<p>pafather--I have thought about homeschooling from time to time. I understand why more and more people are homeschooling their kids, but it just isn't my cup of tea. I enjoy teaching, but would find it hard to teach my own kids. And frankly, I like the sense of community that a good school has. I like talking to good teachers about what they are teaching and how my children are doing. And I like the kids being exposed to things that I can't expose them to, like being around kids from other backgrounds/races/cultures. And ideally, at a decent school, there are specialists--art teachers, band teachers, orchestra teachers, history teachers--all who have something valuable to offer and all with their own perspective on things. We live in a rich area as far as diversity goes, and I like that. I usually think about homeschooling as a last resort, if all else fails, and there are no other options left.</p>
<p>I have to admit, thanks to No Child Left Behind and silly, meaningless, endless testing, I've been thinking about homeschooling more lately, though for my little one, not the one approaching high school age. I really don't like the direction that No Child Left Behind seems to be taking in our district. The middle school D can go to the Catholic high school, I guess. It would suit her more than home schooling would, I think. At least we can afford to send her there, though not to any of the other pricier private schools in the area. We could move, though I hate to move only for the school. I like where I live, and have established some truly special friends here. It would cost money to move, also, and it would affect our ability to pay for college.</p>
<p>I started to list some of the problems with the local public high school but it was too depressing. And yet, this school is not one of the really horrible ones, not at all. I think my D could go there and do alright if she had to.</p>
<p>When it comes to inner city schools, the really broken ones--I wouldn't want to send my kids there. And I don't think that my kids would be able to do very well in such schools. Aside from the atmosphere of poverty and danger, many of these schools do not have much at all to offer high achieving kids. Even a kid from a stable family with parents who care about education graduates from one of those schools <em>behind</em> IMO. I do think money would help at least some kids in these schools if it was targeted wisely. It would give some kids opportunites that they simply do not have the way it is now. That's the idea with the vouchers, I guess, to give some kids opportunities they cannot get any other way.</p>