categories (31% and 30%) and I'm sure some of the remainder. Of course some parents are overprotective. And I get that about the local schools sucking but who's providing a superior alternative and are you sure they are? I'll take your word for it on the homeschooling families you knew. I knew plenty myself and saw the opposite.
all2 3y ago
From the overview by grade page [0] > Note that the curriculum does not introduce writing this year. [...] I find this strange. I have a lot of penmanship homework from my two years (!!) of kindergarten and first grade. It seems odd to me to not include it in kindergarten. Your reasoning seems to make sense to me, but I'd be tempted to teach in the way I was taught because it worked -- for better or worse -- for me. Are there a developmental psychology resources that you use for making decisions like these? --- From [0], you have > We have includes Calico Spanish It should be "We have included". --- From [0] and from the subject guides drop-down > Supervise your child's writing practice closely in the beginning to ensure that he or she is forming letters using the correct stroke direction and order. Incorrect habits established at this stage are difficult to unlearn later. I don't see an inclusion of penmanship here anywhere. As I understand it, penmanship is incredibly important for the development of fine motor skills in children (note that girls will develop faster than boys in this area of study). Are there plans to include penmanship? <edit> Nevermind, I found it in the 3rd grade section.[1] </edit> --- > Allow your child to choose any easy readers, comic books or simple series books that appeal to him or her. The priority at this level is to establish the habit of reading for enjoyment. Yes! I refused to learn to read until my mother got me a subscription to Sonic the Hedgehog (we had the first issue of the comic book series for a long, long time). After I got started in comic books, my reading habit was fueled by my own interests. --- From [1] > You should complement your child's science exploration by taking frequent trips to your local library and having him or choose nonfiction or science-related books to incorporate into independent reading time. This is awkwardly phrased. --- I could keep going. I want to keep going, but I've other tasks that need my attention. Thank you for creating this and I wish you luck in rolling it out! [0] https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades [1] https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades#Thi https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades#Thi
- quacked 3y ago
  > I find this strange. I have a lot of penmanship homework from my two years (!!) of kindergarten and first grade. I'll have to see if I can find the studies, but a lot of researchers have been finding that rushing to introduce kids to things doesn't make a great impact and in fact sometimes holds them back from lifetime achievement. (This does not apply to true prodigies.) Off the top of my head, some researchers have found that penmanship isn't that useful at an age where fine motor skills still need a lot of development, and the Soviet union found that waiting an extra 2-3 years to introduce children to math resulted in better, faster, more confident math students.
PSNapier 3y ago
Nice to see a homeschooling curriculum that appears to be more secular!
- jkurnia 3y ago
  Yes, this is a secular curriculum. It's intended to address a bit of a market gap in that respect as well.
sputknick 3y ago
Homeschool dad for 12 years here. I like the direction you are going, I see this as useful, productive, helpful. My concern is your pricing seems to be pretty far off from what homeschool parents generally pay. I would suggest something more in line with $40-$100 a year. more than that you will get a lot of hesitation, less than that, it might come across as not valuable.
hbarka 3y ago
Yuval Noah Harari is Great Books?
- no-reply 3y ago
  "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" is a book without much facts or evidence. Other books by the author would likely be somewhere around. So, not a great book, but more like a story book. Though I assume they just slapped some book covers on the website in hurry.
TehShrike 3y ago
I like the idea. I'm having a bit of trouble picturing exactly what I'd be getting though – what format are the book lists presented in, and what sorts of materials do you include with them? A page with a couple sample emails that I could read without having to create an account would help me. Maybe there is one somewhere, but I couldn't find it.
- jkurnia 3y ago
  That's a good idea. Maybe we can include some screenshots in the homepage or How It Works page to give visitors a better idea of what it looks like when you create an account and generate curricula.
antiviral 3y ago
Interesting idea! Anyone who likes the idea of a great books program should check out St. John's College in Annapolis MD and their curriculum: Suggested book curriculum by year: https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/great-books-reading-list https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/great-bo... All in one PDF: https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/4115/4810/0934/St_Johns_College_Great_Books_Reading_List.pdf https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/4115/4810/0934/St_John... There's also the old Britannica Great books printed book set. You can just look at their book list and get them one by one when you're ready: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_Wor... Also, almost all of these books are old enough that their copyrights have expired so you can download them for free from the Gutenberg e-library: https://gutenberg.org/ https://gutenberg.org/ For example, here is a free copy of Plato's Gorgias: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1672/pg1672-images.html https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1672/pg1672-images.html One feature I've wished for is some way to format these free books and make them more reader-friendly. That would save future readers time to do it themselves. I would pay for something like that.
- yamtaddle 3y ago
  There's also the famous Harvard Classics, or the 5-Foot Shelf, sold as a kind of primary-sources curriculum, complete with a reading plan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Classics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Classics A Great List of Great Book Lists: http://sonic.net/~rteeter/greatbks.html http://sonic.net/~rteeter/greatbks.html [EDIT] On this: > Also, almost all of these books are old enough that their copyrights have expired so you can download them for free from the Gutenberg e-library: https://gutenberg.org/ https://gutenberg.org/ I'd caution readers to also evaluate in-copyright editions, especially in the case of works in translation. Used books are cheap and it's worth getting the best possible translation (however one chooses to evaluate that) if one is going to spend hours with it. And: > One feature I've wished for is some way to format these free books and make them more reader-friendly. That would save future readers time to do it themselves. I would pay for something like that. Standard Ebooks? https://standardebooks.org https://standardebooks.org Not comprehensive, but they've got a lot.
- Ninjinka 3y ago
rpmisms 3y ago
Phenomenal! Good books are critical, and were formative to me. Add Life of Fred for math and you're golden.
- jkurnia 3y ago
  We actually do include Life of Fred as an optional supplement for elementary grades and an alternative core curriculum for high school. My seven-year-old loves it!
syzarian 3y ago
I have a question about home schooling in general. I'm a teacher with 20+ years of mathematics teaching experience at a community college. I don't know how to teach physics, chemistry, literature, reading, grammar, biology, etc. I especially don't know how to teach such topics to children. I don't know how to spot a learning disability except in an extreme case or to know if a student likely needs special education. What makes parents with no specialized training think they can do better than the public school system? My sister homeschooled all 8 of her kids from kindergarten through high school and it shows. It especially shows among the younger kids. Three of the younger kids clearly needed special help and had learning disabilities but her pride prevented her from getting them tested or even acknowledging the possibility that she was wholly incapable of adequately teaching them. What is it about teaching that makes people with no training think they can do better than trained professionals? Do such people think they can be a police officer without training? a nurse or doctor without training? I don't intend this to be confrontational. I'm curious about the thought process. I know there are cases where a parent can be better than what is provided by the public school system but I think far more parents are homeschooling who shouldn't be. I assume you are the exception and your efforts at homeschooling are justified.
- benatkin 3y ago
  Part of it is the statistics. I don't fault people for deciding to homeschool at this point as long as they make sure other needs besides education are addressed, because the data are there and it doesn't show conclusively that homeschooling is worse, though it doesn't show it's better either. If it was much worse on average, that would show. Also a common pitfall is homeschooling only out of protectiveness. That alone isn't a very good reason to homeschool - at least not before other options including going to another school or perhaps even moving are exhausted. Protectiveness can be the start of researching about homeschooling but people should have more reasons homeschooling is likely to work well for them other than just that it's safer before actually starting to homeschool IMO.
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  First: If you need help, get help. If you can't do it, stop trying to do it. Second: There are communities (homeschool co-ops and such) that can help. Third, though: Do not underestimate yourself. You know a lot of physics for a third-grader. You can teach that, even if you have to read the textbook right beside the student. (You may not be able to by high school, though.) And you have a great advantage. One of the key things in teaching is classroom size. The difference between a classroom of 30 and an classroom of 4 is massive.
snotrockets 3y ago
I couldn't find a list of said books. Which makes me assume the name is indeed a dog whistle, and not just a marketing coincidence.
- bequanna 3y ago
  Dog whistle? I don’t follow.
  - snotrockets 3y ago
    On the chance you really don’t know “Great Books” in some contexts is a racist trope, referring to a list of so called pinnacles of civilization, even if they are often read literally and not critically, without placing in context. Not that they’re bad books, mind you. But it’s like reading “The Merchant of Venice” and assuming Shylock represents a Jew, and not the xenophobia of British society at Shakespeare’s time. tl;dr it’s what retrvn guys pretend to read.
    - bequanna 3y ago
      I've never heard of this. So, the below is considered by some to be a "racist" organization? https://www.greatbooks.org/ https://www.greatbooks.org/
      - 4dayworkweek4u 3y ago
        Everything is the r-word... you didn't know that? It's lucrative biz!

45 points by jkurnia 3y ago

jschveibinz 3y ago

Hello. I am truly not throwing rocks, because I think that a well-curated curriculum for this area of learning is very important. Nevertheless, AI is upon us, so here is a link to a “Poe:Sage” answer to the question: “what is a good homeschooling curriculum for k-12 based on ‘the great books’ of western culture.” I hope you find this useful… https://poe.com/s/Um9NGaFBlpJNJpNwPFSk https://poe.com/s/Um9NGaFBlpJNJpNwPFSk

jkurnia 3y ago
Thanks! I am familiar with some of these and a big fan of The Well-Trained Mind. Our curriculum uses "Great Books" in a broader sense of quality fiction and nonfiction literature, which includes classical Western literature but also lots of modern and non-Western books.

sparrish 3y ago

$40/month for a list of books to check out at the library seems a bit much. Transcripts aren't difficult so what additional value do you offer for that price?

jkurnia 3y ago
Thanks, this is helpful to hear. It's interesting that one of the main pieces of feedback we get is about pricing. Some people say that it is overpriced, others that we should be charging more. To answer your question, we have quite a bit of original content and functionality beyond the book lists and transcripts. And based on my experience assembling customized homeschooling curricula for my kids, the book curation in itself is a major value add. If it saves the parent just a few hours of research time, or connects the student with just a few resources beyond what parents could find on their own, it would be worth the cost for many families. The main differentiator in a homeschooling curriculum is what the student will spend his/her time doing and reading, and optimizing this seems like it would be worth paying for a service rather than relying on free book lists from the internet. That's our hypothesis, anyway.
- 8589934591 3y ago
  Your product is great. I do have a pain with the price point. I live outside the US and it's simply expensive. Maybe consider regional pricing? If you include this and region specific books as well, your service will be golden. Btw, what stops someone from paying for just a month or two and collating all your plans and then use it for the rest of their lives without paying you anymore? I mean this genuinely and not with ill intent. Regarding pricing, I'd be happy to pay an amount as one time purchase for the entire curriculum vs a subscription model. Or pay one time for each bundle/grade. Just some ideas.
yamtaddle 3y ago
I looked for a sample unit and couldn't find one. Does indeed seem expensive, even if it's pretty good by the standards of such things.
- 3y ago

benatkin 3y ago

> It's designed especially for intellectually curious kids who love to read. What does "intellectually curious" mean here exactly? The reasons people homeschool mostly seem to be about being (over)protective, which goes against it: "Parents were asked which of the reasons they homeschooled was the most important reason. Figure 2 and table 4 show the most important reasons students were being homeschooled in 2003, as reported by parents of homeschooled students. Concern about the environment of other schools and to provide religious or moral instruction were the top two most important reasons cited. About a third of students had parents who cited concern about the environment of other schools as their most important reason for homeschooling (31 percent). Approximately another third of homeschooled students had parents who were homeschooling primarily to provide religious or moral instruction (30 percent). Sixteen percent of homeschooled students had parents whose primary reason for homeschooling was dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools, making this the third most common primary reason for homeschooling." https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/parentsreasons.asp https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/parentsreasons.asp It would be great if you could help some to get some what they're missing from being shielded from other schools, but to make it sound like homeschooling is more efficient and that all the time saved enables more learning does not reflect the typical homeschool experience. Also some do online charter school where a company gets thousands of dollars a year per student to give people lousy content (when there's great free content on Khan Academy) and no social connection. It seems pretty bleak. https://www.reddit.com/r/education/comments/3r4w96/study_on_online_charter_schools_it_is_literally/ https://www.reddit.com/r/education/comments/3r4w96/study_on_...

myself248 3y ago
"Mostly" is not everyone, and frankly I tend to forget the religious weirdos even exist. All the homeschooling families I knew were doing it because the local schools sucked; even those with "gifted and talented" programs couldn't keep up. If this scratches an itch for some homeschoolers, it's valid and useful. There will always be others for whom it is not interesting, but so what?
- benatkin 3y ago
  That's why I included the link. I didn't say that most of them were being protective for religious reasons. Just that they made a decision out of a desire to be protective. That's both of the first two categories (31% and 30%) and I'm sure some of the remainder. Of course some parents are overprotective. And I get that about the local schools sucking but who's providing a superior alternative and are you sure they are? I'll take your word for it on the homeschooling families you knew. I knew plenty myself and saw the opposite.

all2 3y ago

From the overview by grade page [0] > Note that the curriculum does not introduce writing this year. [...] I find this strange. I have a lot of penmanship homework from my two years (!!) of kindergarten and first grade. It seems odd to me to not include it in kindergarten. Your reasoning seems to make sense to me, but I'd be tempted to teach in the way I was taught because it worked -- for better or worse -- for me. Are there a developmental psychology resources that you use for making decisions like these? --- From [0], you have > We have includes Calico Spanish It should be "We have included". --- From [0] and from the subject guides drop-down > Supervise your child's writing practice closely in the beginning to ensure that he or she is forming letters using the correct stroke direction and order. Incorrect habits established at this stage are difficult to unlearn later. I don't see an inclusion of penmanship here anywhere. As I understand it, penmanship is incredibly important for the development of fine motor skills in children (note that girls will develop faster than boys in this area of study). Are there plans to include penmanship? <edit> Nevermind, I found it in the 3rd grade section.[1] </edit> --- > Allow your child to choose any easy readers, comic books or simple series books that appeal to him or her. The priority at this level is to establish the habit of reading for enjoyment. Yes! I refused to learn to read until my mother got me a subscription to Sonic the Hedgehog (we had the first issue of the comic book series for a long, long time). After I got started in comic books, my reading habit was fueled by my own interests. --- From [1] > You should complement your child's science exploration by taking frequent trips to your local library and having him or choose nonfiction or science-related books to incorporate into independent reading time. This is awkwardly phrased. --- I could keep going. I want to keep going, but I've other tasks that need my attention. Thank you for creating this and I wish you luck in rolling it out! [0] https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades [1] https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades#Thi https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades#Thi

quacked 3y ago
> I find this strange. I have a lot of penmanship homework from my two years (!!) of kindergarten and first grade. I'll have to see if I can find the studies, but a lot of researchers have been finding that rushing to introduce kids to things doesn't make a great impact and in fact sometimes holds them back from lifetime achievement. (This does not apply to true prodigies.) Off the top of my head, some researchers have found that penmanship isn't that useful at an age where fine motor skills still need a lot of development, and the Soviet union found that waiting an extra 2-3 years to introduce children to math resulted in better, faster, more confident math students.

PSNapier 3y ago

Nice to see a homeschooling curriculum that appears to be more secular!

jkurnia 3y ago
Yes, this is a secular curriculum. It's intended to address a bit of a market gap in that respect as well.

sputknick 3y ago

Homeschool dad for 12 years here. I like the direction you are going, I see this as useful, productive, helpful. My concern is your pricing seems to be pretty far off from what homeschool parents generally pay. I would suggest something more in line with $40-$100 a year. more than that you will get a lot of hesitation, less than that, it might come across as not valuable.

hbarka 3y ago

Yuval Noah Harari is Great Books?

no-reply 3y ago
"Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" is a book without much facts or evidence. Other books by the author would likely be somewhere around. So, not a great book, but more like a story book. Though I assume they just slapped some book covers on the website in hurry.

TehShrike 3y ago

I like the idea. I'm having a bit of trouble picturing exactly what I'd be getting though – what format are the book lists presented in, and what sorts of materials do you include with them? A page with a couple sample emails that I could read without having to create an account would help me. Maybe there is one somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

jkurnia 3y ago
That's a good idea. Maybe we can include some screenshots in the homepage or How It Works page to give visitors a better idea of what it looks like when you create an account and generate curricula.

antiviral 3y ago

Interesting idea! Anyone who likes the idea of a great books program should check out St. John's College in Annapolis MD and their curriculum: Suggested book curriculum by year: https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/great-books-reading-list https://www.sjc.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/great-bo... All in one PDF: https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/4115/4810/0934/St_Johns_College_Great_Books_Reading_List.pdf https://www.sjc.edu/application/files/4115/4810/0934/St_John... There's also the old Britannica Great books printed book set. You can just look at their book list and get them one by one when you're ready: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Books_of_the_Western_Wor... Also, almost all of these books are old enough that their copyrights have expired so you can download them for free from the Gutenberg e-library: https://gutenberg.org/ https://gutenberg.org/ For example, here is a free copy of Plato's Gorgias: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1672/pg1672-images.html https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1672/pg1672-images.html One feature I've wished for is some way to format these free books and make them more reader-friendly. That would save future readers time to do it themselves. I would pay for something like that.

yamtaddle 3y ago
There's also the famous Harvard Classics, or the 5-Foot Shelf, sold as a kind of primary-sources curriculum, complete with a reading plan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Classics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Classics A Great List of Great Book Lists: http://sonic.net/~rteeter/greatbks.html http://sonic.net/~rteeter/greatbks.html [EDIT] On this: > Also, almost all of these books are old enough that their copyrights have expired so you can download them for free from the Gutenberg e-library: https://gutenberg.org/ https://gutenberg.org/ I'd caution readers to also evaluate in-copyright editions, especially in the case of works in translation. Used books are cheap and it's worth getting the best possible translation (however one chooses to evaluate that) if one is going to spend hours with it. And: > One feature I've wished for is some way to format these free books and make them more reader-friendly. That would save future readers time to do it themselves. I would pay for something like that. Standard Ebooks? https://standardebooks.org https://standardebooks.org Not comprehensive, but they've got a lot.
Ninjinka 3y ago

rpmisms 3y ago

Phenomenal! Good books are critical, and were formative to me. Add Life of Fred for math and you're golden.

jkurnia 3y ago
We actually do include Life of Fred as an optional supplement for elementary grades and an alternative core curriculum for high school. My seven-year-old loves it!

syzarian 3y ago

I have a question about home schooling in general. I'm a teacher with 20+ years of mathematics teaching experience at a community college. I don't know how to teach physics, chemistry, literature, reading, grammar, biology, etc. I especially don't know how to teach such topics to children. I don't know how to spot a learning disability except in an extreme case or to know if a student likely needs special education. What makes parents with no specialized training think they can do better than the public school system? My sister homeschooled all 8 of her kids from kindergarten through high school and it shows. It especially shows among the younger kids. Three of the younger kids clearly needed special help and had learning disabilities but her pride prevented her from getting them tested or even acknowledging the possibility that she was wholly incapable of adequately teaching them. What is it about teaching that makes people with no training think they can do better than trained professionals? Do such people think they can be a police officer without training? a nurse or doctor without training? I don't intend this to be confrontational. I'm curious about the thought process. I know there are cases where a parent can be better than what is provided by the public school system but I think far more parents are homeschooling who shouldn't be. I assume you are the exception and your efforts at homeschooling are justified.

benatkin 3y ago
Part of it is the statistics. I don't fault people for deciding to homeschool at this point as long as they make sure other needs besides education are addressed, because the data are there and it doesn't show conclusively that homeschooling is worse, though it doesn't show it's better either. If it was much worse on average, that would show. Also a common pitfall is homeschooling only out of protectiveness. That alone isn't a very good reason to homeschool - at least not before other options including going to another school or perhaps even moving are exhausted. Protectiveness can be the start of researching about homeschooling but people should have more reasons homeschooling is likely to work well for them other than just that it's safer before actually starting to homeschool IMO.
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
First: If you need help, get help. If you can't do it, stop trying to do it. Second: There are communities (homeschool co-ops and such) that can help. Third, though: Do not underestimate yourself. You know a lot of physics for a third-grader. You can teach that, even if you have to read the textbook right beside the student. (You may not be able to by high school, though.) And you have a great advantage. One of the key things in teaching is classroom size. The difference between a classroom of 30 and an classroom of 4 is massive.

snotrockets 3y ago

I couldn't find a list of said books. Which makes me assume the name is indeed a dog whistle, and not just a marketing coincidence.

bequanna 3y ago
Dog whistle? I don’t follow.
- snotrockets 3y ago
  On the chance you really don’t know “Great Books” in some contexts is a racist trope, referring to a list of so called pinnacles of civilization, even if they are often read literally and not critically, without placing in context. Not that they’re bad books, mind you. But it’s like reading “The Merchant of Venice” and assuming Shylock represents a Jew, and not the xenophobia of British society at Shakespeare’s time. tl;dr it’s what retrvn guys pretend to read.
  - bequanna 3y ago
    I've never heard of this. So, the below is considered by some to be a "racist" organization? https://www.greatbooks.org/ https://www.greatbooks.org/
    - 4dayworkweek4u 3y ago
      Everything is the r-word... you didn't know that? It's lucrative biz!