And those same questions can be asked of any home school student who wakes up at 7AM.
So because sometimes the girl sleeps till 11 it is BS homeschooling?
The only thing that is BS is people making assumptions about it all based on the fact that they aren't schooling during traditional hours.
What WORKS for that family is all that matters.
What are the parents doing when the kid is up until all hours of the night? Are the parents home when the kid is sleeping all morning? When is she socializing with peers, real live peers, not internet crap? Of course, if schooling is going on at some later time in the evening, and she's out socializing within the community, she should be fine later on. You know, when she's supposed to be an independent, productive adult. And who know, maybe she will get a second or third shift job. Those are hard shifts to work though, with multiple health risks, including an increase in diabetes, obesity, breast cancer, etc.
I would love homeschooling for my kids for the flexibility of schedules. All 3 of my children have different time clocks and different learning strategies. That IMO is the beauty of homeschooling something that public or traditional schools can not always accommodate.
As long as they can get that to work in the employment world, a flexible schedule is great. It's hard to find that though. I work with teens who have found it very hard to stay employed when they are allowed to be night owls.
But all of that is the business of the parents. Not the OP.
So when does someone intervene? When it's too late to help the kid be successful? Our family must just be closer than most - we do discuss all this stuff, openly, work together on stuff, etc. I'm privy to my nieces' and nephew's lives in ways it seems no one else on this forum is involved in their families. I may have one niece come live with me at one point to do her schooling here. My younger daughter may end up living with her aunt and uncle. Are no other families that close?
I think that one of the best things about homeschooling is that not everyone gets a say in the child's education. Those decisions fall to the parents. And that is exactly who should be making those decisions.
Study after study has shown that teens do better when they are allowed to sleep in, and stay up late. The public school system hasn't changed to allow for that. But those that homeschool, certainly can. And we did. When our son needed to sleep in, he could. When his cycle allowed him to wake early, we did that. He was able to learn HIS way.
What if the parents suck at educating their children? Then does someone else have a say? Or is it just dumped on the community afterward, to pick up the pieces and support the under-educated young adult? I do get the early starts are rough on teens. There's research showing their internal clocks shift. But how has that been a problem for the centuries of humankind's existence? Have our teens always been allowed to sleep in? When exactly are they expected to suck it up and just deal with stuff?
I am a Public School teacher and Counselor! And my kids currently go to PS, so let me just start with that, BUT.....
We homeschooled for 10 years. I certainly didn't need a busy body in my business telling me when my kids should get up or how late they should stay up, etc.....the child has As! My guess is that she is doing something right.
We stopped HSing 2 years ago. My oldest is at community college getting exceptional grades. He just got accepted to the college of his choice and yesterday we got his first scholarship award and we are told to expect two more very soon. My second son is a senior in high school. He is getting very good grades and doing just fine. My youngest is in 8th grade and getting very good grades as well.
Really, what the heck does it matter if she gets up at 7am or 11am? Did you know there are many jobs out there that require late nights? Nurses, ER Doctors, etc.....
Facebook.....pfffftttt.....if you had said porn, I would have been concerned, but FB? NAH.
But who is giving her A's? My guess is the parent is. She's 12 (7th grade) and reading at 9th grade level. That's not really a big deal. My 10 year old tested out of reading levels when she was in 5th grade. And yes, there are jobs that require night shifts. They are rough on your health - I wouldn't want one.
No homeschool is not unmonitored. My DGD has weekly online meetings with teachers. Her lessons are assigned and she has deadlines to meet. Her grades are done by teacher monitoring not her parents.
Did you intend to have a double negative or is that a typo?
That is not the case in every homeschooling situation.
I'm not knocking homeschooling - I teach public school and think it can be a great thing for some. In this case, who knows what's actually happening. It doesn't even really matter. OP should just stay out of it altogether!
I still don't get the 'stay out of it' advice. I guess people should just live in bubbles on cliffs miles apart in the desert? Don't families get involved with each other anymore?
Having a different schedule isn't inherently undisciplined. Someone who works second shift is not necessarily more or less disciplined than someone who works first, and I doubt anyone would argue that a college kid is less disciplined if s/he takes evening classes instead of attending during the day. You're looking at one thing - the wake-up time - and filling in the whole rest of the day in a very unflattering light, assuming that they're not devoting adequate time to school, not supervising the kid's internet use, etc.
So I guess the parents are in the bedroom with her all night while she's on the internet. When do they work, sleep?
I think the best thing about homeschooling is you can teach your kids how to think...unlike the public schools which teach them what to think.
Well, if you know how to think yourself...
Seriously though, unless the parent is well educated it can be very hard to homeschool past a certain grade level. I'm thinking high school level math and sciences, foreign language, etc. I know many pay for online schooling, but is that even considered 'homeschooling'?
This is the part that really confuses me- how do you make the assumption that she is missing meals and a large portion of family life if she’s sleeping an extra 3 hours to 11 am? My son misses all the “family life” that occurs in our house between 8:30 pm and midnight because he has to be in bed for an early school day. On weekends and in the summer he sleeps until 10:30/11 and then gets to stay up until midnight with us. He’s getting the same amount of social and family interaction under both scenarios.
It’s such a stretch to me to assume every family is up at the crack of dawn and in bed with the crickets.
I guess it is based on the way the whole household works. But when do the adults work? Sleep? What is the child doing when he is awake, and the parents are asleep? Those are my concerns. Also, when does he get out of the house and socialize with peers?
Exactly. Our house is pretty quiet during the day. Most of the time, I am the only one home. And I am either, cleaning, having fun in some way or out running around town.
When we were homeschooling, I would get things down before our son got up. Clothes got washed, I started lunch/dinner, I had quiet time with a cup of tea and a book, or I prepared lesson plans. And of course his Dad was at work.
At night, the house would be alive with action. We might go for a walk, play games or have what we called a "read in." And of course our son would work on school throughout the day.
Most houses are pretty quiet during the day, aren't they? And busy in the evenings. Not sure what your point is for the above - sounds like well supervised time with family. Is your son up late into the night unsupervised on the internet while you are in bed, sleeping?