Public, Private or Home School?

[intricatic]

....which? and why?

I chose home school, simply because I find the smaller group dynamic (assuming home school groups are a part of the equation - many home school families networking to encourage a more balanced social context for study) is preferable, and more flexible in terms of structure than either private or public school.

[raddmadd]

Well, I chose private school. Because I'd like to go to a nice Christian school. Public schools obviously lack that, and I'm not a big fan of the home school thing; I've met a lot of cool people at public school, I like the environment I suppose.

[Pete Martinez]

I'd vote for private and home school, both having some benefits. The only one I can't support is public school. Declining test scores and overall lack of intelligence are proof that students are not learning anything there anyway.

[Timothy]

I've taught Private School. I've attended Public and been Homeschooled. It all depends on the teachers. Homeschooling was really good--learned a lot faster that way (3 hours or so of studying a day, frequently less...) Our public elementary school was great though. Private School largely depends on who is running it. A good Principal makes a good school, IMO, whether it's public or private.

[Tenor]

my vote would be homeschool then private and public would be a last resort.

Unfortunatly around these parts the private school (aka Christian school) is used as a last resort for kids who can no longer go to public schools because of their behavior. My wife has taught in Christian schools for the last 4 years now and the last one was the worst with unrully kids because they where not allowed to go to public anymore. (she taught 1st graders the last two years)

[dancingwithangels]

Honestly, I prefer private. I was homeschooled through 9th grade, and I prefer private school just because there is more interaction, more socializing. It feels like I am being better prepared to go to college by having me go to a school. My school is not one where people who aren't allowed to go to public school anymore are put. Each student has to write an essay on why they want to go to that school. It's very nice, and I know that I prefer it to homeschool or public.

[Annie]

my vote is home school, but i think that depends on a lot of things such as how well the parents are able to actually teach their kids or motivate them esp when they're younger, how well the parents/facilitator/child is able to work together to find a suitable system that works for/him her in homeschooling (virtual school Vs. unschooling/natural schooling, etc...) whether or not the home is actually the best environment for the child to learn, etc...

after that i'd choose private, then possibly charter, and then, only as an absolute *last* resort regular old public school.

it completely depends on the school though, some are absolutely horrible in how they deal with and teach kids, some are great. And even within most schools you can see a lot of variance; some teachers are complete nightmares even to the point of being abusive to the kids left under their care and others are absolute Godsends. But inevitably when you get a group of children around each other for 8 or more hours each day they wind up having more influence on other kids than any of the actual teachers or principals or counsellors, etc... and that can lead to kids learning lots of stuff i'd rather my future kids not learn to adopt(such as bad social social skills, heretical religious views etc...) so thats why one reason why i lean more towards homeschooling