What's your thoughts on home schooling?

Question

With all the violence (i.e. bullying, shootings...) in schools these days what are your thoughts on home schooling children?

Answer 1

I think homeschooling is a great option for those willing to take it on.

The social scene in general, not specifically violence, at school was what had my dh and me thinking about homeschooling in the first place. See, I was an elementary teacher and my dh was, and still is, a junior high teacher. Some of the psychology courses we took in university probably had an effect on the way we looked at what we saw. We knew that the environment can have a huge effect on how a child develops. We both decided that the environment of the schools where we live is not where we want our kids growing up.

Once they get to high school, although the social environment can still be a bit undesirable, we may have them go--by that point, they will have a much better sense of who they are and will have had time to determine what they really value. They will have spent many years not trying to be like everyone else, years of not growing up believing that what brand of clothes you wear actually matters or what type of music you listen to or the other things prevalent in the school culture.

We don't really have a lot of violence here--yet. There is some bullying, primarily in the elementary level, you hear of some fights now and then at the higher levels, but nothing too major. Unfortunately, I think I've heard more about teachers--throwing books at students, locking children in small rooms, telling a class their the stupidest bunch they've ever taught--than I have about other major problems. Kind of makes you wonder why you would entrust your child to some stranger for most of his or her waking hours...

Answer 2

I personally am terrified at the thought of sending my children to public school, luckily thats a decision I don't have to make for a while. It used to be that you only had to worry about the 'big city' schools, but now not even the Amish are safe. I do feel that children need the social skills of being around other children, but that doesn't necessarily have to be from school either, the social skills and interaction could be met with playgroups, sports, or other organizations such as girl or boy scouts. The other thing that I feel is very important is that the children get a 'quality' education, which would mean the parents would have decent knowledge of all subjects or go the computer home schooling route or something like that. I feel that as long as the childrens educational and social skills are met then home schooling is fine. Our biggest concern has to be our childrens precious lives, and the violence, and shootings in schools make that quite questionable.

Answer 3

All the answers I have read here about your children being socially underdeveloped is appauling. Sure there are kids who are social rejects but have you been in a public school lately? Look around and see how many of those kids could actually function socially or teach themselves anything.
Home schooling is a wonderful opportunity for you to teach your children what is necessary and the way that you think it should be taught. Why does a child need to learn about the water cycle from a few pictures when you could very easily (much easier than taking a whole classroom) take them to a museum and get more hands on. If you keep up with the grade level (which is unbelieveably easy since so many public school's have large classrooms and are thus unable to provide one-on-one help), get the proper testing done once a year and get your kids involved with things like sports they'll love it. They'll have plenty of friends if you get them involved with other homeschooled kids - try out a co-op and let them learn things they're interested in. Home schooling really keeps apathy away because if a child wants to learn about...how our eyes see color, then you can formulate a special science curriculum just for that! It's so great. There is no reason for school to last 8 hours since all the work can be finished in 2-4 (depending on the grade level) so your kids won't be exhausted at the end of the day and totally unwilling to carry on a conversation with you. You children will also likely be far above their age group in handling conversations with people of other ages - they will have much better eye contact and social skills because they're out in the world more and not stuck in a stuffy class room all day.
I'm 20 years old and now a junior at a very good college in Washington state. I have taught 2 public speaking courses during my time in college. I went to public school until 2nd grade when my parents pulled me out to home school. I was home schooled until 9th grade at which point I attended a private high school. I graduated with a GPA of 3.86 and never had any problems dealing with social situations. In fact I rather enjoyed being able to skip all the nasty stuff some of my girlfriends dealt with during junior high. For both my brother and me, home schooling was the best decision my parents ever made.
But don't make the decision based soley on violence in schools, if you're involved in a co-op a child could bring a gun. Don't do it to shelter your children, do it for their education - the world IS violent so just help them to deal with it rather than pulling them out of it.

Answer 4

My thoughts on home-schooling are many!!!! I've been doing it for over 18 years. I think about it every day.

1. It is good.
2. It is worthwhile.
3. It is beneficial.
4. It is work.
5. It is play.
6. It is fun.
7. It is necessary.
8. It works.
9. Most of our friends do it.
10. Math is critical to developing thinking and reasoning skills.
11. Math facts should be mastered before moving into a text-book.
12. Reading skills are necessary to do well in math, science, history, etc.
13. Reading should be learned via phonics.
14. Reading every day for a minimum of 2 hours is very healthy for the mind.
15. Books should be of high quality -- good moral standards and excellent grammatical content.
16. Writing should be practiced every single day. One full page of the topic of the student's choice.
17. Vocabulary should be of a higher level than that currently taught in most circles.
18. Home school kids are great!!!!!
19. Home schooling works even when it doesn't work. I've seen children without any formal academic study that can still pass all of the tests.
20. Home schooling is best done with a goal in mind.

That's just the beginning....... I could write an entire book!!!

Barb

Answer 5

The recent shootings have not had any impact on my decision to homeschool. I do not look at the violence in the schools these days and say to myself "Now, that's why I homeschool." although, according to many many comments I've read on here, a majority of those that are against homeschooling will look at a story of how homeschooling went wrong and say, "now, see, that's why you should not homeschool."
My daughter was still in PS when Columbine happened, and honestly, it did not come to my mind one single time during the decision making process.
I do not make major life decisions based on what is going on in the world. Well, I may decide to not travel to a certain area of the world based on violence there, but for the most part I do not. We've had shootings and abductions at malls, but yet (much to my husband's dismay, lol) i still shop at the malls.
Sometimes, I feel as though I am at a greater risk being home alone with my kiddos during the day. We have break in's occaisionally, attempted break ins, abductions, and even registered sex offenders all in our community. Sometimes I wonder how safe I am if I open our front door and windows to get a breeze during the day. I'm blessed that the person across the street works from home, the people behind me are retired and the family a couple of doors down is a hs family, but I still wonder sometimes.
No, these types of things did not change my mind when it came to making the decision to educate my children at home. Now, I did look at the particular circumstances in my particular community: bomb threats, on campus abductions, beatings in the bathrooms in the HS, kids bringing guns, swords and drugs to school, armed guards on campus, metal detectors...all in my community. And I do not live in the inner city, I'm in a "nice little sleepy commuter suburb," as we have been called in the media. but it was not a major factor. Those circum stances were more like another tally in the "yes" column, but not what I based my decision on.
My decisions are based on what i feel is best for my family and for my children. Most anti hs people think we hs to "shelter" our kiddos or protect them, but it's not that. Our decision is based on a desire to have the very best for our kids and this, in our opinion, is what is best, and we have the freedom to do it.

Answer 6

Well, I graduated from highschool in June, and yes, i did homeschool; but you know what- it's the best thing that my parents could have done for me. I am a freshman in college right now, and no, my social skills are not underdevloped, and I am more academically equiped than most of my classmates. I have make lots of friends, and I fit in on campus just fine. If you think about it, what kind of stuff did I miss out on from not going to public school? Let's see... pressure to do drugs and drink, have adult relationships, and all of the gossip and other hurtful things that teenagers do. Without all of that pressure, I was able to concentrate on my school work, and ended up getting into a really good college. Now some might say that not having to deal with all that pressure has made me unprepared to deal with it now that I am out in the "real world." Let me just straighten out something, I've already had to deal with that stuff at college, and guess what- I can handle it just fine. I don't remember who made this comment on their answer, but someone said that homeschoolers aren't as well educated. That is an outright lie. I don't know where he or she is getting their information, but it is not true. Studies prove that homeschooler's are doing better on state and nation testing than public schools. Also, I have met several homeschoolers on campus and they are all A students. A lot of public school kids that I meet, have problems with basic grammer and algebra. Now, i'm not saying that public school kids are stupid, I'm just saying that every homeschooler that I meet is well educated, while not every public school kid I meet is as well educated. All of you people bashing homeschooling and making up lies, stop talking about things you know nothing about. I'm living proof that homeschooling works.

Answer 7

You know people say that children will have bad social skills if they are homeschooled. I don't think that's true at all! There are other places to be social than just school. Community activities and religious places are an example. I don't think the arguement of social skills is very good at all. I think homeschool can be very effective if it is done correctly. Don't just stick the kid with his or her books for 2 hours and expect them to learn everything. They need to be taught as well. With that being said, I think home schooling is fine, and yes safer if you think about all of those shootings. (and no I was not home schooled - I went to public school)

Answer 8

I homeschool my kids and I'm proud to say so. I do worry about kids who are being homeschooled by parents who can't spell properly though. I don't think kids miss out socially. I mean look at what is going on in schools today...bullying, lack of respects for teachers, kids having sex earlier than ever, anorexia, smoking, bad language... how is any of this positive socialisation. Home school kids on the other hand have closer relationships with their parents, keep their innocence for longer, aren't subjected to bullying, are less likely to suffer body image issues, don't smoke, tend to interact with a wider range of people including other homeschooled kids, join local sports teams and other hobby/interest groups like school kids do and generally tend to be more accepting of everyone and not as judgmental as kids who attend school... who incidentally turn out to be the ones who watch more tv. ( I know because I've lived on both sides of the fence and I know kids on both sides of the fence also and the difference between the two groups is difficult to miss). Kids who attend school, are the ones who will generally be more disrespectful, judgmental, carry head lice, more likely to swear and/or use physically and/or emotionally hurt someone, not as willilng to interact with the elderly and more likely to suffer depression, among other things. Who wants to see any of those things in their kids?

Answer 9

Here is why i home school my child. I enrolled my child in an online school which is a public school through our state. My son was put in the back of the class and never had any one on one time with the teachers he made all f's and d's.He wasnt getting what he needed at a regular school. He was put in a learning disability class which we found out that he didnt need. He is now making all a's and b's.He still has 7 teachers encluding a homeroom teacher. Its a cam school he see's and hears the teacher and she can see and hear him. that goes for all the 40 other students in his online class room . He can talk to them and interact with them. His school has everything that a regular school has and needs but he does the work at home.The vilance that took place in his school was another factor for me taking him out of regular school. I wasnt to worried about the bullys my son can handle his own. It was the bomb threats and the riots and the drug dealers. The school was so crowded they had to put most of the students in trailors. Who can learn in a situation like that. My sons old school was like one of them bad movies about high school.And to the people who say that homeschool children dont enteract with other children their own age are full of crap they dont know what they are talking about.That just goes to show how ignorant some people can be.My sons school still has prom graduation with a diploma.Monthly field trips he meets children from all around our state. They still have principals, councelors. teachers, gym class but requires a ymca pass. He even has recess which is open chat with the teacher as monitor. More one on one time with the teachers, he can call any of his teachers with home work help at her house until 7 pm. His school is 100% free i pay nothing at all.The education he is learning now is so much better then what he was learning in regular school. And the best part about it is i see what he is doing and i am involved in his everyday school work. He has plenty of enteraction with other students..

Answer 10

If you are willing to stay focused and disciplined with educating your children, I think it's the best! You'll hear the same old tired arguments against it, but they're unfounded. We homeschooled our daughter from K-12, she graduated from college last May (Highest Honors), and she works as a merchandiser for the leading agricultural company in the U.S.

We've homeschooled our boys until two years ago -- I could go on and on. Homeschooling is wonderful -- and it's better to start early, than to start later.

Socialization issues? Where else in life are people segregated by age so that they only socialize with peers -- that's NOT the "real world".