Our schools are getting worse each year. It is so bad that 10 of 50 kids in my class are moving away.?

Question

At least two others are having their kids home schooled. These kids are all going into high this year. What do you know about the advantages and disadvantages of starting someone (I am thinking of my granddaughter) into home schooling as a freshman in high school.

Answer 1

Congratulations on considering alternatives to make your granddaughter's education the best possible.

I suggest you don't listen to teachers - they have a vested interest in not 'getting' homeschooling. Homeschoolers do not have to know everything, just as most school teachers don't know everything. You only have to know how to help your child learn what she wants/needs to. Fact is, even homeschoolers who have only high school diplomas consistently produce kids who score above the average on standardized testing.

And, I'd like to say that homeschooling people do not stay home. There may be right-wing christian fraidy cats who homeschool than way, but the vast majority of homeschooled kids are much more in the real world that school kids are. School kids are the isolated ones, locked in classrooms with same-age-peers, from their neighborhood only in elementary schools, and their general neighborhood in upper grades.

I think anytime a child gets to homeschool, this is wonderful, a great advantage over institutionalized schooling. High school is a great time; however, after so many years of being in institutionalized schooling, your granddaughter may find it hard to learn in freedom.
After so much schooling - or even a little - kids tend to shut down their learning curiosity, to only want to learn what they 'have to,' to forget how to direct themselves.

Because of this, people who advocate unschooling would advocate beginning schooling by letting your granddaughter de-compress. I'd set limits on tv, im'ing, my spacing, etc. I'd ensure a good round of chores and daily exercise. I'd require some volunteering in the community. Apart from that, I'd allow her to spend her 'schooling' reading, exploring, discovering what motivates her.

Unschooling is a lifestyle or schooling style that puts responsiblity for learning on the child. Family, no doubt, sets the tone. Are there lots of books, lots of debate about current events and philosophical ideas? Are there hobbies and interests being pursued deeply - are you a gardening, sewing, cooking, accounting, or physics expert? or experienced novice anyway? The two of you can work together in your area of excitement for awhile to help spur her on.

At this very moment, our 9 year old is working with his big brother learning how to make animation in Flash. Our older is practicing teaching, sharing what he knows, our youngest is gobbling up new skills and creating art. Both are practicing reading and math while creating this.

Our 13.5 year old is so well versed in history, from a self-designed course of study that has involved reading dozens of (real) books, that he is teaching my husband and me - and we are highly educated, well-read, and well-informed. We are constantly amazed by what he's learned and how he connects things. I am frequently researching what he's telling me and am blown away by his erudition.

Both kids participate in homeschool theatre, both take music lessons. One takes Tae Kwon Do. Both look forward to weekly park days, where we gather with other unschoolers. Our oldest is preparing to take community college courses. We go to plays, concerts, museums, historical areas. We can go to the beach when it's beautiful after Sept or before June. We can visit relatives anytime - thank goodness for this freedom - my precious precious father died while we were visiting him during the 'school' year this spring - and my kids lost someone they knew so well, who'd given them so much, because we had the TIME to live.

Think of it as the beginning of a great adventure, and the best preparation for adulthood you can give your granddaughter.

Check out the writings of NYC school teacher Gatto, unschooling promoter John Holt, and the Teenage Liberation Handbook.

p.s. some unschoolers advocate unregulated use of tv and video games by kids. i think this is unparenting, not unschooling.

Answer 2

Home schooling can be a blessing or a disaster depending on those involved. But then so can public schools. Before you decide to pull the kids out consider this: Do you have the resources, knowledge and training the schools can offer students. For instance do you have microscopes that can be used in dissecting creatures. Can you offer music programs such as marching band programs? Can you speak enough of a foreign language to constitute a full year of learning. Most colleges require at least one if not two years. Can you teach trig or other advanced mathematical program? Yeah, the computer can do it. But what happens when the computer can't explain something and you have to show an alternate way of achieving an answer. Can you actually name all the countries in the world and tell their history? If your answer is yes to all these questions then I have a few more thoughts. When will you consistently work with the child? Daily? What happens when an emergency comes up and you can't teach that day? How will the child learn the skill of being on time and other skills they will need in a work situation. Such as dealing with people and staying reasonably on task for 8 hours straight. These are skills that aren't really taught independently in school, but sorta just go with the program. When will you have time to do lesson plans if you just worked with the child for 8 hours. What about the rest of your family? Where will they learn to deal with society. With the bullies and users...the friends and fakes. Are they going to learn to escape from society and stay safe with Grandma? What happens when Grandma isn't there to protect them. One final thought...home schooling generally is not conisered acceptible credit for high school classes which means the child will not graduate in the typical sence. But worse than that he may not be allowed into college or some jobs because he does not have the high school diploma.

Answer 3

For a student entering high school I'd look for other options. Who would teach her for the home schooling? Unless that individual can handle a high school curriculum well, you might be putting your granddaughter at a great disadvantage academically. It also depends upon her and the type of student she is. Could she handle home schooling? Not all students her age would consider it a good thing. Could there possibly be a group plan for the kids who are being home schooled? That might be an option and then parents could share the work.

Whatever you decide, good luck with it. You have a difficult choice to make.

Answer 4

I don't know anybody personally who has pulled their kids out in high school, but have read a number of accounts online. It usually only works if the student wants to do it. If the student does want to do it, advantages are:

covering more material in less time, which gives the student more time for volunteer hours or a part-time job, definite pluses in terms of post-secondary and jobs later on

fewer effects from peer pressure because they won't hear every day about who's sleeping with whom, they won't be pressured to sneak out on Friday to go to some party, they won't feel they have to wear certain clothes to be accepted by others, they won't have to deal with the negative attitudes by a lot of high school students

when the parent guides the homeschooling experience well, the student becomes more and more responsible for her education; this kind of self-discipline and motivation are excellent characteristics in adult life

Disadvantages/Difficulties:

some stress involved in making sure they get a good education at that level (do you do your own thing? find an online program?)and finding all the necessary resources

need to find out what the requirements are for a high school diploma through homeschooling where the student lives and aim to have them get at least as good of an education as that offered in school

need to find good social outlets for the teen; depending on where you live, this may or may not be difficult

listening to people tell you that your (grand)child needs to be with other kids the same age every day in order to have the necessary social interactions for a good adult life; I don't know of any adult job where what the adults do looks anything like high school (sitting in a room with 30 other adults to work on one type of project at a set time, then moving onto another room with different people to work on a different project under a different manager...); if anything, working independently on projects or work is much more common, plus a lot of homeschooled teens do get jobs and get involved in their community which is far more beneficial than sitting in a classroom most of the day

Here's my advice: Talk to your granddaughter about the idea if you're the one wanting to do the homeschooling, or to her parents and her if not, and discuss together your concerns about the school and the idea of homeschooling. Consider proposing to try it out for one year. If it works out well, it can continue.

Good luck in your decision-making!

A P.S.: although I said it only works if the kids want it, there are undoubtedly exceptions. If the situation at school really is that bad, it would be worth pulling her regardless of how she feels about it. But then make the experience one she will be really glad she had! I didn't get much out of the social stuff in high school so I personally don't consider it that much of a loss. I would have preferred spending lots more time volunteering and the like, being around a varitey of people, rather than being around people who were mostly talking about parties and boyfriends/girlfriends, complaining about school and teachers, cheating on homework, developing cliques... YMMV

Answer 5

If you are talking about the schools being "bad" because of drugs or violence, then your concerns are valid. If you are talking about the academics not being up to par, your g/daughter can still learn and learn well in that environment. I think the social aspect is a big part of high school. So is participating in after school activities or sports.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Answer 6

Don't do it.

As a parent you have every right to educate your child as you deem best. However, check out the Charter Schools in your city first. Many of them are excellent alternatives to the public school sysytem.

Although I can understand your frustration with the public schools, home schooling deprives kids of a variety of socialization skills that they need to function in the real world.

By spending his or her day in the home, a child misses many opportunities to interact with peers. Home schooled children are often isolated from the outside world and are socially handicapped. By being sheltered from the real world, children are seldom presented with the opportunities to learn sorely needed social interaction skills. It is easy to understand why this is a concern. You see, when attending a public school, a child is able to experience a wide variety of teachers and classmates. This fosters the child’s interpersonal skills and teaches them how to work with others.

Additionally, when one is home schooled however, he/she is limited to only one teacher and, at best, siblings as one’s classmates. Certainly this limits the amount of unique ideas being shared and explored. Home schooled children seldom are exposed to the diversity of beliefs and backgrounds that they would encounter in most public school classrooms. Furthermore, if the child is involved in outside groups to try to supplement this limitation, the participants usually are a very select group who for the most part share similar values, background, and social class Such groups are unlike what the child will experience in college, on the job, and in the real world.

Answer 7

Plenty of good advice here.