But one other thing - wouldn't a Christian school be better than a public school, based on the fact that a public school would force you to learn evolution, but a Christian school wouldn't?

Perhaps I just had a bad experience with it, I don't know. But I attended two separate Christian schools. This was many years ago and it may not be the case anymore, but a lot of parents send their kids to Christian schools not because of what they teach rather than they have this idea that a Christian school is going to be more rigid and strict than their public school counterparts. And that really wasn't the case.

In public school pretty much anyone can find a group to be a part of (and get a little protection as there is strength in numbers), but in Christian school this isn't really the case because by default there's usually far less students and thus nowhere near as many groups to look for. My class had 7 girls and 7 boys and I got the usual amount of grief from the boys (not all of em', but one or two). But the worst was the girls...every waking second of every day for the entire year the torment I took from them was endless. To them it was just a fun way to pass the time, poking fun at the new nerdy kid fresh out of public middle school, but it left me with terrible scars that I still carry around today. And the teachers either turned a blind eye to it, or just didn't see it. I wouldn't wish that existence on my worst enemy. I eventually made peace with one of my tormentors and even had a congenial friendship with them several years later, but the rest of them I made it a point to avoid like the plague, even after they followed me back into public school several years later. The ringleader, Leah...if I saw her today I would probably cower and try and hide, and I'm 37! I ought to scan my pictures out of the yearbook from the place...a picture speaks a thousand words and in every single one of them I look like someone shot my dog repeatedly before each picture.

The second Christian school was much more rural than the first and was filled mostly with rural or "country" type folks. I got along pretty good with all of them as well as my teachers, but the principal was a real terror. His leadership at the school had reduced what was a flourishing K-12 program down to K-8, with highly diminishing numbers on the high end. And he had some kind of personal vendetta against me (to this day I'm still boggled as to the reasons why) and sometimes took his aggression out on my little brothers as a sort of proxy battle, who were in grades 1 and 2 at the time. Suffice it to say my mom read the riot act to him and yanked us out of there at the end of the year and put us back in public school, where we did much better. Never again. And never will I subject my kids to that. Ever.

If you find a good Christian school then I applaud you. If you find one that teaches solidly and in which the student populace isn't filled with hooligans and psyhological masochists, even better. If you find one in which the school leadership doesn't strictly adhere to un-Biblical standards (especially with regards to Amish-level dress codes, how you wear your hair, etc.) then fantastic. But I'd sooner send my kid to work in a salt mine before inflicting that kind of punishment on them. It'd be more merciful.

My Christian high school had some great teachers and some interesting subjects. I also made some really good friends there. But, I was bullied like crazy and hated most of my experience because of that. On the plus side it wasn't legalistic and did teach good Christian values but some of the teachers needed to show a bit of love and not turn a blind eye to the bullying going on around them. I feel for you Shadowlander.

You're still taught evolution in a Christian school, it's just presented as another belief (but still a large part of the Sciences).

I went to a Christian school and we were not taught evolution and that is one thing i really disliked about going to a Christian school. I also disliked that we rarely read the considered 'classic' books that most kids read in school because they might have a curse word in them.

I would never consider homeschooling, but would agree that there are problems with both. I just see a lot greater problems with homeschooling then with Christian or Public schooling, but if it works for you are your family then that is fine.

I can relate, Shadowlander, with my experiences in a private school. Different things happened to me, but ultimately it was a nightmare as well. The teachers were very legalistic and strange, and thought there must be something wrong with me. The weekend before school started each year they had a mandatory 3 days at camp, which was a horror story as well. And it was a very small class size so everyone had their little circles of friends before I got there. Public school felt like heaven after that.

Ouch, Shadowlander. That doesn't sound like it was a very good experience at all. It may just be the particular schools that you went to, but I have a feeling that it wasn't.

I think that, with any school you go to, you're going to get bullied and I have no idea why that is, but I think you will. Even if it is a Christian school! And you would think that in a Christian school that wouldn't happen, but after reading Shadowlander's post, it obviously does. Probably because quite a big group of students who go to Christian schools aren't Christians at all.

All of this adds up to why I will always prefer homeschooling over public/private schools.

I would never consider homeschooling, but would agree that there are problems with both. I just see a lot greater problems with homeschooling then with Christian or Public schooling...

Would you mind sharing some of the problems that you think are in homeschooling? I'd love to know

You're still taught evolution in a Christian school, it's just presented as another belief (but still a large part of the Sciences).

But its not taught as something that is true, though, right?

Correct, but they still have to teach about evolution to a large degree (state 'education' mandate or something).

Okay, in response to some things.

I was never taught evolution in private school. I guess it depends which one you go to. Yeah, I had a 3 day camp out. When I came back my mind felt numb. I never felt that way before, it was kinda creepy.

Problems with homeschooling? The only problem I can think of is socialization, but this is blown out of proportion. Most other homeschooled kids are just as socialized as public ones, even better sometimes.
I recently took a college class where nearly all the other students were hesitant to answer any questions. It was ridiculous! I expected them to have become a bit more mature and confident since high school. Pah! It turned out that I was answering so many questions (after letting others have their chance of course) that the teacher had to skip over me.

And as for homeschooling not being the norm, it isn't. However, anyone I've talked to knew what it was and were even envious sometimes.

No, I wouldn't recommend it but I wouldn't say its a bad idea. It depends.

Correct, but they still have to teach about evolution to a large degree (state 'education' mandate or something).

I guess it would be okay to learn evolution, so that you know what is false about it and why Christians don't believe it, etc.

The only problem I can think of is socialization...

Many people who don't homeschool say that homeschooling isn't good because of the lack of socialization, and I think its ridiculous. Homeschoolers can socialize just as well as anyone else. Joining clubs/sport teams, etc, is open to everyone, not just public school kids. That's my opinion, anyway.

Many people who don't homeschool say that homeschooling isn't good because of the lack of socialization, and I think its ridiculous. Homeschoolers can socialize just as well as anyone else. Joining clubs/sport teams, etc, is open to everyone, not just public school kids. That's my opinion, anyway.

I think the idea comes from the concept that a homeschooled student is really spending far more time with their family than they would be with other kids their age like they would be in a public school. I mean when I was in school my group had their own little table in the lunchroom. We talked to each other in between class (and sometimes, to the teacher's chagrin, in class ) and a lot of times we would hang out together outside of school. So when you take someone like me, who went through the public school experience, I look at homeschooled kids and wonder who exactly they get to hang out with and be friends with, outside of siblings. I mean one could still hang out with kids from one's neighborhood or join in extracirricular activities (Little League baseball, dance, etc.), but it's not quite the same thing. I think this is the concern the others are trying to articulate.

Still I see homeschooling's greatest plus as being a very focused and enforced emphasis on education itself. If my mom was sitting next right next to me in 10th grade Biology I'm very confident that my letter grade would have gone up considerably since I would have gotten in far worse trouble for goofing off in class (daydreaming was my major offense) than I did.

Fantasma, at the time I hated that they had to teach evolution but in the long haul I think putting out a variety of theories and understandings and beliefs and allowing us to decide for ourselves what we saw as truth - thinking critically, was much more beneficial than just giving us biblical truth and saying, 'believe this, it's true).
That's the problem with many Christians, they fail to learn about things outside their bubble, so they often don't know how to discuss important issues/topics with conviction and knowledge - whether that be evolution to abortion to homosexuality. I'm not saying we have to be a well-spring of knowledge and know everything but we should endeavour to learn and understand other people's beliefs and points of view.

I agree, W4J. This is the reason i wish they had taught evolution at my school because if you don't know then how can you even say you don't believe in it. While science isn't the great interest of my life, it would still have been nice to get a more well rounded idea of what is out there.

I think this was a great failing of my school as well as the lack of good literature.

What type of schooling your pefer is usally based on your personality. If you like being a show off who wears ugly school uniforms go to a private school. Not saying they are all like that because i have friends that go to private schools. Their is just one private school in my area which 98% of them are like that.

grr the thouhgt of wearing those grandma undies to school is horrible.

Homeschool is for people who can aford it and like doing stuff by themselves or with not many people.

Well when i was still in school we did not wear uniforms. I don't know what you mean by afford it because i am quite certain it cost my parents a lot more to send us to private school then it would cost to home school. Don't get me wrong there are many problems with my school as with any situation, but i do think that it was the lesser of the evils, and i certainly don't think that homeschooling would have been a good solution.

Homeschooling was never considered for multiple reason by my family, just as it is not considered by most families in the United States.

In australia nearly all schools wear school uniforms. I was meant to say if you could afoord to go to a private school sorry.

Many people who don't homeschool say that homeschooling isn't good because of the lack of socialization, and I think its ridiculous. Homeschoolers can socialize just as well as anyone else. Joining clubs/sport teams, etc, is open to everyone, not just public school kids. That's my opinion, anyway.

I think the idea comes from the concept that a homeschooled student is really spending far more time with their family than they would be with other kids their age like they would be in a public school.

That's a myth from the early days of homeschooling. My first year we bordered on not getting enough school work done because we were always on field trips or out with a group from our support group. I had classes outside the home in high school and I had groups that I hung out with. I made very few friends (not counting Narnia Web) in college, only one of which I have kept a remote link to because of facebook. All of my friends are from my homeschooling years. We are all pretty close.

Well when i was still in school we did not wear uniforms. I don't know what you mean by afford it because i am quite certain it cost my parents a lot more to send us to private school then it would cost to home school. Don't get me wrong there are many problems with my school as with any situation, but i do think that it was the lesser of the evils, and i certainly don't think that homeschooling would have been a good solution.

Homeschooling was never considered for multiple reason by my family, just as it is not considered by most families in the United States.

Homeschooling is fairly inexpensive verses even what public schools cost from what I remember. Primarily because we can get a lot of things second hand instead of brand new. And it isn't for everyone, but I wouldn't make the generalization that it hasn't been considered by most families in the U.S.. The homeschool movement was practically unheard of in the 80s and now just about everyone has at least heard of it. Colleges are accepting homeschoolers on equal footing and it is a commonly accepted form of education. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that just about every parent considers it at one time or another.

National news prominence occurred when homeschooling and private schooling came under attack from the HR 6 bill that would have required every teacher in the U.S. to be certified. It would have brought all forms of education except public schooling and probably elite private schools to a screeching halt. Homeschoolers and private schoolers and even public schooling families made such a fuss that it stopped the bill in its tracks.

My parents were actually head of our support group at the time, so the three of us ended up on two different news stations nightly news reports. So there is footage out there of me doing math (I think) at our dining room table.