When is the best time to transition from homeschooling to school?

Question

I'm homeschooling my children for the elementary years but want to transition them to a regular school eventually. Is it better to do it for middle school or wait until high school? Which transition is the easiest one of less stressfull on the child?

Answer 1

I was homeschooled from 2nd to 9th grade and went to a Catholic high school in 10th grade til graduation. We tried to get me in for 9th grade but there wasn't room, so they guaranteed me a space the next year. There were two of us who were homeschooled and entered at the same time/year and both of us did very well academically and socially. There were no issues related to homeschooling at all. The real issues are about parents and their perspectives about education and relationships, and that affects kids no matter where they go to school.

I did go to the first semester of 8th grade in a public school, and it was so irrelevant and frustrating (because home schoolers are with adults so much that they don't get into a lot of typical middle school stuff) that I asked my parents if I could come home again. I recommend a higher-performing school or a more nurturing community school if you decide to put your kids in junior high. Everything people are saying here about the crud of middle school was my experience and I didn't need it.

However, the one thing I realized after I entered the corporate workforce in my late 20's, was that I hadn't learned what I call "playground politics" in school (they weren't kidding when they said that "all I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten"), and so I had to be a quick study of how petty politics of personality work (Ironic, huh? I didn't need this in high school but I did need it in the San Francisco workforce!). I'll never be an expert at playing the game but I think it's also because I'm a more straightforward and optimistic personality and had not really experienced the brunt of passive-aggressive tactics before.

Also I think it's very important to know the social players in your environment and your kid's environment, and talk about it with them. Make them aware of what's going on around them and teach them to network and have lots of different kinds of friendships, from the loose aquaintances to the tight-knit. My parents didn't teach me that and I graduated from a high school full of the kids of Silicon Valley millionaires with no clue of what was going on around me. Also have them do a skills/career options inventory early on so they know what they might be good at or interested in doing with college/career and can be thinking about it before they have to make choices in college. That doesn't have much to do with homeschooling but sometimes more relaxed families don't think about it.

Bottom line: homeschooling spared me a lot of grief, allowed my personality to fully develop, and allowed me to read more than my peers, so I have better reading breadth and comprehension, and my mom taught me phonics and grammar so I can spell and write better than a lot of the teachers I had! I had time to enjoy competitive horseback riding and I had to give that up when I went to school. Homeschooling is great when you have friends to do it with and plenty of interaction with the community. High school is great for getting ready to go to college and it's at the developmental stage where a child is discovering and defining their individuality. It's a good time to go.

Answer 2

How about this. Wait and send them to the community college there Junior or Senior year. These schools are generally smaller and are a great transition before going to a Four Year School. Most homeschooled kids can handle the course work, and the social pressure, while there, is not as stressful.

Answer 3

Each child is different. You can not give a blanket answer to this question. Kudos to you for taking ownership in the education of your children. If you have made that commitment, then you recognize the importance of your role. You should also realize that no one knows your children better than you. Only you can assess when to transition your kids into public schools (maybe never?).

We address this question each year by setting goals and deciding whether we can fulfill those goals or if we need to enlist the help of the public school. Thus far, our feeling is that we can give them much more than what the schools can, but eventually the use of labs and equipment will possibly be a necessity that we can not afford to provide.

If you are doing your job as teacher and parent, then it will not matter when you put kids into public schools. You should be preparing them academically and socially much better than what they would be getting in schools. And so, no matter when they go in, they should excel and be near the top of the class.

Answer 4

I would wait until high school. I have gone through the public school system my whole life (I just graduated two weeks ago), but my younger brother was homeschooled for a while. In middle school, kids are very cruel to people, especially if they are different in any way, such as having been homeschooled. In high school, at least most of the kids are more accepting because that is when you are trying to find your own identity. So, since you are trying to figure out who you are, you will be more likely to accept someone who is different. One of my friends was homeschooled until she was in high school. After a few weeks, she was one of the most liked people in school.

Answer 5

My first question is: why are you homeschooling? Which then leads to my second question: why don't you just keep homeschooling through high school?

If socialization is the issue, you can always find another social outlet for them (church, scouts, community sports, theater). One of my favorite quotes in favor of hs'ing is this: "where did we ever get the idea that the best place to socialize a 13-year-old is with 1000 other 13-year-olds?"

Typically, homeschooled students are ahead of their public school peers (academically). When placing your kids in the public schools, will they be allowed to take classes at their level of expertise or will they have to take grade-level classes, where they will be bored and hate school?

Are you hs'ing because you are worried about the public school environment? It certainly won't get any better in junior high or high school, where hormones and peer pressure really start to kick in?

Are you not confident in your own abaility to teach beyond this level? There are plenty of other resources, including correspondence courses, e-courses, and satellite schools (like Bob Jones HomeSat). You can also look into private tutors or co-ops (local groups that pool their resources to teach their strong subjects to a group of kids).

If I had to choose, I'd send my kids to public school for the elementary years and homeschool them starting in junior high. However, now that we've started, I don't forsee them going to public school at any time.

Answer 6

I was homeschooled and in private school and I never went to public school. My brother when to public school to play football in the 9th grade. My mother really helped us by taking us to the local school events and to the youth center quite often. We were already socializing with the kids a couple of times/week which helped him have friends before he started school. The hardest part of the transition for him was focusing despite the constant social interraction. We really had to get him to focus on school work and not just hanging out with friends.

Answer 7

That's NOT what you should do. Why on earth would some one home-school their children with the intent to put them back in regular school? That would be a terrible adjustment for them at any level. Why did you keep them out of school to begin with? Does that reason no longer exist? I would explore the different high school programs available today before I considered putting them in public school. You really need to think about this.

Answer 8

I was homeschooled as a child and it was planned by my parents to place me in public school beginning in 9th grade. I begged and pleaded with them to let me start in 8th. They let me. Looking back I wish I had more than just one year to transition into school before beginning high school. Maybe at least allow two years of transition into school prior to high school so it will not effect your children socially. Good Luck.

Answer 9

The earlier the better, if possible the year before middle school. Another idea, one of my friends growing up was home schooled but her parents kept her in sports and other after school activities, church, dance, soccer,etc...already having peers her age at the school from these activities when she transitioned helped with the stress level.

Answer 10

Not middle school. I think middle school is worse than high school because its all a bunch of kids who are just starting puberty and starting to get their attitudes going and they're more concerned with trying to act older and cooler than they actually are. I know a lady who has worked in middle school and high school and she said that high school kids were better than middle school and she also home schools her kids from sometime in elementary school through middle school and puts them into public school through high school. This lady has four kids and the two she's done this regimen with have turned out fine - her oldest just graduated and earned his eagle scout and her second has broken and set a new school record in pole vault and has exceptional academics.