Convincing a parent to homeschool?

Question

((Please, if you don't like homeschooling, do not comment. This is strictly for those who are advocates of homeschooling.))

Right now, I attend public school but have fallen ill recently, and I think the time missed and the work to catch up makes now the perfect opportunity to switch to home school. As of the past few years, I am not very social already and I don't go out often, don't participate, and I know I never will. It's my personality, my OCD, and I can't change.

I think home school would be best for me, as it takes me away from the disgustingly slow paced public school system and puts me into an actual educational system rather than one big teenage party.

However, because I am already anti-social, my mother is horrified at the idea of holing me up at home for the time I usually spend at school. But I believe that is secondary to my education.

How can I convince her to see what I see?

(If you disagree with me, I also don't want your opinion. :-P )

Oh, just wanted to mention, this would be homeschooling at Keystone - as in, minimal parental involvement.

Daniel L: No, it doesn't highlight my immaturity. I know what I want, and I've researched it to hell - my point in ignoring people who disagree with me is that this question is NOT about agreeing or disagreeing with me.

I'm asking for support for a specific problem, not for analyzing of my decisions. Hence my ignoring.

Answer 1

Sounds like intellectually home school would be great for you because you seem driven. But please allow me to relate to you, I am not here to disagree with you but to offer you my own personal experience with you.I am not against homeschool,but I have very similar personality traits as you and it was not the best for me.I was in public school until 9th grade and my mom pulled me out half way through.Of course at the time I was thrilled because I was overwhelmed with social anxiety.Although fairly popular I disagreed with most of what went on with my teenage peers,like parties,drinking,drugs,and promiscuis(spell check)sex.But as time went on I became very detatched from society and found hard to relate with others and the outside world.Which later led to depression which caused me to gain alot of weight which caused me to be even more anti-social.Don't be so quick to say that you can't be helped because when i realized what my problem was I made myself get out and find a job dealing with the public.And I would ask questions and start conversations with strangers until I felt more comfortable with people.I then became more sure of myself and the depression left and I lost the weight.The point is that you shouldn't be so close minded. I know by the words that you use you are very smart so use that to the positive and don't be so pessimistic and closed minded. I regret that I spent so much time being an adult and looking down on my peers instead of setting an example for them amongst them.Now that I am 23 years old with many responsibilities, I wish I had gone to prom or homecoming or dances or field trips instead of focusing solely on academics.

Answer 2

Show her some good curriculums, theres a bunch of computer ones so that she wouldn't have to do much work on it. also, i see her concern about you becoming to anti-social. try finding a compromise! There may be a homeschool group in your area that has activities and maybe you could sign up for one. or get involved in a church, or something! Even if you don't like people too much, you do need to be able to interact with the world! I am homeschooled and i dont like a lot of public school kids (though I do have some friends that are public schooled) because it is like one big teenage party! But yet i have a ton of friends and do a lot of stuff. You may not like being around a lot of people, but it sounds like if you want to homeschool you'll have to go at least halfway and reach a compromise!! show your mom some of the stuff you've found about it. What subjects you can do, How they work, etc. most parents dont want their kids to do somethign just because they dont know much about it. not enough knowledge leads to fear most of the time!! Good luck!

Answer 3

Assure your parents that this is something you think would be beneficial to you, and explain why, but since that one is rather obvious, lets try this.....She will obviously want your grades to be better, and OCD is hard to deal with in study environments, but even harder to deal with in CROWDED schools where it is basicaly a social scene. I agree with you that homeschooling is much preferable to the facade of a school system If you work at your own pace, then you are more likely to be successful, more happy, and much smarter. (I am sorry you have to suffer through others stupidity in school, I did it too. ) The only thing I can think of to say is this....I am now in college. I made friends in homeschooling, because, WOW, there are other homeschoolers out there! and I made friends in Public school. All of them were cool. I keep a minimum of friends around, videogames and music tend to suit me better, but I can tell you, I barely keep up with any social connections from that time in my life. It realy is unimportant. Keeping a strong educational background first is the most important thing, you'll have as many social connects as you like whenever you are ready to do that. Stress the importance of education over socialization. If you can get involved in some other extra-curricular activity of sorts, and No, I don't mean Cheer-leading, then prehaps she will see a social outlet for you and then become more accepting of your desire to homeschool. If you want to talk more, You can write to this address, I check often. Best of Luck!

Answer 4

I believe if your parents are qualified to home school you, that would probably not be a horrible idea for you. If there are certain types of activities that DO appeal to you though, they should definately get you involved in those to try and get you to socialize a little with people that have things in common with you. There is so much pressure on kids that go to public schools now as well and being away from those pressures might be good for you as well. You seem like you are a little older, but I know there have been studies done with younger kids on the playground with home schooled kids vs. public schooled kids and the public schooled kids would try to do things they shouldn't be doing (like walking on the slides or something) and the home schooled kids didn't go along with them. They weren't as much of a follower as the public school kids seemed.

Also, you would get through your work much faster and if you finish your entire year within 2 or 3 months, your parents can think about taking vacations different time of the year than most people do, which means cheaper vacations and more flexibility with it! :)

Good luck!

-EA

Answer 5

Homeschooling does not block social contact. One homeschooling program that sticks out in my mind is Learning By Grace, as they have a social center for students to chat and socialize. They are actually have an essay contest, in which the top two essayists will each win a Nintendo Wii!! The essay must be 500-1,000 words, and the question to be answered is: How is your family putting "Christ" into Christmas this year? The contest ends December 31st, 2006.

You should definately check out their web site: www.learningbygrace.org

Answer 6

Ha! OK, Many Home schooled children progress future into Education as they move at a consistent pace forward. The ability of the Parent and other reliable people helps. We can only learn what the Teacher know or is willing to learn. Public school is trapped in this conception as the Teachers are limited in their teaching. This why many children learn the 3 R's for about 6 years, when they could have progressed further. I not demeaning or school system, it just how it has to be to incorporate education that can be diverse to cater to a slow learner or a fast learner. Home Schooling can eliminate this dilemma as a Child can "Move and Groove"! But, it depends on the momentum of the Parent/Teacher.
I like teaching children like this, because it causes me to learn things I not know in order to teach the Child. Also, I can focus on the needs of a slower person to enhance their abilities.
There many people that have the money to hire this to be done.
I guess I should add, YOU, have to be willing to learn in this enviroment and not be thinking you can play all day as we can see from on here, many want to be at school and try to acess "Myspace" etc, when they should be learning.

Answer 7

1. Dont ask questions if you dont want honest answers.
2. All you can do is try to make your mom see your point of view. Talk to her and acknowledge her concerns. If shes afraid youll never leave the house, make a promise to join an extra cirricular club. Give her time to adjust to the idea. It might take awhile!
3. OCD is not an excuse to be antisocial. Dont be so resistant to change. NO ONE is born one way, with the inability to overcome their obstacles, whatever they are (personality or otherwise). Maybe trying to reach outside of your comfort zone and doing things that aren't completely comfortable for you might help you to grow as a person, and help yourself become happier in the long run. Just try! It takes a long time, and effort but its worth it.
4. Remember that its her decision too, because youre probably not 18 and therefore its her responsibility to make the best deicision for you. Also shes probably going to be the one teaching you? If so, thats a big committment on her part and kind of a lot to ask if you ask me. So be patient, keep talking to her, write her a letter, etc. And just hope that eventually she will come around. If you are resonable with her, and patient, but persistant, she will eventually probably come around to your side.

Best of luck!

Answer 8

I homeschooled my daughter for the last semester of last year and she is doing her best to get me to do it again this year (because she doesn't want to deal with peers and so on.) If your sole reason for being home schooled is because you want a faster pace and your parents are able to give you that, then you should use that as your argument. You can also tell them that home school kids actually socialize better when out of the home and that there are other programs that you can use after school hours to get out of the house if that is her issue (like clubs, YMCA, whatever.) Home schooled children do rate higher in most testing and this too is important if you want to go on to college and are less likely to have problems with drugs, teenage sex and so on due to peer pressure. Hmmmm.....looks like I may have to reconsider my own daughter's schooling now. Good luck!

Answer 9

It would be nice to have an idea of how old you are!

Some thoughts:

See if you can find things online about parents homeschooling their OCD kids and how homeschooling benefitted them.

See about contacting Keystone and what they might say to support you.

Find a local homeschooling support group or find some sort of volunteer situation--any type of social situation you would actually enjoy. Discuss with your mom about you committing to a certain number of hours out of the house each week.

Good luck!

Answer 10

I think it's a fantastic idea! I know many parents that homeschool. When my son was born, I bought tons of books on how to homeschool, I planned on homeschooling him throughout all his years. But, my husband left me a single mother and I was forced to work 40 hours. My son is 7 years old now and I still dream of homeschooling him someday, he wishes he can be homeschooled too!

GOOD LUCK, I wish you the best education!