what would be better?

Question

In a year or so my son will be ready for school. I was wondering if home school, private school, ar public school would be better for him. I went to puplic school, but honestly, I dont think I got as good an education as I could have going to private or home school.. And no I was not a screw ball in school. I did very good, I just think it could have been better.

Answer 1

No matter what you choose, I strongly suggest that you keep him involved in a wide array of extra activities such as 4-H, theater, scouts and the like. It will give your son a better understanding of the world around him and become a more responsible person while really enjoying himself!
We home schooled for the most part, but my oldest son went to public school and thrived. The middle son tried all three methods and never really had a good fit with any of them. My daughter has home schooled since 5th grade and has excelled. She has been active in theater and 4-H and over the past few years is also involved in the church. (Of her own accord. We are not home schooling for religious reasons)

Answer 2

We homeschool and my children are doing very well. There is no way I would EVER and I mean EVER send my child to public school. The private schools are getting just as bad. When you homeschool, you control what your child learns. Your child won't be spending 3/4 of a school year practicing to take some idiotic, worthless test. If he wants to learn about airplanes, you can run with it and learn everything there is to know about airplanes. If you want social interaction for your child there is the YMCA. There are also the Scouts, church, community centers, playgroups, community sports. Just to name a few. Don't let some uninformed person tell you that homeschooled kids don't have social skills. My children are better behaved and more comfortable in any social situation than many other children we know.

Answer 3

I say public school. He will have the most opportunities to get invovled in activities such as sports, drama and music. However, this doesn't become more important until he is older, so maybe you can start in private and then move to public in junior high. I was public schooled all the way and had the option of going to a private boarding magnet school and chose to stay in public school because I loved playing in the band and orchestra. I don't regret that decision at all!

Answer 4

In the book, "Freakonomics" by Stephen Levitt, he finds that the most significant factor in a child's academic peformance is his/her parents' view on the importance of education, and that ultimately it doesn't really matter where a child attends school. Although I imagine many people may initially challenge the argument, the study is very convincing and well backed up by data to make a strong case for the argument. This argument seems very applicable to the homeschool debate. It seems to discredit the idea that homeschooling (or any particular school in and of itself) makes children smarter, which would leave one to believe that parents who homeschool their children demonstrate the importance of academics to their children (obviously, if they're willing to sacrifice so much for what's "best") is what makes sucessful homeschool children smarter, not the "school" itself. This research would indicate that a high-acheiving student in a homeschool environment would have done just as well in any other school environment, assuming his/her parents were able to express the same strong values in education and learning.

In your situation, this would indicate that as long as you instill upon your child a strong value in education, it makes little difference academically as to where they attend classes. In which case, a decision can probably be better made by looking at other aspects associated with a child's development, such as: building social skills, variety in course offering, diversified academic training, the educational resources, equipment, and infrastructure available, and the child's safety/security. Unless you truly do have a poor quality public school system, public school seems to have the advantage for the average child.

Answer 5

My vote would be for homeschooling. I don't know about where you live, but the schools here have a lot of questionable things going on and the kids sent to school there each day grow up thinking that it's okay and normal for all of that to be going on.

There's a huge bullying problem, to the point that there is now a by-law on bullying where the parents get fined, but it's almost never followed through on because the schools are big business and losing a parent that way means loss of $$. There's a lot of sexual talk, even in elementary school. A lot of social cliques and other non-sensical behaviour that you never find out about if your kids go to school because they're not likely to talk about it. A lot of stuff that goes on and the kids don't really know how to deal with it because there are TONS of kids so the adults don't know what's going on and can't coach the kids who don't know to go ask for help. Trust me, this happens, I used to teach.

Educationally speaking, if you are committed to giving your child a good education, he will HAVE a better education than in school. Homeschooling parents whose goal is to provide the best education they can have kids who do very well on the standardized tests, with many kids finishing high school early with a broader education than what is provided in school. Homeschooled kids also tend to be more self-motivated and disciplined because they have the time to explore personal interests instead of having their lives tied to school.

Socially, homeschooled kids are not formed into believing that only kids their age and in their grade are the ones to interact with which is what happens when kids spend 13 years of their lives in classrooms filled with kids the same age and, of course, the same grade. Parents who get involved in the homeschooling community and have their kids involved in extra-curricular activities provide their children with lots of opportunities to interact with a wide range of people. Homeschooled kids tend to be less 'stranger shy', too because they are constantly meeting new people. We go to many homeschooling activities and the kids don't care that somebody is new or that they haven't met any of the kids before. They simply all do stuff together. You can also pick out the kids who were recently pulled from public school because they're the ones who are pulling back from the group and are unhappy because there's not another same-gendered, same-aged person there.

If you can homeschool, I mean, you've got the means to do so and you like the idea of it, go for it. It's truly a great way to raise and educate kids if your heart is in it.

Answer 6

It all depends on your local school. If it very large I'd say private school. For me, I think in the beginning a child needs to be around other children to learn to socialize, but later when they are older I see nothing wrong with home school. I home schooled my niece for high school because she couldn't handle the peer pressure, but she was fine in middle and grade school. But it all depends on the child my oldest who is the same age as my niece goes to public high school and is doing fine

Answer 7

Homeschool is far and away the best. Institutional schools are just all wrong for developing independence and initiative. Unschooling prepares a child to take responsiblilty for themselves and their path.

My niece, who just graduated florida's top public high school with a full scholarship to college, a gorgeous girl who played in the band, thinks all kids should be unschooled and that public school is a disaster. That from someone who excelled at it...

I am continually horrified by my niece's homework assignments. They are literally designed to suck the joy out of learning - the literature worksheets ask the stupidest questions that add nothing to the study of the work. It's appalling.

I think in school, we learn to please and to work for the A. Unschooling, you've got to work for yourself, please yourself. It prepares you much better for being a grownup.

Answer 8

You're his mom, you know him best.
That means that you can teach him better than anyone else.
Teach him to read, write, and do math and provide him with the materials to learn everything else.
I was homeschooled that way and believe me, it works.

Answer 9

DEPENDS ON THE ENVIROMENT OF THE SCHOOL AND HOW YOU GO ABOUT TEACHING THE CHILD AND U HAVE TO KEEP TO A SCHEDULE