patrick.net

B.A.C.A.H. says

Rin,

Are you a parent?

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm only an uncle. My niece, however, has decided to stick to her high school. Here's why ... she's active in the drama club and thus, has an area of passion. She's not in high school, just to pass time for college, like many others. She's highly focused and is able to juggle her time between extracurriculars and school work. Her mom, my sister, is stay-at-home, and works with her quite a bit on her stuff. They don't live in a snob community.

My friends/relatives, who're homeschooling, are doing it because their kids were not challenged by junior HS or freshman yr HS and these are kids, who'll most likely be either in an apprenticeship (electrician, machinist) or professional school (pharmacy, medicine, law), down the road. For them, they were not inspired by the activities found in the school system, unlike my niece, who'd found her niche there.

So while I can't vouch for everyone, I think given the way parents (who spend a fortune to live in XYZ community) think, I'm not sure if following the piped piper path of the elite townships is best for one's child to be a self-actualized adult. I find these kids who play on the 'Save Darfur' and other pseudo-social consciousness themes to be hokey and basically resume padders. This was also apparent in the whole school paper editorship competition, which once again, also appears to be a collection of phonies. And in terms of sports, really, how many captains of intramural LaCrosse do we really need?

SFace says

Sounds like a plan, but how the heck do you get from point A to point C realisticly. Homeschooling a teenager in a social world?

For now, it's all work in motion. The current plan, which my friend (former college classmate/workmate) and I are doing, is finding what his daughter loves to do. So far, it looks like sailing, martial arts, and playing an instrument are in her list of things. Let's see how this turns out during the following year.

Then, once an activity or series of such are identified, then to do them, outside of the walls of the town's junior high or high school. This is the key piece; if your kids can associate with others, of like mind/interests, in your metropolitan area (not just your town), then you have a situation where the *need to belong* is removed from having to belong to XYZ HS and then, comparing themselves to others there. This is the way to break peer pressure, otherwise, like I see in a lot of kids, they get withdrawn and then you get all that awful stuff on facebook school pages.

Realize this ... the courses at Harvard Extension are at night. Each class is dense and covers a week's worth of material. If your kids don't have an interest, during the day, it won't work out. The idea is that homeschooling should liberate one's time and energy, from the monotony of high school politicking, while providing opportunities to accumulate college credits and recommendation letters for a future vocation and/or professional school placement.

SFAce, I grew up in, and only ever lived in, Santa Clara County, went to the public K-12's here. Not inside The Fortress though.

Early in what became my career as an engineer, I was a teaching major at San Jose St. I was able to flex my work schedule as an engineer in those days (before being a parent) enough to do this.

Because I was working full time, I was a teaching major for three years in a program that most students finish in one year. I did student teaching at high schools and middle schools in various places around the county, in different demographics, including the coveted Cupertino area of The Fortress. In those three years I got to know many kids and many educators from all over the "valley". After that, worked as a substitute teacher in the county from time to time during PTO from the engineering job.

When the time came, I was an officer in PTA at my kids' school elementary school for about a decade. I chaperoned many, probably dozens (lost count a log time ago) of field trips for all grades K-6. I am still involved though not in PTA, at my youngest's high school, and I still go back to volunteer at the elementary school during their science fair most years.

This is how I know, first hand as a local kid student, a student teacher then substitute teacher in the county, as a volunteer and as a parent, and not from being a Quant (and fitting humans into "quanting"), enough to call B*llsh*t on "API"-ism".

The "API-ism" is outsourcing parenting responsibilities to a standardized test score that was intended for the state to identify where to focus and shift its resources. It (API) was never intended for Realtor®s and Quants to Gin Up people on where to over pay for housing nor for Tiger Mom to Keep Her Face in the Pecking Order of her Social Circle. It was never intended for those things; but inside the minds of certain groups, that's what the API has become.

Welcome to what has become of SIlicon Valley.

Rin says

I think given the way parents (who spend a fortune to live in XYZ community) think, I'm not sure if following the piped piper path of the elite townships is best for one's child to be a self-actualized adult. I find these kids who play on the 'Save Darfur' and other pseudo-social consciousness themes to be hokey and basically resume padders. This was also apparent in the whole school paper editorship competition, which once again, also appears to be a collection of phonies. And in terms of sports, really, how many captains of intramural LaCrosse do we really need?

Yep.

B.A.C.A.H. says

Bay Area Tiger Child

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/lisa-chan-pete-hoekstra-apologizes_n_1280271.html

"As a recent college grad who has spent time working to improve communities and empower those without a voice, this role is not in any way representative of who I am. It was absolutely a mistake on my part and one that, over time, I hope can be forgiven. I feel horrible about my participation and I am determined to resolve my actions."

Serpentor says

Real competitive sports don't happen until HS

If you know that your kids are NCAA material, then it's pretty obvious that you need to send them to a division 1 sports program, to maximize their chances for recruitment.

For the rest of us, however, many of us will be playing b-ball at the YMCA so why not just get your kids over there, to start with.

B.A.C.A.H. says

It (API) was never intended for Realtor®s and Quants to Gin Up people on where to over pay for housing nor for Tiger Mom to Keep Her Face in the Pecking Order of her Social Circle.

Love it... you should emphasize the "HER" social circle...

BACAH - you have a confirmation bias.

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/IN7o2Iy89WQ

Rin says

Serpentor says

Real competitive sports don't happen until HS

If you know that your kids are NCAA material, then it's pretty obvious that you need to send them to a division 1 sports program, to maximize their chances for recruitment.

For the rest of us, however, many of us will be playing b-ball at the YMCA so why not just get your kids over there, to start with.

you are missing the whole point of doing sports.