Homeschooling/More School Options
I don't know about you all, but I was a socially maladjusted homeschooler growing up, and since I don't yet have children IRL, what better way to continue the tradition of poorly written Creation Science textbooks, field trips to the grocery store, and pajama dress codes than by inflicting it upon your Sims' kids?
I'm being facetious. Homeschooling was actually a very positive experience for me (and yes, I did learn about evolution and dinosaurs, thank you very much--my favorite is Brachiosaurus). I met people and had wonderful learning opportunities I never would have in public school, and when I started college I had an educational foundation a lot of public school graduates unfortunately lacked (mostly because our local public school was basically a brick daycare teeming with drugs and bullies, but I digress). The thing is, homeschool is a valid education experience, and it's sad to me that it's not included as an option in Sims.
There is a simple way homeschooling could be included that would be satisfactory to me, and then a more complex way that would leave me positively joyous. The simpler method would be that rather than going to school, Sim kids would use a workbook or the computer to complete the day's work--it would perhaps take a little longer than the homeschool book we have now--perhaps three to five hours (pssst--you actually don't need a six-eight hour day to get a full education). And that's it.
The more complex way would be to incorporate something similar to the Scout badge system that came with Seasons--you do a certain amount of tasks to meet educational requirements, and it can take as little or as much time as you like.
So, science for example--your kid could do experiments on the science table, use the observatory or microscope (who else hopes EA gives us a normal-size telecope and tabletop microscope???), complete projects like rocketry or robotics, et cetera. I think it would have to take a little longer than the Scout badges do for realism's sake, but you get the idea. Further educational opportunities would include trips to places like the museum or art gallery, or a day out to the city--even trips to the store (you'd be surprised how much you can learn from your mom showing you how to get the best prices on things--frugality and math, yay!)
For socialization you could sign your kids up with a homeschool group, which could either be a rabbit hole like Scouts/Drama, or a Get Together club situation where the kids all do schoolwork or projects together.
Don't forget online learning! A Simified version of Khan Academy can open up a whole new world of skills for kids to learn--from algebra to archaeology.
On another note--the fact that every single kid from every single world attends Landgraab Elementary bugs me. I admit a small part of me was hoping that when we got the school uniforms with Snowy Escape we would also get different schools--but no, apparently Mt. Komorebi kids are just an elite faction of Landgraab students. It also seems like a huge budgeting and school population problem. No way kids are getting a good education with those teacher-student ratios. I wish there was a school for every world or certain clusters of worlds.
Anyway, that's my take. Any fellow homeschoolers out there who feel the same?
