What to do...?

Question

I'm to a breaking point. I love the idea of public schools, socially but the quality of education has me between a rock and a hard place. While I want my children to be able to do "normal" things I prioritize education BEFORE riding a yellow school bus, recess, and cafeteria food.

What made you choose to home school your children?

Are you a part of a home schooling group in your community?

What is a typical day like for you?

How do you get through the scrutiny of criticism for your choice?

I am a dedicated person. I’m an organizer and planner by nature. I love doing all those “teacher” things but at the same time I worry if I would be doing a disservice to my children by taking the less popular route.

Please, if you have any great home schooling sites with statistics or relevant information it’d be greatly appreciated! My children have yet to go to kindergarten so that would be where I’d be starting at.

Thank you all for your thoughts and information!

Answer 1

1. Know what you want! Once you make up your mind to homeschool, get an HSLDA Membership to "protect" your right to homeschool.
2. Go to a homeschoolers group meeting, attend a homeschoolers conference, start requesting "free" catalogs or "sample pages" for various homeschool curriculum publishers.
3. Visit your library and find out about reading days, homeschool newsletters, childrens special events, etc.
4. Design your curriculum, order it, get comfortable with it, and if needed "report your intent to homeschool" in your school district. HSLDA can help you by letting you know where, when, how, etc...do not give MORE information to them as ordered, if they simply want to know the books for English and Math you will use, give that info only, do NOT volunteer other info.

Answers to your questions:
What made you choose to home school your children?

I chose due to: inappropriate social setting, inadequate academic progress, dumbed-down books, cursing, smoking, drugs, violence and teen sex, insufficient religious/moral education, insufficient foreign language education, stifling intellectual atmosphere, ridiculing and "labeling" of children, bad cafeteria food, lack of good sports, general attitude that learning is lame...

Are you a part of a home schooling group in your community?
Yes we were, and we chose what events we attended.

What is a typical day like for you?
Get up, eat decent breakfast, start schooling, eat when hungry, stop when tired, go out when needed, finish all assignments, review, correct etc.
Normal day. Also have holidays or days OFF for family trips, or visits to museum or zoo, etc

How do you get through the scrutiny of criticism for your choice?
In the beginning it was hard...after awhile I got used to it...and I smiled.
Often the critisizing person has the least information on homeschooling. Simply invite them to your house to view /evaluate your school day...that always shuts-them up...
Remind people that this is AMERICA, we all choose what we wish to do, that includes your freedom to homeschool, that is why our ancestors fought WARS.

Your children will be your best allies. In a few years, you will see that your children are better behaved, better socialized (yes better), more caring, polite, inquisitive, diligent than all their public school contemporaries.... people will NOTICE this and will be in awe!

I am a homeschool veteran of 2 kids, the baby is now a senior in pre-med at the University and doing very well. No problems whatsever with social skills or adaptation.

Answer 2

My husband and I discussed hs for our children even before we had children although niether of us were hs and we aren't religious. After having our first child we decided to nix our plans and go with a public preschool after his first year of this preschool our age attendence dates changed for our area and he suddenly was not old enogh for kinder. He went to the second year of preschool with all the other children who had to "wait" for the new date. When he got to Kind. he had already had two years of school and was well ahead of where he needed to be. The teacher said he was bored and refused to do the work. She talked about getting him some more advanced work but never got around to it. By the middle of the year she let us know that if he didn't comlete his work she had nothing to prove he could do it and she would have to hold him back. This was the craziest thing we had ever heard and pulled him out imediatly. He is still alittle ahead and doing great going at his own pace.
We have had to move and travel alot due to my husbands business so we are currently not in a group in our community I do belong to an online group.
a typical day is get up at 8 get dressed have breakfast start learning we work on lessons for two hours than take a break to play outside and eat. We than work for about two more hours. If a project takes more time we stretch it out for a couple days. And if my six year old has had enough she takes a break. If they are really interested and having fun we may extend the school day until they choose to stop.
The most criticism I have ever got was from people who worry about my childrens social skills and I used to argue about how social they are now I don't bother.

Answer 3

I was homeschooled myself. I am 20 and my kids are both under 3 so they are too young for school.

I started homeschooling when I was in 4th grade.

My foster parents put me in a homeschool group thing in the city we lived in. There was maybe 40 kids in the whole group thats from age kindergarten to 12th grade. I lived in one of the top 10 largest cities in the state. I never had any friends, even now that I am 20 I don't have anyone that I hang out with. I don't really know what to say around people that are my own age. I guess I have social issues now.

As far as education went, my foster parents got the textbooks through christian liberty academy suppose to be one of the best places. I did really well in school I even skipped a grade went from 7th grade to 9th grade. I went to a community college straight out of HS, because the universities i applied to wouldn't accept me because i have never taken a language and some other gym requirement.

At the community college "2 year college" well lets just say it took more like 3 n 1/2 to get the 2 year associates degree. When I opened my algebra book at college I had never saw any of the types of things that were in it and so on.

So I would suggest for your kids sake if you homeschool make sure that in the long term plan they are going to be at the same level as public school kids. So it doesnt take them almost 4 years to get a 2 year degree also.

Don't get me wrong I am not against homeschooling, just don't want anyone else or their kids to be behind like I was and not be able to make it around the first time once they get into college.

As long as you make sure the text books are going to be "enough" and maybe get your kids into sports at the YMCA or something so they can interact with other kids and make friends. I am sure everything would be fine.

Answer 4

Hey, please read this although I am a kid. I am 14 years of age getting ready to go into year 9. I am EXTREMELY right brained, school is built for mainly left brainers so I find it really had to learn. I go to a private school, when I was younger I went to a public. I didn't learn any of my basic skills. It has just gotten to a point where i travel nilly 2 hours to school to learn nothing and struggle. Mum is the same as me and she knows how my brain works, so she has taken me out of school. I get to sleep in now instead of getting up early everyday and I am learning! I'm at a year 7 level at the moment and I was suppose to be going into year 9? wow. Mum works with me for 3 to 4 hours a day, and the rest of the day I can do what I love doing (going on the Internet) and soon I will be getting a job! So I will STRONGLY advise for you to do it. But I don't think right now is the right time, let them socialize and learn things that you can't teach them. Take them out when they are older, teach them things that they haven't learned. And then boom they will be much better off. I wish you all the best, and hope you make the right decisions in your child's life.

Answer 5

Sounds like you'd be just fine homeschooling.

Here's some suggestions on getting comfortable with the idea:

1) Join a Yahoo homeschooling group for your state. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com and do a search for "homeschool yourstate"
2) Visit a local homeschool park day, and if there is one, go to an info night or convention
3) Read these books: Fundamentals of Homeschooling - Ann Fisher, Family Matters; why homeschooling makes sense - David Guterson, Homeschooling: The Early Years - Linda Dobson
4) Check out this website: http://homeschooling.gomlpitas.com

Ok, that is a good start.

Listen to your heart. You know the answers already. They are in you. You just need to find them.

Good luck!

Answer 6

*My dh and I (he, a jr. high teacher; I, a former elementary teacher) first talked about homeschooling because of the social situation at school. We are in a city of about 1 million people--it's no small-town environment in the schools. We didn't like the constant 'ads' for bad behaviour/dress/attitude that school inherently has. I also didn't like the fact that kids were all lumped together according to age. I had seen first-hand the effects by being in a school with two split-level classes and saw how much more mature a child could be in behaviour and thinking when there were more older people than same-age people around them all the time. We also do not feel that the schools are great academically. My dh has to deal with a lot of kids who are lacking basic skills because they did not get them at the elementary level. We also feel that school is a certain mold and that are kids don't fit into that academic mold.

*Yes, I'm a part of 2 homeschooling groups in my community. There are several, with me finding 2 that I'm comfortable with. (Not all groups are the same! Something to keep in mind if you find one and feel, "Omg, this is what homeschoolers are like?") I'm also part of a local online group which is not associated with the other two groups. Through these groups, we've made some great friends and also get to do things with others regularly. I don't think these groups are necessary for us, but they definitely provide wonderful benefits.

*A typical day is get up, get dressed and fed, the kids will often get started on some sort of learning activity before 8, even though 8 is our official school start. For my ds, who's in grade 1, he'll usually spend no more than an hour on LA and math then will do whatever--could be educational (science or social studies activity, for example, or drawing), could just be free play (an hour is the usual recommendation for a grade 1 homeschooled child because they'll often spend extra time listening to a story or playing outside or colouring/drawing, all things that happen in a typical grade 1 classroom where the actual work time is split up throughout the day). My dd, grade 4, spends longer, doing some math, reading, usually writing, then some other educational activity of choice. I read to them just about every day.

Our work time lasts until about 11 or so. Then we clean up and get ready for lunch. After lunch, we might work on projects, I might read to them while they build with Lego, we might go outside or on a field trip, or work on little projects or crafts. We have a weekly park day we attend, so one afternoon is taken up with that, plus we go to the library every week, so another afternoon has that.

*I haven't been too criticized personally for my choice. When little things have come up, I just nod, don't say anything and move on. It's just not worth fighting about with strangers. I haven't had friends or family make a negative comment. But I've always been the sort of determined person so there's just no point in trying to deter me. lol.

*What sort of disservice do you feel you'd be doing? You sound like you would be a wonderfully committed and caring homeschool parent. You would end up creating a wonderful homeschooling experience for your kids. Yes, it'll be different from a public school experience, but that doesn't make it wrong. Living in a different country is a different experience. Living in a city is different from living in a town, or vice versa.

*http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=nr&id=436 has a great summary plus a link to a more detailed document on a publication made by an institute who has no particular interest in promoting one form of schooling over another. http://www.hslda.org has various things in their Research section (part of their left-hand menu bar).


It's great that you are thinking about this now! It gives you some time to learn, read, meet people, talk over things, etc., before deciding one way or another.

Answer 7

It sounds as though you can easily homeschool.

I did it and i am NOT organized. We did 5 years of homeschool between upper elem and HS.

Sites are many, so I will not give you any! I used Saxon Math, and a lot of Sonlight (a Christian Curriculum based on literature) and Abeka (another Christian group based in Pensacola)

Please please keep your kids at home. If you TEACH nothing for 3 years, they will learn plenty from being with you and spending time absorbing your values. But I know that you will teach them. It does not have to look like "School At Home." It has to look like your family enriching each other.

There may be a homeschool group in your area. Ask at the biggest church in your area. Many Christians have opted to homeschool, (tho' not all homeschoolers are Christians by any stretch of the imagination) so the churches will know of local community home schoolers' groups. They organise field trips, Science Fairs, graduation ceremonies, and a host of other schooly things.

GO FOR IT. Look and you will find support. Be brave.

Answer 8

im a teen who was public schooled, (and loved it) for my entire life. then my mom sent me to private school (where i am now, sadly). my church had a home schooling group, and i was part of that. it was good, because i could move at my own pace. i learned more efficiently. i woke up, ate breakfast, did my work, then was done with my work around noon.

in the end, it was better. i didnt have to deal with any of the teenage crap that i do now. everyone is so fake at private school. (since the classes are smaller, if u dont fit in with any that one group u just dont fit in). thats what happend to me, now i have to convince my rents to send me to public school. it would be better. maybe i'll find happiness.....

Answer 9

I wasn't home-schooled, but all i can tell you is I'd rather have my kids educated than socialized with the crap that passes for modern culture.

When you look at what children were capable of 200 years ago, some 16 year olds were reading Virgil, Homer, etc. in the native greek or latin. They weren't listening to MP3's, watching TV, going to malls, etc... I'm not saying lock them up, but the PRIORITY should be your children and their capabilities.

Answer 10

This is the best homeschool progrom ever. I am in high school right now, and let me tell you socialism is not a high priority

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