fett on 10/3/2013 at 00:26

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So one of the awesome things about this upcoming move is that it puts us in a situation where we can homeschool without boundaries. I've been anticipating needing to put the boys back into public school when I finally end up in the hospital for awhile. But because of the robust homeschool co-op and so many homeschooling friends in the area where we're going, we're more than covered, even if I'm hospitalized for a long time, or even if I die.

In light of the possibility of public school, I've been keeping a very close eye on the public school standards for Connecticut and Minnesota (the two top scoring states in the nation) - not because I truck much with standardized testing, but because they have a higher rate of college entries and people actually working in the field in which they have degrees. We've been keeping up in case the time comes when they need to re-integrate with those standards. That day won't really come now, unless they choose it, in which case they should be able to catch up on their own.

That to say, I don't intend for them to "fall behind" now, per se, but it does free us up to allow for lengthy and un-orthodox subject matter and interests. Our 8 year old wants to learn how to bake - he's fascinated with Cake Boss and all things cake (Christie used to decorate professionally) and has quite a bit of aptitude in that direction. He also wants to learn how to make games, and has folders full of games he's created- both tabletop RPG's and PC style mini-games, etc. The oldest wants to get in with a geology club and learn all about that, as well as competitive archery.

We're going to supplement all this with things that they may not find important right now, but will need as adults. This has so far included a "learn to think like Leonardo (Da' Vinci - not the turtle)" semester with lots of focus on logic puzzles, engineering concepts, art, sculpture, amateur chemistry, and anatomy - all centered around an historical study of Da'Vinci and the Renaissance. Next fall we will start business math in view of learning to balance a checkbook, understanding the basics of investment and the stock market, basic nutrition and cooking/frying/baking, grocery shopping, modern cartography (i.e. learning how to use a GPS, compass, map, etc. with lots of geocaching for practice), typing, time management, etc.

So as you can see we're trying to think ahead and ask - what skills do they need to be successful adults? A lot of that comes from the things we felt that we lacked when we got married, important issues and topics that were muddy, etc.

My question: If you could go back and have an education that was tailor made to help you succeed and be happy in life (not strictly speaking financially), what would that look like? What classes do you wish your high school would have offered to prepare you for real life, rather than a lot of the bullshit that you never use? Where do you find yourself failing to keep up with everyone else in terms of your understanding of the subject?

For me, it's things like economics, cooking, car maintenance, resource management, and probably music theory (since I've been involved in music my whole adult life with only a basic grasp of the topic).

SlyFoxx on 10/3/2013 at 02:55

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fett, you're obviously no dummy. Teach them and love them and they will be fine.

Myself coming up on my 46th birthday, generally successful and happily married for twenty years...let me say this. I have a four year BA degree in Communications. Yes, you're correct. It's about useless in the real world. But I was lucky two have two professors who taught me one of life's most important skills...how to detect bullshit. That skill, being loved and raised by parents who care and a slightly above average IQ have served me fine. Well that and a basic understanding of music theory since now I make money singing and playing guitar.

Again, teach and love. The rest will take care of itself.

Phatose on 10/3/2013 at 06:12

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I suspect the most valuable lesson that comes out of public schooling isn't taught in the classroom. It's the skill of navigating a world of people where at least a significant portion of them will be a pain in the ass. Learning to deal successfully with social interactions with other people is vital to success in the world. And it's important it be random people, not a selected group, as typically you don't actually get to choose who you're dealing with. Most jobs will have you dealing with coworkers you don't choose and customers you don't get a lot of say in.

demagogue on 10/3/2013 at 09:55

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I'd say mechanics & the basics of electrical engineering... Nothing over the top, but enough to know how a lot of machines roughly work -- Car maintenance is part of that -- and how electricity actually gets stuff done and what's going on there. (The rough road that gets you from oil, power plant generators, voltage vs current, conduction vs. resistance, lines & the grid, transformers, motors & appliances to heat, motion or light).

one of the lessons I feel I didn't get well enough early on was that everything has a system that has limits, and you have to work with the system. It applies to a lot of different areas, but the general lesson was the important part. I mean it was important for me doing environmental law, but I think it's practical for general life too, or just getting how the world ticks.

Like there aren't actually infinite fish in the sea; if you overfish, the stocks will go down, and the job is to pick the right amount fishermen can take realizing a lot are going to cheat; you don't just guess... or carbon in the air, jobs in the economy, any market for any product, any government service. Just knowing each thing has its own system you need to look up is a revelation in itself.

Also lifecycle stuff. Stuff doesn't come from nothing & disappear into nothing. If it's, e.g., some metal or wood product, it was mined from the ground or cut at some point (sometimes by kids their own age), got refined somewhere, made into widgets, shipped to stores, bought, used, consumed, disposed, then recycled or ending up back in the ground somewhere, where it leaches into other stuff. Like there's a set amount of fresh water on the whole planet; since the dawn of civilization the total amount hasn't changed (a simplification, but not too inaccurate), it all just changes forms in a giant cycle that's been going on for millennia... But not perfectly; sometimes it breaks down & the weakest people suffer first. You can't take any of it for granted.

And you can say that about every "stuff" on the planet. The only thing ever added is sunlight (and geothermal). E.g. oil is just old sunlight energy converted into plants, that sucked Co2 from the air & stuck it all, the energy & Co2, into the ground for a long time. Now we're just releasing the energy & putting the Co2 back in the air where it was taken.

Thirith on 10/3/2013 at 11:36

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I'm going to speak up for the "bullshit that you never use". To my mind, education shouldn't only be about utility; in order to have the options that I have and to see the world through a wider lens, I'm grateful that schools in Switzerland, at least when I went, focused on a broad education. I don't ever use any of the geography, biology or physics that I've done, and in spite of having an MA degree in History I don't really 'need' what I've done in the subject either, but all of these put together give me a better understanding of the world, and more willingness to look at things from multiple angles.