eBay doesn't like homeschoolers

spike said:
2048 items found for homeschool

So how's this ban work exactly?
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Reread the original post.

The trouble that some homeschooled kids face is socialization.
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Unless one lives on a 10000 acre ranch & they never leave said homestead, or have complete psychopaths for parents, that is just another excuse to not homeschool or to devalue it. Damn near everybody uses it though.

Living in our culture, it is almost impossible to not get more than enough socialization. Folks used to live on farms & do chores from sunrise to sunset & they didn't have TVs or radios...or neighbors. The kids had their folks & (maybe) their siblings. This ain't then.
 
Apparently eBay doesn't like home schooling so much that they have thousands of home schooling items on the site.
 
Gonz said:
Unless one lives on a 10000 acre ranch & they never leave said homestead, or have complete psychopaths for parents, that is just another excuse to not homeschool or to devalue it. Damn near everybody uses it though.

Living in our culture, it is almost impossible to not get more than enough socialization. Folks used to live on farms & do chores from sunrise to sunset & they didn't have TVs or radios...or neighbors. The kids had their folks & (maybe) their siblings. This ain't then.
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Now you know I was just playing devil's advocate?

Spike, Now I read part of the article yesterday and I don't have the best memory of it as it's early yet but I think the ban is on the textbooks...and I'm thinking it's because there may be a lot of outdated or unapproved ones floating about and it might be causing a problem. But...I gotta say I think that ebay should operate of the old adage of Caveat Emptor and just take their cut and be done with it.
 
Gonz said:
Unless one lives on a 10000 acre ranch & they never leave said homestead, or have complete psychopaths for parents, that is just another excuse to not homeschool or to devalue it. Damn near everybody uses it though.

Living in our culture, it is almost impossible to not get more than enough socialization. Folks used to live on farms & do chores from sunrise to sunset & they didn't have TVs or radios...or neighbors. The kids had their folks & (maybe) their siblings. This ain't then.
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We don't homeschool. I want that out of the way up front.

I have followed this issue for years and years. Both sides have valid points.

Home schooling is like anything else. It's as good as the effort put into it. I know several people who were home schooled. Many of them were home schooled poorly. No structure, no routine, no consequences, no incentive. Guess what? It failed the kids abysmally. Yes, these kids displayed social ineptitude as well. Prom night, homecoming football gmaes, stuff like that were meaningless. They did not have to deal with unpleasant or difficult people or settings like other kids did...and it showed when they entered the world of work.

OTOH, they displayed a deeper understanding of what was taught. Now, for the ones whose home school curriculum was "tailored", like the Christian based ones for example, this was not altogether a good thing.

Just because a kid is home schooled does not mean they get a better education. It's limited to the resources and intelligence of the parents...just as public school is limited to the resources and intelligence of the teachers.

I guess if parents who choose to keep their kids at home can no longer simply go on ebay and get what they choose to teach their kids, they will have to align with some home school sanctioning organization and buy the resources there. Interpret: put Foot One on the road to the same homogonization so many gripe about in the public system. Unless, of course, we are to believe that every parent who home schools really is qualified to conduct science experiments, dissect Shakespeare, do calculus, referee a volleyball game, provide biology lab experience, convey the complexities of economic responsibility (with their credit card debt and six-figure mortgage), accurately convey in-depth American history (when I can prove that what the parent learned was flawed to start with), and teach them to speak, read, and write a foreign language.

Bon chance.
 
tonksy said:
Now you know I was just playing devil's advocate?

Spike, Now I read part of the article yesterday and I don't have the best memory of it as it's early yet but I think the ban is on the textbooks...and I'm thinking it's because there may be a lot of outdated or unapproved ones floating about and it might be causing a problem. But...I gotta say I think that ebay should operate of the old adage of Caveat Emptor and just take their cut and be done with it.
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Its the teacher's editions that are banned,I presume so a group of school kids don't go out and buy a teachers edition.Ebay probably doesn't have the time or the desire to know what every school district uses as a teachers edition and what homeschoolers use as a Teachers edition,simply banning the sale of all such editions means less hassles/work on their part.
 
Each of the orgaizations that sell curriculum sell a student & a teacher version. Exactly the same as in public school. It's not that they are unavailable to the parents, it's that we can add one more organization making it difficult for "the underprivleged" to aquire these books. (or everybody to find a bargain) There is no free lunch program at homeschool.

(I know tonks, that's why I didn't credit the quote)

SnP said:
Unless, of course, we are to believe that every parent who home schools really is qualified to conduct science experiments, dissect Shakespeare, do calculus, referee a volleyball game, provide biology lab experience, convey the complexities of economic responsibility (with their credit card debt and six-figure mortgage), accurately convey in-depth American history (when I can prove that what the parent learned was flawed to start with), and teach them to speak, read, and write a foreign language.
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How many public school teachers with bachelor degrees (or even a Masters) in education are qualified to teach any of these things? They get a teachers edition with step by step instructions, same as we get. High school educators may be more specialised (the science teacher may actually hold a degree in science) or they may coach basketball & need to stay busy the rest of the day.

There are hundreds of places to get information & help for things that are over the head of the parents. Like everywhere else, you get out what you put in. Interstingly enough, homeschooled are some of the most sought after students by institutions of higher learning. Wonder why?
 
Seriously, if you need the teacher's edition of the text (the one with all the exercizes solved) you shouldn't be teaching that subject in the first place.
 
Every teacher in the US Public Education system uses a teachers edition.
 
Obviously noone else has read a Teacher's edition. Otherwise you'd know that it's not just got the answers (which every math text has anyways) but also has "in class" exercises. And I don't know about now, but when I was stealing glances, they also had "extra" work for either advanced or remedial students.
 
Gonz said:
Every teacher in the US Public Education system uses a teachers edition.
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Sorry, nope. My trig teacher didn't even use the text book. He made his own lesson plans, homework assignments, wrote his own tests.
 
They may not have used them for classroom work but they are part of the book package.

Luis said:
Two wrongs don't make a right.
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No sir, they don't.
 
Gonz said:
How many public school teachers with bachelor degrees (or even a Masters) in education are qualified to teach any of these things? They get a teachers edition with step by step instructions, same as we get. High school educators may be more specialised (the science teacher may actually hold a degree in science) or they may coach basketball & need to stay busy the rest of the day.
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Qualified? Well, on paper, all of them are. Else, they could not have an education degree from an accredited university. If you think reading a teacher's edition of a textbook is all it takes to properly educate a child...well, I guess you homeschool.

Now before you start blowing cranial capillaries on us, I have more complaints about the typical public school system than Carter has liver pills.

I subscribe to a different theory. No one person or set of people is qualified to teach a kid everything he/she needs to learn. I'll stop short of the "It takes a village" mentality, but I also acknowledge that there are things someone else can better convey to a child than I can no matter how many teacher textbooks I purchase. I instead feel that it is the job of the parent to be informed and involved in the child's education; to know what is being taught and how; to augment the in-class experience with real life and/or extra instruction; to watch the curriculum like a starving hawk and correct it when necessary (ask our young'un about lincoln sometime); and to leave the micromanagement of every facet of the school experience out of it.

It doesn't bother me to see our kid struggle with some of the work. Teaches discipline, perseverence, study habits, value of work and research, lots of things. In addition, she learns to deal with the class bully, the class drama queen, the class slut, the class Romeo, the class nerd, the class clown, the class brainiac, and every other personality that doesn't live inside these walls. That has value. She learns to roll her tail out of bed on a schedule, to go somewhere for several hours that she doesn't want to be, to do things she doesn't want to do, with people she may not like, and to stay at it when she'd rather be elsewhere. If you don't think those things have value, ask your own employer if you can disregard them. She learns that just maybe everything in the big bad world doesn't revolve around her, that she is (in the grand scheme of things) no more special than the next person, that there are not separate rules for her, and countless other real world lessons that I have yet to see a home school be able to address.



Interstingly enough, homeschooled are some of the most sought after students by institutions of higher learning. Wonder why?
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One question before I address this. You ever been to college?
 
Then you should realize how ludicrous that statement is. Colleges could give a rat's ass where you went to high school. Maybe Harvard Medical or something, but in the real world they want a pulse and the tuition, not necessarily in that order.

I also happen to know that most colleges will not accept a home school diploma. They want the kid to take a GED test before they'll accept them if all they have is a home school diploma. I know this because my ex-brother in law joined the Army when even a community college laughed at his. And yes, his home school diploma was from an "accredited" outfit.

Do as you wish; it ain't any skin off my nose. But this is gonna be (another) thing we disagree on. All things being weighed together, I think you're doing your kids a disservice in the long run, regardless of how well intentioned you are, and I do applaud your intentions. Maybe the schools there are worse than the ones we have. Probably, in fact; the current school does a fine job in most areas (with one major exception, which we do our best to make up for at home). The high school, while small, is also very good. Public schools do vary. In other circumstances, maybe we'd have other plans. But I do know that I am in no way capable of teaching her a damn thing about chemistry. To try would be a disservice to her, and I respect my limitations enough to give her the chance to learn it if she so chooses.
 
This home school debates always thrill me. Over here there's no such thing as home school, you can either attend a school or work lifting and carrying stuff since secondary school is by law the minimum level that any employee has the right to ask from you.
 
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