homeschooled kids....?

Question

all you homeschool people out there, kids who do it, and the parents who give it to their kids. what kind of homeschooling do you do? Do you like it? why or why not?

Answer 1

my son school is an on line school through our state. its considered a public school..he still has 7 teachers including a homeroom teacher. his school has everything that a public schools has but sports..its a cam school and they can see the teacher and she can she them and hear them..they still need credits to graduate high school..they have field trips. they meet at the library to do all the test so no cheating. The school pays for everything its 100% free. He is doing so much better in this school then he did in a public school. he even has gym class but that requires a YMCA pass. people put down home schooling but they don't understand it. my son has met students from all across my state.people he wouldn't of had the chance to meet if he was not home schooled

Answer 2

I am in the 9th grade. And yes, I like it. Some people think that if you're homeschooled you miss out on everything and you're sheltered and you have no friends. But I definitely disagree. I go out everyday of the weekend with my friends. They go to public schools and we have the same interests, listen to the same music, do the same things. Most people have a screwed up image of homeschooled kids. They think the stereotypical homeschooled child is nerdy, geeky, no self-confidence, weird, and have no social skills. Well, those people are uneducated! I honestly believe that you get a better education when you are homeschooled. You don't have the distraction of people talking to you, cheating off your tests, drugs, alcohol, peer pressure. I'm a freshman taking sophomore classes.

I go through a public charter school. It's mostly online. I have online lectures and I can talk to the other kids in my class. We have field trips, take school pictures, take SAT's, have science Labs, take Driver's Ed. I submit my work everyday. I have a teacher for each subject and a general (homeroom) teacher.

Answer 3

We're the eclectic type. Part child-led, part parent-led, part hand-on, part workbook or more formal program... It depends on the child and the subject and what we find. We work mornings for about 3 hours and do more fun-type stuff in the afternoons--this could be just complete free play, or it might be going outside, going on a trip, doing art, baking... My dd also always manages to fit in another hour or two of reading each day.

I love homeschooling my kids, 6yob and 9yog. I love being able to spend a lot of time with them--after all, I didn't give birth to them just to go send them off to someone else to raise. I love the closeness my kids have. This past summer, my cousin saw how close they were and thought it was so great because she and her brother were never close. They're probably closer now as adults than they ever were as kids. I love that I can let them go their own pace. I love that they can take a full morning to explore something they like instead of having to switch topics 'because it's time.' I love that they're not growing up surrounded by negative attitudes, bad language, information that should wait until they're older and be given in an appropriate way. I love that they're not growing up focused on what other kids think about their clothes or hair or if they have an iPod or not. Things like that.

My kids love homeschooling. They don't want to go to school. They know it means sitting in a desk most of the day, having their day completely structured by someone else. They love having the time to just play and have fun and spend an hour or more outside at a time when the weather's nice.

I've met many, many families who homeschool. It's a rare child who doesn't enjoy homeschooling. And I have to say I've only come across one who truly expressed her dislike of it. Okay, she said she hated it. This was a 13 or 14yo prissy-type who had been to school until the previous year and was completely embarrassed by the idea of being homeschooled. The other teens I know are quite happy with it. Many parents start talking about the idea of going to school around that age and these kids just aren't interested. I know a 15yo who's been homeschooling for three years now. She absolutely loves it. Won't go back to school until university. She gets to work at her own pace, cover more topics of her interest, still has time to do her competitive athletics training and hold a part-time job. I don't think anybody could convince her to go to high school at this point!

Answer 4

I am now in college but my parents homeschooled me from 8-12 grade... but I will say I begged for it since 1st grade! We did a variety of curriculum. For English my mom taught me writing at well as we would read 8-14 books a year for literature. I took math and science online through the potters school which is a rigourous college prep program. I also learned history on my own by doing both reading from history texts as well as historical fiction (to bring it to life) and travelling around the world for missions trips helped too. I loved it! I think the big things for me were my co-op groups and sports programs. I never felt unsocial...on the contrary I was super social! And I also worked throughout hs in preschools as an assistant teacher. By not doing the same thing for every subject it gave a good variety and I was able to learn things that I was interested (A&P, research papers on cancer, i want to be a pediatric oncologist, and spent extra time doing volunteer work and theatre) I never wanted to go back to public school and now that I am in college I feel that I was more prepared for the academics the way I was educated.

Answer 5

I homeschool my two kids aged 9 and 11. We do about two hours of bookwork each day, then we also do other things like watch documentaries, do science experiments, art, sports, meet up with other homeschoolers in our area, gardening, cooking, go to museums and other places of interests, festivals.... the list of things is endless.

It's definitely hard work, but the pros far outweigh the cons and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love having my kids around and not missing on any part of their childhood, being able to monitor what they eat, keeping them away from the negative influences of peer pressure, allowing them to learn about things that interest them, providing them an environment where they can learn at their own pace without being shamed or embarrassed by insensitive teachers.

It also makes for a better family life, as our activities aren't restricted by school hours. This means we can go on holidays during non-peak periods, making for cheaper and quieter holidays.

We do our lessons on the beach on hot summer days, how much better than that can it get?

Answer 6

I was home schooled from 2nd through 12th grade. I thought it was wonderful. The town we lived in was like a ghetto in the middle of the prairie. It had been a mining town, but the mines were emptied, the company closed, and everybody who could afford to leave left 40 years ago. Lots of drugs, teen pregnancy, and violence. I don't think I missed a lot socially in that context.
My parents used a lot of different materials, but worked on the premise that in our state (MO) requires 1000 total lesson hours per year. 600 hours must be in core curriculum math, science, english, stuff like that. The balance of those hours we were each allowed to select 4 subjects that we would study in depth and present a year end summary of each of them. The idea was that we'd clock 100 lesson hours in each, but if we chose something challenging we would just clock extra hours. If we chose music there would be a recital and an essay. If we chose athletics there would be season long participation and a written guide of what we'd done. It was a great balance for all of us, and we were all exposed to a huge variety of extra subject matter just by virtue of each others chosen electives.
We used a math program called Saxon. It's a little more labor intensive than some programs, but it's well engineered and the material sticks. (Saxon books have 25 - 35 problems per lesson, and to be effective you have to work all of them.)
For english we used basic textbooks early on to learn sentence structure, punctuation and syntax, but by the time we were in 5th grade we switched to a literature based program that was writing intensive. (Actually not so different from my college lit classes.)
We would read a piece, and would analyze the material and write observations, critiques, summaries, essays, or whatever was assigned.
History, geography, social studies, psychology, and lots of other subjects my parents taught from college textbooks they purchased from area university students. We were all strong readers, so we began using this type of material by the time we were 11 or 12.
Some people criticize the social aspects of homeschooling, and I suppose in an ideal school district those concerns would be legitimate, but our district was failing. The high school produced NO college freshman for a 4 year span. Even when they did produce college students it would be 1 or 2 from a graduating class of 30. Most girls dropped out when they got pregnant, and fighting was commonplace. We still had the opportunity to be with other kids in different contexts but not at the expense of our educations. I'm big time in favor!!!

Answer 7

I used a varied approach. My daughter has a 7 hour 15 minute day. She is given an allotment of time for each subject. She can fill in the week anyway she wants. For social studies and science, I use a lot of DVDs to make the subjects interesting. The approach to these subjects is love of learning. For the core classes it is more of "What you need to know in grade 3 etc." I am more concerned that the basics are covered. I also include a specials class where she can do anything educational that she chooses. This lets her explore learning on her own terms. She also has art and physical education. The other subjects we have are interpersonal and intrapersonal learning and learning skills which includes things like thinking, test taking, memory development etc.

I like it because my daughter can go ahead of her grade. She would like to be in school but there isn't one that meets her needs.

Answer 8

We do a combination of formal and informal studies.
The formal studies are based on the Robinson Curriculum self-teaching method. It works very well! My students study math, writing, and reading for 5-6 hours each day. They work on math equations with a goal of mastery and accuracy. They write at least one full page every day and edit any errors. They read from some of the best books available. These books include classic literature, historic fiction, autobiographies of history-makers, science material, economics, Bible, etc. They also study vocabulary in order to master 6500+ words that are not in common use.

We like it very much! The children are free to think for themselves and to progress at a rate that is all their own. They don't have to wait for anyone else to be in the same place at the same time. They can study whether or not a parent is present.

It works so well that my 20 yr daughter was able to study on her own into calculus (I studied as far as basic algebra). She attends college now as an A student.

The reading list that we use for academic time is wonderful. The books are all printable from the RC disks if we don't already have them on the shelf.

My 15 yr son is now reading "The Mysterious Island" by Jules Verne. It is a GREAT book. My printer is bad right now so we went yesterday to a bookstore and bought the book so that he didn't have to keep reading from the computer screen. The story so far is his favorite. But then he says that about each one!!!

Answer 9

Homeschooling is great. I have been homeschooled all my life and because of it...at sixteen years old...I am ready to take my SAT's next summer and enter college. You work at your own pace and not only that...it eliminates some of the bad influences that young children usually are exposed to too early. I have not been held back socially in any way. I have tons of friends and get out all the time. It is a GREAT way to go.

Answer 10

We use a relaxed literature based (twaddle free zone-no dumbed down books), liberal education with short lessons and tons of free time . :-) Books they read in their free-time, do not have to be quality literature although both are beginning to love and appreciate the literature we read so much so that they read it in their free time.

Our 12yo son, who was both in private and public schools loves home educating. Our 8yo dd has never been to school but she loves home educating as well and can't imagine it any other way. Both do great socially and have also chosen to enroll this year in a one day a week physical science program through a public school system. Since day one, neither has had trouble adjusting nor making friends and I'm happy to report stand up for themselves and others.

We are done with lessons in 3-3 1/2 hours and we love the FREEDOM that home educating brings. I encourage free-thinking and discussion and asking questions in our home, no subject is taboo. I'm not a Christian though but still, I know many Christian home schoolers with happy children. Most do not sit their children inside the house, at the table, with a stack of textbooks five days a week.

My kids don't really care about having a ton of friends because we are too busy with other aspects of life, so they don't feel like they are missing out on anything by not going to school. They much prefer to go to the beach, for walks, bike-rides, swim, play on the computer, cook, bake, play board games, visit friends, explore nature and quite often, just sit and relax and talk with their father and I. They prefer that rather than to sit at a desk all day, stuffed in a classroom with 30 peers for 7 hours a day, five days a week....boring.